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Chapter Fourteen
Reaching into my closet, I feel my hands brush the shirt I've been searching for and I pull it out, dropping a few hangers along the way. I hold it over my body and examine it in the full-body length mirror hanging on the inside of my closet door. It's a simple, flowy blouse with the shoulders cut out and a design cut into the back. Turning around, I look expectantly at Angel, who's lying atop my bed.
"What do you think?" I ask, glancing down at it.
She lifts her head from where it rested on her paws and barks once, wagging her tail.
I chuckle and reach forward to pet her head, "I like it too."
I hear my phone buzz over on my bedside table and I drape the blouse over my desk chair before hopping onto my bed. I reach over and grab my phone from off of the table and unplug it from the charger, only for Hayden's name to flash across the screen.
I lay down on my stomach with my chin resting on a pillow as I read his text.
Hayden: Just you wait for your payback.
I laugh and shake my head, quickly responding.
Me: I would love to know what it is :)
Hayden: It's pretty diabolical
Me: I hope so
Hayden: You know I'm not one to disappoint ;)
I bite my lip and laugh, shifting so that I'm laying on my back with my arms up in the air.
Me: I'm quite curious...
Hayden: You sure you want to know?
Me: I don't have all night, Hayden. I have more important things to do
I can practically picture him rolling his eyes as he texts me back, and the 10% battery warning dances across my screen. I scowl and click 'okay' to make it disappear, too lazy to plug it back in.
Hayden: I'm going to make you admit to being friends with me.
I laugh and bury my face in my pillow as I chuckle.
Me: Damn, nightmares for life...
Hayden: Haha.
Hayden: But seriously, come over tomorrow for a rematch after our half-day, you'll see it was only luck the first time.
I snort and place my phone back on the charger since I was down to 2%. I roll off of my bed and head to my bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before bed. It's close to twelve AM, and I'm pretty much exhausted.
After finishing up in the bathroom, I walk back into my room and collapse onto my bed. Angel moves so that she's lying next to me with her head resting on the other pillow, and I hear Bruce trot into the room from wherever he was. He jumps onto my bed and lies by my feet, resting his head next to my leg.
"Goodnight guys," I yawn, snuggling deep into my fluffy covers.
They both grunt in response.
---
After school, I find myself driving to Hayden's house to hang out with him. We finished our project when I was over here Sunday night and turned it in yesterday, yet here I am driving to his house again with no project to get done.
There must be something wrong with me.
As I pull out of the school parking lot, my phone starts blaring out my ringtone and I reach over to answer without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Hey Cupcake, you on your way?"
I roll my eyes at the sound of his voice and turn onto the main road. "Yeah, if you still want to get your ass kicked again."
"Haha, really funny." He deadpans. "Do me a favor and get your dogs before you come."
"Wait why?"
"Elliot wants to see them. He still hasn't forgiven me for not letting him meet them at the park." He grumbles.
I chuckle and nod, "Alright, I'll bring them. See you in about twenty minutes."
"You know, hanging out with someone after school with no homework forcing them to is considered to be what friends do." Hayden muses.
I roll my eyes and hang up, tossing my phone into the passenger seat. "We're not friends," I mumble to myself.
I run by my house, barging in just in time to catch my mom's final word of her ludicrous argument against my dad. I pretend to hear nothing and greet them both with a hug, quickly explaining why exactly I'm kidnapping Bruce and Angel without revealing the fact I'm going over to a boy's house.
As I pull up to Hayden's beautiful house, Bruce and Angel start to go crazy. My mini-cooper rolls along the stone driveway and their tails go into hyperdrive.
"You don't even know where we are." I grunt, shoving Bruce back into the backseat since he started to climb into the front. He barks at me and I roll my eyes. "Oh hush."
"Doggies!"
I snap my head around and watch as Elliot comes roaring down the driveway and throws himself against my car, wrenching the door open so that Bruce and Angel can get out. They jump at the opportunity of an open door and practically pummel Elliot, tackling him to the ground so that they can examine who he is. I get out of my car to make sure they didn't crush him, and I see them attacking his face with kisses.
