Of Thieves And Do Gooders

Several hours had passed since my brief encounter with Hayden and his lips, and still butterflies had managed to move into my stomach and refused to stand still.

Boy are stupid and confusing, I decided as I paced in front of the door to Hayden’s room. I couldn’t quite work up the courage to go in unless I was certain he was asleep, but I would have to go in eventually, the nurses were starting to get suspicious of my nervous pacing.

Finally, I tucked away the part of me that was a girl and pulled out the courage and loud part of me that defined me as a guy. I was going to be aloof, as if it hadn’t happened, that would be confusing like a boy, right?

Right.

I swallowed hard and lay my sweaty palm on the doorknob for a long moment before turning it and applying pressure to the door so that it glided open a little too quickly for my liking. I walked into the room and closed the door behind me, feeling like I was walking into a trap and that any moment I would hear locks snapping into place. But the room remained relatively silent, aside from the sound of steady breathing and the monotonous beep that signified Hayden’s heartbeat.

I proceeded into the room at a wary pace, keeping my eye on the lump that occupied Hayden’s bed. Surely he would spring from his bed at any moment and address the topic that I wanted to forget, just so that the awkwardness could cease to exist before it even became apparent. But the lump was motionless. He was asleep, I was sure of it. Thank God. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

No awkwardness! Lady Luck decided to be nice for once in her life and it was to my benefit! Remind me to get her a present this Christmas, I refuse to neglect her any longer.

“Ray?”

I take back that last paragraph. No presents for Lady Luck and her evil ways. I can hear her cackling in the background now…

“I thought you were asleep,” I said truthfully, hiding my discomfort well enough. Even though I was cursing myself mentally, I could have just as easily slept in the park outside of the hospital…

“No, not tired,” Hayden said, eyeing me carefully, and by the look in his eyes, I could tell that he hadn’t forgotten about the incident for a moment.

“Bullshit,” I proclaimed with a scowl, “It’s past midnight. You gotta be tired.”

Hayden scowled back at me, he wasn’t going to appease me just because I was angry, “Well, are you tired?” he demanded.

I opened my mouth and lied, “Of course! It’s past midnight!”

“Bullshit,” Hayden crossed his arms over his chest, “You’re lying,” he informed me. As if I didn’t already know that.

I snorted in disbelief, “And how would you know that?” I asked, knowing he didn’t have an answer.

“You get this stupid crinkle at the corners of your eyes when you lie,” Hayden said as if it were obvious.

I blinked and opened my mouth to deny the statement, but realized that I wasn’t sure whether this was true or not. I didn’t exactly have a good view of my eyes when they were sitting on my face and seeing things for me.

“That’s a stupid way to tell if someone--”

“No, no. Not ‘someone’ just you,” Hayden corrected, propping himself up on his elbows now.

“Fine. That’s a stupid way to tell if I am lying.” I sneered at him, although I was starting to back out of my original plan that I had concocted if he was awake. Silently, I grabbed the chair by Hayden’s bedside and dragged it to the farthest corner before falling into it.

“Alright then, there are a bunch of signs to see when someone’s lying. Such as: fidgeting, sweating, talking really fast, pacing, nervous glancing--”

“Do I do any of those things?” I interrupted, knowing the answer.

Hayden hesitated then murmured inaudibly.

“Hmm?” I pressed.

Hayden looked up at me and glared slightly, “I said ‘no, just the stupid eye thing…’”

I rolled my eyes, feeling the conversation die away, I looked down at my lap. Here came confrontation time, “About the…er…you know…the thing…” I glanced up and noticed that Hayden’s face was red, “Since it was an accident…right?” I looked at him expectantly now.

“Ray, I’m sorry, I really--”

“Stop, stop, stop. Jeez you’re flustered,” I complained quietly, rubbing the back of my neck and realizing that I needed a haircut soon. “I vote that we forget about the entire thing. Pretend it never happened.”

Hayden watched me carefully after that sentence, I didn’t look up at him though, I just felt his eyes on me. After a minute passed, Hayden seemed to realize I was waiting for a reaction and said a single word, “Seriously?”

