Falling for Hadie (10 page)

The water seeped into my clothes, my shoes and my nose. And it was cold. Swimming in the lake on a cool day was not ideal. I fought to regain my composure amongst the dark water swirling around me, and a plan formulated in my mind.

Lincoln Bracks was going to get played big time.

I propelled myself upwards with a few kicks and my head broke the surface of the lake. Lincoln was standing by the edge laughing at me. Well, he wouldn’t be laughing for much longer.

I gasped for air and began flailing around wildly, letting my arms hit the water at weird angles. “Lincoln, help! I-I don’t know how to swim!” I ducked my head below the water and waved my arms around again.

When I came up for air, the laughter had subsided and all I heard was a loud splash as Lincoln dove into the water.

Ha! Sucker!

I’d learnt how to swim in the first place by being thrown into a lake. It was how everyone learnt to swim around here. City boy was in for a big surprise.

I watched as Lincoln cut through the water towards me. He wasn’t the best swimmer—he was a little slow—and his strokes were weak, but it was sweet that he was coming to save me. Even though he was the one who’d thrown me in in the first place.

When he reached me, I pretended to splutter and choke. “Save me,” I said in a weak voice, trying my hardest not to smile at the worried look on his face.

“Dammit, Hadie, I’m so sorry!” He sounded panicked as he reached for me. “Hold onto my arm and I’ll take you back.”

Still spluttering, I grabbed his arm and allowed him to swim awkwardly back to shore. The process was long and tiresome, but we finally made it. Lincoln grabbed me around the waist again and pushed me onto the bank and then started climbing out after me.

When I turned around, I saw that he looked tired and was out of breath again. I grabbed ahold of both his arms. “Do you want to know what
I
do to people who annoy
me
?”

The moment he glanced up, I shoved him right back into the water. He hadn’t expected it at all and he hit the water heavily, waves erupting around him as he fell back.

When his head broke the surface of the water, I doubled over in laughter at the look on his face. He looked like he wanted to kill me, but also like he was trying not to laugh himself. Finally, he settled on an annoyed smile.

“You don’t know how to swim, huh?”

He started to get out again so I took a few steps back just in case he decided to throw me in again. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!”

Then I froze as my eyes landed on Lincoln’s upper body. His shirt was wet and clung to his muscles like a second skin. The white fabric was practically see-through now, and what I saw made my body flush hot and cold.

The taut muscles on his stomach pushed through the material, each ripple outlined through the wet material. The sleeves of his shirt hugged onto the large muscles on his arms, and as he moved towards me, they flexed and tightened with each movement.

Holy hell.

My parents had warned me about the dangers of strangers, but not at all about how dangerous hot boys could be. Because there was a feeling erupting in the pit of my stomach, and I wasn’t too sure if it was something I wanted to feel so soon after my disastrous relationship with Bennett.

Thankfully, Lincoln shook himself just then and sent droplets of water flying everywhere, including on me. “Oh, yeah? And what about you? When I picked you up, you looked like you were about to have a heart attack! What did you think I was going to do? Dismember you or something?”

“Of course not!” I lied, pointedly looking at his face and not his upper body. Never mind that he was spot on about my former thoughts, but he didn’t need to know about my over-active imagination. How mortifying would that be?

“And why did you throw me in anyway?” I tried to look mad, but I knew I was failing from the way Lincoln was grinning at me.

“Because you need to loosen up, Hadie. You take things way too seriously.”

Mariah and Lana were always accusing me of being a royal bore and were always telling me to loosen up, but I’d always thought they were exaggerating. Maybe I really was boring and uptight.

“I can be loose if I want to be,” I said adamantly.

Oh. No. That had come out sounding completely wrong.

My face heated up as Lincoln laughed. “Wow, I never thought I’d hear those words coming out of your mouth. Maybe I misjudged you after all.”

Oh, shame. Double shame.

I really needed to learn how to speak like a normal person when I was around Lincoln.

We were both shivering from the cold, so we headed back into the woods and to my car, neither of us saying anything. This time, though, I didn’t lead the way; we walked side by side.

When I dared to sneak a peek at him, there was a twinkle in his eyes that made me smile. He’d been alone all week, avoiding contact with everyone, that it was finally nice to see the real Lincoln.

What was even better was that I was the one who’d gotten a chance to see the real Lincoln.

Lincoln

“So, Hades, where are we going this afternoon?”

Hadie turned her head, eyes wide and face flushed when she caught sight of me. She looked so darn cute that I wanted to…wait, I shouldn’t want to do anything to her. Hadie was strictly off bounds.

“W-what?” she asked, pointedly avoiding the looks that her friends were giving her.

It was lunch, and after tossing up whether or not to go over and talk to Hadie, I’d finally given in and walked over to where she always sat with her friends. The four of them were stretched out on the grass, deep in conversation, and hadn’t noticed me approaching from the side.

It’d been a little over a week since I’d spent the afternoon at the lake with Hadie, and since then I’d kept my distance from her. We’d gotten too close that day, and I’d needed some time away from her to remind myself the reason why I was here. I felt better in control of myself, so I figured spending a couple of hours with her couldn’t hurt.

I was pretty sure Hadie thought I was a psycho from the way I’d avoided her, but she’d kept her distance too and hadn’t thrown herself at me or tried to get me to hang out with her again. I could tell she was holding back, just like I was.

“You heard me,” I said, unable to stop the smile that found its way onto my face at the sight of her. “What are we doing this afternoon?”

