“Please. Pretty please, with a cherry on top?” I can almost hear his hands held together, begging, pleading for me to open the door.
“Hmm,” I say with my finger tapping my chin. “I don’t like cherries.”
“Okay, well, what do you like?” He asks slowly, trying to figure me out, and it’s freaking hilarious how desperate he is to get this door open.
“I like weed,” I quip.
“Okay. Please. Pretty please with a fatty on top, can you open the door?”
I never knew I’d find so much enjoyment out of making a man beg!
“Hayden!! Why are you just standing there? Get your ass in there, or I’m getting the castration bander!” Jessie screeches from down the hall, and it’s enough to send a shiver down my own spine. I’m not even the one in trouble.
“I’m fucking trying!” He growls.
Turning the knob, the lock clicks, and the door creaks as I swing it open. “Can I help you…” I trail off, pretending to forget his name.
“Hayden, and don’t play games right now.” He barks.
“Ah, that’s right. I knew it was something like that, but I was going to say Harold.”
“Harold? That’s just downright offensive. You might as well call me Dick.”
“Oh! That’s perfect!” Snapping my fingers, “I shall call you Dick.” He huffs, running his hand down his face.
“Alright, I’m done torturing, come in.” I step aside for him to step in, but I leave the door open for Jessie to listen, because I know she will.
He walks in with his hands raised in surrender, “I’m just trying to be nice and make things right. I crossed a line I shouldn’t have earlier, and for that I’m sorry.” He sounds genuine, but that doesn’t satisfy me.
“So let me get this straight, you think you can march up here, pull a forced apology from your ass, and expect me to accept it?” I’m not that forgiving. “We both know Jessie sent you, so tell her whatever you need to, but leave me alone, please.” At this point, I just want to go home. I’m sick of whatever games they’re pulling on me. Nothing makes sense to me right now, and the whole aura of this place is starting to scream red flags to me. Tonight has already been a shit storm that I want to get out of, so if he just goes back to whatever he was doing before, that would be one less thing for me to rack my brain over.
He sits next to me on the bed, causing the mattress to sink, and leans into my shoulder. I re-situate myself, scooting over to keep distance between us.
He’s looking down at his boots when he says… “She did tell me to come apologize, I won’t lie about that. I was thinking about it earlier, and I did regret trying to scare you away. But you’re going to need friends, and I’m not talking about only Jessie.” He runs his hands down his face, like this conversation is killing him.
“So what are you saying, Hayden?” Why would I need more friends? What the hell is going on that he’s keeping from me? Why does he act like he’s in with some kind of gang? His bouncing leg and nervous lip biting do nothing to relieve my already agitated nerves. Something is off, and I can’t place it.
“I’m saying,” He lets out a long breath. “I’m saying, maybe we could be friends, and I can help you out around here.” He tilts his head and peering up at me from where his chin rests on his palm.
Despite Hayden’s large, intimidating stature, I can tell he has a big heart. He rubs the stubble along his jawline with the hand he was resting his chin on. He’s trying to plan his words carefully, without saying too much. Psychology has taught me a lot about reading people. Sometimes it’s scary what I learn about a person without them having to tell me.
“Okay, sure, and we can be besties!” I say sarcastically with wide eyes and my hands clasped under my chin. We both bust out laughing.
“Alright, smart ass. We can move slowly, acquaintances first.” He holds his hand out. “Deal?” I take his hand, shaking it.
“Deal.”
Ryder
The party moved down to the basement like it usually does at this time of night. The only difference is that the number of people is tripled, making the room hard to breathe in comfortably. I sit on the sectional in front of the TV, watching rock music videos, trying to tune out the obnoxious crowd behind me. Theo and Liam toss the ping pong ball back and forth across the folding table before they prepare it for our own spin on beer pong.
“You’re supposed to keep the ball on the table,” Theo taunts, agging Liam on.
“Yeah, and you’re supposed to catch it.”
They argue like siblings. Speaking of siblings, I haven’t seen either of mine down here. Not that I’ve looked. I’ve kept my head down and hidden as much as possible down here to avoid attention. I ditched Lexie after Kelsey ran back into the room. I accomplished what I needed to, and hopefully she found a way home. She was too drunk to drive, but I have a feeling she didn’t drive herself here anyway.
“Get your miserable ass up here and play.” I look up to see Liam standing behind me with his arms crossed over the back of the couch.
