Never Let Me Go (8 page)

I nodded, picking up a cheese stick of my own and dipping it in the marinara sauce. I took a bite, moaning with approval at how amazing it tasted. Cheese sticks were quite possibly one of my favorite foods.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I’m eighteen. I’m a senior in high school this fall, though. You?”

“Twenty-two.” He took another bite of his cheese stick. “What’s your favorite past time?”

I grinned. Oh, we were going to be on this date all damn day if he asked questions like that.

“I love to read,” I replied. “I’ve known my best friend Nickayla all my life and we can talk about just about anything, but when it comes to reading…you can’t get us to stop talking. My closet is seriously filled with books, and I use the hall closet outside my bedroom as my closet for clothes.” I took a sip of my strawberry sunrise, delighting at the eruption of flavors as the sweet drink hit my tongue. “What about you?”

Hayden leaned back in his seat, eyeing me skeptically, as though he couldn’t believe that I was sitting in front of him. Honestly, I was kind of feeling that way about him. I’d never met a guy as sweet as Hayden, and it was amazing to me that he had a daughter who meant the world to him. Most girls my age would have been scared off at the mention of children, but I wasn’t. I thought it was adorable.

“Well, mine has a two part answer. Like I said, Sky’s the center of my universe, so one of my favorite past times is playing Barbie with her,” he said, laughing a little. “My daughter has more Barbie dolls than any little girl will
ever
need, and that’s only her stash at my house. She has a cousin that she can play with, but for some reason, she prefers to only play Barbie with me. My favorite personal past time, though, is event planning. Me and my sisters Olivia and Elizabeth started our business, Three Jax Event Planning, about two years ago. Most people see their jobs as a job, but for me, it’s something I really enjoy. I was the golden boy in high school—leadership, student council, sports, etc. I was able to juggle a billion things at once
and
always plan a killer party or fundraiser when people needed me to. Liv has a real eye for decoration and design, and Lizzie’s OCD helps her keep everything organized perfectly. We work well together. So, instead of playing video games or going out when I don’t have my daughter, I’m planning the next big event for someone in town.” He paused, taking a bite of another mozzarella stick. “My sisters are actually already planning Skylar’s sweet sixteen.”

I laughed. “Wow. Sounds like Skylar’s got it made. A daddy who plays Barbie with her
and
plans killer parties? She must be one happy little girl.”

Hayden chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, most times she is. Her life’s more complicated than most, though…more of what I’ll explain later.” He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. “Top ten favorite songs?”

Oh, this could get interesting. I was known for my rather…eclectic taste in music. I didn’t listen to what other people thought was cool or hip. I listened to whatever spoke to me, and I didn’t give two shits about what anyone else thought about it.

“
Never Let Me Go
by Florence and the Machine,
I Get Off
by Halestorm,
Honestly
by Bethany Joy Lenz,
Belief
by Gavin DeGraw,
Dark Blue
by Jack’s Mannequin,
Shake Tramp
by Marianas Trench,
Bohemian Rhapsody
by Queen,
Sandcastles
by Kate Voegele,
Don’t Make Me Wait
by This World Fair, and
Defying Gravity
by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth from Wicked.”

Hayden grinned. “Nice. Okay…mine are:
Warmness on the Soul
by Avenged Sevenfold,
Trouble
by NeverShoutNever,
Yellow
by Coldplay,
All I Wanted
by Paramore,
Over You
by Daughtry,
Dog Days Are Over
by Florence and the Machine,
Faithfully
by Journey,
Car Crash
by Wakey! Wakey!,
Celebrity Status
by Marianas Trench, and
Close
by Rascal Flatts.”

I sat forward. No fucking way. I had never met another person in actual real life, who had even
heard
of Marianas Trench, and here this guy was, all sweet and amazing and funny, whose favorite song was my second favorite song that that very band had ever written. Oh, my God, I thought I was going to scream or something, because I was just beyond excited.

“There’s no Goddamn way you love Marianas Trench,” I said, my breathing ragged and my words coming out distorted. “Give me your favorite line ever from one of their songs.”

“‘
The bitter in you and the quitter in me is bigger than the both of us
,’” he said, quoting their song
Lover Dearest
off of the Masterpiece Theatre album. “What’s yours?”

I groaned. This guy was fucking amazing.

“‘
I hate the way that I say I should stay when I know that I don’t give a fuck about it anyway
,’” I said, quoting their song
Perfect
off of the same album. “Please tell me MT is your favorite album of theirs?”

He nodded, laughing.

“Oh, fuck yeah. Every single song on there is a winner, and I’ll forever love Sum for giving me that album for my twentieth birthday,” he said. “I honestly don’t know how they’re going to top that album. I mean,
Haven’t Had Enough
was amazing, but I don’t know if the entire Ever After album is going to be as good as Masterpiece Theatre.”

I shook my head frantically. “Oh, no.” I grabbed his hand and gave him the saddest expression. “You mean you haven’t heard all of Ever After yet?” When he shook his head, I patted his hand gently. “It’s gonna be okay, Hayden. I got it as an early birthday present from my sister Cecilia. I’ll let you borrow it, because I promise, you haven’t
lived
until you’ve heard
Fallout
or
B Team
off of that album.” I paused, grinning at him again. “And honestly, I can’t believe you love Rascal Flatts! Their song,
What Hurts The Most
was my number eleven song, so they
barely
missed the list. There’s not a single song of theirs that I
don’t
like.”

