Falling for Hadie (13 page)

With a nod, I headed back to the counter where Laura was watching us in earnest. It was obvious that she thought Bennett was hot. Everyone thought he was hot. Even me.

Before she could barrage me with numerous questions about him, the bell chimed again and I gratefully turned towards the entrance to see who had walked in.

My heart leapt in my chest when I found Lincoln standing there, looking at me in confusion. And he wasn’t alone either. He was with an older guy who looked so much like him that it was easy to guess that this was his dad.

As I turned back to the counter to grab two menus, I saw that Laura’s mouth was hanging open once more. “Holy smokes!
Who
is that?”

“Lincoln Bracks,” I said, smiling at the look on her face.

Bennett was quickly forgotten as she took in the sight of Lincoln. “Oh. My. Gosh. He is, like, one of the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.” Her eyes darted back to Bennett as if to compare him to Lincoln, and she nodded. “Yep, definitely the hottest. I mean, there’s this guy in my year, Hunter Hammond, and he’s still the hottest, but he’s a total man whore so…”

“Laura, I better go and seat these customers,” I cut in. Once Laura started talking about boys, she didn’t stop until she had analyzed every single guy she thought was hot. I was definitely not sticking around to find out which one had the nicest feet.

As I approached Lincoln, my insides began to warm up just by being close to him. He gave me this giddy feeling that no one else ever had. I certainly couldn’t blame Laura for checking him out. The boy was fine.

“Hi, Lincoln!” I said cheerfully. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Lincoln frowned and glanced around the diner. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

The cold tone of his voice threw me off, and my upbeat mood faltered. “Um, I told you I worked here when I was showing you around town.”

His frown deepened and he looked at his dad. “Dad, do you wanna go somewhere else?”

My brow furrowed and I pressed my lips together, trying not to show how hurt I was. Why was Lincoln acting so weird? He’d been perfectly fine today at school. I mean, he’d threatened everyone away from me for God’s sake! He obviously cared about me, so why was he acting like this?

“Why? What’s wrong with eating here?” his dad asked, looking between me and his son.

Lincoln sighed and refused to meet my eye. “Nothing, Dad. Let’s just eat and get the hell out of here.”

His words stung me and tears actually pricked at my eyes. Lincoln was never like this. I mean, sure, when he’d first come to town he’d been a bit withdrawn, but he’d quickly changed his tune and warmed to me. Or so I’d thought.

Either way, his attitude towards me hurt me in a way I couldn’t explain. I’d been so closed off to boys before he’d gotten here. I’d been determined never to get close to a boy the way I had with Bennett, but Lincoln had broken through. We had shared some great moments together, yet here he was acting like I was a complete stranger. Like he didn’t want to know me.

I followed the both of them to a booth by the window and handed them their menus. Lincoln didn’t acknowledge me at all, and I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat.

“Uh…I’ll be back soon,” I said, before fleeing to the sanctuary of the kitchen.

Lincoln

“Do you know that girl?” Dad asked as he flipped through the menu.

I didn’t look up at him as I pretended to read the menu when really my mind was elsewhere. On Hadie.

I really had forgotten that Hadie worked here, and it pissed me off that I had forgotten something so simple. I was losing my damn mind.

“She goes to my school.”

“She looked upset.” Dad gave me a probing look with those eyes that were so like mine.          

I shrugged. “She’s probably going through some girly stuff. You know what women are like.”

“I can’t argue with that, son,” he said and went back to looking through his menu.

Once his attention was off me, my mind shot back to the fact that Hadie worked here. I really didn’t remember her telling me, but it was too late now. I was already here. Why did she have to run into me on a bad day? On a day that I felt like shunning the world and not talking to anyone? On days like these, I really came across as an ass.

The last thing I wanted to do to Hadie was hurt her, but the closer I got to her the more inevitable it was that she would end up getting hurt. I’d already warned her that I was no good for her, but that hadn’t worked. She was stubborn as hell when she wanted to be and didn’t like being told what to do. We’d become closer and I was scared. Scared of hurting her. Scared of losing her.

My eyes wandered around the diner and fell on the blonde-haired guy sitting on the opposite end of the room. He was staring at me like he wanted to punch me in the face, and that’s when I recognized him.

It was Hadie’s ex-boyfriend.

What the hell was he doing here? Why was he here by himself at a time when the diner was practically deserted? Were he and Hadie trying to work things out? Had she forgiven him for all the things he’d done? Was she really that naïve?

Hadie walked back out holding a notepad and pen in her hand. She gave us a tight smile when she got to our table. “Are you ready to order?”

Dad gave his order of a medium-rare steak with fries, and Hadie turned to me expectantly, chewing on her bottom lip.

God, I wanted to chew on that lip myself. She was so beautiful, so hard for me to take my eyes off, but I didn’t know what the deal with her and her ex was. He sounded like the douchebag of the century, but I didn’t want to step into his territory if there was something going on with Hadie and him.

“What is
he
doing here?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

Hadie stared at me in surprise and then her forehead creased. “What everyone else comes to do here, obviously?”

I eyed her skeptically, hating the jealous monster that was building up in my chest and threatening to burst out. “So then why is he by himself? Doesn’t it seem a little strange that he decided to come here on a day that you’re working?”

“I don’t know, Lincoln,” Hadie said, her gaze steely. “I don’t think it’s any stranger than someone coming in here and acting like they don’t know me.”

Her words were like a slap in the face, and I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her that I was wrong to treat her like that. Then I wanted to kiss her on that pretty mouth of hers and…

No, that was a little too weird and creepy. We’d only just become friends and I didn’t want to cross any boundaries. Besides, I had totally screwed up any progress that we’d made by acting like a jerk towards her.

