For Whatever May Come

Twenty Fifth Chapter

Sunday 12th April
18:35pm
Johnson/Collins household

Hayden was unable to focus throughout his entire shift at work. His worries about Bridgette overwhelmed his fear about losing his job, and no matter how hard he tried, he found himself unable to concentrate. Even after being taken to his boss' office and lectured about how unprofessional being lost in his thoughts was, he couldn't force himself to concentrate, which lead to a complaint being made about him.

Hayden shook his head at the memory and slammed the door behind him.

Almost as soon as the door shut, Josh emerged from his office with an annoyed look.

Hayden rolled his eyes and sighed as he noticed his dad.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Josh ordered loudly as Hayden tried to escape to the safety of his room and, potentially, Bridgette's arms.

Hayden closed his eyes for a second before he slowly walked back down the stairs and stood in front of his father with the twins watching from the ajar living room door.

"Did you really have to slam the door?" Josh asked.

"Do you really have to get mad at me for closing the door a little too hard?" Hayden sassed.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just asking if you really had to close the door that hard? I am about ten minutes away from a meeting and I really don't want my coworkers to hear my teenage son slamming a door," Josh explained.

"Oh, right... Because you can't have the people who really don't care about your family life know that you don't have perfect children or a soundproof room," Hayden responded with an eye roll. "Look, as much as I love talking to you, can I go now? I have a date to go on." Hayden didn't wait for a response before he walked up the stairs again.

"Get here now!" Josh raised his voice.

"What? Look, I'm not in the mood to talk about why I did it, okay? Can you please just let it go? I'm sorry, alright?!" Hayden snapped as he turned around, still standing on the stairs.

"Hayden, come here." Josh pointed right in front of him.

Hayden went to take another step forward. But after a moment, he turned around and stood where Josh was pointing to.

"You've had a bad day, I get that. So I'm not going to lecture you and give you the benefit of the doubt and say it was an accident. But I don't appreciate the sass or disrespect," Josh said.

"Are you going to punish me or not?" Hayden asked after a tense silence came upon them.

"I'm not being late for a meeting because I had to deal with you; but I'm not going to make any promises for when you come home. So I want you to come and see me as soon as you get home and I'll decide then," Josh said. He glanced at Hayden once more and he glanced at his watch before he started to make his way towards his office.

"What if you're asleep by the time we get home?" Hayden said.

Josh paused and turned to face his child.

"I don't see why you would be home that late. Considering your curfew is eleven and Oliva and I go to bed around half eleven. So unless you're planning on breaking curfew, which will definitely earn you a punishment, I won't be asleep. But be quiet when you get back. I don't want you to wake anyone up," Josh warned before he went back to his office.

Hayden huffed and walked straight to his room. With Bridgette not there, Hayden quickly changed into a three-piece suit and a button-up shirt before grabbing a bag and packing it with some things. After that, he left to find his date.