VIII. Ice cream and touches

"Hi" It was the response Rose sent back to Hayden.

Hayden slipped into the chair beside Raven, his hands trembling a bit.

His mid riff protested at the strain he put on his body as he lowered his tall, lanky frame unto the seat, stretching out his long legs.

Raven watched him quietly.

Hayden was filled with curiosity, wanting to ask her millions of questions all at once, but he forced himself not to pry, not to do too much when he wasn't sure if they were still solid.

Raven passed him a book, her hands crossed on the thick one that was in front of her.

"Percy Jackson?" Hayden asked, a small smile playing across his lips as he stared at the book.

Raven watched him, emotions welling up in her at the softness of the emotion in his eyes.

He'd told her how much he loved the book some time ago but couldn't get it until the summer when he'd resume his part time job.

Raven had listened to him carefully, like she always seemed to whenever he talked to her.

Hayden cracked open the first page, his smile widening by an inch.

"I'm sorry" He heard Raven whisper softly.

Book forgotten, he turned his body to face her, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What for?" He voiced his thoughts.

Raven's eyes held his, a soft yet destructive emotion swirling in those intense green eyes.

"For not being in school for days, for not telling you that I wouldn't be here" She said, her voice lowering even more.

Hayden felt something go off in him, that constricting feeling in his heart that Raven somehow, always managed to make him feel.

"It's no problem, Raven" He said back to her, holding her gaze strongly, reassuringly.

Raven shook her head slightly, completely facing him now.

"I don't want you to think that I didn't care enough to let you know or see you as important enough to discuss with. The whole thing was unexpected and I had to leave town for a few days"

Relief and worry warred to take precedence in Hayden's heart.

Relief, because the taunting demon had finally gone silent, and the overwhelming insecurity he'd developed had lessened considerably.

Worry, because leaving town for that long wasn't something one would do that spontaneously, except something out of control had happened.

"Raven" He called, brown eyes drilling into emeralds in an intense clash of colours.

"Hmm?" She answered, fisting her hands at her side, before they would give into her mad urges and start to roam.

Raven could never put a lid on her feelings when she was around Hayden.

"Are you okay?" Hayden was never one to pry into issues that didn't concern him, he detested it in fact.

However, as he'd found out, whenever a certain dark-haired, green-eyed female was concerned, he never could keep the concern he felt to himself.

"Hmm" Raven hummed in the affirmative, smiling at him a little as she matched his gaze.

Hayden searched her face for signs that she was hiding something, he glanced at her hands and feet for any odd motions that spelled that she was uneasy, but came up with nothing.

Eventually, he smiled back at her, his gaze turning back to the book, "Alright".

Raven too, turned to face the table, reaching down for something.

" I got something for you" She said, grabbing Hayden's attention.

Something in him stirred at those words, Hayden wanted to say those words to her too.

He wanted to be able to get things for her, make her as happy as she'd made him.

He needed to.

Hayden tucked that resolve somewhere in him, to be visited later.

"What's that?" He asked, as Raven placed a little bag onto the table between them.

"Guess" She said playfully, greens twinkling as the fire of mischief lit up in her eyes.

"I'm really bad at guessing, Raven" Hayden said, laughing a little when she pouted at him disappointedly.

"Fine" She huffed, pulling out two small cups from the bag, "Ice cream".

Hayden was stunned.

" Are we allowed to eat in the library?" He whispered lowly, leaning towards her.

Raven just smiled before whispering back in the same fashion, " We're basically in a different section of the library.

The librarian never comes here" She said, assuringly.

Hayden looked hesitant, until Raven opened the lid, revealing pink and white cream.

There was a knowing look in Raven's eyes as she watched Hayden watch the cup.

"Okay" The brown-eyed boy relented, "maybe just a little taste".

Raven laughed at that, passing over one of the cups to him.

" I didn't know what flavour to get you so I went with my favourite strawberry, and a mix of vanilla. Cause, who doesn't like Vanilla?"

Hayden chuckled a little at Raven's excitement, seeing the absolute joy in her eyes as she popped the lid of hers open.

"Slow down there tiger" Hayden said laughing, as he spooned a bit of the ice cream into his mouth. The moan that left him next was non voluntary, an almost necessity.

