a/n: And here it is. At last. The sequel to Progression. I dabbled with the idea of putting it in Adam's POV, but decided that Hailey still had some things to say. I'm already thinking about putting up more parts, so that's still something I'll think about doing in the future. For now, though, it's still Hailey's POV. And yes, believe it or not, this one is happier than the last two. So please don't forget to review! I thrive on feedback!

Confessions

I hadn't been this happy in a long time. I held the rose to my lips and smiled stupidly. Sure it wasn't an extravagant gift or even a reasonable suggestion that we were going to take a step forward past what we were now, but it meant something to me. It meant he understood what I had told him. It gave me hope.

Maybe I had no right to feel hope, but if I didn't, then he had no right to leave that rose with that note. So I indulged in the feeling. It was wondrous. I felt like I was floating. It was... I couldn’t come up with enough adjectives to accurately describe what I was feeling. I closed my eyes and tried to fight the urge to spin in happy circles and eventually gave in. It felt good to not be sad. If that makes any sense at all.

It was such a relief to not be upset for once. To actually think for once, hey, maybe this will all work out okay. All right, well maybe not that optimistic, but to think, maybe he can be taught. It was something.

I lowered the rose away from my lips and decided I should put it in some water so I could preserve it as long as possible. Then I would dry it out. It was the first token of peace Adam had given me and I didn't want to lose it.

I was humming as I cut the end of the rose and put it in the vase filled with water and I almost didn't realize it. I hadn't been able to be so absentminded in a long time. It was great.

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My good feelings extended into the next day and all through school. I was on my way to the arcade when my feelings started to drop. What if he didn't mention it? Did we just carry on like we had been? Did he not really mean what he wrote (even if it was only a one word apology)? Did he just do it because he felt bad for me? I hoped not.

My stomach dropped as I walked into the arcade and he was sitting at the counter talking to Peter. I walked forward and took a seat next to him and said, "Hi."

He looked at me and smiled. Actually smiled. I don't think he'd ever smiled at me before. "Hey, Hailey," he replied.

No evil nickname. No evil tone. No mocking or sneering comments. No sadistic smirk. Nothing. Just a smile. A genuine happy smile.

I quickly re gathered myself and smiled back. I didn't want him to think I didn't appreciate his attempt to play nice. Because I did. More than I could possibly tell him.

"Hi, Adam," I returned after a few seconds.

Peter stared at us for a few seconds. He looked from Adam and then to me. I fought back a giggle; I could tell he wasn't sure what to make of Adam and I playing nice for once. And then he shook his head, muttered something I couldn't hear, and then turned his back on us.

"What are you up to?" he asked me. I shrugged. I had just wanted to see him. I wanted to make sure that this was real. That he was really sorry. Apparently he was.

"Just hanging out," I finally responded verbally.

He wanted to snort; I could tell. "Obviously," he settled for saying.

I rolled my eyes. Well, I tried not to. After all, he was doing his best to play nice, I could do my best too, right? Right. But it was awkward. As much as I didn't want to admit it, it felt... weird. I didn't know if it was a this-isn't-right weird or just we're-not-used-to-this-yet weird. I was hoping it was the latter.

"And you? What're you up to?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, looking at me with a smirk. "I'm just hanging out."

This time I didn't even try to restrain my eyes or feel bad about it after it. "Obviously," I repeated.

He laughed. I liked the sound of it.

"What are we supposed to do? We have nothing to say when we're not arguing, it seems," he said, resting his chin on his palm.

I considered his words. He was right. We really didn't have anything to say. But there was so much I was still waiting for him to say. I let my breath out slowly. Slowly. Take it easy. Take it slow. This is still stage one. He's not going to tell you he loves me when just yesterday it was so clear that he did not love me. I would take what I could get in the mean time.

"Well we should find something to talk about then," I suggested.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I said we should find something. Not that I knew something."

He sighed. I knew that sigh only too well. It was the one I made every time I felt like giving up. And I didn't like the way it sounded when he passed his lips at all.

