7 The Alternative

In an alternate universe, there's a time where Haden and Taylor didn't let a small misunderstanding get in the way of their friendship. The night that Taylor got into a fight with his mother, he noticed Haden standing in the corner then watched as he ran into his room. However, this time, Taylor knocked on his door later that evening to apologize to him in person. 

"Hello?" Haden answered.

"H-hi Haden, it's me, Taylor." 

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to say sorry for what I said earlier. I saw you crying in the corner and I felt bad for making you cry." 

"I-it's okay."

"So are we still friends?"

"Yeah." Haden said with a small smile. 

"Okay." Taylor said, smiling back. 

The two boys made up and remained friends for the rest of their childhood. However, that didn't stop another misunderstanding coming up to ruin their friendship. 

5 years later, when they were in middle school now. The two boys still ended up separating into their own hobbies. Haden became very focused on his studies while Taylor was motivated to win the games for his soccer team. 

Although they lived very different lives, the two always came together to pull each other out of their comfort zone. Taylor would encourage Haden to have more fun while Haden would tutor Taylor for any upcoming exams. They each had something to share with each other.

One day, Taylor invited Haden out to a friend's party, who just so happened to be Rick. Rick has always been known to be the fun, quirky party animal. While the parties may not have been very elaborate, they were elaborate enough to make a middle schooler think that it would be the biggest party of their middle school experience. 

Haden, of course, was adamant about going to the party but if Taylor was going to be with him, then he was sure he'd be fine. 

"Come on, Haden! Let's go!" Taylor called outside of Haden's bedroom door.

"Sorry, I'm changing my clothes right now." Haden said from the other side of the door. 

"Okay then." Taylor replied.

A few minutes later, Haden was out of his room and dressed for the party. He felt ridiculous in his outfit though because he wasn't sure what party clothes were supposed to look like. 

"I feel like I'm not wearing the appropriate attire for this party." Haden said glumly. 

Taylor let out a small laugh and replied with, "Don't worry, you look cute." 

Haden blushed and said, "T-thank you."

"Come on, let's go." Taylor said as he grabbed Haden's hand and left the house together. 

Haden's heart had suddenly skipped a beat and he felt butterflies in his stomach. Taylor's hand felt warm, but he wasn't sure if these kinds of emotions were supposed to happen if a friend was holding his hand.

The two boys got into Ms. Fernsby's car and they were off to Rick's party. While the two were unsure of what the night was going to bring, they were both certain that they would have a great time together. 

Once they arrived, they got out of the car and Ms. Fernsby waved to them goodbye and watched as they entered Rick's party. When they entered, there were several middle schoolers in a huge crowd just dancing together. The place had dim lighting but with a very colorful atmosphere.

The boys headed to the kitchen and found that the table was complete with several snacks and sodas. While the whereabouts of Rick's parents were questionable, nobody cared because they were having the time of their lives. While they were admiring the place, Rick approached them. 

"Oh hey guys! I'm so glad you could make it! There's snacks and drinks over there if you want some."

"Thanks Rick." Taylor replied and later turned to Haden to ask, "Do you want anything?"

"I think I'll just take a soda."

Taylor got a cup and poured some soda in it to give to Haden and handed it to him. As he gave him the soda, their hands touched and Haden, again, felt his heart skip a beat. He was so confused by this emotion that he wasn't sure if it was considered normal. Could such feelings occur between the same gender?

"T-thank you." Haden said while blushing. 

"You think you're gonna be okay alone?" Taylor asked. 

"Y-yeah, I think so. I mean I could make some friends here and there." Haden replied. 

"Okay, just call me if you need me." Taylor said. 

"Okay then." Haden said.

Taylor left and headed to mingle with the rest of the crowd. He's always been popular with people, yet Haden could barely communicate with anyone around him. As he walked around, trying to look for people to talk to. No one paid any attention to him, the crowd eventually got overwhelming for him that he couldn't help but panic a little bit.

His heart started beating really fast and his palms started to get sweaty. He was starting to feel a bit lightheaded and almost felt like passing out. He wasn't sure what was going on with him, but a few people had noticed. 

"Woah, what's going on? Are you okay?"

Haden couldn't respond to anyone because the entire room was spinning and he didn't know what direction he was going in. He had never experienced this before so this was all so confusing to him. Eventually someone started to yell for help and he had passed out on the floor not long after.

When he woke up, he was in a cold sweat and took a second to look around his surroundings and instantly realized he wasn't in a hospital. He was in a boy's bedroom and waiting by the bedside was Taylor.

"Oh my god, you're awake. I was afraid you would never wake up." Taylor said in relief.

"Where am I? Are we still at Rick's house?"

"Yeah, we didn't want to call 911 until we were sure something was wrong. Also, no one really believes it when a middle schooler calls the number. They'll automatically assume it's a prank, especially from this house."

