The Abnormality Of The Normality

'Neither of us makes any attempt to leave'

I'm not sure how long I have been laying there but I see it's dark outside when I am woken up. Hayley is holding me bridal style. As I open my eyes slightly, I see that her normally clear blue eyes are a shimmering red and bloodshot. Why had she been crying? I don't let her see I'm awake until she lays me in the bed, tucking the duvet over me. As she turns to leave, I grab her hand. She looks a little surprised by this but turns and sits next to me so I can see her clearer. "Stay. Please" I ask. She doesn't answer me but climbs in next to me. I turn on my side, our faces inches apart. I can feel her warm breath against my skin. The sweet smell of lavender intoxicating me. She rolls so she is laying on her back, so I rest my head on her chest. She wraps her arms around me holding me safe, like she's afraid of letting me go. Over time I hear her breathing deepen and I know she is asleep. I lay awake for a couple of hours taking in all the events that had happened that day. Hayley had possibly saved my life earlier that day. I had so many questions I wanted to ask her but I never knew the right time to ask any of them. For example, why was she wasting time with someone so ordinary like myself when she could hang out with literally anyone else? And why did she say she needed to protect me? Who was she on the phone to earlier and why had she been crying? I fall asleep with these questions roaming around my mind.

I stay laying in her arms until morning. As the light enters the room, I slowly open my eyes. Hayley is already awake, looking down at me. She smiles when she see's me wake up. Was she watching me sleep?
"Morning Al, sleep alright?" She asks, a small smirk threatening to ruin her current composure. Was she hiding something from me? Had I got something on my face? I pretend to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and wipe my full face in doing so. "Better than ever" I reply. "You're pretty cute when you sleep but the snoring is a bit annoying" she jokes. "I do not snore!" I reply almost shocked, sitting up and looking down at her. "you so do" she teases as she begins to tickle my sides. A beautiful smile on her face as she giggles whilst doing so. "Stop...Not fair" I whine as I try to contain my giggles. She continues to tickle me whilst I try to resist. "Admit it. Admit you snore" She tells me. I lay back down next to her and look into her eyes. "Okay maybe I do" I finally admit.

We stay looking into each other's eyes for a while. I glance down at her lips. She's biting her bottom lip, clearly, she's nervous. I look back up to her eyes and see she's staring down at my lips. "I... I need to go" She stutters whilst not moving an inch. "Okay" I reply. Hayley moves closer to me, Our faces only centimetres apart. We stay like that for a few seconds, cast under a spell, neither of us daring to move closer or away. I glance down at her lips again and back up at her eyes.

The spell is quickly broken by a sudden loud knocking on the door causing her to jump back and fall off the bed. "Who's there?" she grumbles. A tall, broad shouldered man enters the room. "Hayley. We have business to attend to. Get up and meet me in my study in ten minutes." He pauses noticing me for the first time. "Ah, you must be Alex. It's lovely to meet you. Please excuse my daughter's tardiness. She never was any good at anything." He glares at Hayley who just glares back at him before he stomps off down the stairs. Hayley stays put for a few seconds trying to control her anger before getting up and following him. I stay silent throughout this entire encounter. I was so confused. Did Hayley feel the connection I did? God I wanted to kiss her but what if I was just reading into it all wrong?

Five minutes pass and I hear another knock. I look up to see an elderly lady stood in the doorway holding a pile of clean clothes. "Hello dear, Miss Hayley said you would require some new clothes." She says as she enters the room and places the clothes down at the end of the bed. "I'll wait downstairs miss." I'm taken back a little by her kindness and manors. "Umm, Hi. Please call me Alex, Miss makes me feel so official" I state. The lady chuckles to herself as she leaves "As you wish Miss, I mean Alex".

What a bizarre old lady I think to myself as I change into the clothes, she had brought in for me. Instead of under garments, she had brought me a black bikini. I put these on, not wanting to be too picky or make any extra trouble for the older woman. I put the other clothes on over the top. A pair of black, skinny ripped jeans and a large plain t-shirt. Before putting the t-shirt on I examine my left side. A huge, horrid, purple bruise had formed over the last 24 hours. It was just about bearable to touch. I quickly put the top on over the top to hide it. I keep my hair down as it covers most of the bruising on my face and begin heading down the stairs.