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Chapter Nineteen
"Because your knight in shining armor is here to protect you."
I furrow my brow at him as he throws his shoes into the corner of my room.
"Uh, Bruce is already here?" I say.
Hayden gives me a flat look, "I meant me, Cupcake."
I roll my eyes against my small smile, "I know." Then I register the meaning behind his words and my face heats up. "Wait, you're, uh, staying-"
"The night? Yes I am." He grins, gripping the bottom of his shirt and pulling it off in one swift motion.
My eyes instantly zoom in on his abs and my mouth suddenly goes dry. Way to give a girl a warning before taking the breath right out of her.
It's not fair or healthy that he has such an effect on me...
I shake my head to distract myself and for once I think he actually missed my blatant staring.
"Uh, why are you staying the night?" I ask, hugging my arms to myself when I remember I'm not wearing a bra and this shirt isn't exactly thick.
He chuckles at my apparently stupid question.
"So that you won't be scared. You know, chivalry and all that?"
I raise one brow. "Chivalry?" I deadpan.
He nods and then he pauses and eyes me up and down. "Nice pajamas, by the way." He winks.
I look down at my attire and see that I'm wearing my cousin's old boxers with one of my dad's old t-shirts. It's not exactly sexy- more lazy than anything.
I shrug, "Well, all those movies that have girls sleeping in skin tight tank tops aren't true."
He chuckles, "I know that. I like your look- it's cute." He muses, sending blood to go rushing towards my cheeks.
Hayden is spending the night but I only have one bed. My face goes an even darker shade of red as I think about sleeping in the same bed as him, and he must notice my slight panic as my eyes dance from him and to my bed.
"Relax, I'm going to sleep on the floor." He says with an easygoing smile.
I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and nod, "Thank you."
He sends me a teasing smile. "See? I respect girls."
His comment sends me into a guilty grimace. I attacked him about not respecting girls a few weeks ago when we first started working on our project together, and it may have been slightly uncalled for.
"Hayden, I said that before I actually got to know you-"
He waves it off. "I know, Reagan. Don't worry about it."
I look bashfully down at my floor and fiddle with the carpet. I can't explain why a small part of me seems slightly disappointed that he's chosen now to be chivalrous and is going to stay on the floor.
At the same time, it doesn't seem entirely fair that I make him sleep on the floor or on anything less than a comfortable bed. He is taking time out of his own life to stay here with me and make sure I'm okay.
"I'll go get the extra bed then," I say, walking out of my room. I get the roll-away from my parents room and roll it down the hall, failing miserably and slamming it into the wall. I mutter out a few curse words under my breath and try again, this time fitting it through the door.
"So clumsy," he hums as I almost trip over a stray shirt on the floor.
Hayden helps me set the bed up and, once we get the sheets on, I lay down on top of it.
He raises a brow as I get snuggled into it. "What are you doing?" He asks.
I sigh and sit up, "If you're actually going to waste your night with me, then you at least deserve the comfy bed."
He cocks his head, "I'm not wasting my night, and you should sleep in your own bed."
I shrug and close my eyes as I lay back down. "Well I'm not going to move."
I peel one eye open to see his reaction, but he's simply giving me a hard look. He doesn't offer up anymore of a rebuttal and sits down on my bed regretfully.
The two of us get settled down for bed, and since we both have stopped talking, I realize that Tangled is still playing on my TV. Hayden must notice too because he nods towards it, his beautifully buff arms behind his head with his body propped up against my pillows.
"I can't see the movie from down here." I complain. From this angle so low on the floor, my actual bed is blocking my view of the TV sitting up on my dresser.
Hayden leans over the bed to look at me and smirks. "Come cuddle?"
I scowl at him and throw my pillow, hitting him in the face. He laughs and picks it up, placing it next to him. "What is with you and attacking people with pillows? I was only messing with you." He rhetorically asks. "But seriously, come on Cupcake. We don't have to cuddle." He says, nodding to the other side of my bed.
I debate just going straight to sleep from down here- after all I have seen this movie an abundance of times. On the other hand, Tangled is amazing and it doesn't come on TV too often.
With an internal sigh realizing Chloe will never let me live this down if she finds out, I get off of my small, uncomfortable roll-away and climb into my own bed next to Hayden. I didn't realize when I stood up that with the way my bed is set up, I'm going to have to climb over him in order to get to the other side of it.
That sly dog must have known that too.
I suck it up and quickly climb over his legs in the least sexiest way to keep him from getting any crazy ideas. His eyes shine as I sit down next to him, and I see a sense of utter happiness swimming around in his eyes.
"I knew you couldn't resist." He winks, arrogance coating all other emotions.
My face falls into a scowl at his words and I start to climb back over him to get off of my bed, "And that's my cue to leave."
Hayden laughs and gently grabs my arm to stop me. "Oh come on Cupcake, I was kidding." He says, but I narrow my eyes at him. He gives me his best puppy dog eyes to portray innocence he definitely doesn't have. "I'll be good. I promise."
My eyes roll on their own accord and I sit back down. Hayden is under my covers, so I'm sure to stay on top of them. This is kind of awkward, not going to lie. I'm laying in a bed with Hayden at midnight on a Friday night watching a movie- out of context this could sound very suggestive.
"Tangled is an alright movie." Hayden says as I get settled. "Elliot loves it, though."
I laugh lightly, slowly getting comfortable. "He does? Isn't it more of a girls movie?"
He chuckles and looks over at me, blue eyes shining. "He's a romantic at heart," he says, and after a few seconds he flirtatiously adds, "like his older brother."
I chuckle and roll my eyes at him and we fall into a comfortable silence, both watching the end of the movie. Once the credits roll onto the screen and it turns into a late night special, Hayden speaks up.