"Lemme guess, Rick has prank called 911 several times before?"

"Yup."

"Ah, I see."

"Anyways, I'm glad you're awake now. Do you know what happened to you?"

"I don't know, I just got overwhelmed with the crowd and my head started to spin."

"Hmm, I think we should still take you to a doctor to check on that. We can tell my mom later, after she picks us up."

"Okay."

"You wanna play a game with me and my friends?"

"S-sure, what game are you guys playing?"

"We're gonna play truth or dare."

"Oh, okay then."

"Come on, then." Taylor said as he grabbed Haden's hand and took him downstairs where the rest of the kids were. Taylor took Haden to the living room where a big table was. There was so much going on with all the loud music and people dancing. Haden's head started to hurt again, but at least he didn't feel like passing out anymore.

"Hey guys, this is my friend, Haden." Taylor introduced him.

"Hey guys." Haden said shyly.

"Aye, what up Haden?" one boy said.

"You can sit next to me if you want." another boy said.

"Your outfit looks really nice, bro." another said.

Suddenly Haden whispered in Taylor's ear, "If it's fine with you, do you think I can sit next to you?"

"Sure." Taylor whispered back and smiled at him. 

The two sat next to each other and the game began. Everyone was picking dare so far, so Haden kind of felt pressured to do the same. When his turn came, he wasn't sure what to pick because he was afraid he'd be seen as an outsider for picking truth. Suddenly Taylor whispered in his ear to tell him, "It's okay to pick truth." With his encouragement, Haden decided to pick truth then.

"I pick truth." Haden said.

"Ah damn, I had a good dare for you. Well, uh," the boy smirked then continued, "how close are you and Taylor?"

"I don't know what you mean by that, but we've known each other for quite awhile now. We even live in the same house."

"Ohhh, so you two are like brothers then?"

Suddenly that word had triggered the memory of when he heard Taylor saying he didn't want him to be his brother. What was that about? Taylor never gave him an explanation of that, so he decided he would use his chance to ask Taylor what he meant by that.

"Oh, not really. We're just very good friends." Haden replied.

"Whatever, you're boring anyways.

"Okay, it's Taylor's turn. Haden since you're next to him, you get to ask him the question."

"Sure, truth or dare, Taylor?" Haden asked.

"Truth." Taylor replied.

"What did you mean when you said you didn't want me to be your brother?"

The boys started to talk amongst themselves and were all intrigued by the conversation happening in front of them. 

"Actually, I choose dare." Taylor said, trying to avoid the question.

The boys started to talk more as they were suspicious of Taylor's actions now. However, that didn't stop Haden from getting his answer.

"Okay, I dare you to answer the question."

"Why do you wanna know? I don't even know why I said it."

"Oh, so I guess it's hard for you to tell me you hate me because you want to be on your good side all so you can use me to your benefit? Wait a minute, the tutoring. Oh my god, I can't believe you. You were pretending to be my friend so I could tutor you."

"No, it's not like that."

"Then tell me the truth."

"I-I can't. I don't remember what was going on in my head when I said that."

"Oh, and you expect me to believe that? That you just forgot. You forgot because it didn't matter to you. I don't matter to you, is what you're telling me."

"Haden-"

"You know what? I'm leaving. Call your mom to pick us up. I'll be waiting outside."

Haden got up from the couch and left the house, leaving Taylor completely shocked. He didn't know that Haden was capable of being angry. I guess he must've had all those feelings pent up inside and he never knew how to let them out until now. Now that he thought about it, he never once saw Haden truly express his emotions before. At the same time, he too probably had emotions that he had bottled inside because he never quite resolved what he meant when he said that 5 years ago. 

Taylor called his mother and after that, the boys' relationship was torn. From then on, Haden would never speak to Taylor again and reverted back to his own bubble where he would overwork himself. He would prepare breakfast, but only for Ms. Fernsby and himself. Their broken friendship had caused stress for Ms. Fernsby as she only wanted them to get along because one day, they would only have each other.

5 years later, the boys were in their senior year of high school and the two boys still have not spoken. Taylor still had Rick as his only friend and things were about to change for the both of them when Scarlette arrived.

"Hey guys, my name is Scarlette Rosales."

"Scarlette?" Rick said, "Rosales? You remember me, Rick?"

"Cochran?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh my god, I do remember you! It's been so long!"

"You two knew each other before?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, we met in elementary school." Scarlette replied.

"You were like the prettiest girl in school, I couldn't believe you talked to me." Rick said with a laugh.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Scarlette. Any friend of Rick's is a friend of mine." Taylor said with a smile.

"You're too kind." Scarlette blushed.

"Well this is a nice surprise, we can all be friends now!" Rick exclaimed.

