Days of our Haiden

Season 2 Episode 2: Makin' Plans

Hope knocked on Ciara's bedroom door that night. It was after dinner, and Ciara was in her room doing her homework. Hope figured it would be the perfect time to talk to her about Aiden moving in with them.

"Come in," Ciara called out.

Hope came in and shut the door behind her.

Ciara looked up from her desk. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Hope began. "I know you're doing your homework, but…"

Ciara shut her book. "I welcome the break! Whomever thought up Algebra is psycho. Now I'm on Algebra 2. It's a sick, sick world, Mom, when someone creates such a torture device for teenagers to learn."

Hope laughed. "Oh stop!" She turned serious then. "I wanted to talk to you about something. It involves Aiden.

Ciara's face paled, and her eyes got wide. "He didn't ask you to marry him already, did he?"

"What? Did he say something to you?" Hope asked, instantly feeling a bit of butterflies in her stomach. She sat down at the end of Ciara's bed.

"No. I just thought that maybe that's what you wanted to talk about. Wait. It's true. Isn't it? He proposed." Ciara looked a little ill.

Hope shook her head. "No! We just got back together two months ago Ciara. My goodness!"

Ciara shrugged. "Well, you're so madly in love with him. It wouldn't surprise me."

Hope sighed. "I was just going to ask how you would feel about him moving in with us."

Ciara raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"Well, his community service is just about over and his lease is soon up. He thought it would be nice to move closer to me," Hope explained.

Ciara snorted. "I bet! You know moving in together after only two months of being back together isn't much better than getting married."

Hope shot her a look. "It's far less serious than marriage and you know it! Anyways, I've been at his place so often we were practically living together anyway." She sighed, and looked her daughter in the eyes. "Ciara, you promised you'd try to accept him back into our lives."

"I have, haven't I?" Ciara asked, her voice raised. She lowered her voice. "It's just going to take me a while longer after what he did. Surely you can understand that."

"If I can forgive him, can't you?" Hope asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm trying," Ciara replied. "Look. If this is what you really want, then go for it. I've been thinking about moving out anyway."

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me?"

Ciara nodded. "I want some extra cash for my senior year, and I've been babysitting Tommy a lot lately. Chad and Abby could really use a nanny so they offered me the guest house rent free for being a live-in nanny."

Hope opened her mouth to complain, but Ciara cut her off.

"Before you say anything, Abby and Chad already insisted that I stay in school, and have all my homework and studying done before I even think about helping out with Tommy. Abby works during the day, but Chad will be home while I'm in school. In the evening, after I've done all my homework and studying, is when I will take care of Tommy," Ciara explained.

"It's too much work. I know school is almost out for this year, but your senior year you're going to be busier than ever. You'll be too overwhelmed managing school and taking care of a two-year-old," Hope reasoned.

"I can handle it, Mom. Trust me. If at any time I feel like I can't handle it, then I promise to quit and move back home. I just want to get the experience of living away from home. I know I'll get that experience in college, but I want to be prepared for it so that I don't freak out once I get to college. You know?" Ciara asked.

Hope thought about it for a moment. She sighed. "I don't trust Chad too much, but I do trust Abigail. I know she wouldn't do anything to put your well-being at risk."

Ciara nodded. "Exactly!"

"When would you be moving?" Hope asked.

"I was thinking I'd move there this summer. So, early July; as soon as school's out," Ciara replied.

"Well, if this is what you really want…" Hope trailed off.

Ciara nodded. "It is. That way, we both can be happy. I get an income and can get used to living on my own, and you can play house with Aiden. I'm sure Chase will have no problem with that!"

Hope took Ciara's hand and looked at her with concern. "Baby, are you sure you're not moving out just to get away from Aiden? Because if you are, there's no need. I'll just tell him to keep his current apartment."

Ciara shook her head. "No. I've been wanting to do this since before you even brought up Aiden moving in. I promise."

Hope sighed. "All right. I'll let you get back to your Algebra 2 homework then."

"That's even worse than Aiden moving in!" Ciara joked.

Hope shook her head. "Very funny!" She smirked as she left Ciara's room, gently shutting the door behind her.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Lani had the day off and was putting her day to good use. She was at the mall shopping for her weekend with Rafe. If she was going to make him fall for her, she was going to need the ammunition to do so.

