Incubus

Chapter 16

It's terrifying, what a smile can hide 

~Unknown

I felt as if my skin was drawn out over millions of tiny shards of glass; the chill on my neck hadn't left me for hours. I could almost feel the way Hayden stared at me as if he had no other desires in the world but to look at me. My breath caught in my throat every time I even thought about it.

My thoughts continually drifted off to Hayden over the course of the next few days, over whether he'd gotten help or not, where he was and what he was doing. A few days ago, I would have slapped myself and adamantly tried to forget about him. But eventually, no matter what I did, he would always seem to creep back into my thoughts. I could always try to forget, but for reasons unknown to me, I didn't think I would ever be able to. Why continue fighting it?

I checked my phone avidly on a routine but heard nothing from that secret number of his. It seemed as if every part of him was secretive; I realized I didn't know anything about him, I didn't even know his last name. I only knew that his name was Hayden, that he was a foot taller than I was, and that he had piercing emerald eyes that haunted me. 

I needed to see him again, to finally decide my feelings.

I decided to call Emmalyn for help. I should've probably patched things up with her for days now, and was worried she would hold this negligence against me. But in the boy department, I was hardly an expert and needed help.

"What?" she snapped as she picked up. 

She was holding it against me.

"Hi." It was a simple answer, but my voice sounded young and lost. I could hear her grinding her teeth together through the phone.

"What do you want, Corin? What, you finally decided to talk to me after days of ignoring me? Again?"

"Listen, I'm really sorry about that, I just-"

"You just what, Corin? You're on a streak; you know that?"

"Would you please let me speak? I needed some time to be alone and think things over. And I wanted some peace."

"Oh, so calling up our old friend Matthias is peace, is it?" she remarked sarcastically.

Damn. I had forgotten entirely that I never mentioned to Emmalyn that I reconnected with Matthias. I should have predicted that he would call Emmalyn and tell her he'd seen me.

"Em, please, I need your help."

There was a pause before she answered. "With what?" She sounded suspicious, but extremely curious, nonetheless.

"Boy troubles." I never thought I'd say it. Not to her, at least. 

There was silence on the other line again, and I could imagine her gaping. "Stop that and come over here, will you?"