In Love With a Renegade

Chapter 10: Love, It Happens All the Time

{One Month Later...}

I rolled over to my clock, the neon red numbers on it giving me the time, 3:42 A.M. I couldn't sleep; Hayley's face and memories of her danced in my head, making sleep something that didn't exist in my mind. It's been almost a week since we've talked. And in all honesty, I missed her.

I grabbed my phone and unlocked it, opening my messages. I stared at the blinking cursor as I hesitantly typed in Hayley's name to text her. I fought my shyness and wrote the message, sending it to her immediately.

"Hey," it read. "Are you up?" After a three-second wait, a notification popped up on my phone, showing Hayley replied. I smiled a little as I read her message.

"You too again? Meet me at the brick wall by my place," she wrote. I knew exactly what she meant. I got out of bed and slipped my shoes on, along with a jacket as I left the house with nothing but my phone and my keys.

The parking lot was about two blocks from my house; two blocks of night sky all to myself as I walked alone, wishing Hayley was beside me. She would be, eventually. I would be able to see her eyes sparkle the same exact way the stars did on nights like these. I would see that familiar face with those red, half curled lips that always felt like a breath of fresh air whenever I saw her. I knew I was very close. I could see Hayley's silhouette blowing white clouds into the sky. I smiled a little and hopped the wall, sitting next to her on it. She jumped a little, startled by my sudden entrance. She blew a relieved sigh.

"Christ, York," she huffed. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry," I chuckled. Hayley snickered a little, that famous red smile playing on her lips again.

"I swear, I almost thought about smoking a second cigarette considering how long it took you to get here," she joked.

"I didn't mean to take long," I said, feeling myself get lost in her eyes. I switched my gaze to the concrete.

"It's fine," she said, nudging me. "I gotta talk to you about some things, anyway. You're lucky I waited for you."

"What do you wanna say?" I asked, ready for just about anything Hayley would say.

"Well, for starters, I'm releasing you from the the title, 'stiff.' You no longer seem to be one," she smirked. "Good job, York!" I gave a slight shrug with a chuckle. "The other thing is... the usual." We both giggled at the title she gave our conversation. Whenever Hayley couldn't sleep and went for a smoke on the twentieth, she always had a deep consideration of the simplest things in life, such as how a specific person laughed, or why the mind get us to do one thing when we tell ourselves to do something different. Her insight on things were never boring, never confusing. They amused me; not only the way her face and eyes lit up at each subject, but her words too. No one would ever have suspected her to be a renegade with a mind like hers.

"I'm fine with the usual," I said. "Subject of the month is...?"

"Love," she said simply; I felt a pang in my chest. She drew another puff of her cigarette, then blew another cloud of smoke. "It's a crazy thing, ain't it?"

"Hell yes," I agreed with a chuckle.

"It's a lot of things," she said. "Most of all, it's the thing that kills us. Yet, ironically, it's the same thing we can't live without." I nodded. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I sighed. Hayley looked over at me, gesturing towards the box of cigarettes, offering one to me. I shook my head in refusal.

"Watch," she said, pointing her cigarette at me. "You're going to fall into this. Smoking once a month, I mean."