No Hard Feelings

fourteen

F O U R T E E N

HADLEY HAS NEVER hated Mondays before.

Dexter does. Even Aanya complains about it every so often. Never Hadley though.

It's not that she doesn't enjoy the weekends. She just doesn't see anything wrong with going to school, or to work after taking a break.

She does now.

In fact, Hadley's wound tight this Monday morning. Taylor immediately notices this. Hadley barely put up a fight about letting him use the bathroom first earlier this morning, and she barely talked to anyone while they were having breakfast.

Sadie and Aanya have both been trying to convince her that she needed to talk to Dexter as soon as possible. Hadley hasn't promised them anything, but she knows in her heart that they're right. She and Dexter had barely spoken in days and neither of them bothered to text each other over the weekend.

It's such a major deviation from how they used to act around each other and while Hadley's been doing her best not to think too much about Dexter, it's becoming clear that she really sucks at it. She spent the whole day yesterday trying to distract herself by watching Daredevil or doing some advanced reading, but many times she found herself picking her phone up to read the last conversation she had with Dexter or actually typing up a message before promptly deleting it.

She isn't used to reaching out to people. Dexter, especially. With Dexter, there was never really any need to actually reach out. He was always there, right next to her. And if he wasn't, Hadley could just stay put without worrying because it's Dexter and he'll always, always find his way back to her no matter what.

But that doesn't seem to be the case now, and as much as Hadley wants to pretend that everything's all right, she knows it's not. But she's never been the one chasing after Dexter and she realizes now how difficult it must have been for him.

She has no idea what to do, and today they're going to meet at work and Hadley's at a complete loss. She doesn't know what to expect or what to say or how to act. She nearly skips the day, but decides against it when she remembered what she'd talked about with Sadie and Aanya.

Uneasiness churns in her stomach while she and Taylor drive to work. He doesn't miss this and as soon as they roll into the main highway, he says, "Anong meron?"

"What?"

"I asked you what's up."

Hadley grits her teeth. "I know what it means. I just—" Hadley cuts herself off and shakes her head, turning back to the car's window. "Never mind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Hadley says. "Everything's fine."

Taylor lets out an exaggerated sigh. He makes a wide turn and pulls into a different street and when they're safely settled into the lane, he slides a brief glance at her. "Don't give me that crap, sis."

Hadley does her best to keep her face blank.

This only riles Taylor up more. "Come on, Had. Don't you think it's high time for us to have a brother-sister heart-to-heart?"

Hadley can't help it. She makes a face and says, "Did you just—"

"Yes," he interrupts, a cheeky smile on his face. "I rarely ever go home so you better make the most of our precious bonding moments. I'll have you know that I'm known for giving great advice."