“Um...” Hadie spluttered and stared at me open-mouthed. “Maybe we could get something to eat?”

For some reason, her answer made my insides smile too. For a second, I’d been afraid she’d turn me down, but I was glad she’d taken up the offer. I wasn’t going to lie and say that I didn’t want to spend time with her. I did, really, but I knew it was something I shouldn’t be doing. I’d told myself that I wouldn’t get close to anyone, yet here I was wanting to spend more time with Hadie.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Despite all the thoughts running through my mind, I found myself nodding. “Meet you out front after school?”

“Sure,” Hadie said, and flashed me a smile that had me quickly walking off in the opposite direction.

If she found my sudden departure rude it was probably for the best. I didn’t like these feelings that stirred within me whenever I was around her, yet I wanted to get closer to her. She was so different from the girls I’d known in New York, from any girl I’d ever known.

I wasn’t going to lie to myself; I had never felt this way about a girl before. Ever. And that scared me more than I cared to admit.

The rest of the day dragged by slowly, and I kept checking my phone to see if time had made any progress. Why was it that when you were looking forward to something, it seemed to take forever to happen, but when you wanted a moment to last forever it flew by?

When the bell finally rang at 3:30, I bolted out of my American History class like death was after me. By the time I got to the front gate, Hadie was already there. I couldn’t help but stop and admire her. She always dressed plain and simple—today it was a pair of jeans and a dark blue sweater that hung loose around her small frame.

I knew it was cold, but it just seemed like she was trying to hide herself beneath baggy clothes. Still, I liked how she didn’t go out of her way to impress anyone. She was just herself—she was real.

“Hey.” She actually gave me a wave and a smile as I approached her.

“Hey, Hades,” I said, returning the smile.

Hadie bit her bottom lip but didn’t say anything at the mention of the nickname I’d given her. I guess she was used to it now or she never really minded that much to start with.

As we got into her car, I gave her a quick look. “So, where are you going to take me today, buddy?”

A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips as she started up the car. “You said your dad was born in Verdana, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, there’s a great diner there, so I hope you’re hungry.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, even though I wasn’t hungry at all.

Instead, there was this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that was unsettling me. I wasn’t sure if it was nerves or something else, but I tried to ignore it as Hadie began to drive down streets that were starting to become familiar now.

As usual, we didn’t say much to each other. Hadie pointed out various landmarks which I acknowledged with a nod. I think she was starting to get over how quiet I was so she eventually stopped acting like a tour guide and just focused on driving in the silence.

Initially, I’d been in a good mood but now my mood was souring. I hated it when I slipped into these dark mental states; it took me a lot to break out of them, but I was not going to ruin today. I was going to snap out of it.

As I stared out the window, I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I concentrated on the trees, the fields, and the dark clouds that were gathering across the sky. I was concentrating so hard that eventually everything became a swirl of green and brown and grey.

“Lincoln.”

“Huh?” I snapped out of my deep thoughts and glanced around to find Hadie studying me in concern.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Uh…yeah,” I lied. “I just got lost in my thoughts.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, a small frown lingering on her features. “We’re here.”

I’d been so distracted that I hadn’t even noticed that the car had stopped. I sincerely hoped she wasn’t weirded out by me. Sometimes I wasn’t the greatest company.

Bringing a smile onto my face was hard, but I did it anyway. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go inside.”

We got out of the car and I saw that we’d stopped in the parking lot of a large diner called
Halley’s Diner
. There were a few cars parked outside, but the place didn’t seem to be too busy.

As we entered the diner, I could tell from the bright green and pink color scheme that the place had been recently painted. There was some old 1970’s music playing through the speakers that I couldn’t quite name, but sounded familiar. Booths lined the walls, and Hadie immediately led us to one in a corner. I slid in opposite her, as the waitress approached us and handed us a menu each.

Hadie’s hand rested on the table top as she studied her menu, and I resisted the urge to reach across the table and take her hand. That would be really inappropriate. Besides, this wasn’t a date. I wasn’t too sure what it was, but it definitely wasn’t a date.

Hadie glanced up, and when she found my eyes on her, she turned a light shade of pink. “So…um…see anything you like?”

“I see a lot of things I like.” My eyes were still trained on her, and she turned an even darker shade of pink.

Crap. Damn. I shouldn’t have said that, but the words had slipped past me before I could stop myself. I was acting like such a loser right now.

“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “Is there anything you recommend?”

“Umm…” Hadie glanced down at the menu again, appearing grateful at having something to do. “Pork schnitzel? It’s a specialty.”

“What are you getting?”

“I usually just get a burger and fries.”

“You always get a burger and fries?”

Hadie seemed surprised by my question and nodded. “Well, yeah. I mean, I like a burger and fries, so it makes sense to get the same thing.” Then she laughed, shaking her head. “Okay, I realize how boring I just sounded, but that’s just who I am. Boring Hadie Swinton.”

I leaned across the table, propping my elbows up on the table top. “You’re not boring. You just play it safe, which is fine. That’s what everyone does, but sometimes it’s fun to take a risk, try something new.”

“I guess.” There was still uncertainty in her eyes. She wasn’t convinced.

I pointed at her sweater. “You wear a lot of sweaters.”

She pursed her lips. “It’s fall. Of course I wear a lot of sweaters.”

I looked right into her eyes and was glad to see that she was matching the look I was giving her. “No, you wear sweaters because they make you feel safe. You wear them because you’re trying to hide yourself. Stop hiding; don’t be afraid of change, of trying something different.”