Fallen

Chapter Thirteen

Hayden

After the fire drill they dismissed everyone to go home, immediately. I meet Colton by his locker and the two of us exited together.

"I think I know why the fire alarm went off," he tells me as we make our way to his car.

"Oh really? Why?"

"Because you looked so hot in my sweat suit," he jokes.

I roll my eyes and shove him slightly.

"What?" He exclaims.

I look at the ground and let him lead me a little, I didn't want him to see me blushing. "Nothing," I sigh.

When we reach his car he opens the passenger door for me. I accept his offer and climb inside. As he gets in the car and starts the engine, we sit for a while in a comfortable silence. That is until he completely passes the neighborhood that Olivia's house is in.

"Um, where are we going?" I ask suspiciously.

"It's a surprise," he says as he makes his way further into town. Downtown Eastern Point was actually very beautiful. It reminded me of an old historic town, not like how you picture New York, but like Williamsburg, Virginia. My parents used to take me there when I was younger; just thinking about the memory made me smile.

We pull into what looks like a diner and I let my surprise show.

Colton laughs at me, "I figured after all that hardcore exercise you'd be hungry, but then it ended up not really occurring this probably seems really stupid now..." He trails off but I just smile.

"It's perfect," I tell him.

The two of us make our way inside and are immediately seated. Eventually a heavy set lady with a huge smile comes over, "Hey Colton! You haven't been in here in a while."

Colton looks slightly embarrassed, "I've been busy."

The woman looks over at me and her eyes light up, "You've brought yourself a date! I'm Dorothy." The woman shakes my hand and I just can't help but grin.

"We are just friends," I tell her before I can stop myself. I look over at Colton to see if I can see anything, but he is unreadable.

"Well, what can I get you?" Dorothy pulls out a pad of paper.

"The usual, for both of us," he tells her before Hayden can even look at the menu.

Dorothy smiles, "I see. I'll go put that in for you." And with a wink she is gone.

"Who was that?" I ask him with a smile. I liked that woman, and she had a past with Colton.

"I used to come here all the time in middle school. My parents aren't around much and Dorothy back then acted like a mom to me."

I reach across the table and squeeze his hand, "She sounds like an amazing woman."

It felt like less than ten minutes later Dorothy came back with our food. Two cheese burgers, with fries and a vanilla milkshake. I can't help but stare at all the food. I had no idea how I was going to eat it all.

"Is it okay?" Colton asks and I can here the actual worry in his voice.

"It's fine," I smile taking a bite into the cheeseburger. And before I know it, it is all gone. I look up and straight into Colton's amused eyes, but his is all gone too. The two of us just start cracking up.

"That was really good," I exclaim.

He smiles, "I knew you'd like it."

When we were done eating Colton pays and then we head back to his car. I hadn't realized how long we had been in there. I pull out my phone and see that it was now 5. You could definitely tell from the outside though because the town was getting busy.

We stop outside his car. And I take in the lights around me. The sun was beginning to set sooner and sooner everyday, it was already beginning to set right now. And with it, the city seemed to come alive. I watch the people walk down the streets below the tree that had twinkling lights in them. The lights in the storefronts came on in unique colors. Together the whole sight was beautiful. I was in complete awe.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I hear Colton say next to me. But out of the corner of my eye I can see that he isn't looking at them, he's looking at me.

"Yeah," I murmur in response. I didn't know why my parents hated this town so much. I wished they could see it now, then maybe they would change their minds.

I turn shyly towards Colton because I can feel myself start to tear up. I missed them so much. I feel Colton take my chin and raise it so I'm looking in his eyes. He takes his sleeve and wipes away my tears. I knew right then that if I wanted this to stay just a friendship I should turn away, take a step back, wipe away my own tears. But I didn't want to. Slowly he raises my chin and kisses me.

I feel myself melt into the kiss easily, allowing him to pull me closer. We end up with me pinned against his car. He moves his lips and kisses my neck. I keep my arms wrapped around him, I never wanted to let go. Eventually he pulls away.

"I got to thinking about what you said in the diner, and I realized that that's not what I want. I want you." He whispers this, his face inches from mine. "Do you want me?"

I nod, speechless. And I let him kiss me again. Everything felt right in that moment, everything was perfect.

We decide to drive through town and go to the ocean. After all, the town was called Eastern Point for a reason. To be honest, my parents never took me to the ocean, but I had always longed to see it. Colton takes my hand as we exit the car and we walk. Not just as friends, but as a couple. Even though, just friends didn't really last long.

I felt the kiss still lingering in my lips as we began to make our way down to the beach. I kick off my shoes and carry them with my free hand and he does the same. The sand between my toes felt amazing and I could feel the salt blowing through my hair. It was all so much better in person.

"Have you never been to the beach before?" He asks with an amused expression on his face. I shake my head no, I could only imagine how stupid I looked right now. Colton just laughs. We spend forever just walking down the beach until eventually we decided to go back. We drove in a comfortable silence and when we got back, I didn't want to leave.

"Hayden," he says grabbing my wrist. "There's this dance, it's a junior, senior kind of thing. It's called the Winter Ball, and I was wonder if you would be my date?"

I look back at him and smile, "Of course." I lean in and kiss him quickly on the lips before walking away.

My blissful night was cut short when I open the door to a very angry Ashton. "Where the hell have you been?"