Page 191 of The Compass Series

AIDEN

Lose your V card.

T hat went over well… again, and again, and again. Still, even though Hailee and I were doing well together, I worried about her.

Since everything went down with the tabloids over the past few weeks, she’d been saying she was fine, but I had a hard time believing her.

My overprotective nature with Hailee was surreal.

Whenever I had to leave town for work, I felt as if I was leaving her to be an open target for the jerks at school.

She seemed to be taking it the best she possibly could, though.

Each day, it seemed that we were falling more and more into one another.

We had routines that we did together. Since I was getting in shape for an upcoming role opportunity, I was in the gym each morning, and Hailee started joining me each day.

She’d look good as hell working out, and half the time, I wasn’t hitting my goals because I was too focused on her hitting her own.

For the most part, we fell into our relationship with nothing but ease. The only drama that seemed to come toward us was from others who had no business being involved in our business. People didn’t stop bullying Hailee, though. She told me it didn’t bother her, but I could tell it did.

I became hyper-focused on her and everything she did.

Every day during lunch, she’d make small comments about counting calories or how wild it was that something had so many grams of carbohydrates in it.

After lunch each day, I’d walk her to her next class, but I noticed after leaving her, she’d go around the corner to the bathroom instead of going into her class.

At the gym, she pushed herself too hard to the point of concern.

“We should get going so we can get ready for school,” I told her one morning. We both were dripping in sweat, and I was beyond exhausted. Hailee went ten times harder than I had that morning.

“Let’s get in a fast run on the treadmill before we head out.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “After leg day? No way.”

“Come on, don’t be a wimp. Ten minutes tops,” she said, breathing heavily as she held the side of the treadmill.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Hailee, let’s go.”

She hopped onto the treadmill and waved me off. “It’s fine. You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you on the way home. I’ll…” She paused and gripped the sides of the treadmill. She placed her head down and took a few breaths.

I rushed to her side. “You’re seconds away from passing out. Did you eat this morning?”

“Yeah, I did. Big breakfast. I just feel a bit faint.”

I hopped on the treadmill in front of her and took her hands into mine. “Time to sit down for a minute.”

“But the run?—”

“Hailee. Sit.”

She sat down on the treadmill. I grabbed her water and handed it over to her. “You’ve been working out a lot more lately. Are you sure you’re eating enough?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”

I wanted to believe her, but I struggled to do so. As an actor, part of my job was studying characters. Understanding how they moved, how they interacted, how they existed, and how they lived.

Something was off with Hailee, and that terrified me because after I collected all the pieces, I knew exactly what I had to do.

Each year, our families celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together.

We went back and forth between the houses.

My family oversaw the main meal, and the Joneses handled dessert and cocktails.

When Thanksgiving came, my eyes were glued on Hailee.

She hadn’t been eating a lot. If anything, she’d become a professional at pushing food around on her plate.

She also wouldn’t use the bathroom at my parents’ house.

She’d go over to her private bathroom attached to her bedroom, then she’d come back.

It was suspicious as fuck, and she went every single time we ate anything throughout the day.

So after dinner, I made the choice to follow her.

I snuck into her bedroom window without her knowing and listened to her from outside the bathroom. My chest ached as I stood and listened to her throwing up. She washed her hands, and when she came out of the bathroom, she was wiping at her mouth, and she gasped when she saw me.

“Aiden, what are you doing?”

“What are you doing, Hails?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Using the bathroom?”

“Hailee.”

“What?” She laughed nervously. “You’re acting weird.”

“I heard you.”

“You heard what?”

“You in the bathroom.”

She pushed past me and shook her head. “You’re being super weird. Let’s just go back to our parents’ and?—”

“Are you forcing yourself to throw up?” I blurted out.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you?—”

“I heard you the first time, Aiden!” she snapped at me. She snapped. Hailee never snapped at me. She grew irritated from time to time, but she never yelled. “Listen, I’m not going to sit here and have you lecture me. Okay? I’m fine.”

