What A Lie Looks Like | ✓

2.03: sephine

"Are you alright?" Hayes asks, gently resting his hand on my arm, jolting me out of my daydream.

I look up at him in surprise, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just doing some thinking."

"What about?"

My hands are cupping the warm cup of tea, and I glance up at the sun shining bright in the Texas sky. "Nothing particularly happy."

He frowns but doesn't push me, "Well, stop thinking about it then, you have another performance tonight, which you should be excited for. I have another business meeting in about..." Hayes pauses so that he can check the watch on his wrist, "Two hours."

I cringe slightly at the thought of a business meeting, "I honestly don't know how you do it. I mean, you're twenty-five and already running a billion-dollar company? It sounds extremely boring when you should be living your life."

Hayes relaxes into the chair, smiling, "Well, when you put it like that it sounds incredibly boring, but it's honestly not that bad. Whenever the meetings are just unbearable, I doodle pictures in this fancy notepad, but I've only had to do that once or twice, I think. The first time I did that, one member of our board noticed and cleared his throat until I noticed that he had asked me a question, and then the last time I doodled until my assistant elbowed me."

Based on the Hayes I used to know, and the Hayes I'm getting to know, I can picture him getting scolded for not paying attention in the middle of a meeting. I try coughing to keep myself from bursting into laughter, but it comes out more as this hybrid hacking sound. I get more graceful every time I'm with him. My phone buzzes, and I check it, seeing a text from Ollie.

Ollie: Where are you?

"You need to get back, don't you?" Hayes asks, but I don't want to leave even though I should. Ollie then calls me, but I send it straight to voicemail because I'm not ready to go back.

I take another sip of the sweet tea and nod, "Probably, Ollie's just asking where I am."

"You could tell him the truth," He suggests, and I shrug.

"Oh please. I highly doubt he would believe me if I told him we're trying out the whole friends' thing." Partly because I'm not even sure what I'm doing becoming friends with him again.

Hayes chuckles lightly in agreement, "I can see Ollie having a hard time believing that given our history, but I promise there are no ulterior motives in this friendship."

Ollie: I'm calling the police if you aren't back in fifteen.

"Shit, now I actually do have to go." I groan really not wanting to get up, but I do anyway. Ollie would most certainly end up calling the police if I'm not back, except he'd do it after ten minutes even if he said fifteen.

"I should probably be getting back too. Good luck tonight." He gets up and offers me a hug, which I gladly accept.

"Thanks. Have fun at your meeting."

He makes a face that makes me laugh, and I'm left genuinely jealous once more of his cornflower blue eyes and natural tan. It's completely unfair.

I try to shake thoughts of Hayes out of my mind, but it's hard to keep from thinking back to the day I left with his sudden reappearance in my life.

It was such a hard time in my life struggling to come to terms with the idea that Ethan's death wasn't my fault. I know now that even though he had gotten high off the drugs as a direct result of Tessa telling Ethan I had cheated, he would have used the drugs at some other point, more than likely with the same outcome.

It took a long time for me to come to that realization even though it was what I'd been told all along. There's a big difference in hearing it and believing it.

The warm air is a nice change from the cold climates I'm used to in New York and Seattle. I revel in the smaller city life that isn't so busy; you get completely swept up in it and miss the little things around.

It was pure coincidence that Hayes is in Austin for business meetings the same week the company scheduled us to be here, but seeing him again is nice. This has been the third time in a week and a half that we've done something together to try getting to know each other again; surprisingly, it hasn't been overwhelming. I'm not ready to tell Ollie because he'll try and turn it into something it's not.

Hayes and I had our chance seven years ago, but it wasn't going to work out considering it started for all the wrong reasons. Both of us know this, so we're just giving friendship a real chance.

I make it back to the hotel room with thirty seconds to spare, and Ollie is draped across one of the beds with phone in hand. "Why couldn't you just answer your phone?"

I shrug, setting my wallet and phone down on the dresser. "Why did you have to threaten to call the cops if I wasn't back in ten minutes?"

"First of all, it was fifteen minutes, and we are in a strange and unknown city where you could easily have been kidnapped. Second of all, I asked first."

I roll my eyes before laying down on the bed next to him and resting my head on his chest, "You probably had 911 already dialed on your phone."

"Did not." He's deleting the number off of his phone, so he doesn't accidentally call again like he did last time. "So, what exactly were you doing?"

"Exploring, it's not every day that we're in Texas, right?"

Ollie is skeptical of my explanation because he knows bullshit when he hears it, and it's complete and utter bullshit. "So, what were you exploring here in this less superior city that you can't find in New York?"

I stutter the first thing that comes to mind, which I should not be allowed to do. "The dog parks."

"Okay, so what were you really doing. You're a cat person, so you never would be caught dead at a dog park, and you can't even keep a fish alive. Why would you even consider doing something with pets?"

I pinch Ollie's stomach ignoring his quiet yelp, "Stop bringing Marlin up. I loved that fish, and I don't hate dogs. I just don't like the dog that chased me in third grade."

"Seph, you have got to be the only person that dog didn't like at Bayard."

"Can I take a nap before we have to go to the concert hall? I'm exhausted." Maybe if I take a nap, he'll forget all about what he was asking me about, and I can keep a secret.

He scoffs, "You do realize that I'm not a pillow right; there are eight pillows in this room you could be using to rest your head on."

"Why would I do that when I have you here, though?"

"Because your head is just a little bit heavy."

"You should be used to it by now, besides I think you're just in a mood because you're going through your Ryan withdrawal." He goes through this grumpy phase every time we leave New York for another location on the tour.

"Yeah, I know. Do you know if you're going to see Hayes again?"

As far as Ollie's aware, the dinner was a one-time thing, and I haven't seen Hayes again. "I haven't made up my mind. I've just lost track of keeping in touch with everyone else, and that wasn't a great time for me. Why drudge up the past when I've finally gotten over it."

He doesn't reply until my eyes are closed, and I'm almost asleep, "I think that's a mature way of looking at it. I'm proud of you, Seph."

I smile as he says that, despite the small piece of guilt that's gnawing at me for lying to Ollie. I rarely lie to Ollie, but it seems like every time I do lie to him, it has something to do with Hayes.