Our Two Bedroom Story

3

I wake up, still in Hayes's room. Hayes remains asleep on his bed, quietly purring in his sleep.

I feel my neck, seems fine. The sun shines between the curtains that are half opened.

"Morning Joy," a voice startles me. When I jolt up, I find Hayes sitting up.

"I thought you were asleep," I breathe.

"I was, but now I'm awake".

He stands up and flashes a smile. "How'd you sleep?".

For once I had slept through the night, I guess I just felt safe here. "Fine, you?".

"Good, I'm glad you slept well on the mattress. I didn't know if it was going to comfortable or not." he scratches the back of his neck, almost as a sign of relief.

"Want breakfast?".

"Uh sure," I sigh, looking into his gorgeous eyes.

"You okay?" he notices my some what depressing look. I wanna say no, because my fucking insane foster mom is probably on the hunt for me, but I reply with an I'm fine.

"Okay, let's go get some breakfast." he leads me into the kitchen. Hayes browses through the cabinets and fridge and then frowns," We have no food.". I hold back a laugh and look through the window of the kitchen at the backyard. A large pool sits in the middle, guarded by a giant rock, diving board, and a slide. Tiki torches lines the sides of the pool and a hammock rests by the jacuzzi.

"Wanna go to breakfast somewhere?" he asks. I nod and we go to get Nash. I change in the guest room. I put on a pair of high waisted shorts and a daisy crop top. My wavy brown hair won't cooperate with me this morning, so I decide to put it in a loose braid.

Once we are all ready and Skylnn wakes up, we head to breakfast. "Okay, what do you guys want?" Nash taps his thumbs on the steering wheel.

"French fries!" Skylnn squeals. I quietly chuckle while Hayes and Nash burst into laughter. She looks around confused at our laughter and starts to laugh also.

"Okay, how does Cinnabon sound?" I haven't been there in forever.

"Only if they have french fries," Skylnn pouts.

"They have french fries." Hayes tells her.

"Then let's go!" Nash drives to Cinnabon. Right when I step out of the car, I instantly smell the sweet sensation of cinnamon rolls. It's really crowded, so we decide to take it home and eat it there.

"So how was your night Joy?" Nash asks, while reaching for a cinnamon roll.

"It was fine," I reply. Hayes sits directly opposite from me, next to Nash.

"If you guys want, we can go do something." Nash suggests. Hayes and I exchange looks and then nod in agreement.

"We should go ice skating!" Hayes lights up with excitement when the idea comes to him.

"Sounds good to me. How bout you Joy?" my head bobs up and down.

"Looks like we're going ice skating," Nash pulls out his phone, quickly types something, and then locks it.

Hayes P.O.V

When we get to the ice rink, Nash and Skylnn start gliding in the ice. As for me, I suck at ice skating. My hands lock to the wall as I hope that I don't fall. "Need help?" Joy asks.

"Uh, kinda." I try to let go of the wall, but end up face planting into the ice.

Joy helps me up and grabs my arms," Let me help you.". She stands across from me, clutching both wrists, and steadily pulls me along.

"Okay, so you go left foot then right foot." she does a movement that I copy. For once, I don't fall on my face. "Good, now just keep doing that," she lets go and leaves me to skate on my own. Slowly and steadily, I glide across the ice.

"Come on," I pull her by the arm and she glides right next to me. "This is fun." I smile.

"Yeah," she fully smiles back. Wow, that's the first time I've ever seen her smile before. We skate together for a little bit, but randomly Joy stops dead in her tracks.

"Joy, what's wrong?" I ask concerned. She shakes her head a few times, and then quickly skates towards the exit. I skate over to her and grab her arm.

"Let go of me!" she flails her arms backwards and then stops when she notices that it's just me. "Oh, it's just you," she takes short and shallow breathes as she speaks.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I can't be here." a worried look covers her face.

"Why n-"

"I'll explain later! But right now he need to leave!" she presses her lips together.

I go get Nash and tell him that something's wrong with Joy and that we need to leave. He nods in agreement and we leave the ice rink. In the car, Joy sits uneasily next to me.

"You sure your okay?" I ask.

"Yeah....I just needed to go." her eyes look up at the right side of her head and she bites her lip.

"You looked like you saw something or someone?" I just don't want her to feel unsafe with us, cause I know she's safe. I don't know what's happened to her in the past, but the past doesn't matter any more.

"I just-don't wanna talk about it." she stops right before she says don't and then looks out the window.

What do you think Joy saw?

-Rose🌹