“Hails…”

“No,” she ordered, holding a hand up to me. Her eyes glassed over. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to look at me like I’m broken.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. I see it. But you don’t understand.

I’m down sixteen pounds, Aiden. I’m losing weight.

And it’s going to be fine, and people aren’t going to say things about me in articles, and you won’t have to be embarrassed to be seen with me.

I was eating too much before, anyway. This is working for me.

I know it is. It’s fine, and I’ll stop once I get to my goal weight.

Everything’s fine. This is just temporary. ”

It was as if she reached into my chest and ripped my heart out. The panic and fears were pouring out of her as she spoke, and I knew it was my fault. I knew if it wasn’t for me and my stupid career, Hailee would’ve never had to doubt herself in the way she was doubting.

“We can get you help, Hails. To do this in a healthy way, but this isn’t it. Your parents can?—”

“You can’t tell anyone. I swear to God, Aiden, if you tell anyone, I will never speak to you again. I have this under control.”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “You don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be doing something like this. I can’t keep this from them. Not if it’s hurting you.”

“It’s not! It’s helping me. Don’t you see? I’m happier now,” she said as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m getting skinnier.”

“That shit doesn’t matter, Hailee. You were perfect the way you were. Your weight doesn’t define you.”

“Tell that to the internet!” she cried, tears falling faster and faster.

Before I could reply, I heard the front door of her house open as our parents walked in. “Dessert time!” Dad shouted. “Karl, I hope you’re making me an old-fashioned to go with dessert.”

“You got it,” Karl replied.

Hailee quickly wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. She looked at me and grabbed my arm. “Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone, okay? Promise me not as my boyfriend but as my best friend.”

“Only if you swear you’ll stop.”

“I swear.”

Her bottom lip twitched.

She was lying.

I hated that she felt as if she had to lie to me. I hated that she was struggling. I hated that she was dealing with demons I’d help place in her mind. I also hated that I had to break her heart by telling her parents.

“I’m sorry, Hailee,” I muttered before leaving her bedroom.

“No, no!” she shouted, chasing after me.

I hurried to the kitchen where Karl and Penny were preparing dessert, and I called out to them. “Karl, Penny, there’s something you need to know.”

“He’s lying!” Hailee stuttered as she reached the room. “He’s lying!”

“Wait, wait, wait, what’s going on?” Karl asked.

“Aiden, don’t,” Hailee begged.

I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want her to be pissed at me. But even more so, I didn’t want to lose her. And with what she was doing, there was a chance I could lose my best friend. My person. My Jerry.

I turned to her parents and said, “Hailee’s been throwing up after all her meals.”

“Aiden,” she pleaded, but I continued.

“I’ve been watching her closely, and I noticed something was off for a while now, but I wasn’t sure until tonight. Well, I caught her in the act. I just thought that was something you should know.”

Penny’s eyes shot to her daughter. “Is this true, Hailee?”

“I, it, I-I-I’m, it’s fine,” she stuttered over her words as the tears fell from her eyes. She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Her parents rushed to her and caught her as she began to fall apart.

My parents walked over to me and told me to come home with them, to give the Joneses time with their daughter.

I felt sick to my stomach as I sat in my bedroom after everything went down. Mom came into my room after a while and sat on my bed beside me. “What you did today for Hailee took a lot of courage. You did the right thing by telling her parents.”

“Then why do I feel so awful?”

“Because sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing.” She kissed my forehead. “Hailee will be okay, and you both will be okay together. Just give it time.”

“She’s going to hate me.”

“No. She’ll be upset, but that’s expected. I know for certain she could never hate you, though.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re you, Aiden. Because you’re you.”

Hailee texted me after Thanksgiving telling me she was pissed at me but still loved me.

