The Boy Next Door

Chapter 2

⠀⠀⠀The smell of shit that Hayden had experienced as soon as she stepped out of the car in the driveway only intensifies as she steps out the back door onto the patio. Apparently David's house is a total dead zone, so any time she wants to call her friends in New York, she'll have to go outside.

⠀⠀⠀The patio is large with a table that could seat ten people and a barbecue. A large fire pit with wooded benches surrounding it is set up in one of the corners. A few lounge chairs line the back wall of the house.

⠀⠀⠀But beyond what would be a gorgeous patio is a field of pig crap.

⠀⠀⠀Hayden can hear the hideous creatures squealing and oinking and who-knew-whating from where she stands, but she is too busy texting Brandon the horrors of her new home to notice that she is taking too many steps.

⠀⠀⠀She's on the tiled back patio one moment, and the next second, one of her Jimmy Choo sandals is covered in pig crap, the brown semi-solid touching her perfectly pedicured toes.

⠀⠀⠀"Ew!" Hayden shrieks. She scurries backwards onto the patio, attempting to get as far away from the grassy area as she can possibly get, kicking off her shoe in the process.

⠀⠀⠀From out of nowhere, a dirty blond boy wearing just a pair of ratty jeans and cowboy boots appears, his bare chest stained with dirt. Or at least Hayden hopes it is dirt, but based on what she just stepped in, she can't be sure.

⠀⠀⠀The boy's blue eyes are panicked as he looks around, his eyes finally landing on Hayden. "What happened? Are you alright?"

⠀⠀⠀His voice has a southern twang that Hayden has always loved and usually would make her heart do a little flip, but in her current state of disgust, it just made her even more annoyed.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm fine!" she hisses. "As for my shoe that just got soiled, not so much."

⠀⠀⠀He lets out a sigh of relief and steps closer to her. "Oh, good. The way you screamed, I thought you were being mauled by one of the pigs or somethin'." He waits for her to reply in some way, but when she doesn't, he says, "I'm Wyatt. I live next door. I'm guessin' you're David's step daughter. He hired me to build a fence around the pigs' area."

⠀⠀⠀He sticks out his hand expectantly.

⠀⠀⠀Hayden looks at his hand but makes no motion similar to reaching to shake it. She just looks at the filth on it and turns her nose up. "Well you're not doing a very good job at that, clearly."

⠀⠀⠀Wyatt looks at the one shoe on her foot and the one lying on the patio, discarded. "You should get yourself a pair of boots. You don't want any of those fancy shoes getting all messed up out here."

⠀⠀⠀She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I'm going to pass on that."

⠀⠀⠀She reaches down and picks up her sandal with her pinky finger, holding it out in front of her with her arm fully outstretched, and she turns towards the house, heading towards the door that'll take her back inside.

⠀⠀⠀"It was nice meeting you!" Wyatt calls out from behind her.

⠀⠀⠀Hayden marches into the house and into the kitchen, where her mother stands preparing a snack for Michael. She makes sure to make a big show out of dumping her over five hundred dollar shoes into the trash can.

⠀⠀⠀"Hayden, sweetie, what happened?" Evelyn asks.

⠀⠀⠀Hayden scoffs. "What happened? What happened is that you forced me to move here, and I should have just moved in with Brandon when he offered because even if I didn't have a family, at least I'd be in New York, where there is no pig shit to step in! What happened is that I hate it here and I hate you for bringing me here!"