LOVER TO LOVER ━ AHS Hotel

THIRTEEN

"Of course, I've been on a fucking date, Percy," she scoffed. "I just ..." She paused, clamping her teeth down on her lip, busting a crack. "What would we do?"

Percy's eyes darted away from hers. "Uh ... we could just have it here. It doesn't have to be anything fancy." His hand ghosted over one of hers, and she didn't move an inch. "Is that weird?"

Hadley frowned and fell back on the bed, allowing her head to bounce against the springy mattress. "Aren't there better things to do?" She asked, turning her head to glance at him. "Like ... reading Dracula. We keep forgetting to and you promised me."

His brow furrowed. "Is this you rejecting me?"

"No!" She exclaimed, sitting up quickly. Hadley immediately grabbed his hands, as if on instinct. Percy trembled at the skin contact, but he'd never let go. "I just don't like first dates. They're all the same."

"I can change it up."

Hadley's brow shot upward. "You're going to change it up." She almost snorted, but she didn't want to come off as insulting. "Percy, I've been around a lifetime longer than you. I'm not one of your college girlfriends that you can give an ounce of weed to and hope that they'll want to call you the next day."

Percy laughed loudly. "You really think I'm like that?"

"That's beside the point."

"Listen, I can be suave," Percy assured with a wicked glint in his blue irises.

Hadley narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, what's with the hesitation?" He chewed on his bottom lip, hoping he wouldn't have to ask the next couple of words to fall from his mouth. "Do you just ... not like me? In that way?" He then pointed a finger in her direction. "Because that kiss gave me conflicting reports."

"It's not that. I guess, I'm just scared that ..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked off to the sunlight invading the room from the small crack in the curtain. Hadley turned back to him, and to his surprise, smiled. She squeezed his hands. "Okay, sure. Why not. I'll go on a date with you, Percy."

He was ready to jump off the bed and do a happy dance, but before he could embarrass himself, she was yanking on his hands, pulling him closer with a wide smirk. "And make it a good one."

•••

Hadley distinctly remembered Percy telling her that their first date didn't have to be anything fancy, and she had been grateful for that. But now he was barging in and out of the room with Liz and Iris as his assistants, requesting that she dress nice for tonight. Hadley arched a brow as he stared at her with a big grin on his face, and she asked, "I thought this was supposed to be simple."

Percy looked off to the side and shrugged. "But you also said to make this first date a good one, so I'm doing just that." He spun on his heel, meeting Liz and Iris by the doorframe, before looking over his shoulder and pointing in Hadley's direction. "Dress nice, cool?"

Hadley nodded. She'd be a good sport – for once – but that just meant she needed to somehow steal one of Elizabeth's nice dresses without being noticed.

She took the elevator up to the penthouse when she knew the Countess would be visiting her other siblings in the playroom. Although she knew Elizabeth wouldn't be in the suite, Hadley still found herself tiptoeing through, opening the doors to her bedroom without making a sound. She quickly went to work, sifting through Elizabeth's hoard of dresses that she refused to wear anymore, before finally finding one that wasn't too much. It might be a little tight on her – she was a bit bigger than Elizabeth, and bustier – but she'd make do.