Stuck On You

Chapter 10: Confusing and Heart-wrenching Signals

The next morning, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Knowing exactly who it was, I tried to pretend that I

was still asleep. “Jordyn… Jo,” Hayden said. I sighed and kept my eyes closed.

“Go away, Hayden,” I muttered.

“Look about last night,” he started. I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“You’re not my boyfriend; we’re not even talking. You can do whatever you want; you don’t have to

explain yourself to me. I don’t care anyway,” I said before I turned over on my other side. He didn’t

move from where he was sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Yes you do, or else you wouldn’t look so hurt,” he said softly. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a

shaky breath. He was right, but I didn’t want him to know that. “We’re going to have to talk about this

eventually,” he breathed. I sat up and looked him square in the eye.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I whispered. He touched my cheek and I almost broke down. I bit my

bottom lip to keep it from quivering and looked away from him.

“Yes there is,” he said softly. He looked off to the side and took a deep breath before he looked at me

again. “Look, I know you well enough to know that I hurt your feelings last night. I didn’t mean to hurt

you; I just… You get under my skin sometimes, you know that?” he explained.

“You got jealous and you wanted to hurt me back you mean. You knew exactly what you were doing,

Hayden. I’ve known you long enough to know that,” I said back, not buying his story. He sighed and

stood up.

“Look, I’ve explained myself, which is more than I had to do because you were right: we aren’t dating,

and I’m not your boyfriend,” he said. He walked to the door and stopped. “And just so you know, I didn’t

sleep with her. I sent her home before anything happened,” he said before he left, closing the door

behind him. I let out the breath I was holding and squeezed my eyes shut as I hugged my knees. I

needed to get out of here. I knew the type of person Hayden was before I got close to him, and I got

close to him anyway. The only person who was really to blame was me because I hurt Hayden first. I

sighed and wiped my cheeks before I walked over to his room and opened the door. He was sitting with

his back against his headboard. I leaned against the doorframe and sighed.

“I’m sorry, Hayden. I just… I should’ve told you that Lewis wasn’t really my boyfriend. He wanted to be,

but I’ve already been down that road with him. After you got… weird on me last night, I thought you

were just pulling my leg because you said that you wouldn’t ever… You get under my skin too

sometimes,” I explained. He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at me.

“I don’t… I wasn’t jealous or anything; I’d hate to see that curvy little body of yours be wasted on

someone as slimy and boring as Lewis,” he said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

“Pig,” I smiled softly. He walked over to me with a smirk on his face. I reached up to smack him, but he

caught my wrist. He held my wrist between us and smiled gently before he kissed me tenderly.

He kissed my head before he gave me a smug grin. We made out there, against the doorframe, until

my stomach protested against the lack of food. Hayden chuckled and pulled away. “Go get dressed. I’m

taking you to Santa Monica Pier,” he said. I sat up too. Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

“What? Is this like a date?” I asked. Hayden shook his head.

“It’s just me, the ass, taking my annoying goodie two shoes roommate to get something to eat because

I don’t feel like cooking,” Hayden corrected. I rolled my eyes and smiled as I stood up. I dressed and

we went to the pier. We ate Bubba Gump Shrimp and walked around a bit before we went to the

warehouse. Hayden turned on the music and we just danced.

“Hayden,” I said softly.

“Hmm,” he mumbled.

“You’re being romantic,” I noted, looking at him. He smirked and grabbed my butt.

“Don’t get used to it,” he said. I rolled my eyes at him and broke away from his grasp. He pulled me

back to him and I ran into his lips. His arm went around my waist and my mouth moved with his.

“You’re doing it again,” I muttered against his lips. I felt him smile slightly as his other hand went to my

cheek. My hands went to his neck. I pulled away and searched his blue eyes before I smirked. “Feel

like begging yet?” I asked. He chuckled and shook his head.

“I’ll just have to take, yet another, cold shower tonight. I’ve taken a lot of those since you moved in,” he

explained. I laughed and ran my hand down his chest and stomach. He stopped my hand when I

reached the edge of his jeans. He gave me a pointed look and I just smiled.

“What are you two doing here? I gave everyone the day off,” I heard Luca say from behind me. I turned

and looked at him, moving my hand away from Hayden as I did so.

“We were just messing around,” Hayden said. His arms went around my waist and he rocked me to the

side as he kissed my head. Luca chuckled and shook his head.

“You two are perfect together,” he said.

“We’re not together, mate,” Hayden said. Luca only smirked and raised an eyebrow at us. I

remembered something then. My smile fell and I rolled my eyes.

“Crap,” I said under my breath as Luca left.

