Recovery | On Hiatus

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

THE NEXT DAY started the same as all the others—with Hayden and I bickering the moment we entered the same room. This time, though, we weren't at school yet.

"Scarlet! Hurry up, I need to take a shower!" He pounded on the door a few times for emphasis.

"Quit crying about it!" I shouted around one of the spare toothbrushes Camille kept in the cabinet, then muttered, "You should've taken one last night like every other teenager."

"I heard that!" He pounded on the door again.

"You were meant to!" I yelled back, although it sounded more like a jumbled mess of mumbling and saliva than a coherent sentence.

"I have no idea what you just said, but I'll take it as a tribute to how hot I am!"

I pulled the toothbrush from my mouth and spit into the sink, rinsing the brush and my mouth before leaving the bathroom. Hayden had his hand in the air, ready to knock again when I opened the door with a sneer. "Not even close."

He grumbled angrily after me as he headed off into the bathroom in a dark T-shirt and a pair of light jeans. I was wearing the same jeans as yesterday and a borrowed baby blue hoodie from Hayden that was getting too small for him anyways. I didn't want to wear anything tight—not that anything he had would be tight on me—in a paranoid fear that the swelling would be noticeable. Hayden and Camille had both been pretty surprised when I felt fine this morning, especially considering Camille had said it looked even worse after I woke up when she wrapped some gauze around my stomach and waist with some thin ice packs slipped inside.

I was dragged from my thoughts as I made my way down the steps and smelled the unmistakable aroma of fresh bacon. As if demanding I go grab some, my stomach growled rather loudly as I entered the kitchen. I hadn't eaten bacon in forever.

Camille laughed as she heard my stomach and turned to see who stepped in. "Sounds about as loud as Hayden's when he doesn't eat his lunch at school. I swear, he's lost a few pounds too many already."

I heard Hayden groan as he stepped into the room. "I eat every day at school. I don't know why you're convinced that I'm starving myself."

"Don't worry." I grinned. "She was just telling me about your chicken legs."

Camille rolled her eyes at our behavior. "You know, the two of you don't seem like you've spent a day apart. What was it you two fought about again?"

The room went silent as the air thickened between Hayden and I. Neither of us had worked up the courage to tell Camille about the argument that shattered our young friendship out of the fear of her piecing it all back together with a quick scolding. And, at the time, neither of us wanted to be friends again.

"It's a long story," I finally said, tearing my eyes away from hers and to the floor.

Hayden nodded, his hand stroking the back of his neck. "Not worth mentioning, really."

Camille noticed the building awkwardness in the room and nodded. "So be it. You two better head off to school, but don't forget to grab some bacon and a waf—"

"Thanks, Mom!" Hayden called as he snatched up a chocolate chip waffle and a few strips of bacon and zipped out the door, syrup excluded.

I raised an eyebrow as I watched him sink down in his car. "He does realize he's not going anywhere without me, right?"

Camille laughed, bright eyes sparkling with a hidden mischief I recognized in her son several times over the years. "He's funny like that." She glanced at the time, mischief gone and quickly replaced with the stern-mother look. "You better get going or you're going to be late."