She lets out a dismissive laugh that sounds like a grunt in her Cruella voice. "What is so important you have to distract her from her exercises?"
I lied. Quynn wasn"t the hardest one to tell. It"s Hayles" mother. I scratch the back of my neck and gulp.
"I love her."
If she had been drinking anythin", it would"ve been sprayed all over my face. I get a little spit anyway when her mouth pops open, and she *gah"s" at me.
"Excuse me? Who do you think you are?"
"My name"s Brody Grant."
"I know who you are. But are you blind? Maybe a little slow in the head? Or just looking for someone to roll around with till you leave for college?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What kind of parent talks like this?
"Why would you ask that?" I say through my teeth.
"You"re taking advantage of my daughter. I don"t know what you"re using her for, but I won"t allow it. No one with your..." She gestures to my body and lets the thought drop. I cross my arms. "Would spend time with my Hayley without an agenda."
Heat is crawlin" through my chest, beggin" to be unleashed. I choke back the insult I"ve got for her, and try to come up with somethin" that doesn"t have the word *b.i.t.c.h" in it.
"You must not know me that well, then." b.i.t.c.h. "I"m in love with your daughter because she"s the best thing that"s happened to me. She"s smart, funny, and has a kicka.s.s body. And I"m not goin" to hide her till I find her *acceptable". She"s already perfect. And I don"t care what you think. I"m tellin" her that."
I shove past her, ignorin" the protests and the threats to call the cops if I"m not outta there in five minutes. I go straight to Hayles" room. She"s lying on the floor, headphones in her ears, eyes closed and tears goin" down the sides of her face and landin" in her hair. She"s singin". Soft and beautiful, and I"m amazed I know the song. It"s from a musical. Judge me all you want, but I know Les Miserables.
I close the door behind me. Judgmental mom gave me five minutes. I"m goin" to make them count. Lying on the floor, heads together and feet facin" opposite directions, I wipe a tear from her eye as she sings the last note.
She jumps, sittin" straight up and holdin" her chest.
"Holy friggin" fruitbats. You scared the snot out of me."
"Sorry." I smile. I"m not sorry at all.
She punches me in the shoulder, doin" that friend act she"s been keepin" up all week. "Whatcha doing here, Mr. Grant?" Her eyes go to her door like she"s finally realizing I"m in her room. "Oh my gosh, how did you get up here?"
"I dodged past your mom."
She laughs. A Hayley laugh. "You are crazy. What is so important you couldn"t just text me?"
I jump to my feet and reach for her hands, which suddenly need to be in her pockets. I smirk at her, take her wrists and pull them from her pants, trapping them in mine.
She"s not gettin" away this time.
"I told her."
"What?"
"I told Quynn that I"m in love with you."
Her face gets real red. That d.a.m.n cute red that drives me crazy. "Um, why would you do that?"
I shake my head, smilin" at her. "*Cause it"s the truth, you dork."
"And... you"re okay with that? You"re... happy?"
She sounds like it"s a hard concept to grasp. That I"m happy to be in love with the most amazin" girl I"ve ever met.
I let go of one of her hands to jam mine in my back pocket. I pull out the worn piece of paper. The one that"s been read and re-read so many times so I"ve got them all memorized. The one I keep addin" things to because there are just so many reasons why I want her. Why she"s the girl.
"Hayles," I say, tuckin" the paper into her palm, "this is the first list of many I plan on writin" for you. Whatever it takes to let you know how incredible you are, I"ll do it. You don"t have to be with me if that"s not what you want, but you should know how much you mean to someone. How important you are."
Her mouth splits open into her Hayley smile. The one that goes right up to her dark green eyes. "My list?" She tugs me to the bed, plops us down, her hands shakin" as she opens it.
"You"re goin" to read it now?"
"Duh!" She giggles. "I"ve been waiting for it. I didn"t think I"d get it after... you know." She waves it off like our argument was nothin" more than just a tiny spat. I laugh, putting my arm behind her and readin" over her shoulder even though I know them all.
She"s laughin", and the smile on her face doesn"t leave. She gasps at number twenty-three and slaps me in the arm. But by the end of the list, she"s practically in my lap, hand on my leg and tears in her eyes, but not like the ones she had a few minutes ago.
"Brody?"
"Yeah?"
She takes a deep breath and turns to face me, her leg separating us from bein" as close as I want to be.
"I"m sorry."
I raise an eyebrow. "What do you have to be sorry for?"
Another deep breath. "You were right. It was me who was keeping us apart. I... I didn"t want to love you because I was afraid you"d wake up and realize what a cow you"ve chosen for a girlfriend."
"Hayles-"
"Sorry, I won"t do that anymore. After reading this, I get it."
Something in my chest tightens. And I want to pull her into me, but I wait for her to finish.
"I guess I am pretty awesome."
I laugh, and that"s it for my self control. Cuppin" her face in my hands, I pull her mouth to mine, lettin" her smile and kiss me at the same time. I like that. She"s happy to be kissin" me.
