Hayes grier fanfic: Because Of Him

Chapter 24

**after the party**

Hayes's POV:

I picked up some of the shards of the broken glass that was on the floor and threw it in the trash. I wasn't sure why I was cleaning the house after the party, maybe I was just doing it to clear my mind. "So tell me again what happened with you and honey?" Dylan asked. Most of the guys were in bed passed out or still out of the house wandering the streets. Crystal was asleep in bed where I had last seen her. "It's nothing..." I muttered. I didn't look up as I spoke. "Shut up and just tell me Hayes"
"Tell you what?"
"What happened! I know something is up. You look more pissed of than you usually do."
"She pisses me off..."
"But you love her"
I rolled my eyes. "I don't love her. I don't even care about her."
"If you don't care about her why are you even putting the effort into talking about her?"
"...whatever. I just don't love her!"
"Stop lying to yourself."
I threw one of the red solo cups in my hand and stomped my foot on the floor. "Shut the fuck up Dylan! What are you even trying to say?! What bull shit point are you trying to prove?!"
"I'm proving that even though crystal came back, you shouldn't have left honey to be with crystal."
"And why not?"
"Dammit Hayes, do you not see what she does? She's only been back for a day and she's ruined your new relationship and your bitching at the people who matter to you! Just earlier today you had an argument with Nash!" He was right. I did have an argument with Nash. But that was normal. Or at least Thats what I thought.
"I..." I croaked. I didn't know what to reply with. Nor did I have the courage to make eye contact with Dylan.
"That's what I thought," he hissed "Hayes...just get honey back."
"There's no point..."
"What do you mean?"
"She said she Hates me..."
"That was the anger talking. What did her eyes say?"
"What did her eyes say?" I said repeating what Dylan had said to make it sound clearer to me.
"Yeah."
"Sadness," I said "I saw sadness."
"That means she cares." I took a deep breath. After several breaths I noticed how tensed my body had been all night and how much anger I was holding on to.
"Hayes, do you want honey or do you want crystal?"
"After tonight...I-I don't know."
"Let me rephrase that, do you want the girl who makes you happy or the girl who crushed your happiness."
"The girl who makes me happy."
"Then go get your happiness back." It occurred to me that it was the alcohol that took over me. And it also was the twisted tricks that crystal had up her sleeve. Sure she had the body of a goddess and the most seductive voice. But id rather choose reading books and having stupid arguments with honey all night long. But then again, i was still angry. I was angry that my heart was toyed with. How I was just a bet to her. A bucket list, a lie, just some game. I meant nothing to her. And I won't ever will mean anything to her. If I had the chance, I would tell her how much I loved her. Because who knows the next time I will be able to say those words again to her.

I love you honey,

And I always will.

Even though I probably was a dandelion in a rose garden to you, you will always be a thousand roses in my garden.

Honey's POV:

I opened the door to my house with my key. My sister had dropped me off earlier and explained to my mom what had happened. Leaving out the part with Hayes and everything. I had went for a long walk through the cold night to clear my mind. I texted harmony earlier to see if she wanted to come over, I needed to talk to someone. hopefully she would be at my house in a few minutes or so. I walked inside and I inhaled the warm smell of red velvet cookies. That could only mean one thing...aunt savannah was home. I smiled to myself as I dropped my keys on the kitchen table and went to give both my mother and aunt sav a hug. "How are you feeling?" My mom asked as she gazed at me. "I'm fine."
"Why? Wait, what happened to my precious niece? Tell aunt sav what's wrong." My aunt savannah said as she spoke in a tone that made me sound like a five year old. I laughed at her as I took a deep breath trying to figure out how to explain to her that I had been dating a bad boy.
"Nothing aunt sav. Just a boy that's all..."
"A bad boy that's what." My mom blurted. "Mom!"
"What? Is it not true?"
"Oh my god," aunt sav said shockingly "tell me you used protection!"
"No!," I yelled "I mean, no! Like, I didn't have sex with him!"
My mom giggled as she stared at my aunt who looked like she was about to have a heart attack.
"My fucking heart dear, you scared the shit out of me!" Aunt sav yelled
"Language!" I yelled imitating my mother who was holding on to her sides as she laughed.
"But really hon, what happened?"
"Nothing. I mean it. We just...we realized we weren't right for each other."
"Is that so?"
"Yes it's so. I don't need one of my daughters dating a bad boy, especially one who sneaks out at night and goes for a cold swim where he could get hyperthermia!" My mother retorted. "Oh...dad told you about the swimming pool incident...?"
"In gods name he did."
"Where is dad anyways?"
"Oh, um, well, he uh went to work."
I wasn't sure why my mother was stuttering but I've had a long day and wasn't one to argue at the moment. "But it's late..."
"Exactly. His work called him. Some emergency. He'll be back in a few days...hopefully." She whispered the last word silently and she averted her gaze towards me. I felt a chill go up my back but just shook it off. My aunt, mom and I surrounded the kitchen table as we devoured the fresh red velvet cookies. "So, this Hayes kid, did ya love him?" My aunt mumbled. I felt uncomfortable to say the word love and Hayes in the same sentence when my mother was around. "I wouldn't say love him. I would say...cared for him."
"Do you still care for him?" My mom mumbled as well through the cookie in her mouth. "No...I don't." Wasn't sure if what I had said was a lie or not. I was unsure of my feelings towards him at the moment. "Are you sure?" Aunt sav asked
"I'm sure."
"Well good, that kid was no good anyways." My mom yelled as she gulped the last bite of her cookie.
"Mom, I thought you liked Hayes? Considering how nice you and dad were being towards him, I just thought-"
"We wanted you to be happy. Your father wanted you to be happy. And if Hayes made you happy, we wouldn't even hesitate to welcome him into our family. Considering your father is-" she stopped stopped speaking and her face expression faded into something that would only appear if you saw a ghost.
"Mom? Are you okay?"
I saw a lump form into her throat before she spoke. "I'm fine." There was a moment of silence before my aunt broke it. "Anyways, enough of this Hayes bullshit talk"
"Language!"
"Whatever," my aunt sung in a musical tone "how about we get over a tough break up by celebrating with a movie marathon and junk food?" She clapped her hands together. I looked at her and smiled. "That sounds-"
My phone went off and saw it was a text from Dante.

