According to Doctor Willowman, Hunter had been showing constant improvement these days. The day after the charity gala, I visited Finn at the hospital and he had me sign a few documents to increase my brother's daily dosage of medicines.
Since that day, his medicines have changed to something stronger and I am very happy to see the vitals chart showing more progress. The only downside to all this is money.
Since the medicines are now of a different grade, their costs have also changed. And it was a little difficult for me to handle because I literally had no money and I didn't know how I was going to pay for his medicines the next month too.
Dale actually paid for this month's dosage and told me that Hunter was her brother too; she can pay for his medicines – I didn't agree. I told her, I will pay her back as soon as possible.
I may need to start looking for a second job. The search is going to suck!
The weekend that followed the charity gala, I spent it with the Manhattans in their beach house. I don't really know how I ended up there. Well, that's a lie. I surely knew how it happened.
James and Paige wanted a small family vacation – with their sons and their girlfriends. According to world, I was still Nicholas' girlfriend and that entitled me to go.
Nicholas came to the café on Wednesday, cornered me with the same 'you respect my dad' card – again. And I had to accept his offer because it involved money and I needed money.
I used that money to pay back Dale what she spent on my brother's medicines and then saved a little for the next month's medicines too – yeah, Nicholas has been a very generous fake boyfriend.
Money was not the only reason as to why I accepted the offer, it was also because this offer gave me a weekend away from Brody and Dale who have been constantly fighting and also I get to spend time with Paige and James. It's a win-win.
The only downside was Elena, Christopher's girlfriend.
Since Matthew didn't have a girlfriend, only Nicholas and Christopher were bringing their girlfriends to the beach house. I was instantly nervous about going there. Elena didn't like me; I was sure of that. I was also sure that she was going to openly show it to me this weekend if everyone in the family brushed her off like that day in James' party.
Nicholas had picked me up from home last night and had drove me to his beach house. The drive here was silent and bickering-free, mostly because I was so tired and had dozed off to sleep a few minutes after we had hit the road. When we had reached the beach house, it was way past midnight and Nicholas had practically carried me along with my bags up the stairs to our room.
Yeah, you heard me right.
When I woke up this morning, I was still dressed, but was lying practically on top of Nicholas as he snored away. Well, just kidding. He didn't snore.
I had silently crawled off of him and freshened up before making my way out of the room and down the stairs where I heard Paige instructing someone to get the fondue from the kitchen.
Fondue? Seriously?
I'm so going to end up eating a ton and become fat this weekend.
I entered the dining hall to see Paige standing near the table, looking over the food that had been arranged over it. Matthew was sitting at the table too, looking like he had just woken up, he had his head on top of the table, eyes closed.
"Morning," I greeted Paige with a kiss as I entered the dining hall.
"Good morning, sweetie," she smiled at me and watched with a smile as I sat on the chair next to where Matthew had sat, "How did you sleep?"
"Good, mom, thanks."
"It is weird to hear you calling her 'mom'," Matthew grumbled, slightly lifting his head to look at me.
"Why?"
"Think about it," he gave me a look before explaining his previous statement, "You and your boyfriend are both calling her 'mom'."
"Well, I don't find anything weird in that," I shrugged, opening the pot in front of me to check what was for breakfast.
"You don't find it weird because you are weird by yourself."
"I'm just going to take that as a compliment."
"You should not. It was an insult."
"I didn't find it insulting."
"See? I told you, you are weird."
"Thanks."
"And there you go again taking it as a compliment."
"Well-"
"Look at you bickering so cutely," Paige cooed, chuckling slightly, "Why didn't you guys date?"
I scrunched my face in disgust, while Matthew looked at his mom like she was crazy, "Um, maybe because she is dating my little brother and also because I don't like her."
"The feeling is mutual, Manhattan."
Matthew gave me a look, before looking at his mom, "You know what I meant, Dixon."
"I saw you both talking to each other in James' birthday party. You guys were pretty close," Paige said, looking between me and Matthew, "I thought somehow you guys will end up with each other."
"Oh, yeah?" Matthew raised an eyebrow at her, before turning to look at me, "Then you are dating the wrong brother."
