Down the Rabbit Hole (Stuck On You)

Chapter 10: Confusing and Heart-wrenching Signals The next morning, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Knowing exactly who it was, I tried to pretend that I was still asleep. "Jordyn... Jo," Hayden said. I sighed and kept my eyes closed. "Go away, Hayden," I muttered.

"Look about last night," he started. I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"You're not my boyfriend; we're not even talking. You can do whatever you want; you don't have to explain yourself to me. I don't care anyway," I said before I turned over on my other side. He didn't move from where he was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Yes you do, or else you wouldn't look so hurt," he said softly. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a shaky breath. He was right, but I didn't want him to know that. "We're going to have to talk about this eventually," he breathed. I sat up and looked him square in the eye. "There's nothing to talk about," I whispered. He touched my cheek and I almost broke down. I bit my bottom lip to keep it from quivering and looked away from him.

"Yes there is," he said softly. He looked off to the side and took a deep breath before he looked atagain. "Look, I know you well enough to know that I hurt your feelings last night. I didn't mean to hurt you; I just... You get under my skin sometimes, you know that?" he explained.

"You got jealous and you wanted to hurtback you mean. You knew exactly what you were doing, Hayden. I've known you long enough to know that," I said back, not buying his story. He sighed and stood up.

"Look, I've explained myself, which is more than I had to do because you were right: we aren't dating, and I'm not your boyfriend," he said. He walked to the door and stopped. "And just so you know, I didn't sleep with her. I sent her hbefore anything happened," he said before he left, closing the door behind him. I let out the breath I was holding and squeezed my eyes shut as I hugged my knees. I needed to get out of here. I knew the type of person Hayden was before I got close to him, and I got close to him anyway. The only person who was really to blwasbecause I hurt Hayden first. I sighed and wiped my cheeks before I walked over to his room and opened the door. He was sitting with his back against his headboard. I leaned against the doorfrand sighed.

"I'm sorry, Hayden. I just... I should've told you that Lewis wasn't really my boyfriend. He wanted to be, but I've already been down that road with him. After you got... weird onlast night, I thought you were just pulling my leg because you said that you wouldn't ever... You get under my skin too sometimes," I explained. He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at me.

"I don't... I wasn't jealous or anything; I'd hate to see that curvy little body of yours be wasted on someone as slimy and boring as Lewis," he said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Pig," I smiled softly. He walked over towith a smirk on his face. I reached up to smack him, but he caught my wrist. He held my wrist between us and smiled gently before he kissedtenderly.

He kissed my head before he gavea smug grin. We made out there, against the doorframe, until my stomach protested against the lack of food. Hayden chuckled and pulled away. "Go get dressed. I'm taking you to Santa Monica Pier," he said. I sat up too. "What? Is this like a date?" I asked. Hayden shook his head.

"It's just me, the ass, taking my annoying goodie two shoes roommate to get something to eat because I don't feel like cooking," Hayden corrected. I rolled my eyes and smiled as I stood up. I dressed and we went to the pier. We ate Bubba Gump Shrimp and walked around a bit before we went to the warehouse. Hayden turned on the music and we just danced.

"Hayden," I said softly.

"Hmm," he mumbled.

"You're being romantic," I noted, looking at him. He smirked and grabbed my butt.

"Don't get used to it," he said. I rolled my eyes at him and broke away from his grasp. He pulledback to him and I ran into his lips. His arm went around my waist and my mouth moved with his.

"You're doing it again," I muttered against his lips. I felt him smile slightly as his other hand went to my cheek. My hands went to his neck. I pulled away and searched his blue eyes before I smirked. "Feel like begging yet?" I asked. He chuckled and shook his head. "I'll just have to take, yet another, cold shower tonight. I've taken a lot of those since you moved in," he explained. I laughed and ran my hand down his chest and stomach. He stopped my hand when I reached the edge of his jeans. He gavea pointed look and I smiled.

"What are you two doing here? I gave everyone the day off," I heard Luca say from behind me. I turned and looked at him, moving my hand away from Hayden as I did so.

"We were just messing around," Hayden said. His arms went around my waist and he rockedto the side as he kissed my head. Luca chuckled and shook his head. "You two are perfect together," he said.

"We're not together, mate," Hayden said. Luca only smirked and raised an eyebrow at us. I remembered something then. My smile fell and I rolled my eyes.

"Crap," I said under my breath as Luca left.

"What?" Hayden asked curiously.

