Chapter 16 (+18)

“Did she say how much longer you’ll be on house arrest?” Hayden asked as she wedged the phone between her ear and her shoulder. Anne had given them permission to speak on the phone again. Jessica’s accusations were being investigated, but that didn’t mean Rob was in the clear.

“No one can answer that.” He sighed.

“You’re going to get pale.” Hayden noted. Rob chuckled.

“No. Mom makes me go outside for an hour a day.” He corrected. Hayden laughed.

“Really?”

“She says I need the vitamin D.” He added. Hayden shook her head.

“You do, but, what are you doing out there? Staring at the sun?” She pried. Rob laughed.

“No. I just sit in the grass.” He clarified. Hayden smiled to herself.

“Yeah, that sounds like a you thing.” She agreed. They were both quiet for a minute.

“I can’t wait until this is all over.” He exhaled. Hayden sighed.

“I know. You just have to stay strong.” She assured. There was another silence.

“Are you sure you don’t want out?” He asked again.

“Rob, I stuck around for the worst of it. I even defended you when Wayne started saying what he did about Jessica’s party. I have no reason to bail now.” Hayden ranted. Rob was quiet again.

“What did Wayne start saying?” He asked after a few long seconds.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that. I was going to the other day, then you kissed me and I completely forgot. So, it’s really your fault. But, Wayne is telling the right story, but he’s switched the characters.” Hayden explained. Rob was quiet again. She was starting to get worried.

“He’s in on it with Jessica?” He finally asked.

“Or he took advantage of the issue to make himself look like a great guy. That sounds like something he would do. He completely ignores reality in favor of his own.” Hayden continued.

“Why did you even agree to go out with him?” Rob groaned.

“I don’t know. I guess to keep my mind off someone else.” She hinted. He was quiet again.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized. She didn’t understand why.

“My point was, I still want to be with you.” She circled back. Rob let out a deep sigh.

“Well, that’s a mistake.” He huffed. She laughed.

“But it’s mine to make.” She insisted. He also laughed.

“Yes, it is.” He conceded. Hayden smiled to herself.

“I should let you get caught up on your school work. You’ll be back any minute.” She hinted.

“I appreciate you.” Rob blurted. Hayden knew she was blushing.

“I know you do. That’s why I’d do anything for you.”

Hayden knew she couldn’t vent to Elizabeth about Jessica. Elizabeth was on friendly terms with the evil witch and she didn’t plan on changing that any time soon. As much as that bothered Hayden, she also understood. If Jessica had spread rumors about anyone other than Rob, Hayden would have gone along with whatever she said. Jessica picked the wrong boy to pick on. Hayden just couldn’t look the other way when it was Rob involved. She felt like Rob needed to be protected. He was too precious for the world around him.

Anne would deny it, but Hayden believed she was part of the reason Rob’s father wasn’t in the picture. Him and Brent had a different father from the younger two. The father of the younger two had taken to the older two, treating them like his own as well. Their real father was a piece of garbage. Anne didn’t know. Hayden hadn’t meant to get involved, but she saw the bruises on Rob’s arm and it just broke her heart. She was out with Anne and the boys one day when she asked about the bruises. Rob had been wearing a long-sleeved shirt to hide them from his mother. When she saw the hand prints, she knew exactly what had happened. She threw him out of the house and he wasn’t able to hurt Rob ever again. For some reason, he never laid a hand on Brent. Hayden didn’t understand how abuse victims were chosen. She was grateful she wasn’t one. She had witnessed enough abuse around her. Hayden’s parents were poor, but that was her only real complaint. She knew everyone around her had it much worse. Their parents were drunks or drug addicts and poor. Many of them were abusive to the children, most commonly the oldest in the house. Hayden saw it time and time again.

Hayden had an easy childhood compared to everyone around her. She was starting to realize that those issues were even bigger than she always thought. She couldn’t relate to Rob over the abuse of his father. She could relate to him over Jessica’s abuse, and what had happened to him with his babysitter. Now she knew they had common ground. She had never been afraid to let her guard down around Rob, but now, she felt even more comfortable. She felt like she could really expose herself to him. He wouldn’t judge her. He wouldn’t spread rumors. He was a dependable person. Hayden wanted him to know that she trusted him completely. She decided she was going to tell him her biggest secret. He was either going to accept her anyway or it would completely change their friendship. Either way, it was the greatest sign of vulnerability she could offer him without taking her clothes off.

Before she told Rob anything, she had to talk to the other person who shared that secret. They had swore they would never speak of it again. Hayden would have to break the one rule they had. She wanted to move forward with Rob, that meant Hayden had to get Samantha’s blessing. She wasn’t sure how easy that was going to be. At the time, Samantha expressed her terror of being “found out”. Hayden never mentioned it again. It was possible that Samantha was waiting for her to approach the subject. It was also possible that Samantha had completely blocked out the experience. In that case, Hayden would be dragging up painful memories. No matter what happened, she had to remind herself that this was about her future. With Rob.

