Hailey Hunes

Chapter 5

Hailey;

He picks the menu up as if he doesn't know what he already wants.

I hid my blushing cheeks by turning my back on him to drink my glass of cold water.

''You're flirting with me Christian.'' I finally say once I had gathered myself. A cold glass of water can do wonders.

He just gives me a look and looks down at the menu again. I immediately regret saying that. I like it when he gives me attention like that, why would I make it clear to him that he's flirting with me? I should've known he would stop. He always does once he notices what he's doing. It seems like he can't control his behavior around me. And to be honest, I'm also victim to that phenomen.

''At what time are you off?'' He asks without turning his gaze away from the menu infront of him.

''In 20 minutes.'' I respond while making a cappuccino for a guy who just ordered. I add a nice little flower to it and hit the bells after I'm done with it. I give him a polite smile and tell him that I hope he will enjoy it. I pay my attention on Christian again. ''Why?'' I ask after he hasn't said anything.

''I can give you a ride.'' He casually says. What's wrong with him? Does he even know who I am?

''I'm Hailey Hunes, the girl you're not about to marry and also the one who you hate so much.'' I say sarcastically.

He rolls his eyes. The attitude really is performing right now. Asshole.

''I'm just trying to be nice to future my sister in law. Let's start with a clean slate. I'm Christian and you're Hailey. We never had an encounter before this very one right here.'' He says and he finally looks up.

I think I'm losing someone I never had. Why is he trying to start on a clean slate? I've tried to do that for years because I slowly started to love him without even being aware of it. He never agreed and he just continued to resent me quietly. I got used to the silence of it and for some reason it was becoming my comfort zone. I mean we would sometimes meet in the woods without even knowing if the other one would be there but we got to know each other so good that it was predictable if the other one would be present in the woods or not. I got used to the arguing, the yelling and the way we would be frustrated because of each other. I found comfort in his way of communicating, or more so the lack of communication. Everyone would think our bond doesn't make sense but for us, for me it was logical. We would argue, he would tell me he still hates me but then come back a few days later and then we would talk about all the things we would've wanted to do differently in life. Rinse and repeat. His quiet resent become my comfort zone.

And now he wants us to rinse all of this away as if it doesn't matter anymore. It mattered to me. I somehow mastered his way of thinking.

''This is because of my sister right? You are interested in her.'' I say more than ask because I already know the answer.

''I'm starting to like your sister more. I just want to start clean, with you, your family and her.'' He says, he's serious about it. Like really serious. Literally two days ago he hated the thought of being with her and now he's here trying to get everything perfect just for it to work between the two of them. 

Was it all in my mind? I mean were all the longing glances just a fantasy? All the arguments where it seemed like he cared? All the times he looked at me up and down with a hint of lust in his eyes? The tension, the chemistry, the electricity between our bodies? Was it all made up? It must be because no human would forget all of that in two days.

''You actually like her.'' I say unbelievable. I say it more to myself than to him. But he nods anyway.

''Good for you. I have work to do so if you will excuse me.'' I say without making any eye contact with him. There's water gathering behind my eye balls. I think I wanna cry but why? It's not like we were ever a thing. I mean he basically told me he hated me every single time we were together. But it was like he wanted to make himself believe that, it was like he never really meant it. Now I just feel stupid because him not liking me was infront of my face all along. I just refused to believe it.

''I wanna order, Hailey.'' He says.

''Anna will help you.'' I say while trying to keep my voice from cracking. I run towards to back doors and aim for the bathroom. I lock the door and tears start to fall. After 8 tears sliding down my cheek I decide it's enough. No more crying for a guy who doesn't care about me one bit. I look at myself in the mirror. My reflection reveals a pretty girl who can do better than Christian. I deserve a guy who appreciates me and actually cares about me, not some douchebag who's giving mixed signals every single day.

I make my way to the café again. I look to the bar to see if he's still sitting there. He indeed is and not even a second later he makes eye contact. I hold it for a few seconds, planning on breaking it but he's not looking away. I still hold eye contact. I try to search for any sign on his face that will tell me he still cares but all I really find are eyes that now seem so unfamiliar. It's like I'm looking at a different person. Slowly there is a smirk raising on his face but instead of playing into it I just break eye contact and start serving different tables. I can feel his eyes burning my back but I don't look back, not even once. But when I'm walking back to the bar he's still there and I feel a hint of annoyance in his eyes on my back. I proceed to complete the orders I just wrote down and when I have everything I need I walk around to bar to serve the people I just helped ordering their drinks.

I serve every one of them and head back to the bar but on my way I get stopped by a hand around my upper arm forcing me to a stop. I want to get out of his grip but I decide to not make a scene.

''I'll be waiting in the car.'' He says on a low tone. I lets my upper arm go and turns to walk out.

''I won't come, I have my own car.'' I say before he heads out.

''My car.'' Is all he says before he's out.

I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. That bastard thinks he can control me just like that. Like he can snap his fingers and I will automatically listen to him. Listening to Christian? My ass.

I finish my last minutes and when I'm done I tell Anna I'm heading home. She thanks me for showing up today and tells that I should come over more often. I tell her soon and after that I dress myself in my outfit I had on before working. It's simple, cute and casual.

I greet once more before leaving. I head for my car but just when I'm about to sit inside I get stopped by an arm blocking my way. I look to the side of me and see Christian with a blank expression.

''Your stubborn ass never listens.''

''Why would I? I don't have anything to say to you. I just wanna go home and work on my homework.''

''Why are you mad?" He asks confused.

I sigh. I'm tired of this back and forth bullshit. ''I'm not mad.''

''Then what are you?'' He asks, this time on a softer tone.

I feel better again, safe. His voice has way too much effect on my mood for my liking. ''Nothing, I'm-I'm nothing. Clean slate and all that, great plan. Really great, so great even. Yeah.'' I say while looking everywhere except him. I twirl my hair to kill time while being in this stupid situation. He thinks I'm stupid, I'm stupid so that's fair to be honest.

''Good.'' He says and he steps out of the entrance of my car. ''I'll see you later tonight.'' He says.

''Why? I'm not in the woods at night.'' I said confused.

He starts laughing. ''I'll be at dinner, Liv invited me.''

''Liv?'' I scoff and roll my eyes.

He looks weird at me. ''The woods are also forgotten news, clean slate remember? You won't catch me at your favorite spot again.'' He says and he turns to walk away from me.

And all I can think about is him calling our place 'forgotten news'. It was my favorite place because of him. Not that I ever admitted that to him nor myself but deep down I knew it was. He made the place 'The Place', you know? You probably don't. Because these days I seem to only ''know'' things. In reality it was all in my head, maybe that's why I'm the only person who ever got it. It was, it was all just fake.