I arrive at Halden's house fifteen minutes later.

His house is not just a house. It's a goddamn mansion. It's way bigger than mine.

Before I can pull up in the driveway, I have to go through the gate.  I press the call button since I don't know the password to open the gate.

"Hello?" A woman answers in a monotone voice.

"Hi, I'm here to see Halden."

"Name?"

"Aaliyah Crossley."

"One moment please."

I wait for about a minute and then she comes back.

"You can go in." She says.

The gate begins to open and I drive through it, heading up to the house. 

They have five garages and I decide to just park in front of the first one. I grab my bag and get out of the car, locking my doors. Then I head to the front door.

I ring the doorbell and then a woman opens the door.

"You must Aaliyah. Come in," the woman says.

She opens the door wider and I step inside.

I'm immediately amazed at the inside of the house. The foyer has a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor is white marble, with beautiful paintings on the wall, and unique sculptures on stands.

"My name is Jeannette Reeves. I am the housekeeper. Mr. Anderson has been expecting you. He's up in his room."

"Okay, Thanks." I walk towards the stairs but then I stop and turn around.

"What floor and hall?"

"Second floor, go straight down the hall, and it will be the first door on the left."

"Thank you."

I head up the stairs and when reaching the top, I go down the hall. I see the first door on the left and knock.

"Come in," Halden says. I open the door and walk inside.

His room is huge like I expected it to be. His walls are grey and the floor is black. The bed sits in the middle, against the wall. It's also grey too. His desk is on the left side, facing the wall. A computer sits on top of it and a shelf.
A huge flat screen tv sits on the wall, with two beanbag chairs in front, and a black sofa on the right.

Halden is sitting at his desk on his laptop. He hasn't noticed me yet so I clear my throat to get his attention.

He looks up and looks at me. "Oh hey, you're here."

"Yeah, I'm here."

"You can sit anywhere you like."

I look around the room and decide to sit on the sofa. I sit down and take my laptop out of my bag.

I wait for it to load up.  "So I think we should do Julius Cesar." He says.

"Oh, I was thinking Macbeth."

"Macbeth? Why?"

"It's a really good play and one of the best."

"So is Julius Cesar."

"Well, then how are we gonna agree on which play?"

"Hmm... Rock Paper Scissors?"

"Sure."

I get my hands ready and on three we go. He does scissors and I do rock. Since rock beats scissors, I win.

"Damn."

"Looks like we're doing Macbeth," I smirk.

He groans and says, "fine."

"I think we should do it on a google doc."

He nods his head in agreement.

"I'll share it with you."

"Okay. I'm a find the play and start reading it."

I pull up google docs and create a new document. I name it Macbeth so I will know what it is.

"Hey what's your email?"

"It's [email protected]."

I roll my eyes. "Of course it is."

"What?" He looks at me.

"Who names their email Hotboy227."

"Me." He shrugs.

"Why?"

"Because I'm hot. Duh."

I roll my eyes again and type in his email to share the document. Then I click send.

"I sent the document."

"I got it."

I find the play online and start reading it. I also take some notes while reading because it's a long play.

I hear Halden sigh. "This is boring."

"You think this is fun for me? Hello no but I'm not trying to fail this class."

"It could've been more fun if you were doing all the work."

"How is that more fun for me?" I narrow my eyes.

"You would've got paid for it."

"Like I said before. I'm not your maid."

"I never said you were."

"Well, I'm still not gonna do it for you. Thanks but no thanks."

"Fine then. Suit yourself."

I ignore him and go back to reading the script. We work silently on our project and only talk to each other if it's about our work.

*********

"I'm tired of working, aren't you?"

"Yup. We've been working for a while now. It's time we stop and take a break." The document saves automatically so I just close my laptop.

"Yeah, it's 6:45."

"6:45? Damn, we've been working for two hours."

"Time flies. I'm gonna go get a snack, want something?"

"Sure." I get up and follow him out of the room. We go downstairs to the kitchen.