I frowned, my patience already wearing thin, “Yes, ‘seriously’, I figured since it was an accident and it didn’t mean anything to either of us, it would be better off forgotten.”

Hayden’s mouth created a perfect “O” as he struggled to find something else to say, and then he simply settled for, “Seriously?”

My frown deepened and I scowled at him instead, “Yes, why is that such an odd request?”

“Ah, well, I guess I just didn’t expect that sort of answer from you. Since girls usually don’t want to just forget that sort of stuff…” Hayden glanced quickly up at me and saw that this last statement hadn’t eased the scowl from my face, “I, of course, didn’t mean to say that you are like any other girl, you’re very unique of course…” he trailed of, giving up on trying to fix his blundering words.

“Sorry, I forget I’m a girl sometimes, need to see my boobs in the morning just to remind me,” I stated sardonically, rolling my eyes. “If you want, I could just go on a big rant about how your random kiss made me feel,” I had to hope beyond hope that he was one of those stereotypical guys that didn’t want to hear or talk about feelings.

“Well--” Hayden cut himself short as he looked at me and he frowned slightly. “It meant nothing…right?” he asked warily as if I had changed my mind suddenly.

I thought about that for a moment. Obviously it had meant something, not a lot, but it was my first kiss, and it was with him. So I wasn’t really going to forget it, and that moment always means something to a girl…

“Nope. Nothing,” I lied confidently, hoping the “crinkles” in my eyes weren’t giving me away.

“Alright, cool, then it’s officially forgotten,” Hayden stated in a mock-official tone.

“What is?” I raised my eyebrows, attempting to seem lost.

Hayden smirked slightly, “Exactly.”

“Well that was a nice long talk we had about video games.” I stretched slightly and pulled my chair closer to Hayden’s bed, “Now we should probably get some rest though, we have the wrath of the Headmaster and Mrs. Lilany to face tomorrow.”

“‘Video games’, right.” Hayden readjusted himself in his bed, snuggling farther into the sheets and tucking his hand under his pillow. He rolled the other direction so that I couldn’t see his face. “By the way, I’m not sure how you managed to get in here right now, visiting hours are way past over. I’m surprised a nurse hasn’t come in to kick you out yet.”

As if on cue there was a small knock on the door before the knob turned and the door began to open. I instantly went limp and rested my head at a strange angle against Hayden’s bed and breathed deeply.

There was a sharp click each time the nurse’s heels touched the floor. She hesitated by me, debating whether or not she should “wake me up”. Half a minute later, she moved on and checked all of the machines that were hooked up to Hayden, apparently deciding to ignore me. Excellent.

However, she took longer than I had imagined and I found myself falling asleep to the sound of hospital machinery being moved around accompanied by the sound of scribbling on paper not to mention the insistently steady beep…beep…beep… of Hayden’s heart monitor.

_______________________________________

The next day I was awakened by the door to Hayden’s hospital room opening. I jolted upward, eyes firm as I looked at who had entered. I relaxed a little when I realized it was Mr. Jager, twirling a set of car keys in his hand. From my days as a thief--well a petty thief--I hadn’t always had the best places to sleep, so quickly opened doors and shouting seemed to go hand-in-hand to me.

“Morning lads.” Mr. Jager raised his eyebrows at me and I shrugged.

“Everyone at the school’s got a story, right?” I stated, dismissing my paranoid behavior.

“Very true, what’s yours?” Mr. Jager laughed a little and addressed Hayden before I could reply, “How’re you feeling Mr. I-can-sneak-out-but-I-have-to-break-something-in-order-to-do-it?”

Hayden rolled his eyes. “Fine, tired, but fine…I think the morphine’s wearing off,” he groaned as he rolled over.

“It’s supposed to, you’re leaving soon, don’t want you doped up at the school, you’d draw even more attention to yourself. Although, Leon and Damion are enjoying the spotlight.”

I snorted and Mr. Jager looked at me as he said, “Oh, don’t worry Raymond, the girls are swooning over you too.” I made a note to glare at Hayden later as his lips tightened in a repressed smile, “Especially a Miss Laura Harding, she was quite alarmed to find you missing in both English and Math.” He rose a suggestive eyebrow at me.

