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Chapter ThirtySix-"Hayden's Family"

The next day I decided to stay and help Veronica with the wedding decorations. Not because I wanted to, but because my eight healthy hours of sleep woke me at what normally was the middle of my first period.

"So who should I expect to see you to be escorted by tomorrow?" Veronica asked me as we both sat and took a break finally.

"Kenneth of course," I answered. She had this all planned out. I didn't know why she was asking me.

"I meant as your date," she said. "I do hope it's still Hayden."

"Why's that?"

"Well other than the fact that Kenneth RSVP-ed for some girl named Jaime..." she listed, "I see how Hayden makes you happy when you two are around...and plus, he's hot."

"Veronica!" 

"Well!"

"I hope you two aren't deciding now to fight over me," my father laughed, walking into the reception hall with three boxes. He placed the clinking boxes onto the floor.

"Of course not," Veronica assured.

"Because we both know you're mine," I added, running over to hug him.

"Ladies, ladies, please," he played along. We laughed along and for the day, I actually got to sense the family environment I was used to back in Frankford.

"We're back," Sebastian's voice rang out, entering the hall with five boxes opposing dad's three. Then, Hayden came in after him. He had been helping out with the heavy lifting outside and running some errands. I was rather surprised because he forgoed his senior ditch day by spending it here with his girlfriend's family.

"Mrs. Warden?" Hayden addressed. My jaw tensed. I loved Veronica, don't get me wrong, but I only wanted that title for my mother. And plus, I think Veronica was going to hyphenate her name anyways.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Veronica!" she smiled.  

"Sure, sure," he returned. He walked over and slid his arms around my waist. "Do you think I could steal her away or is she still needed for duty?"

"Well..." my dad started to deny. Veronica tapped his arm.

"You two have fun," she allowed before Hayden started to tow me away with a light kiss to my cheek.

"Not too much fun," Sebastian hissed as we had to pass him to leave.

***

"Yeah that did taste really good," Hayden agreed, eating the last bite of a hotdog. A drop of ketchup landed on his chin and I wiped it off. As I ate it myself, he lightly pulled my hand down and planted a kiss on my lips. My heart fluttered at this and we parted from each other.

I had something to ask him, but he was making me so happy at this point that it might not even be worth it.

We sat on the bench and he stroked my hair around my face. He smiled and joked with me today so much that I was seeing the youth inside of him that he never showed at school. He acted like a jerk—more than Dastan, but he'd never been that scornful towards me...except for that one time when he first kissed me. But today? This was the Hayden Marshal that I fell for. It made things ten times more confusing. 

"I can't believe you've never just gotten a hotdog from a hotdog stand. Isn't that what New York is for?" I joked to him.

"Um, keep in mind I'm not from here and my family had too much pride and money to have ever taken me to a hotdog stand..." he replied. I noticed that his smile slowly faded away.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he lied. I shifted my look. "I'm just bummed that a girl from the rural country is more outgoing than me."

"Country girl, huh?" I asked. "And where are you from?"

For the first time, I realized I had been with Hayden for a couple weeks and I didn't even know where he was from. As much as I thought it didn't matter, it really did. 

"All over," he shrugged.

"I mean where were you physically born?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure...somewhere in California, I guess," he shrugged once more.

"You don't know?"

He shook his head.

"My family is...complicated," he said. I added my hand to his arm.

"Tell me," I muttered. He closed his eyes and shook his head. His eyes opened and they were a dull blue. "Come on. It can't be that bad...you can tell me, Hayden."

"I can't," he said and those words made me question whether or not my discovery from last night was correct or not. I stopped giving him a reassuring smile like a good, supportive girlfriend, and then looked down, not knowing how to respond. "But I'm going to try." 

I looked up at him patiently.

"I moved around a lot as a child because my dad was in the military before being an agent...but I've been emancipated since I was fifteen," he started.

"Why's that?" I asked. He never said a bad word about his family. I couldn't imagine any bad blood between them that would result in him being emancipated. His eyes left mine and he shifted positions. His arm went across my shoulders and I scooted closer to him off of pure instinct. However, I knew he wouldn't answer me. So we sat there for a while just doing that; sitting.

