Falling Slowly

Chapter Twenty-Six: Thanksgiving Dinner

Beautiful new cover and graphic in this chapter made by my friend, Ly! She makes 99.9% of all the graphics and covers I post (as you all probably already know.) She has a thread and if you want something made, feel free to ask me and I'll give you her name. She's amazing and my beta fish! xD 

Okay. So enough of my ramblings! Hope you all enjoy this chapter ♥ Happy Reading! :D

Chapter Twenty-Six: Thanksgiving Dinner

Liam

I had the disconcerting feeling that I was marching into a war zone as I trudged up the familiar path to Hayden’s townhouse. There were two other cars aside from Hayden’s ’67 Chevy Impala parked in the driveway. Mr. Vanchester’s old and beat up Ford Taurus looked out of place to the Impala’s immaculate black exterior, the surface shiny beneath the sun’s rays. The other was a ’06 Ford F150 dark blue truck which I could only guess belonged to the Weatherly’s.

Balancing the store bought apple pie to my left hand, I rung the doorbell, and waited. My nerves were shot as I impatiently drummed my fingers on the plastic surface of the pie covering. A muffled “Coming!” reached my ears and a second later the door opened.

“Hey,” Hayden said. He opened the door wider, revealing a red foam finger cover his right hand with a big #1 printed on it. His eyes narrowed and asked, “Alabama or Auburn?”

I shook my head, aghast. “My loyal to the Crimson Tide has yet to change.”

He nodded and stepped aside, allowing me to come in. “I’ll let Anya know you’re here.” I nodded as I shrugged off my leather jacket, hanging it on the coat rack by the door. “Anya!” Hayden hollered. “Liam’s here!”

“Thanks for that introduction.”

Hayden chuckled, clasping a hand on my shoulder. “It was a bet between Gem and I. She’ll owe me five bucks later when I win.”

“What’s the bet?” I asked curiously. His mouth quirked into a sly, knowing grin as his eyes fixed on a point behind me.

I turned around and saw Anya striding forward, dabbing her hands on the yellow apron she wore. There was a smudge of powder on her nose that I wanted to gently wipe away. But it was neither the time nor place. I was acutely aware of Hayden’s eyes flickering back and forth between me and Anya; a lazy smile plastered on his face.  

“Hey.” She smiled and quickly looked at the ground when she caught Hayden’s gaze. When her eyes flitted to me again I noticed the rosy tinge to her cheeks. Hayden crossed his arms over his chest and suppressed a laugh as Anya flashed him a hard look. 

“Isn’t there somewhere you need to be – like, I don’t know…” She shrugged and bit her lip, her mind churning for an idea. Hayden waited expectantly, amusement apparent in his green eyes. I could practically see the light bulb flash on in her eyes when she said, “I heard Auburn made a touchdown on my way over here.”

The grin on Hayden’s face slowly turned into a mask of horror. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me!” He took a step back and began to retreat down the hall, muttering underneath his breath, “Damn dirty Tigers.” As a last minute thought he pivoted on his heels and added, “You remember your way to the den, Rowely?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll be there-”

There was no point in finishing my thought as Hayden waved his hand and continued down the corridor, disappearing around the bend.

Turning to Anya I said, “That was a good way to get rid of him.”

She laughed. “Yeah, well, that’s Hayden for you. He can make a situation turn awkward with the snap of his fingers. I have no idea how Gemma deals with him.”