I chanced a glance at Hayden and saw that his repressed smile had left and a frown had replaced it. Great. “Huh. I wonder why.” I feigned ignorance and quickly changed the subject, “So what’s up? Are we missing the rest of our classes today?”

“That depends, were you admitted to the hospital for a couple of cracked ribs?” Mr. Jager asked, sounding doubtful.

I hesitated and stole a glance at Hayden, maybe he would cover for me…

“Nope, just me,” Hayden said before I could lie my way into a free day. Ass.

“Then, you, Raymond,” he pointed at me, “will be heading to the Dining Hall once we get back to the school, Damion and Leon took a tux to your room, so, wear that when you go,” he turned his finger to Hayden, “You, however, will be going straight to your room and you’ll have to improvise until the whole Etiquette Ball thing actually starts, because you won’t be able to go to rehearsals with cracked ribs. Headmaster’s orders along with the doctor’s orders of ‘no laborious activities’.”

Hayden groaned.

Once Mr. Jager checked Hayden out of the hospital, claiming to be “Mr. Silverman”, we made our way to a spiffy looking 2008 GMC Yukon. I slid into the back seat and Hayden rode shotgun.

Surprisingly, the ride back to the school wasn’t as grueling as I had expected, considering I expected the Headmaster or Mrs. Lilany to pick us up. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Mr. Jager cracked more jokes than Damion and Leon combined, and that was saying something.

As we arrived back at the school, Mr. Jager pointed to me and said, “Remember new guy, tux, three ‘o clock, got it?” I nodded and he headed in the opposite direction of us, toward the combat training fields.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing as Hayden limped a little as he walked next to me, attempting to keep less pressure off of his morphine-less ribs. However, he didn’t do much by trying to keep his legs stiff. I didn’t tell him this however, I just cracked jokes about how he was walking, comparing him to several objects and animals.

When we arrived at our dorm room it was already two ‘o clock, which only gave me an hour to get ready, however, I was lucky enough to be dressing like the guy, so it was relatively simple to look good, right?

…Wrong.

“No, no, Ray, that’s the bow tie, it doesn’t go in your hair. Are you really this stupid when it comes to clothing, or are you just faking?” Hayden asked, pulling the bow tie off of my head and fixating it around my upturned collar.

“This shit’s harder than it looks,” I said defensively, allowing him to turn my collar down for me as well.

“Right, and dresses are easy, right?” Hayden teased with a sideways grin.

“Exactly, over the head, and its on. Simple. You guys have the shirt, the tie, the jacket, the pants, the socks, the shoes and God knows what else--hey can you see my boobs?” I asked suddenly, turning to the side and allowing him to survey my chest nervously. I had bound my chest uncomfortably tight for this particular outfit and I was pretty sure my spine was completely straight, I would look ridiculous when I needed to bow and thank the lady for the dance. But at least I looked flat.

Hayden hesitated and glanced in the general direction of my chest, “Nope, fine. Flatter than a table.”

“Alright, alright, no need to get insulting with it,” I joked, examining myself in the mirror.

My newly trimmed dark blonde hair was in a strangely orderly fashion, combed forward with my small amount of bangs upturned with gel just at the tips. My face was a “boyishly” round instead of the handsome defined features Hayden had, but other than that, no one would be able to tell the difference between me and the other guys around me, well besides Leon and Damion, of course.

I ran my hand nervously through my hair and sighed, flinching as Hayden smacked my hand. “Don’t do that, it messes up your hair,” he saw the mocking smile on my lips and glared at me as he said, “Shut up.”

“Yes ssssir,” I applied a lisp to my voice and Hayden shoved me sideways a little.

I glanced at the mirror again and scowled at myself. “This is creepy, I should be wearing a dress,” I commented blandly, moving to run my hand through my seemingly overly-short hair again.

Hayden caught my hand and lowered it to my side. “You look fine…unless, of course, you’re willing to get the truth out? Then you could wear all the dresses you want.”

