Crashing into Love

Chapter 5

Hayden's P.O.V.

I wait anxiously by my car.

Why did I ask her to come to my house? She must think I'm some kind of stalker.

She can't know that I have a crush on her. As much as I dislike Kathleen, she's right. Hunter is a dork. This is my second day of school, and I'm fitting in pretty damn well. I can't have her screw this up.

I see her come out of the building and make her way to my car.

"Hi." she says nervously. I make her nervous. Instead of feeling giddy that there's a possibility she might like me, I smirk. She blushes a deep red. I open the passenger door, and she climbs in. I walk over to the driver's seat, hop in, turn on the ignition, and pull out of the parking lot. I was a little worried that the car would be filled with awkward silence, but we make conversation. When we arrive at my house, I see her eyes widen at the sight of it. I smirk again, thinking she's probably awed by the size of my house. Yes, it is rather large, but I've always lived in big houses, so I guess I'm used to it. I walk over to the other side of the car to open her door. She steps out and follows me to the door. We walk into the empty house, and I guide her to the living room. I see her looking around, impressed.

"So, I see that you like it?" I ask, flashing yet another smirk. She sees that I caught her looking around, and hastily says,

"Yeah. It's beautiful." Her electric green eyes meet with mine for just a moment, but then she looks away. I dump my stuff on the couch, and sit down on one of the leather chairs. Hunter stands there for a moment, looking uncomfortable, until I tell her,

"You can put your bag down on the couch and sit in the chair next to me. We should go ahead and get started on this project." she follows my instructions, and sits down in the chair next to me. We pull out our necessary materials and work diligently for the next hour. Once we are closed to being finished, I take my notebook and throw it across the room.

"Hey! We need that!" Hunter says irritably.

"I'm hungry. Let's go get some food." I pull myself off the couch and motion for her to follow me. She gets up hesitantly and lets me guide her to the kitchen

"So, do you always throw your homework across the room when you're hungry?" Hunter says.

"Sometimes." I say, smiling. I pull some goldfish out of the pantry and dump it in a bowl. I pour each of us a glass of water and we walk into the kitchen.

"So... where did you live before?" Hunter asks, searching for conversation.

"Well, I move around a lot. I've lived here in Florida for about a year, but, as you can tell, I just transferred schools. I've lived everywhere. I was born in Georgia, I moved to South Dakota, then to California, then to Texas, and now to Florida." I say.

"Woah. That must be hard." she says, taking a sip of water.

"Yeah, it has been. I hope we don't move again. I kinda like it here." I say, shooting Hunter one of my killer smiles. We reach to get a handful of goldfish at the same time, and our hands touch ever so slightly. She looks up at me with this look that makes my heart thump faster. But then, she lowers her gaze and pulls her hand away.

"I make you nervous, don't I?" I say. She looks up quickly, her face full of panic. "I can see it in your eyes. And, might I say, those are some green eyes. The greenest I've ever seen. They're actually kind of beautiful." She blushes instantly. I laugh. "See?" I lean close to her and whisper, "If I'm being honest, you make me nervous too." I wink, and before she has time to say anything, her phone rings. She hastily answers it. "Saved by the phone." I whisper under my breath, but making it just loud enough for her to hear. She stands up and leaves the room to talk to the other person on the phone. I hear some of the conversation. It sounds like she's saying, "No, of course he didn't! You and Forrest are nasty and delusional." Of course, I could be hearing things. She comes back into the room and says,

"My friends are coming to get me. I gave them your address, I hope you don't mind." she says, not looking at my eyes. I nod and she goes into the living room to retrieve her stuff. She takes her time, probably not wanting to be confronted again. Her friends soon pull up into the drive way.

"I'll walk you out." I offer. She nods and follows me out of the front door. She walks hastily over to her friend's car and calls a "thank you" over her shoulder. I can see one of her friends smiling inside the car. The other friend, Forrest I think is his name, is looking at me. For a second, it seems like he's checking me out, but I'm sure I'm just imagining things. When they begin to pull out, I walk back inside. I plop down on the couch and think to myself,

I am going to ask out Hunter Hastings, even if it's the last thing I do.