"See who's talking" Raven scoffed, moaning as she too spooned some of the ice cream into her mouth.

"Lord, this is sooo good" She said, "Honestly, if you want my unconditional love, just get me some ice cream" She said, laughing as she spooned yet another creamy heaven.

Hayden had a look in his eyes as he said with a boldness he didn't know he had, "Point noted".

Raven paused mid-spoon, staring at him for a while. His statement could have been off handed quite alright, but Raven chose to hear the deeper, underlying meaning that corresponded with the heat in his gaze.

Hayden didn't know where this confidence came from, just that a whole lot of it filled him till the point that the chains that held his willpower crumpled into nothingness.

" You have something on your face" He said lowly, huskily.

Raven's hand went to wipe the sides of her lips, embarrassed from both the fact that she had Hayden point out the fact that she couldn't control her ice cream craving and the heated, burning gaze he regarded her with.

Hayden dipped his spoon into the cup, gathering a bit of ice cream on.

With that same smouldering gaze he leaned in, rubbing the spoon against the sides of Ravens lips, close enough so the pink of her lips just about made an appearance through the white cream.

His voice was even deeper when he repeated, "You have something on your face, Raven"

"Oh, good Lord" Raven gasped, feeling the sporadic beat of her heart, the increasing fluidity of the blood that ran to her veins, the heat that creeped along the sides of her neck, heating up her face.

Hayden smiled a little, whites peaking behind a predatory smile that was nothing like the Hayden she knew.

No, this Hayden was different. He had a different aura about him. Where his charm had been innocent and shy, this Hayden was bold and possessed a seductive charm.

Raven watched in awe as his hands reached for her face, goosebumps erupting over her skin.

Raven shivered, every nerve in her body standing on end.

If it had been hard for Raven to keep her hands to herself around Hayden before, it was near impossible now.

She had to grip the table to physically stop herself, her breath getting lost somewhere in her lungs as Hayden's finger wiped off the cream on her lips, slowly, as if to savour the feel of her lips.

Raven inhaled a shaky breath, her grip on the table faltering.

"H-hayden" She gasped, her gaze locking on his.

He still had that smile retained on his face as his hands travelled to her ears, tracing the lines on her ears, fingers licking behind her ear as he tucked a dark strand away.

Raven's hand suddenly snapped up as her breath seized, her palms on Hayden's.

She didn't make any move to remove his hands, just marely touching his as he guided their hands from her ears, his thumb caressing the skin of her reddening cheeks, travelling down the slope of her nose.

Hayden's smirk faltered when he felt Raven's breath on his fingers, his eyes flickering between eyes of innocence and seduction.

"I've removed it" Hayden said, clearing his throat.

He pulled his hands away from Raven, going to open the cover of the book Raven had given him.

Raven sat down, confused.

She turned to look at him bewildered.

How was he sitting there, reading, and looking as cool as a cucumber when she felt like she'd just been pulled out of a furnace.

Did he have some kind of split personality disorder?

The Hayden she knew was the one that caused butterflies to flutter in her, her heart to constrict and evoked a child-like giddiness in her; this Hayden however, was a totally different one.

He caused bats to flap their wings in her stomach, her heart rate to spike up and there was nothing child-like about what he caused in her.

No, she felt parts of her self awaken, parts she had no ideas ever wanting to know.

This Hayden was very different.

In fact, the only thing common to the two sides of him was how crazy the both of them drove her.

As Raven was at her wits end, looking confused, Hayden had a small smile playing on his lips.

An almost devilish one that loved to see how disoriented he could bring this female that caused his feelings to riot.

A fire burned in him, and he wanted to know how much more crazy he could drive her.

However, he kept his unfiltered desires inside, knowing that despite how much he craved the female, her attention, her sounds, the feel of her pulse against his palms, and her existence in general, he still had to wait.

Once the beast was quelled, the innocent, lopsided smile was back on Hayden's face to replace the devilish smirk.

His features were back to normal as he stared at Raven confused, "Are you okay?"

Raven wanted to scream.

After all he'd done, he still had the nerve to look so innocent,......so incapable of anything wrong.

"I'm fine" She finally answered, miffed as she opened up her book.

*

QUESTION: Do you think Hayden's innocence is a facade, or any other theories?

********

16/11/2020

~Ameenah