I looked at him with uncertain eyes and he looked quickly down at the bathroom counter, “I don’t think so. It looks like I’m going to be going super-dyke from here on out, eh?” I chuckled a little, but completely despised the idea.

Hayden looked slightly disappointed but nodded. “Alright, well, you better get going, if you’re late to rehearsals Mrs. Lilany with hang you and display your body in her classroom as a warning to any other students.”

I chuckled slightly, feeling my nervousness building up inside my gut, which turned my chuckle into a high-pitched cackle. My cheeks reddened a shade and I thought I saw a ghost of a smile on Hayden’s lips, but he had already exited the bathroom by the time I had turned.

“See you once hell practice is over,” I commented dryly as I heard heavy pounding on the door, followed by sing-song voices from Damion and Leon.

I opened the door with raised eyebrows and Damion and Leon both stood with mouths open, mid-comment. Before I could decipher any of their words, I was pulled into half-armed hugs and engulfed by shoulder pats and random high fives.

“Wow Ray! Looking sharp,” Leon commented moving to ruffle my hair but stopped as I assumed Hayden gave him a sharp glare. The dude was more obsessed with my hair than with his own.

“Seriously Ray, if I were gay, I’d take you right now,” Damion assured me and I laughed.

“Thanks guys.” I rolled my eyes and added, “You guys are looking pretty hot yourselves, just don’t let me outshine you too much, alright?”

Leon laughed and Damion snorted. “Right, you outshine us,” Leon laughed again, “Right, right, you keep telling yourself that Ray.”

“Guys, sorry to break up your little congratulatory party, but it’s already two forty-five, you might want to head down to the Dining Hall,” Hayden pointed out, laying casually on his bed when I looked back through the door.

“Oh, shit, good point Hayden, see you.” Leon grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the exit.

“Wait! Ray!” Hayden called and I paused, opening the door again and looking at him inquisitively. “Good luck,” he said, sitting up slightly when he realized I had peaked back inside the room.

“Yeah, thanks.” I grinned at him and then disappeared.

_______________________________________

The Dining Hall was decorated extravagantly when Leon and Damion led me into the room. People bustled around the room, talking animatedly and there seemed to be a mutual agreement between girls and guys that they shouldn’t meet with their dates until after they were being forced to do so. Leon patted my shoulder as I gawked at the purple and gold decorations that had invaded the walls and ceiling along with matching colors for the tables and chairs--which had replaced the benches and long tables that were usually present.

The girls were dressed in various colors throughout the room, some dark, some bright and some patterned. It was easy to tell one girl from the other, considering they all had different hairstyles and colors. The guys, however, all looked the same, black tuxes, with varying hairstyles. I frowned slightly when I looked for my partner, I expected her to be dressed in a darker color, but I couldn’t be sure.

Instead, I caught sight of Laura Harding who waved animatedly in my direction. I smiled and nodded in acknowledgement and continued my search, but stopped as I realized she was coming toward me.

“Hi Raymond,” she said quietly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

“Hey,” I said, and I could feel Leon and Damion’s jeers on the tip of their tongues, “Oh, in case you haven’t met them yet, this is Damion and this is Leon.” I gestured to each of them and they grinned at her.

They exchanged hellos and she turned her attention back to me, “I heard Hayden’s injured, so he couldn’t come to the practice, right?” she asked curiously, sounding innocent enough.

“Yeah, couple of cracked ribs,” I admitted, leaving out the part where I was the cause of said cracked ribs.

“Oh, well that’s great!” she faltered when she saw the skeptical look on my face. “Ah, well, I mean, that’s not great that he’s hurt, but Lucian couldn’t make it tonight because of a nasty allergic reaction to poison oak, so, since neither of our partners are here, I figured we could be partners--for the practice I mean.” Her face turned a slight shade of red and I felt my ears get hot.

“Yeah, alright, that’s okay with me,” I said feeling Leon and Damion’s eyes burning into the back of my head. “But I gotta go talk to the Headmaster real quick, so I’ll see you when it all starts, yeah?” I didn’t wait for her reply and tugged on Damion’s jacket to get him to follow me, hoping that Leon would get the hint and follow me as well.

