Not His

14. This Place Is Too Clean Not To Trash

*Haley's POV*

I idly twirled my sterling fork around my uneaten bites of roast beef and asparagus. My eyes were fixed on the fancy design of the dish my food was on - probably the Kacey's finest china, judging by it's fancy and eloquent appearance.

Of course anything less would just look like a dump compared to this place. For starters, the outside of their house looked like a miniature version of Princess Zelda's Castle in Hyrule. Ok, so it didn't quite look that fancy - or like a video game. But compared to every other house on our street, it's pretty near impossible to have it mistaken.

I was vaguely listening to something Mr. and Mrs. Kacy were telling my parents, but it was like hearing a bunch of My Little Ponies make sure every little creature was perfectly happy without a sad bone in their body. It was almost nauseating to hear them talk about subjects that meant absolutely nothing, just so they could avoid any 'negative' topics.

I mean who cares about how they found the right shade of paint for their study room? -Insert a hand thbpppp noise-

Bore-ing.

I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes  at practically every other sentence. And that is something that is not easy for me to do, just ask Griffin or pretty much anyone who knows me. I tried to continue to distract myself with making fun of their 'prim and proper' home some more, but I was wearing thin.

If I had to hear one more muffin recipe that's a 'healthy alternative' (aka, no sugar or chocolate of any kind) or the best way to scrub a countertop, I'm gonna loose my top.

I mean these people were too 'perfect' for their own good. I glanced over at James sitting on the corner of the table to my left. Surely he can't be this anal and annoying, I mean he looks normal...

I began to think about what my mother said the other day as I narrowed my eyes a bit at him. Maybe I don't know James very well...who know's, maybe he's not so bad...

At least maybe he's not as bad as his parents.

My cautious staring was interrupted as Mrs. Kacey smiled sweetly in our direction. "Oh I'm sure you two must be bored to tears." Oh no, I thought sarcastically. A negative emotion! The horror. "James," her sickenly sweet and polite tone matched her smile. "Why don't you and Haley have a nice chat in the library?"

Dear all that is holy, I mentally rolled my eyes. They have a whole freaking library, too?

"Sounds good to me," he smiled as he stood up and gestured for me to go first. "After you."

I take it back. He's just as bad and annoyingly polite as his parents, and I no longer wish to get to know him better. God, help me. I want to leave now before I throw up all over their spotless furniture....On second thought, that could be fun. But after that, I definitely want out.

Not wanting to be rude, I stood up with a fake smile and went in the direction of the library. When I stepped inside, it wasn't quite what I expected, I'll admit. It wasn't this huge library that the Beast had for Belle in Beauty and the Beast - and although the idea of a huge personal library does sound nice, it's just not for me. Instead, it had a bit of a more homier feel with some couches and family pictures here and there, in addition to the long rows of bookshelves, of course.

"Wow," I said softly as my eyes scanned the shelves reaching up towards the abnormally tall ceiling.

"I know," James said proudly. I looked at him, a little confused. "Not every house has their own library."

"Yep," I nodded as I snorted to myself. That wasn't an impressed 'wow,' as much as it was a 'pretentious-alert' one.

He took a step closer to me. Our arms grazed each other and suddenly he felt too close. Moving away, I tried to distract myself as I scanned all the book titles down the shelves. Unfortunately, this proved little effective as he just followed me and started getting closer again.