His cheek curved. “I’m sleeping in your bed tonight.”
Jesus! Why did my heart just soar to Mars and back? Hayley, stop getting so wrapped up in him. Last night was a one-time thing. “Fine,” I breathed out, placing my hands on his wrists. Our skin branded together like metal melting on metal, and I realized right then that I was already wrapped up in him. “Don’t get used to what happened last night...” I took his hands off my hips, even though my body begged me not to.
He chuckled, his eyes darting down to my lips. I felt my face get hot, and I could only hope he didn’t notice. If he were to push me just a little bit further, dip his mouth closer to mine, I wouldn’t have cared that I was surrendering to a boy who had hated me just a few weeks ago. I’d forget all about the fact, that had been proven to me over and over again, that needing people made me weak. I wouldn’t have cared about anything other than Christian, and I couldn’t afford that. I couldn’t afford to get lost in him, because if I did, Hayley Smith would be lost forever.
“Whatever you say, Hayley.” His breath was minty as the words left his lips and floated down to my level.
I straightened my shoulders, adjusted my skirt, raised my chin, turned on the heel of my Chucks, and walked out of the stairwell. I didn’t take a breath until I rounded the corner. The bell sounded, and I couldn’t have been more thankful to be lost in a sea of teenagers. Maybe that way, Christian wouldn’t find me panting like a porn star from his touch.
“I can’t believe we’re having our first girls’ night!” Piper plopped down on the sofa beside me, wearing a matching PJ set. If it were anyone else, I might have been embarrassed that I was wearing my old sleep shorts and an old band T-shirt, but not with Piper. She seemed to accept me in any form, even beat-up and bruised.
“I know.” I tore a Twizzler from the pack laying on the coffee table. “I cornered Jill while she was making dinner last night. Pete was outside, working on his stupid, beat-up truck.”
Opening a bag of Cheetos, she said, “Well, kudos to Jill for being nice for once.” She crunched on an orange twig and snagged the remote. “Okay, Twilight marathon?”
“Twilight, like the vampires?”
Piper paused and tucked her hair behind her ears. She slowly sat up from lounging back on the sofa and angled her body in front of mine. “Please, please, pleeeeeeaase tell me you know what Twilight is.”
I smiled shyly. “Of course.” I scanned the rec room we were tucked away in on the first floor of her gigantic house. Her parents were away on another trip to somewhere exotic, so it was just the two of us. “I’ve just never seen the movies.”
“What?” she squealed, covering her face with her hands. “Have you at least read the books?”
I smiled, remembering the first time I had read the books. “Yes, and I’m Team Edward. I’ll only watch the movies with you if you’re Team Edward, too.”
This felt nice. Like I was somewhat normal. Laughing with my friend, watching a girly love movie on a Friday night. This was what teenage girls did, right? I’d never had a girls’ night, unless it was with one of my foster sisters, and that wasn’t the same thing. Trust me.
Piper pulled her hair up in a ponytail using a scrunchie. “I knew we were meant to be best friends.” Once she flipped the lights down low, she started to search the TV for the movie. My eyes were glued to the massive flat screen, not sure I’d ever seen a TV so big. It was as big as a movie theatre screen.
“So, when did you read the books? How long ago?”
I settled back into the couch, pulling the blanket over my lap. “It was shortly after I went into foster care. The first two houses weren’t that bad,” I began, the memory of being tucked away in a strange bedroom surrounded by books to help me cope with my new life enveloping me. “The Berkshires were an older couple. They were the first house I stayed in. They were attentive to me, nice. Nothing like Pete and Jill.” I chuckled, getting sucked into the memory. “My room was all done up in purple with a butterfly quilt. My first thought was that it was kiddish, but then I remembered that I was a kid, despite all the growing up I had done in the last year.”
“What happened?” Piper’s voice almost startled me.
I shook my head, clearing the vision of purple butterflies. “Right after the police froze my father’s accounts, my mom moved us to a trailer park in Pike Valley. She was never a good mom, never really attentive to me—my father was the stellar parent of the bunch, even if he did launder money.” I sighed. “But after he died, she kinda shut down. Everything happened so fast. My mom got a job at a diner and stopped coming home most nights. Eventually, when she did, she’d sleep for days, or she’d bring men home with her. A lot of bad shit happened that I don’t like to talk about. There were a lot of drugs floating around, and we never had money. I didn’t eat much. It was…bad. A teacher ended up notifying CPS after a parent-teacher conference, and that was when I was taken to the Berkshires’. Then, Mr. Berkshire got sick, and they couldn’t take care of me anymore, so I was moved to my next foster home after a couple of months.” I smiled. “They let me keep some books, though. Hence, when I read Twilight.”
Piper’s voice was soft as she pointed the remote to the screen, pressing play. “I’m sorry you had to leave them.”
I huffed out a sigh, snagging another Twizzler. “Me too.”
Her attention was on me now instead of Bella and her father on the screen. “So, what about the next house? Bad or good?”
I couldn’t help the smile slithering onto my face. “It wasn’t all bad.”
“What does that mean?”
I bit my lip. I’d never told anyone about Kyle. Not a single soul. It was my little secret—and his. I felt a Cheeto ping the side of my head, causing me to look at Piper. “Tell me!” she whined, smiling.
Oh, what the hell.
I pulled the blanket up tighter, letting it rest just below my chin. “The house itself wasn’t the best. The family was okay. They weren’t nearly as attentive as the Berkshires, but they weren’t mean to me by any means. It just wasn’t a good neighborhood. But then there was Kyle.”
“And who is Kyle?” Piper’s face lit up, eager for the rest of my story.
I pictured Kyle’s face in my head as I continued on, his blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He was the first boy who had caught my attention since leaving Christian behind. “Kyle was my neighbor. He was a couple years older than me.”
“Oh, so an older boy.” Piper’s eagerness only grew.