Sweetheart -HIATUS

Chapter 7

// Jaden's POV //

I knew touching her would freak her out, but I wanted to calm her down.  She smiled at me, but I couldn't help but notice some other emotion in her eyes.  Like she was hiding something that had to do with her flinching away from my touch. 

I choose to ignore it and focused on the precious girl standing next to me.  I see her finger slowly tapping her thigh as we wait for someone to open the door.  Soon the door opens and Thomas is standing in front of us.  He looks directly at Faith and smiles.  Faith's finger begins to tap her thigh quicker, so I just grab her hand.  She lets me and smiles up at me. 

He motions for all of us to come in.  We follow him to their living room where I see about 5 people sitting.  As we all sit around the couches, I notice everyone in the room eyeing Faith and I's hands intertwined.  I think she does too, but she doesn't let go of my hand as we sit down. 

Thomas is the first to speak, "Hi Faith, my name is Thomas.  We're all really glad that you decided to accept our offer and visit us."  Faith just slightly smiles at him, and then says, "Well t-thank you f-for inviting m-me.  I d-don't fully unders-stand why, but thank y-you."  She looks over at the other Hype House members and says, "Aren't t-there like 20 of y-you?" 

Thomas laughs and says, "Yeah pretty much.  They're all doing something at the moment but they'll be here in a minute.  Oh, here we have Kouver, Alex, Mia, and, Chase." 

She says hi to everyone and Kouver is the next to speak, " Hi Faith.  You're super pretty and really talented.  I'm really excited that you're here.  I love your music so much.  I bet we're going to me best friends."  Mia, Chase, and Alex all agree with her. 

Faith looks at them and smiles, "Thank y'all s-so much.  It m-means a l-lot to me that y'all like m-my music."  I look down at the floor and smile to myself.  Her voice. God that southern accent.  She sounds like a real southern bell with a more darker tone if that makes sense. 

I look back up at everyone and I see Bryce looking at me.  He motions for me to come closer to him, so I lean my head towards him. 

"She's doing really well right now.  This is only like 6 new people so we'll see how she does when everyone else shows up.  Also, what's up with you holding each other's hand?" He whispers to me. 

"Well one, I agree and two, I grabbed her hand when I saw her doing her tick as Thomas opened the door.  It seemed to have calmed her down or something" I whisper back.  He nods and we move away from each other. 

Faith is still talking to the Hype House members and isn't stuttering as much.  I noticed that Anthony and Noah are gone so they must've went to see Avani and Dixie.  Which reminds me that I need to talk to all of the girls and inform them of Faith's ticks. 

After about 5 minutes, I hear footsteps coming from the stairs.  I turn around and see everyone else show up.  Kouver, Mia, Alex, and Chase all get up and walk toward the kitchen while everyone else takes their place.  It's more people then I would like but it'll do.

Before anyone speaks, Faith excitedly says, "Oh my god. You're D-Dixie! I love your s-song so much! Thank you for writing it. T-This is weird but can I hug y-you?" 

Dixie stand up and says, "Of course you can! Thank you. I love your music too." 

I'm just staring at them hugging, completely shocked.  Faith comes back and sits next to me again.  She leans towards me and says, "W-wow wasn't ex-expecting myself to d-do that. It felt weird but her s-song really helped me so I just n-needed to h-hug her."  I just look down at her and smile. I'm actually really happy for her right now. 

She broke her own wall in order to hug someone.  She's been in LA for 24 hours and she's already opening up.  She amazes me.  Sadly, the wall is put up fairly quickly as Thomas starts to introduce everyone to her.  She bouncing her leg again.  Shit and now I know that I can't touch her in order to get her to stop.  She grabs my hand, but her leg is still bouncing. 

Once everyone says hi to Faith.  She abruptly stands dragging me up with her.  She's standing directly in front of me with our hands intertwined behind her back. 

I lean forward and whisper in her ear, "Faith, is everything okay? Why are standing up?" 

She responds, "Just give me a minute. Don't let go of my hand or I won't be able to this."  I just nod and let her talk. 

// Faith's POV //

For some reason, Jaden holding my hand calms my nerves.  I mean I just hugged someone I didn't even know.  And now I'm about to talk in front of all these people that I don't know.  I can feel him tracing circles on my back and I get ready to talk.  It calms me?  Jaden Hossler what are you doing to me? 

I take a deep breath and say, "Okay so I'm going to be honest.  I-I don't know who any of you people are.  I don't have any s-social media besides TikTok and I d-don't even watch videos.  H-However, I do know all the drama from these last months.  So, just to get it out of the way, W-Who is currently single, not talking to anyone, and doesn't have feelings towards anyone?  I'm only asking because I d-do not want to be caught in drama." 

Once I finish talking, people start raising their hands as a way of answering my question.  Taylor, Nate, Tony, Ryland, Calvin, Jack, James, and Patrick all raised their hands. 

"Huh all guys. W-Wasn't ex-expecting that. Well anyway, s-since I just got up in y'all's business, y'all can ask me questions."  I tell them. 

They're hesitant at first, but Addison asks, "Where are you from?" 

"Oh okay w-well first, y-you're absolutely stunning and B-Braddison should be a thing b-but that's up to y'all.  And I'm from N-Nashville.  Y-You're from L-Louisiana, right?"  Addison nods. 

As soon as I say that they all look at Jaden.  "Yeah yeah I know we're from the same state." He says with a laugh.

Soon everyone is asking me normal questions about my music and what inspires me.  Although I have dodged a few questions about my family. I don't think anyone noticed though.

After talking for awhile longer, Thomas takes me up to the room I'm staying in while everyone including Jaden stays downstairs.