We enter the kitchen and a woman is standing at the stove chopping vegetables while cooking something in the pots.

Whatever she's cooking smells really good.

She looks up from chopping and smiles. "Hi Honey."

"Hey, mom," Halden says.

Mom? That's his mom?

She then notices I'm there. "Halden, how many times have I  told you to stop bringing your women over here on a school night?"

"Oh, mom she's not one of those women. We're working on a project together for English."

Her eyes widen in realization. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

"It's okay." I smile.

I now just realize how much Halden looks like his mom. She has that dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. The only difference is the height. While Halden is tall, his mom is kinda short.

"What's your name?"

"Aaliyah."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Mrs. Crossley."

"Call me Helen. Mrs. Crossley makes me feel old," she chuckles.

"Okay, Helen." I smile.

"Halden Jake Anderson." She shouts.

Halden turns around, eyes widen, holding a bag of hot fries.

"Put those chips back." She points to the cabinet.

"But mom, I'm hungry." He pouts.

"Well, we're about to eat dinner so I don't want to spoil your appetite."

"What are we having."

"Roasted Vegetable pasta."

"Damn they sound good." He smirks.

"Hey, language." She warns.

"Sorry, ma."

"Go get your sister, it's time for dinner."

"Okay."  Halden leaves the kitchen.

"Aaliyah do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Uhh yeah sure."

"Okay, just let your parents know."

"I will."  I take out my phone to text my parents and then my brother.

To Mom: I'm staying at a friend's house for dinner.

I don't immediately get a response back so she's probably busy.

To Alden: I'm staying at Emily's house for dinner. Her mom asked if I could stay and I said yes.

Alden: ok

Halden walks back into the kitchen carrying a little girl. She's giggling and he's smiling.

Since when does Halden smile? I have never seen him smile.

"Hi, mommy." The little girl smiles.

"Hi, sweetie. I know you're hungry."

"Very hungry." She nods.

"Halden, can you get the plates for me?"

"Sure mom." He sits his sister down on the floor and gets the plates out of the cabinet.

"Get four because Aaliyah is staying with us for dinner."

"She's what?"

"She's staying here for dinner."

"Why?"

Helen rolls her eyes. "Don't be rude because I asked her too."

"You didn't ask me."

"Since when was this your house because I don't remember you paying the bills?" She raises an eyebrow.

Halden gets quiet. "That's what I thought," Helen says.

The little girl then looks up at me for the first time and tilts her head to the side.

"Who are you?" She asks.

"I'm Aaliyah, what's your name?" I bend down to her height.

"Willow." she smiles.

"Nice to meet you Willow. How old are you?

"I'm six." She holds up six fingers.

"Aww, you are so adorable."

She smiles shyly and says, "thank you."

"Here's your plate willow. Please don't drop it."

"Oh, I can get it for her."

"Thank you, Aaliyah." She hands me Willow's plate.

"Take it in there." Halden points to the room right across the kitchen.

I take the plate in the room which is the dining room and sit it down. I help Willow into her chair and then I go back to the kitchen.

I fix my plate and then go sit down. Halden then joins and lastly Helen.

"Mommy is daddy gonna eat with us?" Willow ask.

"No sweetie. Your daddy will be working late tonight." She smiles.

Halden snorts. "Isn't he always," he mutters.

"Halden, don't start." She warns.

He rolls his eyes and doesn't say anything else.
We then dig into our food, which is good.

"This is good."

"Yeah, it is mom."

"I love it," Willow says smiling with sauce all over her mouth.

It makes us all laugh. "Thank you, guys."

"Anytime mom." Halden smiles at her.

I can tell he loves his mom and sister. I wonder why he's so cold-hearted around other people.

********

A/N:

I know it's been a while but I finally updated. Took me a while to finish this chapter but it's done.

What do you guys think of Halden's mom?

Also isn't Willow the cutest?😊☺️

Hope you guys like this chapter.

Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT, and SHARE this story.

Love you guys,

Kennedi444