perfect times → EMMETT CULLEN ✓

s e v e n t e e n

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
❝ charming ❞

     WITHIN THE NEXT two weeks, Hayden Marris hadn't once been in contact with Mike Newton, or any of her first-day-of-school-friends for that matter. Instead, Emmett had been cautious of every single move she made, and was sure to be beside her at all possible times. It wasn't that he felt she would make a bad decision; it was as if his unbeating heart wouldn't allow him to let the girl roam by herself. Mike's mistake may not have been intentional, but that didn't mean he couldn't slip up again. During those two weeks, the Marris girl had managed to gain a bond even closer to the Cullens and Paul Lahote.

Paul had seen her on the weekends, suggesting that they do something fun like swim at La Push, go bowling, see a movie, or anything, really. Hayden enjoyed having his company, and sometimes Jacob would even tag along with them. With her mind preoccupied, she didn't have to worry about her mother's yells after she arrived home from school. Lately, her parents had grown angry with her sudden disappearances with her friends, of which they had somehow missed her explanation notes on the fridge with her whereabouts. On those nights, the brunette would leave the house in wracked sobs, calling for one of her friends to come and get her.

"Hayden, where were you?" Her mother had demanded one afternoon, not giving her daughter a chance to lay down her school bag. "You had us worried sick the whole time you were gone last night!"

"Mom, I left a note on the refrigerator," Hayden had furrowed her brows, sinking onto one of the kitchen barstools as her father made an entrance. "I called you, but you didn't answer. I had no other choice but to stay the night with Bella‒ I banged on the door for at least ten minutes."

"I think you should stop seeing that boy," Amberley had sighed, running a hand down her aging face. "If he's keeping you out too late, we can't keep an eye out for you. And that fight at school‒"

"‒ wasn't his fault." Hayden finished. "Might I remind you that neither one of you answered your phones while I was in the hospital, or even showed a sliver of concern as I stayed at the Cullen house for a week. Listen, Mom, Dad, I understand completely that the two of you have jobs. You provide for me, yes, and I can't thank you enough for that. But would it hurt you so badly to sit down and have a conversation with me about how things are going? I don't even know what the two of you work on, for goodness' sake."

"Things are complicated, and we expect for you to accept that we can't be here constantly," her father stressed. "But as a child, you shouldn't be questioning our love for you just because our work requires a hefty amount of attention. Your‒ your actions are disappointing us, Hayden. Is this your way of acting out?"

"I'm not a child!" Hayden had cried out. "You just don't understand‒ you don't listen to me!"

"There isn't always a time to listen!" Amberley had thrown her hands up, her temper rising with them. "We have to have a way to take care of you, don't we? We can't get money by just lying around all day, we have to get up and work for it!"