Chapter 47: Go sleep!
"That movie was awesome!" I shout excitedly as we walk out of the cinema.
"Sometimes I wonder if you aren't a six year old." Tristan slides his hand in mine.
"Depends. Can six year olds kick butt?" I ask.
"Good point." He laughs.
"It's time to take the kids home. They must be really tired." Tristan informs me, but I don't notice a hint of sleep as I gaze upon the Emily and Evan who are busy gushing about the movie. They are jumping around and actively acting out some of the scenes.
"They still seem energised to me." I tell him.
"Trust me, when we get home, they're gonna pass out faster than the speed of lightning." He chuckles and my focus falls on how his face has been showing a lot more happiness lately. His eyes seem brighter, as if the sun has finally risen in him. His smile is wider, and does not show on his lips only, but as well as his face.
"Are you checking me out?" His teasing voice slices through my thoughts.
"Yes. You actually have a pretty smile." I admit.
"Because of you." He pecks the side of my head, causing a blush to attack my cheeks.
...................
"Told you they were tired." Tristan wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his side, as we walk down the stairs.
"Yeah. After an hour of playing hide and seek, in which you always cheated." I playfully slap his toned chest.
"Hey! Who said you can't open your eyes to see where they are hiding?" He protests.
"It's the rule of the game, idiot." I roll my eyes and release myself from Tristan's grasp to go to the kitchen while he goes to the TV room.
"So are you telling me that if you're chasing someone because they stole something, you're gonna close your eyes first so that they find a hiding place, then you chase after them?" He enters the kitchen and heads straight to the fridge, to pull out a bottle of water.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'll do." I lie.
"No wonder I'm smarter than you." He shakes his head after taking a sip of water.
"Who said you are?" I arch an eyebrow. I've never known his GPA score but I'm pretty sure mine tops his. I doubt Tristan can beat a 3.9 GPA score.
"I bet your GPA is lower than 4.0." He smirks.
"Yeah..." I say rather slowly. "What's yours?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He teases me.
"Oh, please tell me!"
"Nope. You'll find out by yourself... eventually."
"And that's why you'll always be a jerk." I cross my arms over my chest and pout.
"Your jerk." He corrects me.
"Yeah, right." I mutter sarcastically.
"Wanna watch a movie?" He grins proudly. He must be proud that I am irritated because he loves seeing me in this state.
"Nope. I'm tired. I just want some ice-cream then I'm going to sleep." I walk over to the fridge and I open the freezer, and take out some vanilla ice-cream.
"Can I come with you?" He asks. I open a cupboard and fish for a bowl, and once I have found it, I scoop myself some ice-cream.
"Nope. We have seperate rooms for a reason."
"But you're leaving in two weeks." His arms wrap themselves around my waist and he rests his chin on my shoulder. "And I wanna spend as much time possible with you." When I actually come to think about it, I never thought that staying at the Wilder's mansion wouldn't be so bad. When my mom literally forced me to stay here, I was livid. The thought of staying under one roof with that jerk while the rumours were busy circulating, made me want to hurl. But turns out everything became worse only for it to become better. I actually enjoyed my stay.
"I'll still be here tomorrow." I turn around to face him, and he takes this as a chance to press me against the counter, but the bowl of ice-cream in my hands acts as a barrier between us.
"That's not enough." He slightly pecks my lips.
"Too bad." I liberate myself from his caging arms and walk past him.
"Not even a goodnight kiss?" I hear him ask behind me.
"You already took it. Night." I walk up the stairs and I actually feel tired after the climb. I need to slow down on eating foods with high calories and work the treadmill instead.
"Women." He mutters loud enough for me to hear from the second floor.
"Heard that!" I shout out to him. "And we're still going to discuss your sister tomorrow."
"Go sleep!"
...................
"So, this one?" Kaitlyn asks Peyton and I who are sitting down on one of the leather seats while Kaitlyn is trying to pick out the perfect dress for tonight's party.
"Nope. Not your colour." Peyton tells her. We have already bought our dresses. Mine is a black long sleeve lace dress and it reaches my mid-thigh. Peyton chose to buy a red dress which hugs all her curves and has few cut outs on the sides.
"Try going for a beige dress to bring out your eye colour." I say, but they only stare back at me with wide eyes and dropped jaws. "What?" I ask.
"Nothing." They both reply simultaneously.
"I do have an eye for fashion, you know?" I answer their mental questions and roll my eyes.
"Who said you didn't?" Kaitlyn shrugs her shoulders.
"I wanna go home and sleep and watch animation movies while eating Oreos and ice-cream." I whine.
"Oh no, missy. You're going to that party." Peyton points her index finger in my direction, warning me to not even think of bailing out on tonight's plans.
"I know, I know. Even if you have to kidnap me." I roll my eyes stubbornly. "Look, I've already bought a dress, so I'm not backing out." Assurance seeps out of my voice.
"Good. Now, a dress." Kaitlyn grins, clapping her perfectly manicured hands fervently.
We decide to leave the store we're currently in, since it has nothing appealing to the eyes at the moment, and we agree to go through a few more stores. The two neighboring clothing stores also have nothing that compliments Kaitlyn's figure and features, so we continue to venture through the building.
While walking through the busy streets of the mall, my eyes land on a man who almost looks like he is nearing the ages of sixty, with black hair covering his head, but also with a few locks of hair taking over his roots. Next to him, is possibly his daughter, a young redhead and gorgeous woman who doesn't look a day over thirty, modelling a casual pair of jeans, a turquoise spaghetti strapped shirt and a black pair of platform heels.
They seem to be having fun. Spending father and daughter time, just the way it's supposed to be. A bonding experience, as most people say. They seem to have a life covered with your basic normalities. I may not have an x-ray vision of their lives, but my eyes notice how a somewhat burning flames of love surround them, ensuring that no one can escape the barrier. It's the love between a father and daughter or a mother and son.
I wonder what would've happened if things were different in my life. If we were walking on a different path, a different direction. What if for once the sun rose in the west and set in the east. The world would be different. Our lives would be different.
My life would be different.
I wonder if I'll ever find the answers to my 'what ifs' questions...
Henry is my father... I think, but how can I be too sure about it. There's still doubt swimming in my mind, causing havoc wherever it goes. I struggle to wrap enough trust around Henry, though he might be telling the truth. For all I know, a criminal's tongue still carries the ability to enable a truth to roll from it's lying tongue.
The only way to clear the raging storm right now is to hear the cause from the horse's mouth. I need clearance and clarification. I need answers to my inquiries. I have to ask them... ask her...
I change my line of vision, focusing it on a man standing next to a bench. His gaze also seems to be fixed on me. Shaded sunglasses shield his eyes and he seems to be talking into some sort of earpiece, like the ones in the movies.
"Right, Hailey?" A voice causes my train of thoughts to come to a halt.
"What?" I ask once I've snapped out of my reverie.
"I said it's better if we eat now and look again later..." Kaitlyn says with confusion bleeding out of her trailing voice.
"Yeah... sure..." I try to mask my emotions. "I'm hungry."
"What's wrong?" Peyton asks, placing a hand on my shoulder for support.
"Nothing. Really." I hope they are convinced. "Let's go order McDonalds."
"Hailey, feel free to tell us anything. Okay?" Kaitlyn says sweetly, seeing through my facade. Honestly, I've never had such caring friends in my life before, excluding the people I once called brothers.
"Will do." I tell them. "Can we go now? My stomach can't handle the emptiness any longer." I point in the direction of the food court.
"Okay. Let's go." And we rush to go fill our hungry stomachs.
...........
A/N: apologies for taking a long time to update. Writers block is a serious issue.
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