Strings

Chapter 30

"Now you're the one who's staring!" I exclaim, surprising myself.

He doesn't respond, just tilts his head towards me, a sly smirk spreading across his face, replacing the smile he had on previously. If he looked beautiful before, he looked devilishly handsome now.

"you won't deny?" I ask hesitantly on getting no further response from him. His smirk only grows.

"No reason to; I can't help but stare."

Stop.

The treacherous red makes itself known all over again and I've the urge to hide under the table and spend the rest of my life exactly their. Why must he be so brutally honest all the time?

"Skittles!" I say suddenly.

"huh?" he asks confused.

"S-skittles, my favorite candy is skittles; especially the red and purple one's. I don't dig the others so much." I keep going. Don't ask me where this is coming from, I don't know it myself. All I know is that I needed to change the topic and this is the first thing that popped in my mind.

Kill me. Kill me right now.

Hayden is full blown laughing at this point. But quietens down eventually as he sees how red I've become and how I am mercilessly fiddling with the ring on my finger. He places his hand on top of mine, to ease me physically for I was anxiously on edge; his eyes soft all of a sudden.

"Mine are Snickers; I've been munching on them since I was a kid."

My eyes widen at him. Is he finally opening up to me? What started as an attempt to save myself from embarrassment had now smoothly transitioned to us being able to know about each better. I for one, was just glad that I was finally going to know something about him that wasn't all over his Wikipedia page already.

"My absolute favorite thing to eat is a nice serving of Alfredo Fettuccine with either shrimps or mushrooms. Oh! and with extra cheese, lots and lots of cheese; preferably Parmesan; also my favorite!" I add, careful not to sound too excited or pushy that'll end up with him closing up on me all over again.

"I don't mind a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese myself; I actually didn't like them so much earlier; but Sam took me to this wonderful little corner in the city when we were in college. We were both hooked since."

"D-did you like it? when you were in college, I mean?" I ask softly.

"Not as much as most people do, I guess; I was extremely ambitious and rarely allowed myself to enjoy the typical college life as most people do; I knew I had potential so I never wanted to waste a second of my time in anything that wouldn't reap me profits; I knew I was privileged but in a way I felt like I had to earn it  well and earn it right before I could ever claim it, so I never stopped working. I only allowed myself to heavily work out, to get my mind off things."

"Well it all certainly did pay off" I add, meaning it.

"What about you? did you enjoy college?" he asks his gaze now fixed on me as his eyes bore into mine. What was with the sudden intensity, I think shrugging the uneasiness away.

"Oh I loved my time at university; I was away from home so in so many new and different ways I felt free like I didn't have to live up to do anything. I was only going to work hard and do my best; and as long as I did that; I was satisfied. What really mattered to me was that I wasn't lacking in any way; that's all. Shelly and I, had the best time together; do you remember her? She was there at the wedding."

"I seem to recall her, yes; wasn't she your Maid-of-Honor?"

"Yes! she is the craziest person I know" I say laughing. "Most of my time in college was spent in rescuing her ass from all the trouble she always got herself into." I add laughing, reminiscing about a time I was truly carefree.

"Andd did you date in college? Was there someone you liked?" he asks suddenly, looking away.

"God no, you know college boys; you were once one yourself!" I add laughing.

"But no, Shelly did try to set me up a couple of times but most of them only wanted to know if and when Olivia would come visit again and the rest only tried to butter me up to get to my dad; so lord knows I kept my distance although a couple of them were quite adamant"

"hmm" he only grunts in response.

Sensing the change in tone, I settle down immediately. But I don't let it get to me; this wasn't much but at least this was a start. He can be really fun if he wasn't so guarded around me all the time.

We finish the rest of our meal in silence, him being closed off again and with me looking around awkwardly not being able to pinpoint what was it that I said that pushed him back.

"Oh and before I forget, dinner at your parent's tonight. They're throwing a little formal event of sorts so we'll be meeting a lot of people; get dressed by 5." he says all at once as he gets up to leave, evidently done with breakfast.

I, on the other hand, am still reeling. I am not ready to back to my house, I am not ready to face mom and dad, least of all Olivia who for once refused to travel anywhere and postponed all her current events. That alone terrified me.

"Hayden!" I call out. He turns toward me slowly, urging me to continue. Okay Avery you can do this. Tell him no, he'll understand.

"I- I can't go!"

He raises his eyebrows; "Why not?"

"I'm uhh sick. I've got a little temperature I t- think" I say, placing the back of my hand at my forehead for extra emphasis.

"Hmm is that so?" he asks, taking slow tantalizing steps towards me.

Hi god, its me again. This was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas; what was I thinking? Please let the earth split open and swallow me whole; please god, please please.

He stops right in front of me, pulling my hand with force, so I clash right against his chest. I refuse to look up as I keep my gaze fixated on his shirt, which obviously was a sad feeble attempt because his hand cups my face only for his Index finger to settle under my chin before he pushes it up, forcing me to look into his eyes. Which were currently raging by the way.

My breath hitches, and I know I am as red as I could possibly be. He holds the stance for a moment too long, not proceeding any further with it.

"You're hot all over Avery, but I don't think it's the temperature." he mutters softly against my ear.

I freeze instantly, so much so I didn't even realize when he took a step back, and another, and another and before I know it he was already turning to go to his office upstairs; and it was only then when I registered that I was alone by the table that I allowed myself to breathe.

****

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