“Dude,” Leon said once we were out of earshot, “she’s totally got the hots for you!” he exclaimed with a hardy laugh.

“Shut up, shut up! You think I don’t know that? I know signs of a girl liking a guy better than you two!” I said in a low hiss, resisting the urge to run my hand through my hair. It was getting more awkward the more I noticed it and Leon pointing it out didn’t help.

“Dude, Hayden’s gonna laugh so hard when he finds out!” Leon continued, slapping me on the back and I grunted at the force.

“I kinda doubt that…” I muttered and Damion frowned.

“Why? He say somethin’?” Damion asked although Leon didn’t appear to hear me as he waved at a blonde girl in a dark blue dress.

“Nah, but he gets all defensive if I mention her, so, I think he already knows,” I said sullenly, trying not to look in Laura’s direction. How was I supposed to get her off my back and onto Hayden’s?

…Wow that sounded terribly dirty. Just pretend I didn’t say that last part.

“Hmm, sounds like him. Guy or not, Hayden’s kinda protective when it comes to girls,” Damion informed me as Leon disappeared through the crowd to head toward his date for the evening.

Something popped into my head at that moment, “Hey…Damion?” I asked warily and he looked curiously down at me, his blue eyes glowing in contrast to his dark hair.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know about, the, um, necklace that Hayden has? You know the little heart-shaped one? Looks kinda girly…” I trailed off as I saw Damion’s expression harden.

“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you…I mean, if he’s going to tell you…uh…It’s not important, if you want to know about it, I’d ask him…not that he’ll tell you about it. It’s sort of a sore spot for Hayden…” Damion winced, as if he had given something away during his rambling.

“But it wasn’t his in the first place, was it?” I prodded quietly and Damion rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Not exactly…But like I said don’t worry about it, it’s not important. It’s better to just leave it alone,” Damion finished, waving slightly to his own brunette date.

“Damion, wait a sec,” I grabbed his arm as he tried to make his way through the crowd, “You know what its about.” It was a statement, not a question.

He seemed to struggle with his conscience before he nodded briskly, “But I can’t tell you about it. It’s not my story to tell,” Damion said apologetically but firmly.

“But Damion, I think I should know, I mean he knows my secret,” I held tighter to his arm as he tried to pull it away.

“Ray, I can’t, sorry,”

“Damion, I--”

“Damn it Ray!” Damion tore his arm out of my grip, “I can’t tell you, alright? I just can’t.” He turned away from me, and pushed his way through the crowd, looking troubled.

I frowned to myself, feeling guilty for pressuring him to the point where he was actually annoyed, but I was also frustrated. So Damion knew, so I had to assume Leon knew, that left me being the only one that didn’t know. It was frustrating to be in a circle of friends and yet not quite in the circle, they knew more about me than I knew about them. Not only did I feel excluded but I was no closer to finding out anything than I had been before and I had managed to make one of my few friends at the school mad at me.

I really am something special.

______________________________________

The dancing was a snap, I lead like a pro and Laura followed like a stalker. Dinner was interesting, since once I came to the numerous forks I blanked out. Thankfully, the practice was a little less formal than the actual thing, so Laura helped me discover the difference between them all. None of the students were quite sure what the actual meal for the Ball would be, but during the practice we had spaghetti.

Now came the uncomfortable part: escorting Laura back to her room. I had been fine with the task when I was escorting Lucian, considering she wasn’t so obviously flirting with me every chance she got.

“So you have a younger sister?” Laura asked as I walked with her arm hooked on mine.

I blinked, wondering how we had gotten on that subject. “Ah, yeah…well I did,” I muttered, not wanting her to know much of anything about my past--or my brother’s past, I suppose, either way it would have an odd twist to it. “She died a few years back.”

I felt Laura stiffen beside me. “Oh…I’m sorry.” I saw her face turn a slight shade of red again.

“It’s all right,” I murmured darkly, and changed the subject quickly, “How ‘bout you? Any siblings?”

Laura shrugged. “Nope. Only child.”

“Nice, means you’re spoiled, right?” I joked.

