Recovery | On Hiatus

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

      THAT NIGHT, AFTER Hayden had left and I'd successfully snuck into my bedroom without Darrin cornering me, I heard a tap on my window.

      And it scared the living shit out of me.

      After a moment of silence, I uncurled from my fetal position and slowly headed towards my bedroom window. At seeing a figure in my tree, I squinted to identify my intruder.

      "Hayden?"

      He grinned, his voice muffled by the window as he said, "Hey, Red."

      I furrowed my eyebrows and opened it. "What the hell are you doing here?"

      "Coming to see you," he answered, tugging at his piercings with his teeth before releasing them. "Was that not obvious?"

      I glared. "How did you get up there?"

      I followed his gaze down to the bottom of the tree, feeling stupid as he answered, "I climbed?"

      There weren't many branches to latch onto, so it must have taken him a long time and a lot of body strength to get all the way up two stories. Looking back up at his muscular but lean form, I wondered how he mustered up the strength to climb that thing.

      "Hey, I know I'm hot and all," he started, a lopsided grin lighting up his cheeks, "but could you let me in? It's kind of freezing out here."

      I blinked as I processed his words before scoffing and stepping away from the window. "Pig."

      He laughed lightly at my comment and carefully climbed high up the tree's trunk and into my window. "Fox, maybe, but I wouldn't say pig."

      I crossed my arms as he shut the window behind him, a shiver racking up his body from the cold, winter air. "Why a fox?"

      He rubbed his arms for warmth, his grin growing. "They're beautiful, clever—"

      "Never mind," I interrupted. "I don't care."

"Well, that's a little rude." He casually took a seat by the light pink pillow like he owned the bed before patting the space beside him. "Come sit."

I hesitated before reluctantly taking a seat beside to his right. "Since when do I care about being rude to you?"

"Since I saved your life." I tensed at the words, and the guilty expression on Hayden's face told me he knew he should have kept his mouth shut. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," I dismissed quickly. I didn't want to think about it, and talking about what happened would make me do just that. Darrin had been on my mind enough for one day.

Silence ensued as Hayden scanned my room. Not much bad changed from when I was little; the walls were still a pastel pink, just a little lighter than the pillows Hayden leaned on and sheets underneath the white comforter. Across from the bed was the bedroom door, and the window Hayden climbed through was to the wall left of my bed. The few decorations I owned consisted of a white bookshelf to the right of my window and a few miscellaneous objects scattered around the room. I needed to clean my room.