Chapter 7

"Hayley didn't come back to the room until really late last night. I wonder where she was."

Brandon didn't say anything. Aidan had also gotten back to their room pretty late last night, and judging by the emotions he felt coming off of him, Brandon was pretty sure he'd been with Hayley. He wasn't about to tell his sister that, though. He thought she had interfered more than enough between the two of them. So he gave her the reply he always gave her when he wanted her to mind her own business.

"Hmm."

His lack of response didn't deter Brigid, though. She was used to getting little to no response from him.

"I wonder if my plan worked, yesterday. Did Aidan say anything to you about it when he got home last night?"

"Hey guys." The twins look up, shocked to find Aidan standing in front of them. Neither Hayley nor Aidan had eaten dinner with them since the first day of school, so they certainly weren't expecting to see him at the table tonight. Aidan usually spent his dinner hour in the weight room and Hayley usually grabbed something to take back to her room to eat while she studied. Or so they claimed. But Brigid and Brandon both saw through their attempts to avoid having to eat dinner with each other.

"Well, hello there stranger. We haven't seen you here in a while."

"Yeah, well um, you know how it is during off-season. Gotta stay in shape and whatnot. I wouldn't be the star of the team if I just let myself go, right?"

"Oh yeah? You have to work out everyday at dinnertime to stay in shape? Who knew there was a certain time you had to work out to stay fit? And all this time I thought it didn't matter what time you worked out. Silly Brigid."

Brandon hid his smirk by sticking a fork full of food in his mouth.

"Yeah, well, whatever."

Unlike her more courteous brother, Brigid made no attempt to hide her smirk.

"So, how's the hospital Bree? Still having fun cleaning up patients' vomit?"

"Shut up, Numb Nut, you know that's not all I do. The other day the cutest little boy came in with his arm broken. Apparently, he fell off the handlebars of his brother's bike. They were on their way to the corner store for candy or something. I don't know what. But anywayz, the older brother went over a pothole or some such nonsense and the little boy fell off the bike. You could tell he had been crying before they got there because his eyes were all red and puffy, but he was sitting in the waiting, trying to be brave and whatnot. His brother was there next to him and he looked so sad and guilty that you couldn't help but feel sorry for him, the poor thing..."

Brigid continued with her story, but neither of the boys was listening to her anymore. Brandon was too busy reading some new history book his mother had just sent him in the mail and Aidan was too busy thinking of a way to strategically bring Hayley up in conversation. Luckily, he didn't have to. Just as Brigid reached the high point (or what the boys assumed might be the high point since she got a little louder and a little more excited than when she'd started out), Hayley sat down with a nearly inaudible "Hi" to the entire table.

Brigid was so shocked at the return of another stranger that she stopped her story (not that anyone really noticed).

"My my, look what the cat dragged in. If it isn't Miss Hayley Donovan in the flesh, here to grace us with her delightful presence. I wonder what caused this phenomenon." She was smiling when she said it—her usual friendly smile, not one of those fake smiles that Hayley might have expected from someone else (like one of Aidan's cheerleader friends maybe)—so Hayley didn't take offense.

"I just thought it might be nice to eat dinner with my dearest, closest friends for once." Hayley stuck her tongue out at Brigid in response to her taunting.

"Suuuure Hayley. Tell me anything. I'll believe it."

"So, you and Aidan, huh?" Brigid was having a hard time containing her excitement. "How long has that been going on?" They were in their room after dinner, getting ready for bed. Hayley set her alarm clock and switched off the lamp on her bedside table, ignoring Brigid completely.

"Come on, Hayley. You can't just ignore me. I wanna know what happened!! Who started it? When did it happen? Where? Hayleeeey, come oooon." Hayley finally took pity on her and rolled over with a smile.

"Nothing happened really. We just ... talked. I realized I've kinda been giving him a hard time for no reason. He's actually a really nice guy."

"Well, duh! I've been trying to tell you that forever. So how exactly did you reach this epiphany?" Hayley told her how they'd ended up in the same place on the beach and talked.

Hayley kind of wished she'd been lying when she told Brigid that she and Aidan hadn't done anything but talk the night before. As she lay in bed looking up at the ceiling, she couldn't help but think of how he had looked when he opened the door the day before. She closed her eyes and whispered a spell to help her sleep. She really needed to get some rest. She didn't want to see Aidan tomorrow looking like shit.

After their little rendezvous on the beach, Hayley and Aidan's project sessions had taken on a whole new tone. With the animosity that usually permeated the room absent, there was nothing left but the sexual tension to make the situation awkward.

Now, instead of sitting at the two desks in the room, they both sat on Hayley's bed—her back resting against the headboard and his to the wall at the foot of the bed. Books filled with a gazillion hilighted passages lay spread out around them.

"Okay, what do you think about using this quote from Why We Love: 'Even when people have found no written documents, they have left evidence of this passion..."

"Wait, let me see." Hayley started to pass him her laptop, but he was already sitting beside her before she could get the chance.

Man, he moves fast.

"Where is it?" But Hayley could barely remember where she was reading from. He was sitting way too close for her to concentrate. So close that she could feel his breath on her ear. So close she could smell him—a tantalizing mix of his soap (Irish Springs, the same as her dad) and something she couldn't name; something that was unique to him. So close that she couldn't help but think that all she had to do to kiss him was turn her head just a little and have him turn his just a little...

"Hayley? You okay?"

She turned towards him at the sound of his voice, startled from her thoughts by his question. He was looking at her. Not like he thought she was a weirdo, as she figured he might since she had totally spaced out for a second. But like ... like maybe he wanted to kiss her. He was staring at her mouth and his stare made her so nervous that she couldn't help but lick her lips. Her eyes followed his as they tracked her tongue. She swallowed hard.

"Hayley, I..." His whisper trailed off as his hand slipped behind her head and drew it closer to his own. Slowly (too slowly if you asked Hayley) he brought his mouth down to rest gently on hers. Hayley held her breath, not knowing what to do. He brushed his lips back and forth over hers softly.

Her lips were soft and warm under his. He could sense her fear. More importantly though, he could feel her passion just underneath that layer of fear. Restrained, as he could expect from her. She was obviously new to this. Because of that, and of her fear, he was gentle with her. He pulled back, eliciting from her a quiet moan of protest. Stroking her cheek tenderly with his fingertip, he placed matching kisses at her brows, then over her closed eyelids before once more meeting her lips with his own. This time with more force. Using his tongue to persuade her to open her mouth, he deepened the kiss while sliding his hand from her cheek, down to her neck.