"Hey Reagan?"
"Yeah?" I respond through a yawn.
"What did you mean the other day when you said your parents don't get along?" He comes right out and asks.
I'm taken aback by his question and he tilts his head to glance at me.
"I mean how do they not get along?" He specifies, if only slightly.
I look away and start fiddling with my covers. "They're just always arguing."
"I'm sorry," Hayden says quietly. "When did that start?" He carefully asks.
I sigh, "They've been arguing for the past few years, but it just recently got worse. It used to just be maybe once a week, now it's every night." I say quietly, regretfully.
From the corner of my eye, I see Hayden frown and reach his hand out to find mine. He gently rests his large, rugged hand on top of mine and squeezes comfortingly. I snap my head towards him from the action and he offers a small smile.
"If it ever gets unbearable, my place is always available. I'm always there for you." He says softly, then he quickly adds with his eyes a little widened, "You know, if Chloe and Logan are busy or whatever."
I smile lightly and turn my hand over to intertwine my fingers with his. Our fingers naturally mold together and I squeeze his hand in response. "You're a good friend, Hayden."
An amused smile forms on his lips and eases the mood. "So I'm officially your friend?"
I roll my eyes and shove him, taking my hand from his once I realize how intimate the action actually is.
"I couldn't deny you forever." I respond playfully.
He smiles, "Where are your parents anyways?"
"They went out for the night. I'm glad, they need it." I say, and then my mood turns sour again when I think of them coming home just to argue again. This is the first night in a while that I haven't had to worry about them fighting.
Hayden notices the switch in my mood, and I hear him sigh. "You aren't the only one with messed up parents," he admits.
I look at him and see his eyes trained down on my comforter, and his response is quiet and timid.
"My mom cheated on my dad."
My eyes widen as he dives into the story.
"I caught her when I was playing on her phone. I saw all the messages, but I was forced to keep it a secret because I didn't want to be the one to ruin their relationship." He says, eyes focused tightly in front of him. "I wasn't the same around her for a long time. My dad found out a year after I did, and it was probably the hardest time for me. I was at the end of my fifth grade year."
My heart pulls at the dejection in his voice. "You were really young." I comment quietly.
He snorts humorlessly. "Tell me about it. No fifth grader should have to go through that. My dad got remarried about three years later, to Taylor. She had Elliot right before she met my dad, and his dad lost a battle with cancer before he was born. Elliot was about two and a half at the time they got married."
I think back to all my conversations with Hayden in search of him ever mentioning his mother, but I come up blank. He's never once told me about his actual mother before.
"What happened with your mom?" I ask carefully.
He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "She moved away. Everyone in the neighborhood found out about what she did and resented her for it, even I did for the longest time. She lives about an hour away now." He explains.
I nod, taking in all of this information. "How often do you see her?"
"Every other weekend." He mutters. "She started over. Got a new job, new friends."
"New family?" I hesitantly ask as he trails off.
Hayden glances at me and his lips twitch into a smile as he shakes his head. "No, no new family. I'm still her only son. It never worked out with that guy she was cheating with. He had a family of his own, and once she got divorced he was too much of a pansy to admit to his family what he was doing to them and they lost contact." He says, playing with his fingers. "Maybe that was for the better, though."
I stay quiet while I watch Hayden. I can tell he's thinking about something- the way his eyebrows are scrunched together, how his eyes are slightly glazed over and aren't focusing on anything in particular, the rhythmic breaths he's taking. His mind is elsewhere right now.
Then he snaps out of his daze and turns his head towards me with a small smile. "You're one of the few people I've actually told about all that."
I blush at his words and then chuckle. "That's what I get for saying we're friends, huh?"
He chuckles and nods, "Pretty much."
We talk for a little longer before I get off of my bed and go back into the roll-away on the floor. My eyes were starting to close on their own after Hayden's confession and the last thing I wanted to do was fall asleep on the bed with him.
However, as I lay here with the TV off and my room pitch black, I find that I can't sleep. I've been laying here staring at the ceiling for the past half hour despite how tired I thought I was.
"Hayden?" I whisper against the silence of my room.
I assume he's awake because I haven't heard him snoring and he just seems like the type of guy who would snore.
"What's wrong Cupcake?" He asks, his voice laced with sleep.
I sigh, "I can't sleep."
"Are you going to ask me to sing you a lullaby?" He asks, causing my lips to twitch up into a smile. "Because I may have the looks every girl loves, but I cannot sing for the life of me."
I snort and shake my head, "No, I just can't sleep." I say with a sigh.
"How come?" He asks, and I can hear him shift in the bed.
"I have a lot on my mind." I say softly.
"Like what?" He asks.
"I just want to know why." I say as I turn over, trying to find his figure through the dark of my room.
"Why what?" He asks.
"Why you're being so nice to me." I say quietly, vulnerability seeping into my words. "How we even became friends."
He sighs, "I want to know how."
I scrunch my brow. "How what?"
His response is soft, the opposite of his burly personality. "How you don't see it."
I'm too tired to decode what he said, even though I know it has some sort of deep meaning. So instead of pressing him any further, I finally fall asleep snuggled into my blankets.
Sometime during the night, after a scarily vivid dream of my dad tucking me into bed with a kiss upon my head, I wake up to see that I'm laying in my own bed. I confusedly look around my room and see Hayden laying on the roll-away with the blanket draped lazily across his bare chest, his face somehow still looking angelic even in his sleep.
Bruce and Angel are asleep by my feet, and it's as if nothing changed. Except I'm in my own bed and I definitely wasn't when I went to sleep.
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