Hayden was the most nervous he had ever been. He had changed his outfit seven times, and he had showered twice because he had nothing else to do.
The resteraunt that he had picked out was simple but elegant. He wore a dark green button up tucked into black dress pants, and black shoes to match.
And, God, he was still so nervous.
Currently, Hayden was sitting with a cup of tea, listening to the rings of his phone, waiting for his mum to pick up.
"Hello?" A voice rang through the phone after what felt like a million years.
"Hey, mum." His voice was tense, and she could tell through the phone that he was nervous."
"Hayen, love! What's wrong?"
"I have a date." His sentenced stopped there, partly because he hoped that he wouldn't have to say anymore, and partly because his mouth felt full of pennies.
"You and Kenzie have had lots of dates, surely you shouldn't be nervous."
"No, mum. It's not with Kenzie."
"Oh?" She replied, her voice sounding shocked. "Who is it?"
"It's with a girl called Annie."
"Do you like her?"
"She's amazing mum. You know, she's beautiful and funny and so nice." Hayden pauses, thinking of the girl he's about to take out. "She's an english major." He adds as an afterthought.
"She sounds.. Nice." The tension is obvious, and Hayden knows why.
"Please don't be mad about Kenzie, mum."
"I'm not mad, she was just so perfect-"
"She wasn't. I loved her a lot, believe me, but she wasn't the one for me anymore."
Hayden heard his mum sigh, before breathing out the stress.
"Okay. Call me after your date."
"I will. I love you mum."
"I love you too, baby."
And as soon as Hayden had calmed down, and before he could get worked up again, he grabbed his coat and was out the door.
-
"I didn't know wether or not you wanted to go somewhere fancy, so I kinda picked something in between." Hayden said as they pulled up to the resteraunt.
Annie was wearing a short black halter dress and silver heels. Her hair was curled, and a silver pendant necklace hung from her neck.
She took Hayden's breath away.
"It's fine." She said quickly, climbing out of Hayden's black prius. Annie hadn't said anything on the drive over, and Hayden was starting to wonder if he did something wrong.
"Reservation for two, Summerall." Hayden said when they got inside. Annie was scanning over the place, and Hayden hoped she would say some thing, give some stamp of approval, but came up short.
Halfway through dinner, Hayden's nerves got the best of him.
"Are you okay?" He said, dropping his fork.
"What?" Annie looked up, apparently very abrubtly dragged from her thoughts.
"It's just, you've barely said a word all night, and you haven't touched your food."
They sat in silence for a minute, Hayden watching Annie twirl her pasta on her fork, before she spoke.
"Hayley was my little sister." Hayden felt his breath drag out of his throat, and felt like the world was swaying beneath him. "She was diagnosed with stage three osteosarcoma when she was 14, and she died when she was 15."
"You don't have to-"
"I do." Annie said, looking up. "I was just about to go to university, and my sister died. Everything kind of stopped for a bit." There was a silence, like she was gathering herself, and then she continued. "And then, a few months later, on her birthday, my dad got into a car crash. He um- didn't make it. My mom was a wreck, so was I honestly, and I didn't think either of us were going to make it through."
Hayden wanted to puke. Annie didn't deserve any of the shit that had happened to her. The universe was throwing curveballs, and somehow she had survived. All he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and stay that way forever.
"Caleb was going into his third year here, and I kinda sat down one night and decided to get through it. It was really the only choice I had, you know. My mom told me to go to Yale. She wanted me to follow my dreams. I felt so guilty, leaving her." Her voice faltered off, fleeing away with Hayden's gaze.
"Annie." He whispered, barely able to speak.
He wanted nothing more than to scream and yell and sob, but here he was, choking.
a/n
i cried writing this
also 10k reads wtf tysm