"Yeah! That'd be great!" Scarlette said with glee.

"Sure, why not?" Taylor said with a small smile. 

While he has been doing perfectly fine in school, he still can't help but wonder how Haden was doing. He barely saw him at home since he always stayed after school studying in the library or locking himself in his room. He worried for his mental health, he just wanted to know what he was thinking or why he was doing what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Haden was struggling to maintain his focus on his studies as the occasional thought of Taylor would cross his mind. He didn't understand why he cared so much about Taylor, was it the fact that he was probably wrong about Taylor's intentions? And that there might be a better explanation to what he said than he thought? Who was he kidding? What he said was still considered a bad thing, but what other explanation could there be for him saying that? He would only say that if he hated him, right?

Haden decided to take a break and left to get a snack from the vending machine. When he left the library, someone was standing outside the door. He saw a girl standing there, she looked paralyzed and stood there for a while before realizing the situation.

"Oh hey there. Um, I definitely was not watching you just now. Um, I'm sorry. My name's Bridgette, Bridgette Hanson."

She looked shy and frail yet weird and kind of psychotic. Haden wasn't sure if he should talk to this girl as he felt like something was off about her. But he decided to be nice and hoped that he wouldn't have to see her again.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. I'm Haden Sallow."

"Yeah, I know. Wait, no I don't know that." Bridgette said with an awkward laughter.

"Okay then, well I'm just gonna get a snack. So if you don't mind, I'll just go now."

"Yeah, of course. Gotta eat that mixed berries granola bar."

"H-how do you know what I get?" Haden said as chills ran down his back.

"Oh, um, a lot of people get that same snack. I-it's very popular."

Haden was hesitant, but he really didn't want to start any trouble, "O-oh okay."

"Well, I guess I'll leave you alone now then." 

"Yeah." Haden said wearily and began to walk towards the vending machine as fast as possible.

He didn't look back because he was afraid of what he might see. He tried getting his snack as quickly as possible and, practically, ran back to the library. However, when he returned to his seat, his book had a page torn out and on the desk, the words Don't ignore me were scratched onto it. 

He started to panic, so he grabbed all his things to run out of the school and back home. Once he arrived, he ran into his room and shut the door behind him. All this time, he'd been staying after school alone, when this entire time, someone was watching him. He couldn't stay at the school anymore if he knew she was going to be hiding in the shadows. It was at this time that he knew that he needed someone by his side. The first person that came to his mind was Taylor, but he couldn't go to him after that outburst he did 3 years ago. He was in danger and he needed to tell someone, so he had no other choice but to go to Taylor.

Haden left his room to head over to Taylor's. He knocked and waited for an answer, and within seconds, he opened the door. 

"Haden? What are you doing here?"

"Someone has been watching me."

"Watching you? Who?"

"She said her name is Bridgette. Bridgette...Hanson. Yeah, that's her name, but I think she's been watching me every time I stayed after school in the library. She knew the snack I would usually get and she was acting weird. Saying she definitely wasn't watching me and that she didn't know my name. I don't know, she was just very strange. But also, she had ripped a page from my study book and on the desk, she carved a message for me. I've never been so scared in my life. I ran all the way home from school."

Taylor watched as tears started to form in Haden's eyes, suddenly Taylor felt his heart ache. What was this feeling? Why did his heart hurt seeing Haden cry? Whatever it was, he still felt this need to protect him. Haden was in danger and he couldn't leave him alone now.

"You're gonna be okay." Taylor said and hugged Haden.

As Taylor patted his head, both boys couldn't help but feel some sort of emotion stir within themselves. Was it a feeling they had always had, but never acknowledged it until now? Although they were confused, they both knew they cared about each other very much and that they couldn't be apart from each other anymore. They needed each other now more than ever.

The next day, Taylor stayed by Haden's side. While Taylor was constantly on the lookout for any suspicious people, Haden was still very paranoid about what that girl was capable of. He started to think that it was a mistake bringing in Taylor because now, he was at risk of being targeted as an enemy now. While the two were walking, Rick and Scarlette had suddenly approached them and it startled Haden a bit.

"Hey guys!" Rick and Scarlette asked in unison.

"Guys, you nearly scared Haden to death." 

"Haden? He goes to this school?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, I know it's been awhile since you last saw him, but right now, he's in desperate need for some friends."

"What, why?" Rick asked.

"Some girl has been stalking him, and she's been doing it for, god knows how long."

"Wait, Haden, do you know her name?" Scarlette asked.

"Yeah, her name was Bridgette Hanson."

"Shit." Scarlette said under her breath.

"What?" Haden asked.

"Scarlette, do you know anything about this girl?" Taylor asked.

"Unfortunately, I do." Scarlette said, "Bridgette...is actually my sister."

"Wait what?" Taylor said, "That doesn't make sense, you have different last names."