From Dante:

Come outside.

I frowned at my cell phone screen before shutting it off. "Sounds good, but can I have a rain check? Someone sort of messaged..."
"If it's hayes I want you to burn that phone." My mom hissed. I laughed again. "No, no, it's Dante. He's outside. I'll be back later."
"Don't stay out too long, love you" my mom and aunt said in unison. I grabbed a sweater. "Love you too." And went out the door.

I shut the door behind me as a fog of air escaped my mouth from the coldness. I caught eye contact with Dante who's hands were shoved in his jean pockets and he was smiling. "Why are you here?" That came out ruder than I expected.
"Ouch," he said sarcastically "that hurt." He put his hand towards his heart. I shook my head as I smiled. "But really, what brings you here?"
"I heard about what happened with Hayes."
"That fast huh?"
"Not really. I heard it from Riley."
"Since when were you close friends with Riley?"
"Since- nevermind. That's not what I'm here for."
"Then why are you here?"
"I wanted your company for when I buy a bouquet of roses"
"Why do you need to buy a bouquet of roses?"
"For harmony." I gave him a smirk.
"Oooh," I said in a musical hum "harmony huh? All these years, you finally have the courage to-"
"No! It's for her singing competition! I wanted to congratulate her. She also sent me over here because she couldn't make it tonight to hang with you. So you're stuck with me."
"Ew gross." I said sarcastically.
"Very funny, now, you ready to go?"
"Let's go." I said.

**
We arrived at the small flower shop a few blocks away from my house. The door chimed open and the smell of daisies filled my lungs. "What's Harmony's favorite flower?" Dante asked
"She likes tulips."
"How come I don't know this?"
"I don't know. The subject never came up and you're a guy. You don't care about flowers. Do you?"
"True."
We wandered the flower shop more and I could sense the smell of flowers leaving its mark on my clothes. My phone rung and it was an unknown number. I hesitated to answer but in the end I did. "Hello?" I said.
"Well finally! You answer!" A voice exclaimed
"Who's this?"
"Dylan."
"How'd you get my number?"
"I have my ways"
"You're sneaky aren't ya?"
"Well shit, of course, I'm Dylan. But anyways, I wanted to fill you in on something."
"And what's that?"
"You're not done with the 10 destinations."
"What do you mean?"
"Just because you don't wanna be here. Doesn't mean you're going to miss anything."
"And your point is...?"
I could hear Dylan's deep exhale before he spoke. "What I mean is, through the next few destinations I'm going to secretly video chat you so you can still see what's going on. This will also help keep your eyes on Hayes."
"Why should I keep my eyes on Hayes?"
"Because you still love him."
"I don't."
"You're just as bad as a liar as Hayes is."
"Hey! I'm-"
"Whatever. I'll call you again tomorrow bye." He hung up. I glared at my phone. Well then.
"Who was that?" Dante said as he took a good sniff of the flowers in front of him.
"Dylan just being Dylan, anyways, did you find the flowers you're going to give to harmony?"
"Yup, here they are." He held out a few tulips that were in his hand.
"Good. Let's go pay for it then, I gotta get home."
"Alright." We walked to the counter that was at the back of the store which was buried behind the dozens of flowers. Dylan dropped the flowers onto the counter as I scrolled through my phone. "That'll be $15.70" the cashier said. The voice sounded recognizable. And my heart jumped. I brought my gaze up to meet eyes with the cashier.

"Carter?" My first question was: why the hell was he working at a flower shop?