"But he is the right man for me," I played along, giving him a sarcastic smile.
"Your loss," he shrugged, "You are not my type anyway."
"You have a type?"
"Yes," he answered nonchalantly.
I turned slightly so that I was facing him completely, "So, what is your type?"
Matthew smiled at me, a glint in his eyes, "I will tell you, but then I will have to kill you."
"Good morning, mom," Nicholas entered the dining hall, walking to his mom and kissing her cheek in the form of a greeting.
"Good morning, Nick," Paige smiled at him and watched as he walked to where I sat on the table and kissed my forehead.
"Good morning, Hay."
I was taken aback by his display of affection in front of his parents and his brother, but managed to not show it out on my face as I smiled at him. "Good morning, Nicholas."
He slipped into the seat next to me, his eyes crinkling with humour, "What is this I hear about you being with the wrong brother?"
Before I could respond to it, Matthew beat me to it, "Well, mom thinks that she thought Hayley and I would end up dating."
"Oh, really?" he humoured him, turning to his mom, "You wound me mother!"
"And there he goes with the theatrics!" Paige grumbled, wordlessly turning around and walking into the kitchen.
Nicholas narrowed his eyes at his mom's retreating figure, before turning to look at Matthew, "You are not getting my girlfriend, Matt!"
Matthew pressed a hand to his chest, acting as if he was hurt, "You wound me, Nichole!"
"You deserve it, Mattie!"
I chuckled a little to myself, looking between the brothers, obviously amused to see this side of both Nicholas and Matthew.
"You don't get to call me Mattie!" Matthew whined, glaring at his brother, "You promised you wouldn't!"
"You called me Nichole!" Nicholas complained.
"But-"
"Girls, girls," James walked into the dining hall, an amused smile on his face, as he looked between his sons, "Enough of this. We are thoroughly entertained. Now go, get yourself cleaned up and come back down for breakfast."
"But, dad!" Nicholas whined and I had to resist the urge to laugh out loud.
"No, buts, Nick," James shook his head at his son and pointed his finger out of the dining hall.
Both Matthew and Nicholas grumbled, before sliding out of the chair and heading out of the dining room, probably to their respective rooms to freshen up before coming down for breakfast.
"You enjoying yourself here, kiddo?" James asked, sitting opposite to me, his eyes fixed on me, a small smile playing at his lips.
I shrugged, smiling as well, "It is good to see this side of Ni – your sons," I corrected in the last minute, "They seem carefree."
"They are always like that on a vacation," Paige said, entering the dining hall and joining our conversation as well.
James sighed, "They work too hard. They deserve to be carefree once in a while."
I didn't say anything to that. Mostly because I can read about Manhattan brothers and how hardworking they are, I can hear about it through people, but I would never really know how hardworking they are because I have not seen it with my own eyes. I didn't know what to say.
After a few minutes, James cleared his throat and I looked up, "My boy," he nodded his head towards the exit and I presumed that he was talking about Nicholas, "Is he treating you well?"
I smiled, "Don't worry, James. Nicholas is treating me like a princess."
"As long as you are happy, Hails," James nodded, "You deserve to be happy and if my son keeps you happy, so be it."
I nodded, choosing to remain silent.
"It was all very fast," Paige commented out of the blue.
"Huh?"
"Things between you and Nicholas," she shrugged, "It was all very fast. We didn't see it coming. It was a surprise to everyone."
"A good surprise, right?"
"Of course, Hayley," she chuckled, "Of course, it was a good surprise. We couldn't imagine someone better than you for Nicholas."
"And after that girl Penny, I think he deserves someone like you," James added, "Someone good, kind and caring."
I so badly wanted to tell him that this was all not real and was all a lie. I felt slightly guilty that I was doing this to my best friend and his lovely wife, but I didn't have another way. I sighed internally. When the issue with Penny comes to an end and has blown over, I'm sure Nicholas will find someone good, kind and caring – this time for real. She wouldn't be pretending to be his girlfriend for money.
"So, are Christopher and Elena here?" I asked, trying to stir the topic off of me and my relationship with Nicholas.