"About that, she likes to change her last name as some sort of disguise, which doesn't make sense because she doesn't change her first name too. But I've been in her room a few times, and that shit is freaky."

"Well you think you can help us get rid of her?" Taylor asked.

"I'm not sure. However, there is something I think might work." Scarlette said.

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"Well she has seemed to form an obsession with Haden because she likes him. So maybe, we can give her someone else to obsess over."

"Who are you thinking?" Rick asked.

"Ivan Barclay, that douchebag jock." Scarlette suggested.

"At least you're turning to target over to someone who actually deserves it." Taylor said.

"Exactly, so all we gotta do is bait my creepy ass sister here with Haden." Scarlette said.

"No way, I'm not putting Haden in danger." Taylor said demandingly.

"Don't be an idiot, we're not gonna leave him alone. We'll just be hiding somewhere and make sure nothing happens between the two." Scarlette said.

"And you think this will work?" Taylor asked.

"Yes, trust me. I won't let anything happen to him." 

"Alright then, if you say so. Haden, are you okay with the plan."

"Y-yeah, I think so." 

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay." Taylor said as he held Haden's hand and gave a small squeeze for reassurance. 

So the group put their plan into motion. Scarlette texted Bridgette telling her to meet Haden at the library. So they went there and Haden stood by the desk where he usually studied. The rest of the 3 were hiding behind a bookcase and just waited until she came into the library. A few minutes had passed by and Bridgette had finally arrived. 

"H-hey Haden."

"Hi Bridgette."

"So did you get my message?"

Haden looked down at the desk where the carving was and saw that it was still there. He looked back up to face Bridgette and replied with, "Yes, I'm not gonna ignore you anymore. You have my attention now. What is it that you want to do with me?"

"Well, I wanted you to be my b-boyfriend."

"I see."

"So...what do you think?"

"I...don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just-"

"Haden Sallow, tell me right now that you want to be my boyfriend!" Bridgette yelled as she began to walk closer to Haden.

"Hey!" Scarlette yelled.

"S-Scarlette? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah bitch, it's me. Look, leave the poor boy alone. He's just tryna pass his classes and study in peace, which by the way, I could never do. That shit is boring, but anyways, Haden is just a sweet boy who doesn't deserve to be preyed on by someone like you. If you want someone to obsess over, you should go for that Ivan Barclay fellow. He's pretty tall and hunky, don't you think?"

"Y-yeah. I'm so sorry, I'll leave Haden alone. I apologize for meddling in your life."

"Yeah, you better apologize, you weirdo."

"O-okay, I'll go now." Bridgette left the library and Haden was officially free of her obsessive reign.

"Oh my god, it worked!" Haden exclaimed, "Thank you so much!"

"No problem, bud." Scarlette said.

"Thank god, it worked." Taylor said as he went to hug Haden tightly, "I was so worried that you would get hurt."

"I'm fine now, Taylor. Thank you for helping me." Haden said as he hugged Taylor back.

"Well you two seem to be having a moment, so I'm gonna just leave."  Scarlette said, "Come on, Rick. Let's go."

"Okay." Rick said as they left the two alone.

During the hug, Taylor could feel all his emotions come to him and he suddenly remembered the reason why he said what he said before. 

"Haden."

"Yeah?"

"I think I know why I said I didn't want to be your brother."

"Really? Why?"

Taylor pulled away from the hug and looked into Haden's eyes, "It's because I loved you."

"What? That doesn't make sense."

"I loved you, but...not in the brotherly sense. I was in love with you from the very first day we met."

"You're kidding."

"I'm serious, since we first met in kindergarten, I just knew it was you. Thing is, I don't know if you feel the same way."

"I-I think I do. Every time you hold my hand, I could feel my heart skip a beat and I just get filled with this overwhelming emotion that I don't know how to explain. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I do feel the same."

"Good, that means I can do this." Taylor said as he leaned in to kiss Haden. 

The kiss lingered for awhile and despite them being in the school library, the entire universe around them felt like it was revolving only around them. It felt like there was nothing but space around them because at that moment, it was all about them and nothing else mattered in the world.

While the two were kissing, they heard people aweing over them. When they broke from the kiss, they found Rick and Scarlette watching them from outside the window.

"I knew it! I knew you two had a thing for each other!" Scarlette exclaimed, "With Taylor being all protective and shit. He was acting like he was some sort of Superman. You dumbass."

The boys blushed, but they didn't mind if two of their closest and only friends knew about their relationship because they had each other now. No matter in what universe, Haden and Taylor were always fated to end up together in senior year. Nothing could change the course of their timeline. From then on, the two boys would go to prom together and graduate together, and even enroll in the same college together. Well that's a difference that might've turned out better than in the other universe. Either way, it was the same result, a positive outcome.