Damage Control

chapter 9

    Weekdays were usually pretty slow for us. I arrived for my shift the next day, sticking my name tag onto my shirt. 

    Darius gave me a salute when I came in. Amidst all the recent craziness, I was glad to see that he was at least normal, despite the other night. 

    “You won’t believe the insanity I’ve been dealing with,” I told him. 

    He smiled at me. “I have better news. That pop star Hadyn Michaels broke up with his girlfriend!” Darius stated with such gusto, I had to laugh. 

    “The article I was reading stated that apparently he was with some other girl recently, but I got bored and stopped reading,” he finished. 

      I shook my head at him. Darius’ and my inside joke was sharing the most absurd stories we found in the news. I typically went for weird while he went for cheesy or mainstream. But he always told me them with so much satire that I knew he was never serious about caring. He flicked my shoulder. “C’mon, Alexa. What’s your story?” 

    My heart sank. Hadyn and Joe occupied my mind all of yesterday. The Edwardian Bookshop was always my safe haven. I wasn’t quite ready to bring him into my workplace just yet. 

    “Your news article?” Darius pressed. 

    “I’ve been slacking a bit,” I admitted, laughing at his mock-disappointment. “Here, I’ll look one right now,” I said. 

    Pulling out my phone, I went onto Buzzfeed. And of course, the first article was of Hadyn. 

    Darius was suddenly over my shoulder and I was aware of his breath against my shoulder. 

    “That’s the one!” he pointed out, excitedly. 

    I cleared my throat and scrolled past it. “There,” I told him, taking a step forward so we were across from each other instead of awkwardly close. “Florida man-“ 

    He chuckled. “That's how the best ones start.” 

    “-kills himself after he finds out his wife spent millions on cosmetic surgery and ‘wasn’t a fairy’,” I finished. 

    We looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

    The bell rang, signaling that we had a customer, so Darius and I quickly regained our composure with him shooting me one last wink.  

    “I’m gonna clean up the poetry section,” I told him, which was code for I’m going to pretend that I’m doing something. 

    Darius nodded. “Sounds, good.” 

    I walked out from behind the counter and went into the next room where we kept most of our books. The room was narrow and windy, with shelves attached to every wall and books nestled in every corner. 

    True to my word, I went back to the end of the store where we kept the poetry and pulled out a random book. 

the odds against us are endless//our chances of being alive together is statistically nonexistent//still we have made it

-Lisel Mueller 

    “What’re you reading?” a voice asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

    Jumping, I dropped the book and Hadyn let out a laugh and caught the book before it hit the floor. 

    “What are you doing here?” I hissed, snatching the book back from him. I shoved it back in a random spot and glared at him. 

    He shrugged and leaned against the shelf, blocking me between him and the wall. “I asked you a question first.” 

    I crossed my arms. “Mine is more important.” 

    “Already the dominant one in the relationship?” 

    “Shut up!” I whispered, sharply. Darius was supposed to be at the register, but I didn’t want to take my chances. 

    Hadyn wore a mask of confusion. “Why? We’re about to go…public anyways.” 

    “We’re gonna do what now?” I queried. 

    He rolled his eyes and a playful smirk danced on his lips. “You didn’t read the contract carefully, did you?” 

    I smacked his shoulder. “You told me to trust you!” I fired. 

    “And you said we were strangers.” 

    Letting out an angry groan, I rested my head against the wall. I bumped it against it a few times, hoping that I would lose enough brain cells to make me forget about all of this. 

    “Alright, alright-“ Hadyn interceded, pulling me towards him. But he forgot that I was small and skinny and he was tall and built, so I went flying into his chest, which made him stumble backwards. 

    When we were both stable, I lifted my head up against his chest and glared into his golden green eyes. 

    “You’re getting acquainted well in this spot, aren’t you?” he teased. 

    I flew off of him and hit my head back on the brick wall, harder than I had been before. Unfortunately, I was still able to recognize Hadyn. 

    “Are you alright, Lex?” he asked, real concern lacing his voice. 

    Exhaling slowly, I closed my eyes. “I’m just peachy,” I replied. 

    “Well, I didn’t come here just to annoy you, even though I’m having loads of fun,” he began. 

    I opened my eyes and silently urged him to state whatever he wanted. 

    Hadyn took a step closer. “That night in your apartment was…the best that I’ve had in a while. And not because we…” he trailed off and cleared his throat. “But I haven’t had a real friend in years. Sure we mess around on set and I spend a lot of time with my cast mates, but I go home to an empty mansion. I rarely go out unless its for PR.” 

    “What are you getting at?” I asked, curiosity lacing my voice. 

    He took a deep breath and I noticed a tinge of pink on his cheeks. “I want to ask you out. For real.” 

    My first instinct was to smack him, but then I realized exactly what was happening. 

    We didn’t know each other at all, but we had spent an entire night together. And it was genuinely fun, despite my initial attitude towards him. 

    My last relationship ended poorly. But when I looked into Hadyn’s forest colored eyes, I didn’t think about my old life, or the minuscule one I had created here. I thought about the weird chemistry we had and how easygoing, caring, charming, and, well, attractive he was. 

    “Alright, Hadyn Michaels. Let’s give this a go.”