She laughed at my bad joke anyway. “Yeah, maybe a little. But I didn’t turn out too conceded did I? I mean, I share well enough with the other kids and I didn’t even claw out Missy Partisen’s eyes for grabbing your ass,” she pointed out with a giggle.

My ears reddened at the memory. Awkward. I had forgotten the embarrassing incident until she had brought it up. Thanks for that. Now if only I could manage to forget it again, before I went to sleep and had nightmares.

A minute later and we arrived in front of Laura’s room in the girl’s dormitory wing. I bit my lip as I realized I had forgotten the essential guy rule: compliment how the girl looks. “I, uh…know I should’ve said this sooner, but you looked great tonight, and you still do, I mean.” I felt my face get hot and swore mentally at myself for appearing shy and so painfully flirty.

“Thank you Raymond, you look hot tonight too,” Laura replied with a small giggle and lingered in front of me.

Oh, shit, I hope she wasn’t expecting something from me…scratch that, I knew she was expecting something from me. Not just something but perhaps a kiss like we had actually been on a date.

Ew. Gross.

“Well, I…I’ll see you later,” I said quickly and waved at her as I turned and walked back down the hallway, my face a shade of red with embarrassment.

“Bye Raymond,” Laura called as I disappeared around the corner.

_____________________________________

This Laura thing was getting out of hand. I concluded this information as I approached my own dorm room, I had to find a way to dump her off on Hayden, since Hayden was actually a guy and he actually liked her. However, I had never been trained in the arts of “matchmaking”, so I had to go off of every chick flick I had ever seen.

I stiffened and hopped to the side so that my back was facing a wall as a door flew open, my gaze sharpened as I watched the person who had emerged from the room.

Damion gave me an odd look and I relaxed instantly, aware that I wasn’t the most normal tool in the shed…I was more like the old hammer with the pink handle that no one wanted to use.

“Oh, hey Damion,” I said light-heartedly and frowned when my interrogation popped back into my head, “Uh, listen, about earlier, I didn’t--”

“Sorry I snapped at you Ray,” Damion interrupted looking me directly in the eyes when he said it. “I guess I just got a little flustered…you know, since it’s a touchy topic,” he looked sincere when he said it and I felt my face get a little hot.

“Don’t worry about it, I shouldn’t have bugged you so much,” I admitted apologetically, “It was my fault anyway, I’ve always been a little pushy.” I chuckled slightly. “One of my many faults.”

Damion snorted. “Right, as if any of those are bad.”

I chuckled nervously. “Yeah, pushy, talks too much, clumsy and underhanded thief, those aren’t bad qualities,” I joked with a snort, and added, “Oh yeah, and I snort when I laugh, that’s attractive.”

Damion smirked wryly and said in a confident voice, “I think all of those qualities are cute, even the snort laugh.”

The smile disappeared from my face momentarily as I caught the seriousness in his voice, but I smirked as I realized he was waiting for my reaction, wondering if I actually had thought he was serious. Except for the fact that I got the notion that he was completely serious. And that scared me.

“Right, snort laughing is completely cute,” I said sarcastically, trying to dismiss the obvious flirting. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you later Damion, I gotta hang this thing up,” I tugged at my tuxedo slightly as I turned to head into my own dorm room.

“Hey Ray, how was practice?” Hayden asked casually as I entered the room.

I shrugged, pulling my bow tie off and tossing it onto my bed, “Feels like I just got done with a bad date,” I said seriously. I felt tired with the dancing and unusual play of emotion I had to deal with, although there was a larger comfort in getting into my own room with my usual roommate who didn’t try to hit on me. Maybe it was because I looked so much like a guy most of the time. Although that didn’t put off Laura now did it?

“No worries, that’s how it’s supposed to feel.” Hayden laughed a little, not getting off of his bed as he continued to scribble something on a notepad.

“Well then I must be feeling fine,” I muttered, wandering into the bathroom. I tore off my shirt and jacket first then took a pair of scissors to the binding on my chest before dropping it nonchalantly into the trashcan. I pulled a shirt over my head and found a pair of flannel pajama pants sitting on the counter to put on too. Practice had been grueling, considering it had lasted just as long as the actual thing--which was four hours, by the way.