“What?” Hayden asked curiously.

“I forgot that I promised Lewis that we could catch up tonight. He’s supposed to be picking me up in like

two hours,” I said.

“What’s the deal with that guy anyway?” Hayden asked. I turned towards him as his arms fell away.

Hayden was jealous, and I knew he was.

“We dated for a few years a couple of years ago. He… he was kind of my first and last boyfriend. Then,

a couple of years ago, he moved, and I got mad at him. I hadn’t seen him since… well until now,” I

explained.

“So go, catch up, and tell him that you’re not interested,” Hayden said.

“I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” I countered.

“Pretend to be sick and stay in with me,” he asked. I chuckled and shook my head.

“This isn’t a class, Hayden; it’s a date,” I explained.

“I don’t trust him,” Hayden said stubbornly. I shrugged.

“I do. He’s never really done anything to make me not trust him. I’m going on this date, Hayden. It’s just

to catch up, and I haven’t seen him in years,” I said. He only locked his jaw and looked away from me.

“Why do I feel like I’m asking permission to go?” I asked out loud. He didn’t answer me. I reached up

on my tip toes and kissed his neck.

“Come on, trust me,” I said softly. “You can be civil and tolerant for like ten months right? Come on, he’s

not that bad,” I said with an innocent smile on my face. He sighed before he rolled his eyes and started

heading for his car.

“Thank you,” I said kissing his cheek. He drove me back and I actually made an effort to look nice. I

wore a black and white color-blocked dress with a thin blue belt and two cutouts on my sides. My hair

was still straightened from the gig we did, so I just touched it up and pinned up the side. I wore my

closed toe, front tie, heels and matched it with a blue purse.

“Wow,” I heard Hayden say from behind my once I finished with my makeup. “Where is he taking you?”

he asked.

“Dinner somewhere; it’s supposed to be a really nice restaurant,” I answered.

“I still don’t like this Lewis character,” he said, adding in his two cents. I shrugged and moved to my

closet and grabbed my cute leather jacket. Hayden placed his hands on my hips and turned me around

so I was staring right into his mesmerizingly blue eyes. “Hey, call me if you need anything,” he said

softly. I couldn’t talk. He was so close and so serious that I was almost paralyzed. My lips parted

slightly as I let out a quiet breath. I nodded gently before he let my go. He almost seemed worried. I

blinked and looked after him before I cleared my throat and made sure I had everything. A ding from

my phone let me know that Lewis was here.

“Hey,” Lewis said once he saw me. He was leaned against the side of his car with his arms folded. He

gave me a small smile and a peck on the cheek before he opened the passenger door for me and went

around to the driver’s side. I was right, the restaurant was fancy, but I knew it would be because Lewis

was predictable.

We were sitting and eating our appetizers, having nice small talk. Lewis was nice, but he wasn’t wild

and unpredictably enjoyable like Hayden was. I needed to stop comparing Lewis to Hayden. I wasn’t

going to get anywhere doing that. Hayden wasn’t a relationship type guy; or at least, not anymore. It

would never work out.

“So what’s the deal with you and Hayden?” Lewis asked, shaking me out of my thoughts. I shrugged

and sighed.

“He’s just an ass,” I answered simply. Lewis chuckled before he took a bite of his entrée that was just

set in front of him. I poked at my steak for a bit before I started cutting it.

“How did you end up meeting him?” Lewis said, trying to continue the conversation. I looked down at

my food indifferently.

“He’s my roommate,” I shrugged before I took another bite.

“You mean you’re living with him?” Lewis asked for clarification. I looked at him and nodded. His face

looked shocked.

“What? He leaves me alone for the most part; when he’s not driving me crazy,” I explained. His

eyebrows raised in surprised. I rolled my eyes. “Not like that! Eww, he’s a special kind of annoying.

He’s a class ‘A’ jerk too,” I said. Lewis chuckled.

“You’re into him,” Lewis said. I shook my head and scrunched up my nose.

“Not even close,” I argued. The conversation spun off of Hayden and back to small talk, which I was

grateful for. At the end of the night, Lewis walked me up to my room. He was about to kiss me when the

door opened. Lewis backed away from me.

“I’ll see you Tuesday,” Lewis muttered before he walked away. I sighed and walked inside.

“What’s Tuesday?” Hayden asked, following behind me. I groaned and threw my head back.

“I have psychology with him on Tuesday,” I explained before I cut myself off. “You know, I don’t need to

explain myself to you,” I said turning to him. He pulled me against him and I stopped talking.

“It was just a question,” he said softly. His arm went around my waist.

“You ask a lot of those,” I whispered.