Broken Souls (Souls #1)

Chapter 2 - Destiny

I follow Hayden into the room. It's quite spacious and every piece of furniture inside of it seems new. Hayden picks up the suitcase and unceremoniously drops it on the bed and unzips it for me. I move to the large window that dominates an entire wall to the right of the bed. A spectacular view is displayed for me. Trees are dotted with bright green buds and the lawn below is lush. An apple blossom tree just off to the right is bursting with beautiful blooming flowers. Unexpectedly I feel a chest press against my back and I automatically stiffen. Then I see a head dip to the level of mine out of the corner of my eye and hear Hayden whisper in my ear.

"It's a nice view, huh?" Hayden asks. I turn my head to the left slowly and pull away slightly so my nose isn't pressed up to his chest. Hayden grins and I realize that he's enjoying this. He's enjoying making me uncomfortable. I point this out to him and the grin on his face only grows as he answers.

"Well, I never had a sister before, and I'm deciding that I quite like making you squeamish."

"Well, this better not be a daily thing," I say back.

"Of course not," he say flippantly. But the look in his eyes say otherwise.

Hayden pulls away and sits on the corner of my bed. When he claps his hands loudly he announces, "I wanna get to know you, so how about we play a game?"

I sit on the other corner of the bad and eye him warily. "That depends. What type of game did you have in mind?"

At my reaction Hayden's gaze turns predatory with a hint of mischief. He's enjoying my reaction too much. Note to self: I have to work on my poker face.

"It's an easy game. It's called, 'Or'."

A confused look overtakes my face and I ask, "Or? I've never heard of that game before."

"That's 'cause it's an original, babe. I give you two choices and you choose the one you like the best. Then you give me two choices and I choose the one I like the best. As I said before, easy. I'll go first."

I spend over ten minutes playing the game with him, but truth be told, it didn't end up to be as lame as I thought it would be. I learned a lot about Hayden in those few minutes. I learned that his favourite colour is blue, that he wants to become a musician, and also that he has a weird obsession with M&M's.

"Okay, last question," he says. "What's your favourite sport? Soccer or football?"

"Football," I answer automatically. It is a no brainer question.

"Football?" He leans in close to me and says, "You are pulling my leg, aren't you?"

I shake my head. "Nope. I love football."

"Do you play it?" He asks.

I nod my head slowly and then downcast my eyes. Thinking about football reminds me of Dad. Hayden must have noticed the pain in my eyes because a hand is placed on my shoulder in comfort and he takes two of his fingers to tilt my head back so I look into his eyes.

"Sorry, is that a sore subject?" He asks softly.

I swallow hard because suddenly my whole mouth has gone dry. "It's just that..." I breathe in deep from my nose before I start up again. "My Dad... he taught me how to play football. As soon as I was old enough to walk he placed a football in my hands. He taught me how to properly throw one at age five and then to play the game at ten. Ever since then football has been my go to whenever things got rough." Tears shine in my eyes and I laugh a broken laugh when a memory materializes in my mind. "I once threw a football through the neighbour's window when I was trying to blow off some steam. I turned out to do more than just blow off some steam that day. I blew all of my money to repair that window too."

Hayden gives me smile which is tinted with a bit off sadness. "I'll remember to never get on your bad side then. I do not want to get a football sized dent on my face."

I smile too, happy that Hayden is trying to dissipate the slight tension left in the room after the talk about my father.

He pulls back slightly and gives me a real smile. "I think you'll make friends fast," he states.

"How so?" I question him with an upraised eyebrow.

Hayden raises his eyebrow too to mock me and I notice for the first time that he has his eyebrow pierced and has a silver ring is hooped through it. "'Cause Madison never meets much girls who have a thing for football. So, Madison will love you."

The idea of making friends scares me since I know that I can never get too close to a person but yet the idea thrills me at the same time. I already made an exception with the Jennings' - maybe I can have just one close friend to turn to also.

"I'll introduce you to Madison if you want."

"Really, you'd do that for me?"

"Of course," he says and slings an arm around my shoulders. "I'm close with Madison so it won't be any trouble."

Hayden doesn't look like the type of guy who just has handfuls of platonic relationships with girls - but the type of guy who hooks up and then loses them - so I ask, "Are you and Madison...um... together...or dating?"

His eyes bug out of his head and he doubles over laughing. When he comes back up and looks at me tears prick the corners of his eyes because he was laughing so hard.

"Me dating Madison?" He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. "That's a good one. I gotta tell that to Madison at school tomorrow. The whole gang will have a laugh over that one."

Okay, I guess I assumed wrong. No matter how unrealistic it sounds or looks, Hayden is capable of having girls who are just friends and nothing more.

"Dinner is ready!" Mr. Jennings yells from the bottom of the steps. "So pause the comedy show that you two are putting on up there and come on down."

"Sure thing Dad," Hayden calls back. He turns back to look at me and eyes my suitcase. "You didn't get much unpacking done, sorry. If you want after dinner I can help you with it."

I smile at Hayden's kind gesture and decide once again that it isn't ridiculous for Hayden to have just girls who are friends.

"That'd be nice," I say.

Hayden hooks an arm around my neck and steers me out the door with him. When we get down to the kitchen Mr. and Mrs. Jennings smile at us when they see us together. I don't miss the pointed look Mr. Jennings gives Hayden though that seems to say, 'remember she is your sister.' Mrs. Jennings doesn't miss that look either and together we laugh while Hayden puts up both his hands like he's been caught while trying to keep on a straight face. We all end up laughing together.

As a family.