“Hey, those are mine,” Hayden complained as I crawled into my bed.

“Tough,” I mumbled snuggling deeper into my covers. “They’re comfortable and they were out in the open, so looks like they’re mine right now.” I smiled to myself as Hayden snorted his disbelief.

I peeked out from the covers to look at him, “Unless, of course, you’ve got the balls to come take them from me?” I raised my eyebrows and laughed as Hayden hesitated, not sure if I was being serious.

“Whatever,” he muttered, scribbling harshly on his notepad as his ears reddened, “Anyone ever told you you’re a tease?” he asked sarcastically.

“Nope, whore…maybe, never tease though,” I joked, pretending to think about it like a real question.

I bit my lower lip as I thought of Laura again and sat up, smiling. “Oh, and guess who was worried about you today?” I asked wiggling my eyebrow suggestively as he looked up at me.

Hayden set down his pencil finally, sitting up with his legs crossed underneath him, “Who?” I had a feeling he already knew who I was talking about.

“Your girlfriend,” I teased, a coy smirk on my lips.

“Shut up…You mean Laura right?” Hayden asked eagerly, leaning forward slightly like a dancer eager for gossip.

“Exactomundo.” I laid back down and rolled over, smirking to myself as I could feel Hayden’s annoyance.

“Well?” he prodded and I heard his bed shift underneath him.

“‘Well’, what?”

“Oh come on Ray, don’t be a bitch!” Hayden sounded exasperated, “Well, what did she say?” he practically pleaded and I had to giggle.

“Good Lord, calm down, she asked if you were okay and if you would be in class tomorrow. I mean, seriously, what else could she say? It’s not like she asked for a play-by-play,” I replied, rolling over to see him kneeling next to my bedside. Considering I was making this up as I went along, I thought I was doing quite well.

Hayden smiled a little to himself. “Right, she doesn’t really know much about me, huh?”

I nodded…okay so maybe I had a little to do with that, since I wasn’t telling anyone anything about him, hell if I could manage it I wouldn’t even tell people his name…Alright, so I’m a little selfish, but would you want to share Hayden with people?

…

Yeah, I thought not.

“And you don’t know much about her,” I added and he nodded to himself.

“Hopefully that’ll change soon.” he laughed when I rolled my eyes.

“God, you guys think you can get any girl you want just by being cute and spontaneous, you need to be romantic too,” I felt a lecture building up in my sentence and stopped myself.

But it was too late, Hayden leaned toward me a little, already intrigued, “Romantic? Like, dinner and a movie romantic? Or something else?” he asked quietly, as if I were telling a secret.

I sat up in my bed and thought about that for a moment, “No, dinner and movie, equals, not romantic, that’s generic, everyone does that. Play off of an inside joke or something, just make sure you show that you remember things that she says, like…” I trailed off thinking about it for a minute as I thought of an example. “If I said that I hated the movie ‘The Fountain’, you would…?” I waved my hand in front of me, gesturing for him to fill in the blank.

Hayden hesitated and said uncertainly, “Buy…you…the movie…?” I frowned a little and he continued hastily, “And help you deface it and then destroy it in some strange manner?”

I nodded. “Perfect date, right there. See? You got this, if you ever need to take her on a date somewhere you‘ll take her somewhere perfect, my work is done. Now, shut up so I can sleep.” I rolled over again.

“Hold on Ray, I only said that because I know you, if you don’t like something I’m sure you’d love destroying it. But what if Laura doesn’t like something and doesn’t want to destroy it?” Hayden asked and I stayed silent.

“…”

“…Ray?”

I snored loudly, taking deep breaths.

“Oh, come on Ray, I know you don’t snore,”

I snored louder and muttered something incoherently to myself although loud enough that he could hear me too.

“Fine, I’ll figure it out on my own, I don’t need your girl lessons,” Hayden said defiantly and I heard him get up and go to his own bed. Pfft, didn’t need my ‘girl lessons’?

Whatever, he would be so lost if it weren’t for me.