"They are on their way," Paige said, "They'll be here any minute now."
"And we'll all have to tolerate with Elena and her whining for one more weekend," James sighed, shaking his head with a pitying look on his face.
Paige shot a look at James, gently slapping his shoulder, "We are here for a weekend off, away from everything, James. And that includes drama too. Don't try to pick a fight with her and create any trouble for me here."
James looked offended as he turned to look at his wife, "I never pick a fight with Elena!"
She gave him a 'Really?' kind of look, "You did last time."
"Well, what did you expect? She was snooping inside my room."
"Her dog wandered inside your room, James."
"That's what she said," James shook his head, "I didn't see a dog with her when she walked out of the room, alone."
Paige sighed, obviously tired of the argument, "I'm not going to argue with you. Don't pick a fight with Elena and that's all I'm asking you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," James grumbled.
Paige turned to me, a smile lighting up her face, "Why don't you go and get freshened up too before they came here, honey?"
James snorted, "What she says is that, go take a bath, you stink, Hails."
Rolling my eyes at him, I stood up, gently pushing my chair inside the table, "Says you, James. You stink like a hobo on a summer day."
"I do not!"
I didn't hear his protest as I walked out of the room, a victorious smile on my face.
"I don't stink like a hobo on a summer day, do I Paige?" I heard him asking his wife.
"Um, I was always taught not to lie?" Paige said with a sympathetic tone.
"Not you too, Paige!"
Paige said something in return which I didn't hear properly because I was already out of earshot from them. I laughed a little, shaking my head at them as I climbed up the stairs to the room that I and Nicholas shared.
I knocked on the door and tried to open it, but it was locked, meaning that Nicholas had locked it from the inside. Sighing, I knocked on the door again, this time harder than before.
"Nicholas!" I huffed, "Let me in!"
A chuckle erupted from the other side of the door, "Now, now, Hayley," he clicked his tongue, mocking me, "Is that the way you request something from someone?"
Crossing my arms over my chest, I rolled my eyes, imagining bashing the idiotic man behind this door's face into the wall, "Let me in, please?"
A few seconds later the door opened and the snappy, rude words that I had conjured up in my mind for Nicholas were about to come. Only they didn't. They died a natural death on my tongue and went back to my heart to get buried there.
Nicholas was standing in front of me – shirtless. I repeat, shirtless.
And my heart was going on an overdrive.
I was a twenty-year-old girl with my entire life ahead of me. In fact, I have the majority of my life lying in the future, waiting for me to live and experience it. But judging by the way my heart was beating right now, that was not going to happen, because I'm going to be getting a heart attack any time now, thanks to Nicholas and his lick worthy chest right in front of my eyes.
Jesus!
Now, don't get me wrong, because men and their body were not something new to me. I had dated a boy with such a great, chiselled body for a long time. Men and their body have never fazed me. Hell, when I was still in High School, I used to work as a manager of our football team and I was surrounded by half-naked boys for most of my shift hours in school. But, holy hell! What was this man? Some kind of God created species, I guess. And what were those. Eight packs? Wait a minute. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, oh my God! He has eight packs – and I had slept next to this Greek God last night.
Snap out of it, Hayley Dixon!
This is Nicholas Manhattan, the man that you hate more than you hate the Kardashian family. The man who takes satisfaction in insulting you every single time he could. The man who will ruthlessly crush you after his work with you is done and he doesn't need you to pretend being his girlfriend anymore. Wake up!
And that was enough of a wake-up call for me.
I had a really hard time peeling my eyes off Nicholas Manhattan's body, like a really hard time. And when I looked up at Nicholas' face, I was sure that he had enjoyed my reaction to his half-naked self and my inner turmoil with myself. The smirk that was resting on the side of his lips told me everything I needed to know.
I had made a fool out of myself. And I have to get myself together before I made a bigger fool out of me.
Swallowing, I walked past Nicholas – a very shirtless Nicholas – inside the room that we both shared. I took extra care not to accidentally touch him when I walked past him. Even as I did that, there was a part of me that was yearning to touch that rock hard chest of his.
What was wrong with me?
Apparently a lot.
