as I leaned against a pole to wait for him. The air was starting to get chilly with Fall approaching, and I smiled as I thought about the things I wanted to do with Hayden.
“Hey, you.” I smiled as I heard his voice, turning my head to look at him. “How long have you been here?”
“Just a couple of minutes. It sounds like it’s lively upstairs.” I cracked a smile as he rolled his eyes.
“I am not going to drink myself into chaos, so don’t worry about that. Neither will Becca. From what I’ve seen, Mari enjoys a good party.” He leaned in to kiss me.
“I don’t drink a lot. I did when it was younger, but now I tone it down. I’m always working, and I sleep when I’m not doing that. I don’t love the hangover stage, either.” I shrugged, smiling at him.
“Good. You’re perfect.” He took my hand as we started walking toward the apartment. It was louder now, and Hayden sighed. “Here goes nothing.” Hayden led the way upstairs, opening the door as bodies moved to let us by.
“You’re here!” Mari dragged out the last syllable, making me share a long look with Hayden. She ran over to hug both of us as Becca followed. “Hi.”
“My girl has had a little too much strawberry wine,” Becca said, hugging us both when she had the room. “Come in. The drinks are in the kitchen.” People were dancing in the small living room, and we made our way through the crowd.
We both selected soda to drink, cracking open diet Dr. Peppers. Becca smiled, holding up her own, and we made a toast. She caught us up on what happened so far, including a fight over a girl and a wrestling match in the kitchen.
“I hope you warned your neighbors about this,” I told her as she shrugged.
“They’re all here.”
“Perfect.” I slipped an arm around Hayden as we found a spot against the wall. “Don’t you dance?”
“I dance when I have room to do so. This is more like a mosh pit.” He looked at the group of people crashing into each other.
“We’ll go dancing before…before Mari goes back.” She looked at her girlfriend, spinning in the circle of dancers.
“She still has a week. They haven’t decided on who is moving where yet.” Hayden smiled, and I lifted a brow as I glanced at Becca. She blushed a deep red, and Hayden looked at her. “Did you?”
“We were going to tell you at breakfast, but she decided that she’ll move here.” Her eyes brightened, and Hayden hugged her before I did. “Don’t say anything. We’re not making it public right now.”
“Okay, but I’m so happy for you,” Hayden whispered as I laughed.
“We still want to do breakfast, but this time we want to try the hotel again.” She smiled, and we easily agreed.
Chapter Six
Hayden
I smiled over at Gray as he chatted easily with some of the party guests. He met my friends easily, making me think we could work.
Ryan knew a lot of people, but he didn’t get along well with them. I found out after the breakup that most everybody tolerated him. We were only together for six months, but he managed to drive away a few people in that time. I was just now getting back in their good graces.
Gray was going to help that. I could see it in how easily he got along with people.
I still worried that Ryan might show up, but it was past midnight, and there was no sign of him yet. Becca could ultimately handle it if he brought up the past, but I knew she was healing. Ryan would do it in front of our friends and put her back in a bad place. I knew that she didn’t tell everyone about her father.
I looked back to think that I made a mistake by sharing so much with him, as well as taking him to the places I was the happiest. I looked over at Gray, hoping that he would be better for me. I didn’t know how much to trust him with versus what I shouldn’t tell him about.
We left the party at one, staying at my place again. Gray had a cousin in town staying with his Gram, so he had some free time. I worked one more day before I had one off, wondering if I’d spend it with Gray. We set the alarm to get up for breakfast, which wasn’t until ten in the morning. The