“Agreed. I think their best album was Unstoppable—which, by the way, their song of the same name was my number eleven song. Yes, I love them
that
much.”

I laughed, looking over to my right in time to see Summer heading over to us with our plates.

She set them down on the table, then flashed me a smile. “Enjoy, guys!” she exclaimed.

By the time we’d finished our meal, I knew that I’d definitely made the right decision in letting Hayden order for me. What he’d picked was amazing, and it tasted better than I could have imagined. We’d finished our lunch and ordered dessert to go, each of us getting a slice of the seven layer chocolate cake that his best friend had recommended.

We still had about two hours before I’d promised Nic and Colin I would be home, so Hayden and I were walking around the festival, visiting the vendors and listening to the music that played.

We were at a booth with bracelets, each one with different colors that each meant something different. I fingered the different colors, reading the meaning behind each. I reached for a pink one—which meant peace, a blue one—which meant serenity, and a white one—which was the color that signified a blank slate. I put them all on the counter, and then I picked up a red one that signified love, for Nickayla.

“I’ll take these, please,” I said, smiling at the woman who ran the booth.

Hayden stepped up behind me, his hand grazing my lower back. “I’ll take care of that for you,” he said. “Why don’t you head on over to the next booth, the one with the one of a kind t-shirts and I’ll meet you over there?”

I shook my head. There was no way I was letting him pay for my lunch
and
buy me stuff on a first date. I liked to be independent, to take care of things myself rather than having someone else taking care of me.

“I’ve got it,” I said.

Hayden handed a twenty dollar bill to the woman in the booth, shaking his head. “I’m not going to let you pay for your own things while you’re on a date with me.”

I groaned. So he was one of
those
guys.

“You realize it’s the twenty-first century, yes?” I asked.

He laughed. “Just meet me at the other booth in five minutes. I want to pick something up for Skylar.”

I groaned, making my way over to the next booth. I had been eyeing this one since we left Van Leer’s, because of the fact that all of the t-shirts and tank tops had been designed with original art. I’d been eyeing two tank tops in particular: one had been on a dark blue tank top, designed with half of the moon peeking over the top of the beach water, the waves, the sand, and the stars were incredibly realistic. What I loved about it even more was the fact that there was another one on an orange tank top, with the sun peeking over the top of the beach water. They were perfect opposites, but they went great together. I wanted to get one for myself and one for Nickayla.

I knew that a bracelet and a tank top would never be enough to thank her for allowing me to crash her summer vacation with her boyfriend, but it was a start. She would never know how thankful I was to her for helping me get out of Harlow for the summer. I knew that I couldn’t stay there, and she knew it, too. She’d been more than understanding about me coming along, and she’d begged me to stop thanking her, so I figured out that I could thank her without actually saying it.

I grabbed the dark blue tank top and the orange one, putting them on the table and watching as the vendor folded them up.

“You might be the first person to actually
like
these,” she mused, smiling at my choices. “I’ve tried selling them for the past six months and no one has ever bought them.”

I grinned. “Well, I was actually drawn to them the minute that I saw your booth. It just kind of pulled me in. Your art is…amazing. Like, the way you captured the sun and the moon on the water. It’s beautiful!”

I watched as she placed my items in a paper bag, with the emblem “Casey’s Captures” embossed on it. She handed me the bag and then held a finger up, grabbing a business card and handing it to me.

“You’re the first person to actually talk to me about my art. Most people just buy and leave,” Casey said. “Here’s my card. You can take a look at all my art online, and if there’s anything you’d like on a t-shirt or a tank top, just text me and I’ll get it done up for you. Plus there are a lot of shirts and tanks already done in the closeout section if you like shopping online.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I really love this, and I can’t wait to wear it.”

I was walking away from her booth when Hayden came up behind me, his hands encircling my waist and pulling me backwards so that I was flush against him. I could feel the warmth emanating through his body, and I leaned into it like he was my blanket, like I needed him to keep warm.

“Looks like you went ahead and paid before I got the chance to come over here,” Hayden murmured into my ear. “You think you’re slick.”

I giggled, turning around to face him head on. “Nope, I know I am.” He placed the bag of bracelets in my bigger bag from Casey’s Captures, and then took my hand. “Besides, what I bought isn’t for me. It’s for my friend.”

“Sure it is. You ready to go?” He began leading me away from the final booth, but he seemed a bit reluctant.

I wasn’t really ready to let our date end, but I
had
promised that I would be back by a certain time so that I could help everyone set up dinner outside. Plus, I was helping Nickayla fix dessert, so I didn’t want to be out too late. I
had
to keep my promises, no matter how good the date with Hayden was going.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” We twined our hands together, walking off and toward the car.

…

The drive back to the Westwick estate was short and quiet, which I presumed was because neither of us were ready for our date to end. Hayden held my hand as he led me up the steps, squeezing my hand gently.

We stood on the front porch, our eyes fixed upon each other. I wasn’t sure how long we stared at each other, but we continued to gaze at each other until finally I sat down the stairs. Hayden was still holding my hand, and I tugged him so that he sat down behind me. I positioned myself between his legs as he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“I want to see you again.” His lips were near my ear. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

I sighed, trying not to let it show that his touch was setting my entire body on fire.

“I’m spending the day with Nickayla tomorrow,” I said, my voice low. “What about Sunday?”

He shifted; it was his turn to sigh.