Jaden Hossler

The house had been buzzing since morning, as if someone had turned on the evening several hours ahead of schedule.

The music grew louder, then faded again into the background of unfamiliar voices, slamming doors, laughter, footsteps on the stairs, and the endless movement of people who were always rushing somewhere in this house—even if they had nowhere to go. Someone’s phone was ringing, someone was looking for a charger, someone was arguing about lighting for a shoot, and someone had already opened a soda and left the can on the kitchen counter like it was part of the decor.

Jayden sat on the kitchen island, sprawled out as if he were the only one in the entire house who had the right to look relaxed. He lazily twirled a lighter between his fingers without lighting it. He was wearing a dark T-shirt, slightly wrinkled from sleep, a chain around his neck, several rings on his fingers, and the expression of someone who was already tired of everyone since morning—but for some reason still hadn’t left.

— Just don’t tell me you guys actually decided to turn this into a whole event, — he drawled, watching people dart around the kitchen with bags of decorations that clearly no one would clean up later.

— This is literally the event, — Josh replied from the other end of the room without even looking up from his phone. — New person in the house. New face. New views. New problems. Classic.

— You sound like someone’s manager right now, — Jayden snorted.

— And you sound like someone who’s still gonna be the first one down at the party if the music gets loud enough, — Bryce shot back as he walked past, already looking like he’d decided to annoy everyone until evening.

Jayden lifted his gaze to him and slowly smirked.

— No, I’ll come down first if you finally shut up. But that, as I understand it, is the less realistic scenario.

— Oh, he’s in a mood today, — Mads grinned as she walked into the kitchen and immediately blended into the general noise as if she were part of it. — Is it because we have guests? Or because you slept three hours again and decided sarcasm replaces coffee?

— Sarcasm works better than coffee, — Jayden replied, turning his head slightly toward her. — At least coffee doesn’t talk.

— Well, I talk, and you have to put up with it, — she shot back lightly, reaching for a glass.

He just scoffed—habitually, almost automatically. From the outside, it looked like just another round of their usual banter, of which there were far more between them than normal conversations between normal people. But Jayden still instinctively followed her movement with his eyes, then stared back at the kitchen counter as if it had suddenly become very interesting.

Ever since they announced in the morning that a new girl was officially moving into the house today, the place had completely lost any semblance of order. Not that it had ever really had any for long.

At first someone had mentioned it casually, like it was about food delivery. Then everyone picked it up. Twenty minutes later they were already discussing who would meet her, what to film, how to do the stories, whether to make a “cute introduction” or just let everything happen chaotically as usual. And half an hour after that, Bryce was already suggesting they turn a simple welcome into a mini-party because “if you’re gonna do it, do it right,” and for some reason no one was even surprised.

— One thing I’m curious about, — Jayden said, jumping off the stool and walking over to the fridge. — Why do you all act every time like we’re not getting a person, but a new season of a reality show?

— Because in some sense, that’s exactly what it is, — Nessa replied lazily from the couch in the living room, watching the general commotion with that calm expression that usually hid way too many observations. — It’s just that no one says it out loud honestly enough.

He smirked, opened the fridge, stared inside meaninglessly for a few seconds as if he were actually looking for answers, then grabbed an energy drink and slammed the door a little harder than necessary.

— Honesty in this house is a random guest at best, — he tossed over his shoulder.

— Don’t start, — said Josh. — You sound like you’re forty and you hate young people.

— I don’t hate young people. I hate this, — Jayden gestured around the house, where someone was already moving furniture, someone was arguing about the playlist, and someone was looking for normal glasses. — This collective psychosis every time a new person shows up.

— Aren’t you even a little curious? — Sabrina asked, standing by the stairs with a garland in her hands that, judging by her face, she was already regretting picking up. — Even a tiny bit?

He opened the can, took a sip, and only then answered:

— Curious is too mild a word.

Bryce immediately turned to him like a shark sensing movement in the water.

— Oh, so you are interested.

— I’m always interested when they bring someone new into the house, — Jayden said calmly, leaning his hip against the counter. — It’s either someone who’ll ghost in a week, or someone who’ll make this whole place go to shit. Sometimes both at once.

— You really know how to lift the mood, — Nessa remarked dryly.

— I don’t lift the mood. I make it more realistic.

Mads snorted, shaking her head, and stepped closer, clearly catching something in his tone that the others might have missed.

— You’re always so sweet when you’re nervous.

Jayden turned his head toward her slowly, with that smile of his where there was just enough amusement that no one could tell how real it was.

— Who said I’m nervous?

— I did, — she answered without missing a beat.

For a second he just looked at her, then smirked to himself and looked away.

— So you have false confidence in your rightness again.

— “Again,” — Bryce repeated. — Listen, can you two just say “Yes, we know each other too well” and spare us this Shakespearean kitchen spat?

— You first start talking like a person and not like a loud TikTok comment, — Jayden shot back.

— Jesus, — Josh muttered. — The new person hasn’t even walked in yet, and you’ve already started the pilot episode.

The house erupted in laughter again. Someone shouted from the stairs not to touch the speaker, and someone else shouted back that it was already too late.

Jayden took another sip and went quiet for a few seconds, his gaze sliding across the room. Over Mads, who was already arguing with Bryce about something pointless, over Josh, who was typing a message with the look of someone managing half the chaos around him purely out of habit, over Nessa, who as always looked like she heard and understood more than she said, over Sabrina, who was trying to make the party prep look at least somewhat civilized.

A noisy, lively, overly cramped world. People constantly bumping shoulders, glances, emotions, interest, irritation. People who quickly became habits to each other. Sometimes—problems.

He quietly clicked his tongue, as if reacting to something inside, and ran his hand through his hair.