The first place she decided to go was of course the most important stop—Bedroom Bliss. She planned on spending most of the weekend with Rafe in bed. They'd go to the music festival and of course out to eat, but other than that she planned on keeping him in bed as long as possible. Sure he was having some reservations about dating her, but as soon as he saw her in her lingerie, she had no doubt he would change his mind and be putty in her hands.

She felt sexiest in red, so she looked for anything red and grabbed it in her size. She planned on trying on everything she found so that she could see exactly how it would look on her body.

She found a hot one-piece that was completely see-thru. She found a two-piece with a zippered crotch on the bottoms and the bra top had straps that strapped across the stomach. There was a vinyl one-piece with a zipper all the way down the front that would allow the body suit to simply fall right off her if unzippered. Finally, she found a two-piece that had a very tiny red piece of material that was supposed to be underwear. The top was a big red bow that covered her breasts and only her breasts.

Into the dressing room she went, trying on each piece of lingerie and admiring herself from every angle. In the end, she couldn't decide which she looked sexier in, so she decided to buy them all.

After she purchased them, she left for the wine store in the mall. After all, if she couldn't get Rafe to say yes right away, she'd need a little help. While she was at it, a trip to the pharmacy wouldn't hurt matters either, she figured. There were some supplies she needed.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Social Studies class was over. The bell had just rung. However, their teacher Mrs. Mathis had just told them all to stay in their seats.

"A summer internship has come up that won't pay anything but will get you extra credit as well as look very good on your college applications if you take it," Mrs. Mathis began.

"For what?" Claire asked. Claire was a go-getter and always wanted to improve her grades even though they didn't need improving.

"As camp counselors at Camps Wanataga and Hakui in New Haven Connecticut. There is a new camping program associated with schools all over the world to place juniors and seniors into camp counselor positions at camps in need of counselors. It starts right after the 4th of July. You will spend one week learning the rules and how to be a counselor, as well as getting the camp ready for campers. Then, you will spend the following week being a counsellor. In exchange for helping out, you will get a ten percent boost to your average this year. It may not seem like a lot but trust me it is." Mrs. Mathis looked at Joey and Chase, then at some other students who weren't exactly known for their good grades. "Trust me. Some of you could use the extra credit. There are twelve spots open. You can pick which camp you'd prefer, but its first come first serve. The camps are literally only a canoe trip across the pond away, so it doesn't make much difference which camp you are assigned to. Those are the two camps our class happened to be assigned to and they are both very nice camps I've heard. Sign-up sheet is on my desk. You are dismissed."

Claire went straight to the sign-up sheet and signed up for Camp Wanataga.

"If my girl's singing up, then so will I," Chase said, signing his name under hers.

She smiled at him. "That's so sweet!"

"I can't spend two weeks without my girl!" Chase said to her.

Claire pushed some hair behind her ears and smiled, her cheeks tinted pink.

"Ciara, why don't we sign up? I don't really need the extra credit, but I'd love to help out kids!" Theo said.

"I was going to help out Chad this summer, but I suppose I could postpone that for two weeks if this is what you really want. I didn't tell him yes yet anyway," Ciara replied.

"Do this with me. Please?" Theo begged.

Ciara smiled at him. "You know I can never say no to you."

Theo grinned, and they signed up together underneath Claire and Chase's names.

"Well, gosh it sounds like fun! I could use the time away," Jonah said signing up under Theo's name.

"Well, clearly I could use the extra credit, and there might be some hot counselors at the neighboring camp. Plus, I'm not spending the summer alone. I'll do it." Joey signed up after Jonah, completing the councilor list for Camp Wanataga.

"What about Jade?" Claire asked.

"Eh. We broke up," Joey said. "She was too clingy."

Claire rolled her eyes. Joey dated more girls than times he changed his underwear. He always had a lame excuse as to why things ended.

"This is going to be a fun two weeks!" Theo said.

His friends all grinned.

"I think it will!" Ciara agreed, draping an arm around his shoulder. "I can feel it!"

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope knocked on Aiden's door.

Aiden opened it up and smiled big when he saw her. "I missed you."

Hope pulled him close. "You just saw me during lunch."

"But that was over five hours ago," Aiden reasoned, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Good point," Hope murmured.

They kissed in the doorway a moment until Aiden's elderly female neighbor across the way cleared her throat. "Get a room."

"Sorry. Mrs. Campbell," Aiden said to her.

Mrs. Campbell grunted, then headed into her apartment, shutting the door behind her.

Hope grinned. "Charming old lady."

