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Dedication: Romanticfoods for the cute photo of Grace and Hayden! Thank you!

Recap:

After my shower, I threw some loose, black track pants on. After rubbing the towel into my hair and hanging it up, I walked back into my room.

I stared at her for a few moments, contemplating my next move.

It didn't take me long, to make a decision.

I crawled into bed beside her.

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My eyes feel heavy as they flutter open.

I let out a groan as I stretch. Rolling onto my back, I move my head so that I am looking to my left. There is an indent in the mattress. I bite my lip softly, closing my eyes once more.

While asleep, I had felt someone lay beside me. I could feel their hot breath on the back of my neck. I rolled over and buried my head into their chest.

I had slept in Hayden's arms, or, I had a realistic dream that I did. Reaching out, I run my hand over the now-empty mattress. It happened, right? He had laid down beside me. I had pressed my forehead against his defined chest. I felt the heat from his body.

While I was trying to distinguish reality over my drowsy state-of-mind, my phone began to vibrate on the bedside table. Groggily, I reach over.

"Hello?" I mumble sleepily, rubbing my face.

Silence.

"Hello?" I repeat.

"Who is this?" the voice asks. I recognise it, but it was so low and harsh, it is hard to put a finger on exactly who it is.

"It's obviously Grace, you rang me?" I say with a frown.

"I did not ring Grace, I can guarantee you."

Confused, I pull the phone back and squint down at the phone. Instead of seeing my rose-gold iPhone, I am met with a black one. It had "Mia" written across the screen and I let out a snort as it had the rolling eye emoji beside it.

"Oh," I exhale softly into the phone, once having it back to my ear. "Sorry, wrong phone."

"Why the fuck are you answering Hayden's phone?" she snaps and I can see perfectly in my mind the face she would be pulling. Her eyes would be narrowed, her cheeks red, her lips spread into a thin line.

"Because I'm at his house," I point out, my tone blunt. "What do you want?"

"Screw you," she seethes, before the line goes dead.

Blinking, I stare down at the phone. That was random.

Yawning, I place the phone back down and get to my feet. I pad over to his bathroom and run a hand through the angry snarls of my hair. I throw it up into a messy bun, before making my way downstairs.

As soon as I enter the kitchen, I smell dinner cooking. My stomach rumbles embarrassingly loud and I slap my hand to it. I open my mouth to tell Hayden Mia called, but he spoke before I had the chance.

"Was that thunder?" Hayden jokes, sending me his boyish smirk.

That smirk made all thoughts of the random conversation with Mia vanish from my mind.

My insides clench as I stare at him. He looks amazing. Hair messy. Shirtless. He looks so hot right now, I almost have to fan myself.

"Sounded like it," I reply, walking over to him. "Whatcha' cooking?"

"Hamburgers," he grins. "Hayden Deluxe, I call it."

"Hayden Deluxe?" I  quirk an eyebrow, leaning onto the bench. "Sounds delicious."

"Have a nice nap?" he asks as he flips the pattys over. "You were out of it."

I study his face. It happened. It wasn't a dream. The look on his face gave it away. He had held me while I slept. The fact that he did that made my stomach do a flip-flop. I almost want to laugh out loud at myself.

I had my legs wrapped around Ashton's waist, his tongue in my mouth and I didn't feel the intense squirmy feeling Hayden gave me. Of course Ashton made my heart beat faster and breathless, but when Hayden holds me, my stomach turns into the spaghetti circus. I'm not the type of person to get jittery and nervous around boys.

But Hayden made me nervous.

"Really good," I answer, my eyes trained on his face.

He nods, not looking up.

"Hi hun," Heather says as she enters the kitchen. "How are you feeling?"

"Refreshed," I reply with a smile.

"Oh good. Your cupcakes were amazing, by the way," she compliments. "I had three."

"I know, there were hardly any left for me," Hayden mutters and I let out a soft laugh.

"I'm glad you liked them. I haven't baked cupcakes for ages."

"Feel free to cook them more often and send them over," Hayden told me and Heather nods in agreement.

"I'll make note of that," I tease.

As Hayden cooked, we all chatted. They were the easiest people to talk to. Which was ironic, because Hayden seemed the opposite at school. When he was home, he was much more relaxed. It was obvious he was close with his mum. I envied their relationship as I didn't have that with my own.