I was almost certain she’d made a pros and cons list of never talking to me again, so I considered that a win. I could deal with her being mad at me. I couldn’t handle her not loving me anymore.

After Thanksgiving, she’d missed a few days of school as her parents worked to help her.

Each day at school when I walked by Cara, she’d give me a smug expression. As if she was proud of what she’d done. All because I didn’t want to date her. All because I chose Hailee over her and her egotistical ways. All because I said no.

Imagine being so bitter and sad with yourself that you felt compelled to ruin someone else’s life.

I didn’t even understand why people cared what others looked like, big or small, tall or short, but they did.

It was as if they tried to make themselves feel better about their sad, pathetic lives by belittling others.

Because if others felt unworthy, then maybe their sad existence would’ve felt more fulfilling to them.

It was ass backward, and it took everything in me not to cuss Cara out for her tactics, but I knew that would only make things worse for Hailee.

Plus, my mother told me never to get into big altercations with women.

Even though I hated Cara, I wouldn’t disrespect her.

My mother taught me better than to ever disrespect a woman.

But when a guy had the nerve to say something slick about Hailee?

Well, the gloves came off in those situations.

“Another fight?” Dad asked as I walked into the living room after school. Some asshole was going on about how Hailee would’ve been hot if she’d developed an eating disorder, so I rearranged his jaw. It seemed fitting. My fist was still red from the interaction.

Mom sat on the couch, looking extremely disappointed. That made me feel bad, but I couldn’t muscle up the ability to feel guilty for what I’d done.

“Did you know that this time people got the fight on camera? And that it’s trending on social media?

” Dad questioned. I could see the anger rising more and more in his eyes.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Hailee was still at her therapy appointment, so she probably hadn’t heard about the fight.

I was already thinking about ways to keep her from hearing about it.

Her parents had her remove all social media from her phone in order to avoid seeing any negative comments, so I knew I was safe from that. She didn’t have to know I was defending her honor. It would’ve pissed her off.

“Aiden, are you listening to me?” Dad barked. “Or have you completely lost your mind?”

“I hear you. But he called Hailee?—”

“Hailee,” he said back. “Hailee this, Hailee that. Have you realized how obsessed you’ve become with her? I get she’s been going through a hard time, but it’s not your battle to fight.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It is my fight, Dad. If someone hurts Hailee, they have to deal with me.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“So you’d let someone talk about Mom that way?” I challenged.

His brows lowered as he crossed his arms. “Excuse me?”

“I’m asking if you’d let people talk about Mom that way. Because she told me, you used to get into fights all the time to defend her honor.”

“She told you that?” Dad looked toward Mom. “You told him that?”

“It’s the truth.” Mom shrugged. “And you still haven’t answered his question.”

She seemed oddly calm, even bored with the conversation. She and Dad had been fighting more and more lately. Sometimes I was surprised they were in the same room with one another based on how much they argued.

“I didn’t answer because it’s a stupid question. You’re my wife. Hailee has been your girlfriend for what? Two minutes.”

“She’s been my best friend for seventeen years. I think that trumps your two minutes.”

“Since when did you start doing this backtalk, huh? And since when do you not tell me about the roles you’ve been offered?”

I paused.

Dad cocked an eyebrow. “That’s right. I know.” He gestured toward me. “He got the leading role in the big Spielberg movie. They offered it to him before the holiday. I heard about it from his agent today.”

Mom’s eyes widened. “You got the role?”

“I was going to turn it down,” I explained.

“The hell you are. I already booked our tickets to Los Angeles for the meetings.”

The palms of my hands were sweaty as my anxiety built more and more. “I’m not going. Hailee needs me right now.”

“Baby…” Mom started, but I shook my head.

I stood. “Do whatever you want. Lock my window. Ground me. Tell me how much of a fuckup I am, but I’m not taking that role. I don’t care about it. I don’t care about any of that crap. I’m not leaving her.”

There was no way in hell I was getting on a plane when Hailee needed me more.