Fixing Her

Chapter XXXXVIII

I don't know why her words made my smile grow so much. I know about everything she said, and yet, my smile is a bigger curl than all of my hair strands together.

"Missed me ladies?" Parker asks when he climbs inside the driver's seat.

"Yeah," Elaine says. "Breathing hurts without you."

"Well now I'm here. If you pretty girls haven't forgotten your phones, lipsticks, pepper sprays, whatever crazy shit you're supposed to have in your bags, I hope you're ready to leave?"

"Oh shit," Kaitlyn mocks him. "I forgot my gun."

"Dylan has two."

He stamps on the gas and starts the drive towards school, the whole way talking and laughing with us about, believe it or not, periods.

"Of course I respect it," he says. "I wouldn't be able to bear it."

"We don't have much of a choice," Kaitlyn tells him.

"Sorry."

He picks up the phone call, and the conversation is interesting. That's why no one speaks. "I've got all my men ready Chip, they're on place.... Nothing is gonna go wrong, he will.... Don't worry, the responsibility is on me, all the connections are pointing at me. No one else is taking the blame..... I've got it covered and ready, I spoke to them..... Thanks man, I will too. Thank you for everything, you've done a lot. It's been an honor..... Yeah, there. We will....."

He puts the phone on the seat beside him, and I decide to break the silence right there.

"Parker-" I try.

"No, Hayden," he interrupts me. "Don't worry about it, it's just some problem at the station. I'm just gonna fix them. Don't worry. Any of you. You'll just go and have fun and keep the boys away from Colton. Tell me all about it later okay? Come on."

I realize we've reached school by the time I was worrying about Parker's business.

He walks out and I see the four other boys walk out from the car beside us.

"My God," Dylan is the first one to comment. "You look incredible."

I lock eyes with Landon, a smile growing on his face. He is, just like me, remembering the night in my car that has existed simply because of this dress.

Yeah, the one you spilled the beans about to your friends?

"It was really worth the wait," he says, and the whole world just fades out of the picture. "You look absolutely gorgeous. I don't find any words to describe you Hayden, you're stunning."

From the heat on my cheeks, I can tell I'm blushing. I know my face is red, and that's not because of the makeup Kaitlyn put on it.

My smile gets harder and harder to ignore, so instead of hiding it, I let it take over my face.

"Thanks," I bring myself to say. "You look great too."

Great is an understatement. He's wearing a grey suit with a white shirt. He looks really different from his usual jeans and T-shirts style, but there's still that touch of Landon to it since he hasn't taken on neither bowtie or tie. Formal clothes suit him, and even though the style of his hair hasn't changed as much as you'd expect it to today, he still looks really good.

"Thanks."

"Get them home safe or I'm cutting all your balls off," Parker threatens as he takes a step towards his car.

"Parker?" I call for him when he opens the door.

"Yeah?"

I don't know why, but I just throw my arms around him.