“Can I just get a salad and a bottle of water?” I asked, staring down at the table.

Hadie seemed confused, whether by my order or my behavior I wasn’t sure. I just knew that I was just as douchey as that Bennett guy was. Hadie deserved better. She didn’t deserve someone with my unpredictable mood swings. I mean, most of the time I was in a good mood, but sometimes everything just got to me.

“Fine,” she snapped, taking our menus from us before storming across the diner and disappearing into the kitchen.

Wow, she was really pissed at me and I totally understood why. I couldn’t blame her when it was clearly my fault. Seeing her ex-boyfriend here had worsened my mood.

“So, just some girly drama, huh?” Dad asked as he leaned back in the padded booth.

I gave him a non-committal shrug, not really in the mood to discuss Hadie with him. He would never get it; never understand how I felt about her.

“If your mom hears about this, she is not going to be happy, Lincoln,” Dad warned. “She’s not going to like you wasting your time on some girl.”

Rage shot through me and I slammed my fist down on the table, drawing the attention of Bennett and the girl at the front counter. “She’s not
some girl
! Her name is Hadie and I happen to care about her. A lot. And I couldn’t give a damn what Mom thinks!”

Dad leaned in close and shot me a look of disapproval. “Lincoln, I know you and your mother don’t get along at the best of times, but she has a point. This girl, Hadie, doesn’t know about you. You’re only going to end up hurting her. You need to stay away from her.”

“That’s easier said than done,” I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest. “And believe me, hurting her is the last thing I want to do.”

“Then keep your distance,” Dad said with finality in his voice.

I didn’t say anything further because there was nothing else to say. Mom and Dad always thought they were right about everything, and no matter what I said to try to change their mind, they could never see things my way.

The only person who understood me was Hadie. Even what little she knew of me, she understood perfectly. How was I going to let go of someone like that? I’d tried to warn her away, but she hadn’t listened. I could act like a complete jerk to her, but that wasn’t like me at all and I wasn’t going to pretend to be someone I wasn’t anymore.

My attention returned to Bennett as he stood up and went over to the counter to pay for his food. As he began walking out of the diner, I stood up. “Hey, Dad, I’ll be back in a minute. I just saw a guy I know from school.”

Dad nodded absently, and I went after Bennett, quickening my pace to catch up with him. He had just walked out onto the street and was staring down at the ground when I reached him.

“Hey,” I said, “you’re Hadie’s ex-boyfriend.” It came out more as a statement than a question.

Bennett turned around and sized me up, his gaze darkening. “Yeah, what’s it to you?”

“What were you doing in there?” I asked, ignoring his question and taking a step towards him.

“That’s got nothing to do with you.” He crossed his arms across his chest in a way that was obviously meant to intimidate me. It didn’t work; it only made me madder.

“Hadie’s my friend so, yeah, I think it has everything to do with me,” I shot back. “Stay the hell away from her and stop writing crap on her locker.”

“That wasn’t me,” he said, his expression surly.

“Then tell your sidekicks to stop doing it because if it happens again, I will break your face, do you understand?” I was so angry that my words came out more like a snarl.

“You’re bluffing,” he said, but his eyes darted left and right nervously.

I smiled in what I hoped looked like a crazy way. “You don’t know me, I’m new in town. There was a reason why I was kicked out of my old school. You don’t know what I’m capable of, so don’t test me. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Okay, so that had been a complete lie. I hadn’t been kicked out of school, I’d only been in two fights my entire life, and one of them had been in first grade when Mary Snyder had pushed me into the mud and stomped on my hand. Bennett didn’t know that though and his ignorance was my advantage.

“Whatever,” he spat out. “You’re a fucking loser.”

With that, he turned and headed down the street, not looking back at me. Hopefully he’d gotten the message and would pass it along to his loser friends. I mean, I didn’t want to get into a fight at my new school, but if they didn’t leave Hadie alone then I wasn’t going to let it go.

Hadie deserved a lot better than that. And I was going to make sure she got it.

Hadie

I had only ever been to two high school parties in my entire life.

At the first one, I had very quickly left after some drunk girl I didn’t know had hugged me and then proceeded to throw up all over me. At the second one, I’d caught my boyfriend making out with another girl, and gotten into a fight with him. Therefore, you could sort of understand why I steered clear of them.

So when Mariah, Lana and I were having one of our three-way phone conversations on Saturday night, it surprised even me when Mariah made a last ditch effort to get me to go with them to the field party and I said yes.

“You’re joking!” she cried into the phone. “Don’t play games with me Hadassah Swinton. I’ll cry!”

“I’m serious,” I said, and I meant it. “I’ll go with you as long as I don’t have to drink or anything.”

I was glad she hadn’t asked why I’d suddenly changed my mind because I would’ve felt pretty stupid saying it out loud.

Honestly, it was because of Lincoln. He had really pissed me off yesterday. The way he was so hot and cold towards me was confusing, and I didn’t want to act desperate, like I wanted to be around him all the time. Never mind the fact that I did want to be around him.

He was the one who’d really gotten me to smile and laugh after the break-up with Bennett. He’d taught me that change was a necessary part of life, regardless of whether it was positive or negative. Still, that didn’t mean that I should expect Lincoln to like me or ask me out or kiss me…

I shook my head, trying to erase thoughts of kissing Lincoln. The way he had acted yesterday was enough to make me mad, but not enough to stop me being attracted to him. I mean, he was really nice when he wanted to be, but he could also come across as indifferent and I didn’t need another guy leading me on.