Aiden rolled his eyes. She just moved in last month. The old bat belongs in a retirement home; not here. I don't know where her husband is. He probably died just to get away from her."

Hope laughed, and playfully swatted his chest. "Stop that! Just because she is a mean old woman doesn't mean you have to act just as mean."

"So let's do something that makes me much nicer then…" Aiden murmured gently rubbing up against her.

Hope smirked. "Not until I get some food in my stomach. Ciara and Chase are out with their friends for dinner, so I figured I'd eat with you. You didn't eat dinner yet, did you?"

Aiden shook his head. "I was waiting for you."

Hope took his hand. "Where would you like to go?"

"We can go to the Denny's that's just down the street. It's not fancy, but it's close. And the sooner we have dinner…" Aiden trailed off and pulled her closer, taking her face between his hands. "The sooner we can come back home for dessert…" He began kissing down the side of her neck as his right hand started to make its way underneath her shirt.

Hope smirked, and grabbed his wrist. "Down boy. We wouldn't want Mrs. Campbell to come back out and get an eyeful."

Aiden shrugged as he shut and locked the door. "Why not? It's probably the only action she'll ever get to see the rest of her miserable life."

Hope laughed, and gently shoved him before latching her arm with his. "You're so bad!"

"Wait until we get back home and I'll show you just how bad," Aiden teased in a tone that told Hope exactly what he meant.

Hope blushed, but smiled as she pushed some hair behind her ears.

~*This love came back to me.*~

"Where are you going?"

Jonah winced as he was stopped by his father on the way out the door. "I'm going out to dinner with friends, Dad."

"Your mother cooked a nice meal here. What's wrong with her cooking?" Frank Caldwell crossed his arms over his chest.

Jonah sighed. "There's nothing wrong with Mom's cooking. I just want to hang out with my friends is all."

Frank sighed. He then pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to Jonah. "Give me back the change. Next time, tell your mother you're going out before she goes to all the trouble of making a nice meal for us."

"Thanks, Dad. I will. I promise." Jonah then left the house before his mother could find out what was going on and stop him from leaving. He loved his mother, he did. But she always wanted the family to eat healthy foods that he hated. She didn't any make sense. She bought him clothing two sizes too small insisting that he wasn't fat, yet at the same time she wanted him to eat 100% healthy so that he would lose weight. He guessed she was embarrassed by his weight. He wasn't embarrassed by his weight. After all, he'd seen people much bigger than him. Everyone seemed to have the problem with his weight except for himself and his friends. That is why he liked hanging out with them so much. Being with them was the only time he didn't feel judged.

Jonah shoved the twenty in his pocket and got on his bicycle. His dad wasn't so bad. He was a little more lenient on him like he was tonight. However, if his mom was around, his father would always back his wife up no matter how unreasonable she was being.

Jonah took off on is bike, eager to meet his friends and forget about his overbearing parents.

~*This love came back to me*~

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," Hope said as they waited for their food.

"A good something or a bad something?" Aiden asked.

"A good something. At least, I hope you think so," Hope replied.

Aiden's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Hope, are you pregnant?"

Hope scrunched her eyebrows together. "What? No! Oh my gosh, between you and Ciara, you're both really bad guessers."

"Then what is it?" Aiden asked.

Hope took out a small box and handed it to Aiden. "Open it."

Aiden looked at the box suspiciously as if it were going to explode. He then slowly took the lid off. He looked up at her in surprise. "A key?"

Hope smiled and nodded. "To my house. I was wondering, since your community service is almost over, your lease will soon be up, and Mrs. Campbell isn't exactly the nicest neighbor to have… Aiden, we're together all the time anyway. I want you to move in with me. I love you, and I want to see you first thing before bed and first thing when I wake up. I hope you feel the same."

Aiden smiled at her, turning the key around with his fingers. "I do, Baby. You have no idea how much I want that too."

Hope grinned brightly. "So yes then? You'll move in with me? This is going to be so much fun! I'm going to love lying in your arms every night until I fall asleep and waking up to being in your arms. I'm gonna love being able to kiss you first thing in the morning, and—"

Aiden cut Hope off. "Hope! Stop. You didn't let me finish. I really want to move in with you. You have no idea how much I want to, but I can't. I just can't."

Hope's face fell.

"I'm sorry," Aiden said quietly, "but you and I both know it's best that I don't do that."

Hope looked at him in confusion, wondering if maybe she thought their relationship was more serious than he did.