Hayden knew that Samantha would be home alone on Wednesday. It was the only day of the week she had to herself. Hayden knew that she would not appreciate the interruption of her only personal day. There was a good chance Hayden was going to have to do something for her. That was the way Samantha worked. Jessica was manipulative. Samantha leveraged. She was good at it too. Hayden wondered how she didn’t win every single poker game. Instead, she seemed to be the worst player of all of them. Hayden had to knock three times before Samantha finally appeared in the doorway. Like Hayden expected, Samantha had a stern look on her face and one of her hands on her hip. Hayden ignored her friend and walked into the house. Samantha groaned as she turned around, closing the door behind them.

“What?” She barked. Hayden headed into the living room and sat down on the couch. Samantha followed, though it was obvious she hadn’t been in the living room.

“We need to talk.” Hayden started. Samantha raised her eyebrow. She motioned for Hayden to get up and follow her. Hayden obeyed, dragging her feet up the stairs to Samantha’s bedroom. She motioned for Hayden to go inside. Once both girls were inside the bedroom, Samantha lunged on Hayden. She forcefully pushed her backwards onto the bed and started kissing down her torso. Hayden moaned, wrapping one of her hands through Samantha’s blonde locks. Samantha straddled her and started pulling her shirt up. Hayden grabbed her hands and turned her head to the side.

“Wait.” She gasped. Samantha turned Hayden’s face and kissed her hard.

“You say that every time you want me.” She purred. Hayden nodded, gasping for air.

“I mean it this time.” She whimpered. Samantha started kissing her neck, slowly running her hands underneath Hayden’s shirt. She cupped both her breasts and moaned into the crease of Hayden’s neck. She wriggled underneath Samantha, trying to come back to the moment.

“I’m with Rob.” She reminded Samantha. She nodded as she brought her lips back to Hayden’s.

“And now you want him, exclusively.” She guessed. Hayden nodded. Samantha pushed one of her hands inside Hayden’s jeans.

“I thought you said this was mine.” She whispered. Hayden gasped at the intrusion. Samantha kept going, kissing her neck. Hayden’s hand wrapped around her wrist, but she couldn’t bring herself to force Samantha to stop. She surrendered in Samantha’s hand.

“Good girl.” She purred. When she was finished, she pulled her hand back out and licked her fingers. Hayden was shaking as Samantha made eye contact.

“Now he can have you.”

Hayden felt dirty. When she got home, she called Rob immediately. She told him what happened and who it happened with. She told him about all the other times it happened. She wasn’t sure what his reaction was going to be. She would have rather told him face to face, but Anne wasn’t allowing her over quite yet. She was still worried that there may be rumors and she wanted to try and keep Rob clear of additional accusations. She was being protective. Hayden understood because she had the same impulse to protect Rob. She should have protected him from herself. She violated his trust within days, and after she made such a big deal about trusting him.

“Do you like it?” He finally asked. Hayden bit her lip.

“Kinda.” She confessed. He was quiet again.

“Then be my guest.” He spoke. Hayden blinked a few times.

“Excuse me?” She questioned.

“I get that I’m not your first. I don’t need to be. I just want to be your boyfriend.” He insisted. Hayden felt her heart flutter at the word boyfriend. She felt incredibly lucky to have Rob as a friend. She knew she didn’t deserve him as a boyfriend, but that was his mistake to make. She was willing to take the chance. It was better than thinking of the what-if’s.

Hayden wasn’t interested in Samantha. She enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something she wanted to do. It was something we went along with. She was happy that Rob was understanding, regardless. She couldn’t imagine explaining that to any other partner. How would she? Rob was just the most suitable person she would ever be with. It was like he was made for her. In some way, the Universe aligned and the two of them found each other. She understood his crazy mind and he understood her crazy heart. They were misshapen puzzle pieces, but somehow fit together.

Hayden was really looking forward to Rob coming back to school. Jessica’s arrest had shed a bit of light on everything she had said and done. There were less people sympathizing with her. A few people thought what she had done was really dangerous. They hadn’t realized there were so many other people involved. Hayden’s siblings could have been in the tree house. Elizabeth. Jessica didn’t know that the tree house was empty. She just knew that it would hurt Rob and Hayden. She acted on impulse, and it was time she had to face the punishment for that. The worst of the punishment was going to come when Jessica came back to school. She committed social suicide. She was going to be cast out by the same people she used to call friends. She was likely to try and crawl back to older friends and connections. Hayden expected that she was going to be one of those people. She didn’t want to be friends with Jessica after what she did. At the same time, she knew it was better to be friendly than to remain enemies. Hayden was going to have to talk to Rob about that at some point. She figured she should wait until she got to see him in person. She wanted to use her lips to convince him to go along with her madness. She also wanted to use those lips to apologize. She knew she owed him so much more after everything with Samantha.