"My family died about four years ago and I did't want to stay in the system so I got some strings pulled two, almost three years ago," he whispered. Now his head was leaning on mine and I felt every breath he took. I knew by the deep breaths and cracked voice that he had never told anyone this. "We had just moved maybe two weeks before they passed. My father and mother were killed first and then my—"

"Wait. They were killed?" I asked him, raising to look up at him.

"Yeah," he breathed. "Then my older brothers were killed."

"Why?" I asked him, curiosity taking over. "How were four people just killed like that, leaving you all alone?"

"Just leave it alone, Angela..."

"I can't leave it alone, Hay," I told him. "You're...you're alone everyday because someone murdered your family. I can't just leave it alone. Haven't you ever wondered why—"

"No I don't wonder," he interrupted with a calm voice. He searched my eyes with his. "I know what happened—I know all about it. And that's why I want you to leave it alone. I know what happened..."

I hugged his torso with all that I could, giving him whatever sympathy I could muster without wishing to have the Proliator's super powers.

"And for the record, at least I'm not alone anymore," he muttered. He kissed my head. Because he had me: his girlfriend who was constantly torn between him and a literal superhero. My insides twisted. 

"And two other people..." I reminded to try and make both of us feel better in the moment. He pulled away from me.

"What?" he asked confused. It soon turned to anger. "I swear to God, if you say Chad and Ve—"

"Ben and Jerry," I answered before he could release his fury about Chad and Dastan. My answer made him laugh and ruffle my hair actually. But even though I hated when he did that, anything would be better than the reaction if I really did accuse his other two people to connect to as Chad and Dastan.

He had been extremely upset with Dastan for a long time now. And I didn't even have to tell him about last night before Chad confessed it himself. Of course, the story was different than what I would've said. What am I saying? I didn't even know what I would've said! But Chad's story was sort off.

He said that he tried a move on me, that I kept denying him. Then he said he relayed the message about driving me to Hayden's house, but I kept denying him rightfully because he was drunk. Of course he said he fell and passed out. He heard from some random guy that I was driven home and that was the end of the story.

But who could've told him that I was home? I clearly left with the Proliator. Surely, someone couldn't have seen us.

"How are you so adorable?" he suddenly asked me even though my mind raced in circles. 

"Eh. It's probably just my Southern charm," I teased. My eyes looked around and spotted an ice cream trolley. I suddenly hopped up from the bench, reading Hayden's incredulous face. "Speaking of your far-fetched love affair for ice cream, I'm gonna go get some."

"So you're leaving me here...for ice cream?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm the third angle to the love triangle," I joked. He gave me a cute, confused look and I only smiled at him. He put his hand in his pocket for a second and then handed me a twenty dollar bill. I looked at him, oddly. "It's ice cream, not steak."

"Love has no limits," he shrugged. "And steak, here, is more expensive than that."

He winked and then I playfully rolled my eyes before I walked off to get ice cream.

The line wasn't too long. There was a little girl and her sister in front of me and an adorable old couple in front of me. I felt people form a line behind me, but I didn't care as to who they were. I was getting my ice cream before them!

"Hey," someone said right in my ear as I glanced over my shoulder. The guy had dark hair and light skin. He was cute, but I could tell he was a couple years older than me.

"Hi," I said, uninterested and then looked back to the stand to see what flavor I'd get. More importantly, what flavors I could mix and force Hayden to eat.

"So...how are you?" the guy asked. I looked back to him.

"Do I know you?" I asked him.

"Not yet," he smirked. Oh. He was one of those guys. I turned my head, wishing more than anything that he would get the hint. I craned my neck to try and send Hayden a warning look, but he was around the corner, on the other side of dozens of people in the park, and he was busy looking at his phone. Damn, and lucky ole me left mine at the reception hall. The little girl and her sister received their ice cream and I was excited to step up in the line, but then I felt a pair of hands on my waist pull me back. "Where you going, huh? I know you're not trying to get away from me."

I tried to pry his hands off of me, but then I didn't have to because the task was done for me and the creepy guy was spun around to face away from me.

"Look. She's not interested, so get lost," a familiar voice commanded. My eyes had an involuntary behavior to roll no matter how grateful I was for his help.

"Hey, bro. I'm trying to lay some ground here, so if you don't mind, don't f*ck it up," the guy said. I scoffed.

"Well your ground is about six feet under because she already has a boyfriend."

The creepy guy scoffed pathetically.

"Not that I don't believe it—because she's obviously hot—but I know as well as any that her boyfriend ain't you, so you can just leave," he retorted.

