Because You're Different ✔

80. Monster

Sam

Hayley sat down cross-legged on my bed with huddled shoulders, letting her gaze travel through the room. Oh shit. Probably should've cleaned up. I had no idea how I'd done it, but in the short time I'd been home I managed to scatter about a dozen socks, create three piles of shirts and pants, and litter the floor with candy wrappers. I bent down to pick up an empty ginger cookie packaging, carefully placing it on my desk. "Err, I'm going to recycle that," I said, flashing her an uncertain smile.

She laughed, one of those giggly laughs, making her toes wiggle in the penguin-socks. "You know, you used to like, hate me for telling you to sort your trash."

"But I still did it," I said. "And have you seen the solar panels on the roof? That was my idea."

She smiled slyly, tilting her head. "You want a medal for that? There's a lot more to do before you've earned that, Sam. You know what I did today? I finished building a compost heap."

"Well, I drive an electric car!"

"I rarely drive."

"I planted a tree!"

"I planted ten trees."

"Yeah, well, I'm a vegetarian!"

That made her break out into full-blown laughter, the whole of her shaking as she let herself fall back on my mattress. What was so funny? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was dead serious. This was a matter of life and extinction, and she should know that, with her majoring in Environmental Studies.

She turned her head to me. Her hair was spread out around her, and her shirt had ridden up, revealing a part of her belly. "Oh, I forgot that you could be so adorable," she said.

Adorable? I was adorable? Who did she think she was, calling me something you used for puppies? I opened my mouth — but closed it again immediately. Maybe being adorable wasn't that bad. I mean, she loved puppies, right? So, yeah, maybe it wasn't that bad, not coming from this cute girl that was lying in my bed at night, in those funny penguin socks.

No, no, no! Do not get distracted by hot chicks in your bed. Focus on the mission! That was the most important. I couldn't forget, and I couldn't let myself get sidetracked. If I'd try anything with Hayley, I'd surely mess up. And she thought I was a knucklehead anyway, so there was no point. Besides, she might not even like guys. "Yeah, right, okay," I said, hoping my face wasn't as red as it felt like it was. "Let's evaluate what we saw."

For some reason, she rolled her eyes at that. "Are you a college professor or something?" she said, sitting up again. Her hair was slightly static, and she started combing through it. "It was pretty straightforward, right? They were flirty, then she cried and ruined it."

Okay, that was pretty much it, yes. Thank god she didn't go into more detail. It still felt icky, seeing them like that. I'd wanted to barge in and break up their little meeting more times than I could count. If Hayley hadn't been there, I probably would have. "Yeah, so, next time, what do we do to stop her from bawling like a baby?"

"Err, what about telling your jackass brother not to bring up her dead dad again?"

Fair point. I still couldn't believe he did that. You'd expect that from me, not from him. "Yeah, but it's not like we can do anything about that, right?"

She let out a deep sigh and held up her hair, like she was tired of her head carrying the weight, then dropped it again. A pity, since she had nice shoulders. Wait, what could be nice about shoulders? They were just humps of meat with bones in them. "Actually," she said, "I think we can't do anything at all. I mean, unless you want to go to them and yell 'kiss already', I really think there's zero options. It's out of our hands. Your brother has to do this on his own."