Not a second later, Hayden comes running out of his garage with half of one shoe on and the other one in his hand.
"Elliot!" He yells, hopping on one foot as he attempts to place his second shoe on.
I lift my hand to cover my lips as I giggle when Hayden almost falls, but to catch himself he uses my car, which I was leaning my back on; and he lands with his arms on either side of me.
His face is a mere inch away from mine, so close that our breaths are mingling and I can smell a hint of his aftershave left over from this morning. I feel his warm breath fanning softly against my face, sending a nervous jolt to my heart. His surprised eyes match my own as we stare at one another, and I notice his gaze breaking away from mine to glance down at my lips.
I swallow hard and try to steady my breathing along with my racing heart. "I thought I was the clumsy one?" I breathe, and his eyes snap back to mine, but there's something different about them.
He stares at me for a few more seconds before he smiles slightly and backs up, and whatever was in his eyes disappears into cool oblivion. "Sorry, I lost my footing."
I nod and try to slow my racing heart, forcing out a small laugh. "Yeah, I noticed."
He runs his hand through his hair and looks down at Elliot who is still on the ground with Angel and Bruce hovering over him. "Uh, could you get them off of my brother?"
I chuckle and thank God for that awkward situation being over with without me having to shove Hayden away if he got the wrong idea. "Bruce! Angel! Come here you two!" I say, patting my legs.
Their heads pop up and they quickly run the short distance to me, jumping onto their hind legs while using me as support. I yelp from surprise and almost fall backwards, but catch my footing just in time.
"You alright little man?" Hayden asks, lifting his little brother up off of the ground.
Elliot laughs and wipes his face free of dog slobber with the sleeve of his shirt. "Yeah!" He runs over to me and instantly is back petting Bruce and Angel. "They're so cute!" He exclaims.
I chuckle, "They definitely like you. I haven't seen them take a liking to anyone like this before."
Elliot gives me a huge smile upon hearing that news and starts running inside, calling them after him. They follow him without question and I watch in shock.
"They have never listened to anyone but me before." I say.
Hayden glances at me and chuckles, "Not anymore. Elliot has a special way with animals."
We walk into his house, passing his garage filled with classic cars, which he explains is one of his dad's hobbies, and we go to his basement. As we walk down the steps, I see Elliot already snuggled on the couch with Bruce and Angel.
"So nice of you to wait for me." I say to them, and they both give me a guilty look. I divert my path to the pool table instead of the couch, ready to kick Hayden's ass again. I grab a pool cue from off of the wall and glance back at him.
"Straight to business, eh?" Hayden smirks, grabbing his own pool cue. "I didn't know someone could be so eager to lose."
I snort, "I would think you would know all about that."
"Please, have you seen me?" He rhetorically asks, placing his arms out in some mighty gesture. "Reagan, I can never lose when it comes to girls."
His cocky attitude presses my buttons a bit, but I simply roll with it. I may not like that he's cocky, like at all, but there's no point in trying to change him. After all, he is tolerable.
"Right...." I trail off, and he chuckles.
"Just get ready to bow down to the king." He winks.
I snort and walk back to the pool table. "Keep dreaming, Summers."
"Of you? Always." He smirks, gauging my reaction.
I keep my reaction simple and only roll my eyes. I nod to his pool cue. "Let's play."
"New wager?"
I smirk, "You really want to have to do something that embarrassing again?"
He raises his brows with a chuckle, "Now who's the cocky one?"
I laugh and shift my weight, "Alright, what's the wager?"
"Loser has to kiss the winner." He winks.
I lift one brow. "I would lose in either situation."
Hayden mock flinches and lifts his hand to his heart. "Ouch, Cupcake. That one hurt."
I roll my eyes, "How about loser has to kiss Bruce instead?"
At the sound of his name, from across the room Bruce lifts his head from where it sat on Elliot's lap and cocks it. Hayden laughs and shakes his head, taking his wager off the table.
"Instead, loser has to buy ice cream." He says and I nod, accepting the fair deal.
---
"$10.50 is your total."