"Adam, why don't we do something, then? If we can't find something to talk about-"

"All right. What do we do then? This idea brings on a whole new dilemma," he pointed out, shooting me a look.

"Movie?"

"Hate them."

"Shopping?"

He gave me a look that clearly said, "Are you insane?" so I dropped that idea.

"Bowling?"

"Bowling?" he repeated. "Are you kidding?"

"I don't see why I would be," I retorted. I liked bowling. It was fun.

"Next idea."

"There's really not a lot to do around here," I confessed.

"How about we just take a walk through the park?"

"I like that Idea," I told him, bouncing up off the stool.

-----------

The walk was no better than the arcade had been. The silence persisted as we walked around the pond that, in my mind, verged on a lake in size. It was too quiet for me. Even the birds weren't chirping.

"Oh, look, a duck!" I said, pointing at it and smiling. Ducks were my absolute favorite, as childish as that sounded.

"Yeah, would you look at that. A duck," he answered. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, but it certainly sounded like it. A part of me wanted to let it pass, but another, more dominant part of me, refused to let it pass.

"Oh, Adam, that did sound like sarcasm. Perhaps I'm mistaken though," I said, cocking my head towards him.

"Oh, dear! Did I let that remark slip? My mistake, dear lady! Pray, shall you ever forgive me?" he asked, placing a hand over his heart and throwing his head back in mock distress.

I just barely kept my smile and giggle in check. I couldn't help it. He looked hilarious posed like that. I shook my head at him.

"You know, sarcasm is most unbecoming," I chided him.

"Oh? Then why are you laughing? Something as unbecoming as sarcasm can't be funny, I'm sure," he replied with an arc of his eyebrow.

"I'm-" I didn't really know what to say to that. And I guess I didn't have to because the giggles won out. I started laughing and couldn't stop. Adam glared at me at first and then he broke out into a grin and joined my laughter.

"You're so," I breathed in between laughs, "stupid!"

"No," he countered, "you are. You're the one laughing."

"You're laughing too!!"

He continued laughing with me. I liked it. They way we were both able to let go so freely together. And then he grasped me around my waist and started spinning me around. It was unreal. I never thought him capable of this.

I could tell he was starting to get dizzy because we started teetering until we both ended up on the ground, shoulder to shoulder. I was gasping for breath and still giggling a little. I spared a glance towards him and found him in much the same position.

"Still hate me?" I ventured carefully. I hadn't wanted to ask him this because we were doing so much better, but it was still bugging me under the surface. What if he was putting on a front because he felt sorry for me? I'd rather know than go on pretending.

He turned his head so he was looking at me. The laughter was gone. My throat tightened. Maybe it would have been better to go on pretending. I held his gaze although everything within me was begging to break it. His eyes were more intense than I had ever seen him.

"Do you really think that I ever hated you?" he asked with a slight frown.

"I-" I didn't know what to say. The honest answer was yes. What else could I think? It's not like he was exactly nice to me.

"You do," he answered for me. And then he laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. It was a sad, harsh sound. "Oh my God. You think I'm capable of that."

I began to get a little irritated. "What else was I supposed to think?" I demanded. "It's not like every day was sunshine and daisies."

He closed his eyes and I looked away. Maybe he couldn't handle the truth. Maybe he did hate me at one point. It certainly seemed like he did.

"I don't hate you," he whispered at last. "I never did. I didn't understand you."

I was silent. I didn't know how to respond so I waited for him to continue. I didn't have to wait long. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again.

"You were so different. I didn't know how to react. Pete made fun of me because I would stare at you a lot before you came up to the counter that first day." He cast a nervous glance my way. "I... Then when you came over, I said the first thing I could think of. And it was not what I had wanted to say."

"Obviously," I murmured, thinking back on that day. It was the beginning of my obsession. I had been staring at him for days. Just like he had been staring at me, apparently. When I finally got the nerve to walk up to the counter, I had wanted to talk to him. But he assumed I was going to talk to Peter.

"Hey, what's the matter with you? I was clearly here before you," he started. I stared him, a little alarmed.

