change | hannie

23|Love

"I love that feeling I get when I see your smile."
-
I woke up this morning remembering yesterday. Pain and Love. I look to my side to see a peaceful sleeping Hayden. I smile and slowly get out of bed, carefully not waking him up. I look down and see that I sleep in the same clothes that I was wearing yesterday.

I walk downstairs to see no Summerall. I decided to make breakfast for Hayden since he did make some for me. I begin making oatmeal.

As I was about to pour the oatmeal into the bowl, I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and a kiss planted on my cheek. "Morning to you too!" I giggled. I looked to my side and saw Hayden smiling.

"Oatmeal? You didn't have to." He said. "You made me breakfast, so it's only fair." I smiled. He smiled and moved his hands from my waist. He grabbed his bowl and ate.

After breakfast, I reminded Hayden that we had to go to the police station. He nodded and we drove there in silence.

Once we arrived, I quickly got out of the car and speed walked to the main desk to see officer Vanessa. "Hello Annie and Hayden." She smiled. Hayden intertwined our hands which sent shivers down my spine.

"Any updates on my family?" I asked. "No, but we did find something." She said looking at me guilty. "Julianna, you didn't tell us that you were a foster child." She said with a softness in her voice.

"Yes I'm sorry, but I didn't think that would've mattered." I said looking down. Hayden lightly squeezed our intertwined hands. "It doesn't." She said.

"But we are giving you three options until we find your parents. You can either stay at your house, stay with your boyfriend or go back to the foster care system." Vanessa said.

I looked at Hayden. "What do you wanna do?" He said softly. "Um," I turned my head to Vanessa. "I'll clean up my house and live there." I said with my voice cracking. She nodded. "I promise you, we will find your family." She stated. I nodded and thanked her.

Hayden and I walked back to his car. "Do you want me to help clean up your house?" Hayden asked. "Yeah, thanks." I smiled. He smiled back and kissed my head. "They'll be safe anns." He said reassuringly. I took a deep breathe and rested my back against the car seat. They will be okay.

We arrived at my house steps. I walked in my house to see how it was. Destroyed. Hayden was a really big help in cleaning the place up. After a very long 4 hours later, the house was somewhat back to its normal condition.

"Woo! We did good." Hayden said falling back on to the couch. "Yes we did!" I said sitting besides him. "Are you okay?" Hayden asked me, putting his hand on my thigh which sent chills down my spine.

"No, not really." I said looking down. "Don't worry anns, it'll be okay." Hayden said pulling me into a hug. We sat there for a while just hugging, enjoying each other's warmth.

"Come on, let's go do something." Hayden said standing up. "Like what? There's possibly... wait." I said standing up. "H-Hayden... do you remember the neighborhood shooting... and that lady who asked for Julianna Peterson?" I asked. (Refer back to chapter 12)

"Yes?" He asked waiting for me to continue. Wow... boys can be so stupid sometimes. "What if that's the lady who did it?!" I said starting to panic. "Annie, chill. We don't know for sure. But if you think she might be a possible suspect, let's go to the station." Hayden said placing his hands gently on my shoulder.

-time skip to Annie and Hayden in officer Vanessa's office-

"So, you're telling me this, this lady might be a possible suspect?" Vanessa said looking at us suspiciously. "Yes." Hayden and I said in sync.

"Okay. Annie, do you have any idea who this lady could be?" Vanessa asked. "Um.." I had to thick for a bit. "Maybe someone from the foster system." I said messing around with loose thread on my shirt. "Okay. We'll get to interrogation asap. Thank you." She said standing up and walking out of the office, leaving Hayden and I in the room alone.

I start to tear up a bit with everything going on. "Hey hey, it's okay." Hayden said wiping away my eyes and bringing me in a hug. "Why me?" I said resting my head in his chest.

"Hayden, you can have any girl you want. Yet you choose me. You can be living your life to the fullest. Why are you helping someone worthless-" before I could finish, I got cut off by Hayden's lips touching mine.

Then he pulled away. "Annie, don't you EVER say you're worthless. You're my everything. I wouldn't want any other girl in the world. I wouldn't give you up for anything. I love you and will get through this together." He said smiling.

I smiled back. "I love you too." I don't know what love is, but I do know that Hayden's special. I don't want to loose him.