New people actually got to him. Not in a good or bad way—just got to him. Any new person in a place like this was always like a stone thrown into water: looked like nothing, but the ripples spread through the whole house. Who would gravitate toward whom. Who would start playing to the audience harder. Who would get nervous. Who would want to be liked. Who would turn out too convenient. Who—the opposite.

And for some reason, what irritated him the most was never the person themselves, but the effect they had on everyone around them.

— Alright, — Josh said, clapping his hands as if he had suddenly decided to become the coordinator of his own party. — We need to decide two things. First: who meets her. Second: who makes sure Bryce doesn’t turn everything into a circus in the first ten minutes.

— Too late, — said Sabrina. — He’s already the circus. Just without the music for now.

— I, by the way, am the soul of this house, — Bryce protested.

— No, — Jayden replied. — You’re its chronic trauma.

This time even Bryce laughed.

— Listen, if you keep going at this rate, I’m gonna start thinking you were actually looking forward to this party.

— I was looking forward to watching all of you pretend to be normal.

— And of course you’re the most normal one here, — Nessa remarked.

— At least I don’t pretend to be safe, — he said lazily.

Mads threw him a quick glance—short but attentive.

— That’s actually true.

For a second something quiet and almost imperceptible to the others flickered between them, but Jayden immediately shifted, as if he didn’t like lingering in such moments for too long.

He walked into the living room, grabbed someone’s jacket from the chair and casually tossed it over the back of the couch to free up space. Then he leaned down to the speaker, switched the track to something with a heavier beat, and straightened up.

— Better, — he tossed out.

— Of course, because now you approved it, — Josh smirked.

— Yeah. That’s exactly how it works.

— You’re insufferable, — said Sabrina.

— But charismatic, — Bryce immediately added.

— And that’s already your personal humiliation, admitting it out loud, — said Jayden.

Mads laughed again, while Nessa barely shook her head, looking at him as if she had known this mode for a long time—when he became especially sociable, sarcastic, almost too alive. Usually in such moments he was either genuinely in the mood, or the opposite: too much was getting to him internally, and he simply wasn’t going to show it directly.

— Listen, — Josh drawled, perching on the arm of the chair. — Just don’t give us your signature cold stare from the corner of the room, okay? We’re not filming a drama about the bad guy.

— Speak for yourself, — said Jayden. — Maybe I am.

— You’re always filming something, — Bryce tossed out.

— Not everything needs to be posted, — he replied calmly, and for a second something more real and harder than all the previous jokes flashed in his voice.

Even Bryce didn’t immediately find anything to say at that brief sharp moment.

Nessa looked up from her phone and stared at Jayden a little more carefully.

He noticed it. Of course he noticed. And immediately grinned again, steering the conversation back to safer ground.

— Relax. I can be nice. Sometimes. On major holidays.

— Today is apparently a holiday, — said Sabrina.

— Then you’re all very lucky.

He dropped onto the back of the couch, balancing on it as if at any moment he might either fully join in or just get up and go upstairs without explanation. The hand with the can hung loosely downward, his gaze roaming the room—not nervously, but sharply, habitually. He listened to the conversations even when he pretended not to. He noted intonations, someone’s exchanged glances, the way the new girl’s name had already been said several times in different corners of the house with different shades of curiosity.

And for some reason it got to him more than he would have liked.

A new person in the house was always extra noise. New attention. A new center around which everyone would start moving a little differently, even if they didn’t realize it right away. And he saw those things too clearly to pretend it was just another fun introduction.

But if he was being completely honest, he wasn’t bored.

Quite the opposite.

He loved the moment before. When the person hadn’t even appeared in the room yet, but had already changed it simply by the fact of their imminent arrival. When everyone was already a bit more put-together, a bit louder, a bit more interested than usual. When you could watch and understand what each person was waiting for. Who wanted to be liked. Who wanted to show power. Who wanted to have fun. Who was already tense.

Jayden slowly ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek and smirked, looking somewhere toward the stairs.

— Just don’t turn this into too much sweet bullshit, — he said finally. — If someone starts yelling “welcome to the family” again like we’re a cult, I’m just climbing out the window.

— That’s a very specific threat, — Josh noted.

— Because I’ve already seen you do it, — Bryce snorted.

— And you still haven’t learned anything.

Mads, standing closer to the table, turned to him and narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly guessing his thoughts before he voiced them.

— And how exactly are you planning to behave then?

He looked at her for a couple of seconds, then smiled crookedly.

— As usual.

— So like an asshole? — Bryce clarified.

— Like a person with basic self-preservation instincts, — Jayden calmly corrected. — I’ll watch, I’ll listen, I’ll draw conclusions. That’s it.

Nessa quietly smirked.

— You always say “that’s it” like it never actually ends with just “that’s it.”

He shifted his gaze to her and tilted his head slightly.

— Maybe because it usually doesn’t.

It hung in the air for just a second, but noticeably enough.

Then something was dropped upstairs again, Bryce swore, Josh jumped up, Sabrina said “I don’t even want to know what you’re doing up there,” and Mads just shook her head as if the house had once again perfectly confirmed all the worst expectations.

Jayden laughed quietly, pushed off the back of the couch and stood up.

— Alright, — he said, adjusting the chain on his neck and surveying the room with the expression of someone who was both mocking what was happening and fully immersed in it. — Let’s at least pretend we know how to greet people like normal, socially adapted idiots.

— That was the kindest speech from you all day, — Josh noted.

— Don’t get used to it.

He took another step toward the kitchen, then stopped, looked around the house once more— all this noise, light, movement, laughter, preparation, the others’ excitement before the new face arrived—and smirked faintly to himself.

Interesting.

Very.

And that was already starting to annoy him.