Shaking my head at my own stupidity, I walked to the bag that I had packed for this trip and opened it. As I rummaged through my bag for something to wear, I thought about things that would actually gross me out, like my dead Grandma's ass which she let out in the open that one night a few years ago in the middle of a party when she had a little too much wine to drink. I was hoping that it would control my raging my hormones.
All the while I could feel Nicholas' eyes staring at the back of my head and by the way the hair on my arms stood up at the attention that he was directing at me, I know that his stare was intense and if I turned and looked at him, I wouldn't survive.
"You okay?"
I almost slapped myself when I heard the amusement dancing in his voice. He so caught me, checking him out. Resisting the urge to bolt out of this room, I nodded, still not facing him, "I'm fine."
"Okay," he drawled, as he closed the door, probably turning to face me – or more like my back, "If you say so."
"I did say so."
That was all I said, before fast walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me.
Yup, I made a total fool of myself.
An hour or so later, I stepped out of the bathroom and I was glad when I saw no signs of Nicholas in the room. Sighing, I towel dried my wet hair as much as I could, before walking out of the room to join the others. Appearing in front of my best friend and his family with wet hair was not an important thing to worry about right now.
Elena Morgan was.
When I reached the dining hall, I was not very surprised to see Elena and Christopher already sitting with the others. They were all having a conversation and Paige was making an effort to include Elena into it as much as she could. Even though everyone in this table, looked like they got along good, there was an underlying tension in the air that could not be explained.
"Hayley, there you are!" Christopher explained, getting out of his chair to greet me with a warm hug.
I returned it, smiling as my heart did a happy jump, probably the anxiety, "Hey, Chris. You look good."
"You too," he chuckled, pulling away from me and ruffling my already messed up hair a little.
"Wow," Elena scoffed, giving me a look, "What happened to your hair? Did someone pull you backwards from a bush or something?"
Pretty much.
Before I could reply her, James beat me to her with it, "That's a result of something called hair wash, Elena. You should try it sometimes."
Elena masked her furious look with a strained smile in the direction of James, while I struggled with how to react. Paige shot James a look as if to say 'shut up', while the others in the room just laughed it off, probably thinking it was some kind of a joke or something. Well, I knew it was anything but that.
James ignored Paige's look. "We have been waiting for you, Hails," he smiled, "You sure took your sweet time."
"Well, she kind of needs it badly."
James sighed, turning to look at Elena again, "Not as much as you do, sweetie."
I acted as if I didn't hear either of their comments as I walked across the room to sit next to Nicholas at the table. When I lifted my eyes up to smile at Nicholas, in hopes that at least he will act normal and insult my messy wet hair, but much to my surprise, he was already looking at me, his eyes carrying questions that I don't have the answer to, his eyes travelling slightly between me and Elena.
I smiled at him, struggling to mask my unease as I took a seat next to him on the dining table. When the breakfast was served, I was more than glad for the distraction. It was a welcoming one.
I silently started eating the breakfast while everyone else at the table, chatted away while eating. It was as if this was the way their breakfast went every weekend, I think I should bring Dale with me on my next visit here. At least she can get chatty once in a while with these people. Not to mention, it would be a good get away from Brody for her.
"You okay?"
I smiled at Matthew who was on my right and whispered back, "Just missing my friend."
"What was her name again? Dale?"
"You remembered!"
He grinned, proud that he had managed to remember my friend's name, "What can I say? Memory is the only thing I have."
"The only thing?" I raised an eyebrow at him, disappointed because somehow it felt like he was putting himself down, "You forgot your insanely good looks and your ruthless business skills. And your charming smile. And your-"
"Okay, okay," he chuckled, shaking his head at me, "I think I got your point."
Christopher left the table to go take an important call, against all the protests from Paige and James, who, I think should have by now gotten the point that there was nothing that can stop their sons from taking business seriously – not even a family vacation like this.
"Um, Hayley, I think you forgot your boyfriend there," Elena spoke in her cringe worthy voice, pointing to Nicholas on my left.
Nicholas frowned at her, looking at me and then at her with a confused look, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that your girlfriend has spent most of her time at this table, whispering to your brother that she seems to have forgotten all about you," she said with her voice full of pity.
