Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right

When Hayden stepped in from the balcony, he caught sight of me, asleep at my desk. The soft, warm glow from the lamp spilled over my face, and I could feel his eyes on me.

I could sense him nearby, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake up.

After what felt like forever, I heard his voice–low and gentle–whispering, “Kiki…”

Kiki?!

Was he talking to me?

Yeah, he was.

Before I moved in with the Johnstons, my parents called me Kiki, not Rea. But it had been forever since anyone used that name.

“Hey, I’m Kiki.”

In my dream, I saw a little girl with two buns and a chubt ce, calling out to an older boy.

The boy didn’t say much, just kind of kept to himself.

Suddenly, I was that little girl, and Hayden was the boy. I was riding on his back.

“Haddy, you smell nice…” I said, “There’s a little black bean on the back of your neck. I’ll get it for you.”

“Don’t pinch it, Kiki. That hurts,” said the boy. “Kiki, I’m tired. Can we stop running?”

“Mommy, I like Haddy. I want to marry him…”

“Haha…”

“Mommy, Daddy, stop laughing. I want to marry Haddy

“You can’t marry him. You’re already engaged.”

“I don’t wanna marry that boy! He’s a jerk, a jerk!”

I jolted awake, gasping for air.

I couldn’t believe it–I had dreamt of Hayden and me, and we were so little, maybe like two years old.

I lay there, my mind blank and my eyes staring into nothing for what felt like half a minute before I finally sat up. But as soon as my feet hit the floor, something felt off.

This wasn’t my room.

Memories of last night came rushing back, and I snapped to attention, looking over at the bed. Hayden wasn’t there.

checked my clothes–still on, still intact.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I quietly headed for the door, but not before I noticed Hayden asleep on the

couch.

ד

Even in his sleep, he was all neat and orderly, just like a soldier. My first thought was, “Doesn’t he get tired sleeping like that?

Honestly, when someone was that put–together, it kinda made you wanna mess with them, just a little.

He was still asleep, so I watched him silently from a few steps away, then snuck over to grab my laptop. I tiptoed out of the room, making a quick escape.

I couldn’t believe I’d actually fallen asleep here. Just the thought made me cringe with embarrassment.

Luckily, I’d grabbed my room key last night. When I slipped back in, Demi was still knocked out– thank God, because she’d have had a field day with this.

It was just after five in the morning, according to my phone. No way was I going back to sleep, so I opened my laptop, planning to work on the issues Hayden had pointed out yesterday.

But to

to my surprise, Hayden had already fixed them all.

I stared at the screen, lost in thought for a moment, then got up to wash my face and grab some water. Stepping out onto the balcony, I took in the early morning view.

That’s when I spotted Hayden. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Was he awake too?

He was definitely asleep when I left earlier. Did I wake him up with the door? Or had he been awake all along, just pretending to sleep to spare me the awkwardness?

I stood on the upper floor, watching him below, my thoughts swirling.

I had to admit, Hayden was getting under my skin more and more each day.

[If a guy and a girl sleep in the same room and nothing happens, what does that even mean?]

I fired off this text to Lena first thing in the morning.