"I forgot that I promised Lewis that we could catch up tonight. He's supposed to be pickingup in like two hours," I said.

"What's the deal with that guy anyway?" Hayden asked. I turned towards him as his arms fell away. Hayden was jealous, and I knew he was.

"We dated for a few years a couple of years ago. He... he was kind of my first and last boyfriend. Then, a couple of years ago, he moved, and I got mad at him. I hadn't seen him since... well until now," I explained.

"So go, catch up, and tell him that you're not interested," Hayden said.

"I don't want to hurt his feelings," I countered.

"Pretend to be sick and stay in with me," he asked. I chuckled and shook my head.

"This isn't a class, Hayden; it's a date," I explained.

"I don't trust him," Hayden said stubbornly. I shrugged.

I just "I do. He's never really done anything to makenot trust him. I'm going on this date, Hayden. It's just to catch up, and I haven't seen him in years," I said. He only locked his jaw and looked away from me. "Why do I feel like I'm asking permission to go?" I asked out loud. He didn't answer me. I reached up on my tip toes and kissed his neck.

"Con, trust me," I said softly. "You can be civil and tolerant for like ten months right? Con, he's not that bad," I said with an innocent smile on my face. He sighed before he rolled his eyes and started heading for his car.

"Thank you," I said kissing his cheek. He droveback and I actually made an effort to look nice. I wore a black and white color-blocked dress with a thin blue belt and two cutouts on my sides. My hair was still straightened from the gig we did, so I just touched it up and pinned up the side. I wore my closed toe, front tie, heels and matched it with a blue purse.

"Wow," I heard Hayden say from behind my once I finished with my makeup. "Where is he taking you?" he asked. "Dinner somewhere; it's supposed to be a really nice restaurant," I answered.

"I still don't like this Lewis character," he said, adding in his two cents. I shrugged and moved to my closet and grabbed my cute leather jacket. Hayden placed his hands on my hips and turnedaround so I was staring right into his mesmerizingly blue eyes. "Hey, callif you need anything," he said softly. I couldn't talk. He was so close and so serious that I was almost paralyzed. My lips parted slightly as I let out a quiet breath. I nodded gently before he let my go. He almost seemed worried. I blinked and looked after him before I cleared my throat and made sure I had everything. A ding from my phone letknow that Lewis was here.

"Hey," Lewis said once he saw me. He was leaned against the side of his car with his arms folded. He gavea small smile and a peck on the cheek before he opened the passenger door forand went around to the driver's side. I was right, the restaurant was fancy, but I knew it would be because Lewis was predictable.

We were sitting and eating our appetizers, having nice small talk. Lewis was nice, but he wasn't wild and unpredictably enjoyable like Hayden was. I needed to stop comparing Lewis to Hayden. I wasn't going to get anywhere doing that. Hayden wasn't a relationship type guy; or at least, not anymore. It would never work out. "So what's the deal with you and Hayden?" Lewis asked, shakingout of my thoughts. I shrugged and sighed. "He's just an ass," I answered simply. Lewis chuckled before he took a bite of his entrée that was just set in front of him. I poked at my steak for a bit before I started cutting it.

"How did you end up meeting him?" Lewis said, trying to continue the conversation. I looked down at my food indifferently.

""He's my roommate," I shrugged before I took another bite.

"You mean you're living with him?" Lewis asked for clarification. I looked at him and nodded. His face looked shocked.

"What? He leavesalone for the most part; when he's not drivingcrazy," I explained. His eyebrowsn raised in surprised. Xrolled my eyes.

"Not like that! Eww, he's a special kind of annoying. He's a class 'A' jerk too," I said. Lewis chuckled. "You're into him," Lewis said. I shook my head and scrunched up my nose.

"Not even close," I argued. The conversation spun off of Hayden and back to small talk, which I was Om grateful for. At the end of the night, Lewis walkedup to my room. He was about to kisswhen the door opened. Lewis backed away from me. "I'll see you Tuesday," Lewis muttered before he walked away. I sighed and walked inside. "What's Tuesday?" Hayden asked, following behind me. I groaned and threw my head back.

"I have psychology with him on Tuesday," I explained before I cut myself off. "You know, I don't need to explain myself to you," I said turning to him. He pulledagainst him and I stopped talking.

Warning: Please note the Scholar's TWe've censored this image for being too amazing.

Look at your own risk.

"It was just a question," he said softly. His arm went around my waist.

"You ask a lot of those," I whispered.

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