Speaking of my mother, my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. As I saw my mother's name across the screen, I declined the call and shoved it back in my pocket. I was pissed at her, beyond words. I felt betrayed and hurt. I'm not answering that call.

Another vibration. With a sigh, I pull my phone back out.

Vera: Where r u???

Vera: Was hoping we could have dinner???

Overcome with the annoyance of her expecting me to drop everything for her, the one time she decides to come home for dinner, made me act on impulse. I angrily texted her back, my fingers flying over the screen.

Grace: Why don't you have dinner with your boyfriend instead.

With that, I turn my phone off and head into the kitchen, ridding thoughts of my mother's deceitful nature into the back of my mind.

As I sit down at the table, Hayden moved one of the chairs so that Heather could roll in. The table had been adjusted to her wheelchair height.

"Why can't we just sit on the lounge?" Hayden asks her.

"This is what families do, Hayden," she informs him. "We sit at the table, ask each other about our days..."

"Which we could do on the lounge."

She purses her lips. "Grace, does your family insist on sitting at the table, too?"

I clear my throat uneasily, looking down at my plate. "Considering it's just me at home, I personally just sit on the lounge."

"See," Hayden says to her, but she ignores him.

"Just you?" she asks softly.

"Yeah, my mum works as a surgeon at the new private hospital. She is rarely home."

Maybe not for the reasons I thought, I say to myself bitterly.

She is silent. She opens her mouth and shut it again. I know what she wants to ask.

"And my dad died when I was younger," I explain, my voice sounding a little strained.

"Good one," Hayden says to her, giving Heather a pointed look.

"Well," she says awkwardly. "I was really nosy just now. I apologise."

"All good," I reply to her, playing with a bit of lettuce that had fallen from the burger.

"You're welcome to come over here for dinner, any time you like," she says to me with a genuine smile. "We're happy to have you."

"We are?" Hayden asks.

"Hayden," she scolds.

I laugh. "Thank you, Heather."

"Have you..." Heather quickly looks to Hayden. "Told her-"

"No."

"Told me...?" I press, staring between the two.

"Oh," she says awkwardly, looking at Hayden again. "Well, Hayden's father-"

"No," he snaps, glaring at Heather. I am shocked at his sudden attitude adjustment, his vice bursting with anger, eyes like fire. "Don't."

She is silent now and ducks her head. I sit back in my seat, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. It had been so cruisy and easy-going before and now...

"Fucking hell," Hayden growls, slamming his hand down on the table. "Why?" He looks at Heather, a stormy, dark expression on his face. "Why would you bring him up?"

She looked taken back. "I just thought... You two had become... I just-"

"What makes you think I ever tell anyone?" He argues, a vein in his neck sticking out. "I pretend he never fucking existed."

I am simply blown away with how he is acting. They seemed so close before. They were so kind, laughing with each other, making jokes... Now he was looking at her like he is disgusted. Like he hates her. I stare, my mouth hanging open, completely perplexed.

She let out a breath, shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

Hayden gets to his feet and stalks towards the stairs. I hear his heavy footsteps ascend. He suddenly turns.

"Don't say a word, Heather."

I wince at his word choice. He must call her by her first name when he is upset with her.

"Hayden-"

He storms up the stairs and his bedroom door slammed shut. The sound echoes loudly.

"I'm so sorry," says Heather, tears welling in her eyes. "This is something we don't discuss. I should have known better-" she hiccupped, wiping her eyes. "I just thought he might have told you-"

I sit there, spine stiff, unsure know what to do.

"It's okay," I tell her. "I know what it's like to not want to talk about family. I get it."

"He has so much anger in him," she sniffles as she wipes her eyes. "Lately he's been much better. He's been back to how he used to be... I thought it might have been because of you."

"O-oh," I stammer. "We're not... We're not dating or anything like that."

"Not yet."

"Um..." I say, looking anywhere but at her. This is a weird thing to talk about. "I don't think... Um... We're not..."

"I'm sorry," she murmurs softly. "I shouldn't have said anything. It's not my place."

"It's okay."

"Just don't do what the last girl did," her head shakes, eyes glistening. "She destroyed him."

I open my mouth to ask more when I hear Hayden's footsteps.

"We're leaving," he announces to me, his fists clenched at his side.

"Oh, okay."

"Where are you going?" Heather asks. "Hayden, don't do anything stupid."

"I'm taking her home," he snaps.