Hayden mutters something under his breath as he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet, paying for our ice cream.
"Thanks Hayden!" Elliot exclaims, running towards a booth with his triple-decker chocolate surprise.
I lick some of my raspberry ice cream and smirk at Hayden. "Yeah, thank you."
He gives me a sarcastic smile as the cashier gives him his change and we walk towards the booth Elliot chose. Bruce and Angel are back in the car, lounging in the back seat with the windows down.
"What if Bruce and Angel get hungry?" Elliot frowns as we sit down. "Shouldn't we get them some ice cream?" He pouts, looking at his brother.
I pout at him too, "Yeah Hayden, shouldn't we?"
He glares at me and rolls his eyes at his brother. "Here's five, go ahead and get them something."
Elliot grins and snatches the money from Hayden's hand, sprinting to the register. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Chloe.
Chloe: What are you doing? Wanna hang?
Me: I'm actually busy :/
I instantly text her back and pray she doesn't ask what I'm doing.
Chloe: Doing what?
I sigh and glance at Hayden who is scrolling through his phone and staring at something intently.
Me: I'm with Hayden
Chloe: Um
Chloe: Um
Chloe: WHAT?!?
Me: I went over there, had another pool wager, he lost and had to buy me and his brother icecream. No big deal
Chloe: Again, WHAT!?
Her next text has me scowling at my phone. She sends me a picture of herself with a giant smirk with the caption reading 'hate Hayden Summers, hmm?'
I roll my eyes at her text and place my phone face down so I don't have to deal with her rubbing my hypocrisy in my face. Instead I look across the booth at Hayden.
I start to think about how, somehow, his cocky attitude hasn't really bothered me too much. To be truthful he hasn't done anything to harm anyone. He isn't a bully, he isn't a bad guy...he's just over-confident. Yeah he makes out with a million girls, but they know what they're getting into.
I may not like that he's cocky, but getting to know him has proved to me that he's not an asshole.
"So are you going to keep staring at me or tell me why you can't keep your eyes off of me?" He asks casually, licking some of his ice cream as it dripped down the side.
I blink rapidly for a few seconds to focus back in on him. I need to learn how to stop staring so blatantly at people.
"I was just in thought." I mutter, licking my ice cream and avoiding eye contact.
"Care to share?"
"Not entirely."
"If you don't say anything I'm just going to assume the dirtiest." He shrugs.
I snap my eyes to him and see the mischievous smile dancing across his face, lighting up his eyes and showing his single, adorable dimple.
I keep my eyes trained on my half eaten ice cream as I reply. "I was just thinking that you may be annoying as hell, but..." I sigh. I can't believe I'm about to say this. "Maybe you're not as bad as I assumed."
I see his eyes widen in shock and then fill with relief. Not a second later the light happiness in his eyes melt into cockiness and he gives me a deep smirk, but in this case- and this case only- it's acceptable.
"I thought you hated me?" He mocks.
"I'm not repeating it if that's what you're looking for." I scowl.
He grins and leans back in his seat. "So, does this mean we're friends?"
I scrunch up my face to hide the stupid smile that wants to show. "All I said was that I no longer want to run you over with a car, that doesn't mean we're friends."
He barks out a laugh, "I'll get you to admit it sooner or later."
"But there's nothing to admit?"
Hayden sits forward and places his forearms on the table, leaning across it and closer to me. I can faintly smell his cologne through the sweet smells of this store, and I have to force my eyes to stay on his instead of traveling to his muscled arms- not that looking at his eyes is any easier.
"Cupcake, you and I are at an ice cream parlor together. Alone. You're lucky I'm not calling this a date."
The blush starts at my neck and slowly spreads to my cheeks, and I rack my brain for a witty response that will offset my obvious flustering.
"Hayden..." Elliot calls as he runs towards us, saving me from total embarrassment.
Hayden stares at me for a few more seconds before he sits back and puts his attention on his brother.
"What's wrong?"
Elliot rings his hands together and starts doing the guilty rock with his feet, keeping his eyes on the floor.
"Bruce ate your change..."
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