The Closer You Are

• chapter seven

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"She may contain the urge to run away but hold her down with soggy clothes and breeze blocks"

"So you didn't tell me you were dating again." Grey said, leaning his back against the lockers like he always did.

"What?" Hayden said, out of pure habit.

Had the whole school found out about Rachel and him already? It never occurred to him what would change now that everyone knew.
For so long it had just been him and her. Alone. He had never thought to think farther now that it was out in the open.

"Didn't you hear? You and Rachel are the school's newest 'It Couple'." Grey said nonchalantly, as if he just made a statement.

Hearing those words come out of Grey's mouth only made it seem more official. And Hayden hadn't even told Grey about it, he had truly heard from someone else. So it was true, that Hayden didn't just make up last nights events in his head. But what was it Grey said about being the school's It Couple? He wondered what it meant.

When the first period bell rang, Hayden finally snapped out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Grey walking away. To his first class he assumed. 

Hayden felt the non-discreet looks he received almost everyday since the Rachel thing, but this time it was more persistent. It was like the hushed whispers suddenly became full-blown conversations over the course of one night.

By the time second period rolled around he couldn't wait for this day to be over. He already knew it was going to be a boring one. Rachel wasn't even at school today to share the pain with him. He wondered where she was. The good part of him wanted to cut class and spend the day with her, wherever she was. But the rational part of him said no, she hadn't responded to his text messages and it was probably for the better.

Lunchtime was agonizing. Hayden stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, scanning the room for his friend Grey. It had almost been ten minutes and he was nowhere to be found. At least he wasn't there at his lockers today. Hayden stood there like an idiot for another two minutes before he finally saw a familiar mop of brown hair, Grey.

Turns out he was with Caitlyn the whole time. To his amusement, Grey was sitting with a crowd of girls who worshipped the ground that Caitlyn walked on. No wonder he couldn't find him, he was camouflaged within a group of squealing girls. Hayden couldn't stay mad at his idiot friend, who had done no harm by inviting his girlfriend to sit with him at lunch, no matter how much he needed to get his priorities straight.

Hayden continued to scroll through the texts of him and Rachel. But there weren't any new messages. He had to refrain from refreshing his phone every five seconds.

For good reason, he had lost his appetite to eat. All his thoughts were consumed by Rachel and he couldn't help worry about her.

Hayden truly cared about Rachel and he didn't like being kept in the dark. He told himself he would get through today and then go check on her afterschool.

~

The final bell rung after Hayden waited agonizingly for it to go off. He had to stop himself from running over the freshman as he made way to the parking lot. Before Hayden could get to his car and drive off, someone abruptly called his name.

"Hayden!" Caitlyn said, suddenly appearing in his line of vision.

Before Hayden could think of an excuse to leave she was already talking to him.

"So as you know Grey's birthday is next Friday, and I want to get him something special for it." She started.

Hayden pretended to understand what Caitlyn was saying even though his mind was elsewhere.

Caitlyn kept blabbering, moving her hands everywhere, while Hayden's face stood emotionless.

"So I was thinking we could go to the mall this Friday. What do you think? Oh! And you can bring Rachel along! She's your girlfriend right?" Caitlyn chirped with enthusiasm.

Hayden didn't know if it was just him or Caitlyn but he swore she was talking about eighty miles an hour.

~

Somehow Hayden said something that finally got Caitlyn to go away and he jumped in his car and drove over to Rachel's house.

Rachel's neighborhood was a twenty minute drive from the school. She lived in the suburbs where all the homes were virtually identical to one another and the lawns were a healthy green where the neighbors kids frolicked around the busy streets.

Hayden arrived at Rachel's house which was just at the end of a cul-de-sac, there was a visible trampoline in the backyard and some toys littered in the front yard just like she had described to him. He parked his car across from her house and went up the long steps before he rung the doorbell hoping to see Rachel.

He rang the doorbell once and there was no noise, he paused for a brief moment before ringing it again twice, it was silent. He waited for a good two minutes before he decided to give up and turn back around and leave. Just as he was about to go back to his car the front door swings open, and to his surprise a little girl in braids stands in front of him.