"Oh please. Get over yourself and leave already," I told him, kicking his shin. What could I say? It was the only thing I could think of. But then he turned to me with anger flaring in his eyes.

"Look, little girl, you need to—"

"Hey," he was interrupted and then spun around again. Suddenly, there was a fist in his face and the creepy guy fell to the ground moaning in pain because the assault caught him off guard to say the least.

"Young man," a new voice said. We looked to the old lady in front of us. She even took his hands in hers. "That was a very brave thing to do for your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Well whose fault is that?" the old man asked in a grumble after grabbing their one cup of ice cream. He handed it to his wife and then took her hand in a clasp. "Better snatch her up now than wait like I did."

I don't know why, but I blushed at this. Even though I knew I shouldn't. The couple walked off and my savior looked me dead in the eyes. I expected an apology or some response to what happened, but the only thing he said was: "Are you gonna order your ice cream or not?"

Like an idiot, I stammered at him in failure and then turned to the worker to order ice cream for me and Hayden. I was so dumbfounded that I didn't order some ridiculous concoction. When I went to place Hayden's twenty bucks on the stand, there was already a five dollar bill on the cash register and the guy was telling me to have a nice day. I stepped out of line and looked over to the familiar person, clearly waiting for me.

"I thought we weren't friends anymore," I recalled.

"We aren't," he agreed.

"Then what was that?" I asked, nodding back to the scene. There were now people circled around the unconscious creep.

"The idiot deserved it," he reasoned.

"And you don't think Hayden has the liberty of paying for ice cream either?" I asked, now referring to him paying for the ice cream. He shrugged. "You know he's here right?"

"Yeah, so?" he said, his warm breath mixing with the air to make a small cloud. I looked up to him, not knowing what to say or do. The last time we were together, he was leaving the school after apologizing for everything wrong he did to me...unless he was the Proliator and we were off on worse terms. But this was Dastan, not some masked vigilante. Therefore, he didn't need any mask or powers to make his relations to me confusing.

That's what I wanted to stop. As Dastan and as Proliator.

"I have a question for you actually," I informed when I started to see him attempt at backing away from me like some heartbroken idiot. As soon as I said that, his eyes lightened into a warm chocolate brown.

"Really?" he asked in a tone that basically screamed that he thought I would ask some rhetorical question, accusing him of something. "What is it?"

"Well I was wondering if—"

"Tell me, Vega, do you honestly have a thing for tracking down my girlfriend?" Hayden's voice interrupted. Not even a moment later, his arm was wrapped around my waist and I was pulled into his side.

"Only because she has a thing for attracting trouble" Dastan answered him calmly, something glinting off his eyes as if trying to hint something to me. Well the Proliator saves me from trouble most of the time. "But I guess that's your job, right?"

Wait. What?

"Exactly," Hayden replied. He took his ice cream cone from my hand and then started to tow me away, only I didn't need to go yet. And I had a feeling Dastan didn't want me to either because he followed us.

"I believe she had something to ask me before you came up," Dastan said. Hayden stopped dead in his tracks. He looked straight ahead with his jaw ticking. I looked away from him to look at Dastan and he was waiting impatiently for my question.

"I was wondering, last minute of course, if you and Mateo would like to attend my father's wedding tomorrow at—"

"What!?" Hayden yelled. I shushed him.

"It starts tomorrow at two o'clock at—"

"Angela! Are you serious?" Hayden asked me, tugging at my wrist. "Why are you asking him to go!?"

"--the church on 42nd Street and—"

"Angela!" Hayden roared.

"You can just text me the details," Dastan said, knowing that I would get nowhere by telling him here and now because Hayden would just yell over me, not caring if he caused a scene or not.

"I lost your number," I informed. I heard Hayden chuckle. Okay. I didn't "lose" it. I deleted it on purpose.

"Then I'll just call you later, then," Dastan winked. Hayden's chuckle died and his growl lived. Dastan's eyes flashed up to Hayden. "And as for you, don't yell at her like that. We've already talked about her right to her decisions and the respect we owe her...she deserves it."

Was he...defending me?

"I'll see you tomorrow, Warden," Dastan scowled as if he was forced to attend, and then he walked away. I looked up at Hayden, who looked as if he'd shoot steam out of his ears.

And now the fun begins.

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