"I didn't mean-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get out of the way. I'm trying to order something, here," he replied, not bothering to spare me a glance.

"I wasn't-"

"Thinking? Yeah, I don't imagine you do that too often." I was devastated. I went back to my booth with tears in my eyes to gather my stuff. I just wanted to get away as fast as I could.

Forcing myself back to the present I finally looked his way again. He was still staring at me. I wanted to turn my head away, but I pushed myself to continue looking.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't really want to say those things, but the next day when I had resolved to apologize..."

"You were nasty again," I completed the sentence for him.

"Yeah," he sighed and broke the gaze as he sat up. He held out his hand for mine and I gave it to him as he helped me into a sitting position.

I sighed and looked into the distance, relieved to hear he didn't hate me. That he never had. I began to wonder if it was all a show.

"So what do you really feel for me?" I blurted without thinking. "I mean, I know you don't hate me, so does that mean we're friends at least?"

He laughed. I couldn't blame him. The way I'd worded it wasn't exactly elegant. I blushed as he continued laughing at me.

"Just answer the question," I said when he gave no sign of relenting.

"Right, right. Well, it's complicated, Hail," he began. I blinked at the shortened version of my name, but let him continue none the less. "Like I said, I didn't understand you. I was horrible to you every day, but you kept coming back. And then Pete told me you were in love with me."

My jaw fell. Peter was supposed to be my friend. He promised he wouldn't tell. "What?!" I exclaimed. "He said he'd keep it to himself!!"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, I might have forced it out of him."

I found myself blinking. "Why would you care?"

"I was curious. Why would someone willing put themselves in that situation day after day? So I asked Pete about it. And he just shook his head and said that there were some things I wouldn't understand. So I started questioning him until he broke. It took me most of the afternoon because he wouldn't spill. And I couldn't ask him while you were there."

I was silent. I wasn't going to interrupt him to say something snide, even as it was resting on my lips. He deserved to be heard out. I knew it wasn't exactly a confession of undying love, but it was as close as I was going to get right now.

"And when he finally broke it to me, I didn't know what to say. How to act. I couldn't believe it, either. I didn't understand how someone can be in love with someone who abuses them the way I did you," he finished softly.

"I didn't want to fall in love with you, Adam," I told him.

"I know." He sighed.

"So?" I urged. He had never really answered my question. Just explained the circumstances that led to his behavior. He looked at me and I arched an eyebrow. "Well?"

He hesitated. "I don't hate you."

"But you don't love me," I finished the unspoken part of that statement. "That's okay, I didn't expect you to-"

"I didn't say that," he broke in. "I didn't say that."

"What were you going to say then?" My heart was in my throat. If he really did love me, I didn't know what I was going to do.

"I'm... I'm extremely fond of you," he said. "I don't know if I'd call it love, but I like you. A lot. And I don't want anyone other than me to make fun of you."

I laughed. "Oh, right, you get exclusive rights."

"I'm serious. It bothers me when I see other people harassing you. Because I don't know if they're serious or not. I'm never serious. I don't mean anything that I say to you in anger. I mean it," he clarified.

I was touched. Deeply. I hadn't ever heard Adam speak that passionately before. About anything. And for him to be talking about me like that... Well, it brought tears to my eyes even as I smiled at him.

"I didn't tell you all that so you could start crying on me," he said, as he wiped a tear away with his index finger.

"I know," I replied. "I just can't help it. I... I'm so relieved!" And I burst. I was sobbing against his chest in sheer happiness. For once I didn't fight the tears that flooded my eyes. It felt good.

He wrapped his arms around me and whispered sweet things in my ear. It was nice. I felt loved even if he said he didn't love me. There was an implied yet in that sentence. I couldn't wait to make him love me. Starting from this moment right here, I was going to do my best to make him see that it was okay to fall in love with me. He pressed his lips against my forehead and I knew that it was not going to be too terribly difficult a task.

He just needed a little convincing first.

Owari

a/n: please don't forget to review!!