Paige cleared her throat, for the first time ticking with supressed anger, "Well, considering that you have spent your whole time at this table, watching Hayley and Matthew, it seems to me that you are the one who has really forgotten your boyfriend."
Elena blushed a deep red, her eyes downcast with embarrassment as James burst out laughing, proud that his wife has for the first time put Elena at her place, instead of asking him to stay silent.
Nicholas chuckled looking at Elena as he draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me into his side. His posture relaxed, "I have no problem with my girlfriend spending time with my brother. At the end of the day, they are just friends, and I know who she is going to sleep with tonight. Yeah, I get to tap that."
My eyes widened as the table burst out into chuckles and I turned bright red, looking at Nicholas with a mortified look on my face. And that jerk had the nerve to wink at me.
As Christopher returned, stress lines visible on his forehead, I think, I was not the only one who noticed just how much frustrated he looked. I saw Paige discreetly place a hand over his shoulder and squeezing it comfortingly. In return, Christopher just faked a smile at her, his way of telling her that there was nothing to worry about.
As the conversation picked up again, Elena turned to me and I knew it was time for round two for her to pick on me. Does this girl ever give up? I really didn't want to channel all of my inner Regina George at her, but if I was pushed over the edge, I will not blink an eye before unleashing all my inner bitch onto her.
"So Hayley, what do you do?" Elena smirked at me as if she got a master plan going on inside her pretty little head to embarrass me, "You going to college or something?"
I smiled at her, struggling to swallow my food, "Or something."
"So, you don't go to college?"
"No," I shook my head, "I'm a full time waitress at a café downtown."
"A waitress?"
"Yeah," I nodded, not letting the disgust in her voice get to me.
"Wow, you must be really poor," Elena said, her eyes shining with malice, "How on Earth did Nicholas even find you?"
"He met me at the café."
Elena scoffed, "You don't even belong with us."
"Well, not all of us are lucky enough to leech off of daddy's money now are we?" James snapped, and the entire table went silent, an unexplainable kind of tension settling on all of us.
My mouth parted in shock because I have never seen James this angry, "James-"
"Shut up, Hayley!"
I swear my entire body shook with shock at how serious my best friend sounded. His eyes were red with fury. He was ready to kill. Everyone at the table were all equally shocked with their father's sudden demeanour change – even Paige, if her parted mouth and wide open eyes were anything to go by.
"You are no better if you think that Hayley doesn't belong with us. The truth is, you don't belong with us, Miss. Morgan. Hayley very much does. When her family fell apart after a tragedy, she didn't take anyone's pity; she didn't take anyone's help to survive, she did it on her own. She worked hard to make ends meet," James had his eyes entirely focused on Elena, and I swear I saw her gulp with fear, "I love her like my own child, and if she had uttered a word, half of my wealth would be hers by now. When I by myself offered it to her, she rejected my offer. Instead of taking the easy way out, she decided to drop out of college and work to live her life the way she liked, with dignity and for that I will always respect her more than I will ever respect anyone else in this world. If you are going to keep bad mouthing my best friend, I don't think this family will welcome you."
A chilling silence settled around the house, our breathing sounds were the only sounds that could be heard. Elena was frozen to place as were Christopher and Matthew. James' eyes were still shooting daggers, but I can see that his anger has reduced after he spewed the words out to her. Nicholas' hand suddenly found mine and he gave it a squeeze, his way of telling me that he was there for me.
The silence was broken by my phone which started to ring out of the blue, making me jump. I didn't even know what to do at the moment. I was scared that James would go at me for a round two if I answered the call.
"Answer the call, Hayley," Paige said, her eyes reassuring me as if she had heard my internal turmoil.
Instantly, I picked up my phone and pressed it to my ear, my voice coming out breathless, "Hello?"
The moment I heard what the person on the other end of the phone had to say to me, my entire world started shaking. I didn't know what to say, my breathing laboured and my eyes started to tear up. I wanted to cry, I wanted to shout, but I couldn't find my voice to do so.
Only one name left my mouth and then I was running out of the dininghall towards the exit, "Hunter."