The Beautiful Truth

** 140

Hadley was coloring with one of the kids across the room, and while his attention was devoted to playing Madden with nine year-old cancer patient Merrick Hayes, Talyn couldn't help but steal a glance at her every now and then.

What a transformation.

He couldn't decide, though, if it was her who had been transformed, or him. He had been completely surprised by her the night he met her and Sawyer for dinner in Hollywood. While he'd apparently been noticeably nervous to see her again—chick is hot, and a lot of time between now and then had dimmed the memories of how crazy she'd been on that show—he'd been taken aback by how sweet and sincere she was.

Hadley Catalano, sweet and sincere. Surely no tabloid magazine had dared to think that was even a remote possibility. 

Anyhow, he had been most struck by her steadfast loyalty to Sawyer. Where he'd once thought no one could possibly be as loyal to Sawyer as him, after his malicious attempt to deflect his own embarrassment onto his best friend by bringing up one of her most painful memories, he now knew that well, once again, he was an asshole.

One of the many things he'd learned from Hadley Catalano over the course of the last couple weeks.

He'd called her the day after their dinner with Sawyer to apologize for acting like an immature twerp. And after he convinced her to meet him for fro yo later that night, they decided to visit the Children's Hospital together. This was their second visit together, and he loved it.

Actually, he was starting to recognize the distinct possibility that he may actually love her and that was simultaneously awesome and confusing at the same time.

He wasn't sure he knew how to love anybody but Sawyer, but then again, he hadn't been sure he knew how to run the Pro until he studied it and tried it, and now he was practically a genius at the USC offense and so why not?

Talyn let his attention stray for a moment too long and Tony Romo/Merrick ran the ball in for a touchdown.

"Yeah, that's what you get for staring at that girl," Merrick teased in his scratchy voice next to Talyn on the couch.

"I wasn't—"

"Sure you weren't," Merrick interrupted knowingly. "It's OK, she's pretty I guess."

"She's pretty, you guess," Talyn repeated with mock-disbelief. "Whatever. That girl's a ten."

Merrick grinned and returned his attention to the PlayStation. "Eleven."

Talyn blushed, although he had no idea why. Jesus, Hadley Catalano was making him blush. What a 180. For the first time in what felt like forever, Talyn found himself not fixated on his best friend Sawyer, and totally engrossed in a Hadley daydream.

Mmm... The things he wanted to do to her when they got back to Hermosa.

Beside him Merrick laughed. He'd just turned a pick-6 on Talyn's Chargers.

"Staring," he teased again. "Serves you right."