And I"m smilin" too. Even when judgmental mom comes in, I wave her off, givin" her a *one more minute" finger. But yeah, that woman is a lot stronger than I thought she would be. She pulls me from the room and tosses me down the stairs and out the front door.
I"m about to drive away when Hayles comes runnin" down the driveway, ignorin" the Cruella Devil screams behind her and plops in the seat next to me.
"I want another one." She smiles, and I give her what she wants. She can have everything she wants.
She pulls back, then buckles her seatbelt and tosses her feet on the dash. Her hand goes right for the stereo. "Where to, Mr. Grant?"
"How long do you have?"
"As long as you want."
I put the car in gear and pull out onto the road. "Feel like meetin" my parents?"
"They"re home?"
I smirk. "They will be, in about three hours."
She tucks her hand in mine, givin" me an evil grin. "I think we can pump one out in three hours."
I speed the rest of the way home.
Epilogue.
"You look da... dang s.e.xy. Stop freakin" out."
Hayles fixes her hair one more time in the sideview mirror before standin" up. "You sure? I"ve never done somethin" like this."
I step back to study her outfit. She hates it when I do this. When I let my eyes rake over every curve, every part of her, and yeah, I check out her b.o.o.bs way longer than she likes, but can you blame me?
"Knock it off, you perv!" She punches my arm and I grab her hand, pullin" her toward me.
"Don"t ask me to check you out if you don"t mean it."
She rolls her eyes. "You"ll do it anyway."
"Is that a bad thing?"
Another punch. I laugh and kiss her, stoppin" her from answerin" me with another wisea.s.s comment. She"s good at it. The kissin" and the comments.
"Okay, I think I"m ready."
"You sure you don"t want to just, stay in?"
She shakes her head. "You"re supposed to be showing me off!"
"I know, I know."
I wrap my hand around her waist, and pull her to the restaurant. Mom and Dad are in there, probably talkin" about why I asked them to meet me and Hayles here. Mom goin" into all these cheesy romantic things while Dad"s pretendin" to listen, but really wantin" a drink.
"Hayley!"
Mom has adopted Hayles. It"s good for them, I know. Mom wantin" that daughter, and Hayley needin" a mom who doesn"t care what size pants she wears. Still, I wish she wouldn"t hog my girlfriend so much.
They hug, and I pull Hayley"s chair out for her. She still blushes whenever I do stuff guys are supposed to do. Wonder if she"ll ever get used to it.
"Okay, okay, tell us! Are you two getting married?" Mom"s enthusiasm and a.s.sumption makes me spit the water I just put in my mouth all over Dad.
"Thanks a lot." He grabs a napkin and wipes his face off, chucklin" behind it.
"No, Mom. We"re not getting married. We just graduated."
"Some people do that you know." She smiles and winks at Hayles, whose blush has not disappeared.
"Not us. We do the whole marriage thing without the rings first."
Oh no. She"s not tellin" my parents about our s.e.x life.
"You know, fight and threaten to throw clothes out on the lawn." She smiles. "And if he doesn"t put the seat down next time, I"m nailing it to the toilet."
They all laugh, includin" me.
"All right, so no marriage. But tell me what it is! I"m dying!" Mom bounces up and down in her seat, and so does Hayles, matchin" her excitement. Dad laughs behind his gla.s.s.
"Well, I got into U of O," I stutter.
Mom grabs Hayley-not me-into a big hug and Dad claps a hand on my back.
"That"s great, kid."
"Thanks."
Mom lets go of Hayles, whose face has permanently turned the color of those tomatoes Mom threatens me with, and says, "Congratulations! And that"s close too so we can still visit you and Hayley."
Whoa, wait a second. Do they think...?
"We"re not going to live together." Hayles giggles, savin" me from that conversation. "Just going to be in the same school. You know, so I can help him pa.s.s his cla.s.ses." She nudges me, and I keep her hand. Don"t know why she gets so nervous about every date. I guess I"d be nervous if I went out with her and her parents, but she"s so good at everythin".
The rest of dinner goes pretty much how it goes at home. Mom and Dad embarra.s.sin" me while Hayles joins in occasionally, but her hand stays on my knee, lettin" me know she does it all *cause she loves me.
I tell Mom and Dad I"ll be out late, and they give me those stupid looks like, *we know, we know" and then hugs, then they take off. I help Hayles into the Dodge-my Dodge-and her feet are on the dash before I even get in.
The drive isn"t silent, since she sings the whole time. I don"t mind that there"s no conversation. This is our thing.
I pull up to the apartments just around the corner from U of O. Hayles got a roommate as soon as she found out she was goin" there and moved out about two seconds after that.
She still hasn"t met Daniel, but she doesn"t seem to care.
"Will you come inside?" She unbuckles. "I have something for you."
I"m always up for the invitation to go in with her, but from her expression I know I"m not gettin" lucky tonight.