"Hayden, please-"

Without another word, he grabs the keys from the hook on the wall and stalks out into the garage.

"Thank you for having me," I say politely, staring longingly at my untouched burger. This is the second time today I am deprived of my meal.

"I'm so sorry, Grace. It's not usually like this."

"I understand."

I got to my feet and hurry to the garage. I slide into the passenger seat of the ute just as Hayden turns the key. The loud rumble echoes through the garage.

He is tense as he reverses. I grip the door as he takes off at lightning speed.

"Can you slow down?" I yell at him over his music as we swerve around the corner.

He ignores me as he continues to speed through the streets. My heart thuds loudly inside my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and curl myself into a ball, pressing my face into my thighs.

"Please, Hayden," I plead, my hand gripping the door tightly.

The ute comes to a screeching stop and I know we have reached my house.

Glaring at him, I unbuckle my seat belt.

"That was stupid," I say sternly. "I don't appreciate you driving like that with me in the car."

"Get out," he snarls, not even looking at me.

"Gladly," I retort, before climbing out.

I slam the door as hard as I can just as he screeches from the curb. I stare at the retreating tail lights with a deep sadness pooling inside my stomach.

***

"Good morning, my star pupils," Coach Brennon greets as we line against the lockers.

I had made a particular effort to stand as far as possible away from both Mia and Hayden. One, Hayden hadn't even spared me a glance since I arrived and two, Mia looked like she was going to spit fire at me.

I don't want to deal with either of them today.

I am so angry at myself. I went to Hayden's house when I was completely vulnerable. I felt safe and comfortable there before it all turned to crap. I felt we had gotten a little closer. He hopped into bed beside me, for God's sake. He obviously had felt that too.

But the way he acted afterward was ridiculous. I understand that he clearly doesn't trust me enough to know about his family. Whatever, that's fine. But to drive like that... I know he doesn't know the history of my experience with cars and what happened to me and my dad, but that does not justify driving like a maniac.

He didn't even apologise for the way he acted. He just said, "get out". I shake my head, folding my arms across my chest as I thought back to Saturday night. I was an idiot to feel like I could get close to him.

"Something you want to share with the group?"

Seriously. He didn't need to act the way he did and what's worse, is that I thought I might be developing feelings for him.

"Earth to Grace?"

Blinking, I focus back into reality and realise that almost every pair of eyes was on me.

"Huh?" I ask.

My face warms as I realise I had been so engrossed with my thoughts, I had been making frustrated sounds out loud.

"Are you able to be present with us today or do you need to be excused?" Ashton asks, his eyebrow quirking up.

"No, sorry. I'm fine."

"Good." He says, eyes lingering on mine. "As I was saying, this Friday, it's competition time. We need to bring our A-Game. You know my expectations. Train hard, swim harder. Let's get the quickest times we can, okay? The time for you guys is now. Any of you that are hoping for scholarships, this is the year they're going to be looking at you. Don't let me down."

"Yes Coach," a few people murmur.

"Let's get swimming."

We  trudge out of the locker room before Ashton held his hand in a stop signal as I am walking past. Letting out a sigh, I stop.

"What?"

"Excuse me?" he asks.

I have been in a foul mood ever since the weekend. I had dreaded walking inside after what I said to mum, but she was asleep. She was gone the next morning. All she left, was a note, saying we need to talk.

"Sorry," I apologise, rubbing my face. "Yes, Coach?"

"Your first competition is coming up. This is the week you need to prove to everyone you deserve a spot on this team."

"I know."

"So," he says, his eyes staring intently into mine. "Do it, then."

"Yes, Coach."

He nods at me and I nod back before walking out into the pool area. I appreciate that when he stopped me this time, it really was about swimming. He didn't ask what was wrong, he didn't ask me if I was okay. He just reminded me of what I had at stake this week.

Which is exactly what I needed.

Pulling my swim cap over my head, I adjust my goggles, before walking towards lane 5. I climb onto the mounting block.

"Let's do some warm-up laps. Four laps of each stroke. Don't push yourself yet, just warm yourselves up, okay? Let's go."

As I dive into the pool, I switch off all thoughts of the weekend. This week it is about me and my swimming.

That's what matters to me the most, after all.

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What do you guys think of the situation with Hayden? How do you feel about the way he acted?

Any theories about Hayden's father?

Instagram: laurenj_22

Snapchat: laurenj_22

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