Beyond Bloodline - Unbreakable Bonds

thirty five

Nigel had never known a situation like this before. His girlfriend was angry with him. Well, not angry per se, but she certainly didn't look very happy with him either. They'd been fine so far, talking so long the previous evening on video that time soon got away from them and she realized she was nearly an hour late into her shift. After her shift, they'd talked again but he didn't hold her long since she sounded like she'd been drained of all her energy in the short hours she had her shift.

Things were fine then. He couldn't pick her up for school the following morning since he had to go much earlier to discuss strategy for the competition tomorrow with coach. He met her shortly after that in the hallway and she refused to even meet his eyes. His usual, "hey, love, how was your night? dream of me?" was awarded with nothing more than a grunt.

"Hayley," he tried to coax but she just glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and ultimately maintained her silence. They were currently on the left lane of the bus they were taking upstate in preparation for the competition tomorrow. He'd gotten on earlier and watched her hesitate a couple meters away with Aries and Cassandra before ultimately coming to take the seat next to him, their friends finding their way further back, not looking any less awkward with the cold war between them.

Her willingness to sit next to had him optimistically hoping things weren't so bad they couldn't be easily resolved. He even felt relief that she was part of the cheerleading team and tagging along to cheer the team on. If that weren't the case, then he'd likely have worried himself until he returned back to her.

"Hay-Hay," he called softly as the bus waited for the rest of the students to find their seats. Her cheeks tinted pink, the dusting turning a tad darker when he reached over to interlace their fingers together. He cheered a little for himself in his heart when she didn't try to pull away and tightened his grip before calling again, "Hay-bear."

Pink burnt to red, stretching to her earlobes. He resisted the urge to lower a kiss to it and straightened his neck when she suddenly turned on him, gaze fierce.

"Have you no shame?" she said but Nigel could tell she wasn't that upset about it with the little roll of her eyes. "I told you not to call me that."

"I'm sorry, okay?" he said, shaking their intertwined hands. Pleading, "don't be mad, alright? I won't do it again."

Her lip twitched and with the deep amusement drenching her grey eyes, he could tell she was holding back a laugh. "Do what?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," his shoulders slumped depressingly in response. "Tell me?"

"Penny approached me earlier today," she finally relented, lips pursing as she finally met his gaze. Only, it didn't fill him with as much relief as he'd thought.

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask just who Penny was and what that had to do with her being upset but curbed it at the last minute as he didn't think she'd respond kindly to his cluelessness.

Though he didn't exactly need to ask. His confusion was blatantly written all over his face.

"Typical," she scoffed. "You don't remember your own ex?"

Nigel's memory blanked. He remembered Cassandra well enough. The other six, not so much, more or less just a blur of faces in his mind. Glancing down at her gradually tightening expression, he could only manage an awkward smile.

"Fiery red hair? Green eyes?" she elaborated. "Pretty dimpled smile?"

That was describing at least twenty percent of the girls in their high school but he still forced any trace of confusion off his face and pretended like he'd remembered. "Did she say something to you?" he wondered. "Don't mind her, alright? She's spouting nonsense."