Theo spent the entire night feeling like crap. He was the villain that night, everyone felt somewhat annoyed by him even if they didn’t say it out loud. He waited outside the arena for the whole concert thinking how things could’ve been different. If he didn’t put the envelope in Peyton’s bag, if he had kept it in his pocket, maybe it would still be there.
Peyton must have had something to do with it, but why? He couldn’t figure it out. That’s why he snapped at her when she was trying to persuade him to go inside.
What upset him the most was knowing how important that event was for Hazel and he fucked it up. How will he ever redeem himself from that? Especially when she already saw him as someone who has ignored her affections for years. It’s not true, he wanted to tell her that, but how?
Peyton gave him the silent treatment after the concert and told him she didn’t want him to sleep in the same room.
“I don’t know, Theo, maybe you can ask Hazel where you can sleep tonight?” she said in a condescending tone.
That’s when he realized she was jealous, even though he didn’t feel like he ever gave her the reason to be. Peyton was the jealous type, she was always suspicious of him it was exhausting at times. He had to convince her over and over again that he wasn’t seeing anyone else, he wasn’t looking at other girls, he wasn’t thinking of other girls. But this time, Peyton may be right, there’s someone else that’s been occupying his mind.
He waited in front of her room, he couldn’t stand to leave things the way it was that night. He had to make sure she wasn’t mad at him. What she thinks about him became more important now. Then he saw her came with Lee, she looked happy, and it made him feel worse.
The kiss wasn’t planned. He didn’t know what that would lead to, he wasn’t thinking clearly. He just wanted to kiss her and made things better, it didn’t.
“Look … whatever you’re going through right now, whatever you’re having with my sister …” Max said before they went into his room, “Get over it … ’cause it’s not gonna happen with Hazel, okay? It’s just not … right,” he added.
He didn’t even give him the chance to explain. Theo knew how Max feels about his friends dating Hazel, he will never allow it.
“Fix things up with Peyton, or break it off … I don’t know, just … leave my sister out of it,” he sounded more annoyed than before.
Theo sighed deeply, “Max …”
“No! It’s weird, okay? You have a girlfriend, you’re going off to college, she’s never had a boyfriend before … you’ll break her heart and I’ll hate you for it, just don’t do it,” he wasn’t going to listen to whatever Theo had to say about it. They went into the room and not another word was said about it.
**********
“What happened out there?” Lee asked when she came in.
She was still distraught and Max’s response added to the confusion. “Nothing, he was just … stupid …” she shook her head.
He heard the vague conversation, the door wasn’t tight shut but he couldn’t make out all that was said. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah … I’m fine … I think I want to have a hot bath and then we can watch something, hey … I’m famished, maybe we should order some food and not pay Theo back,” she laughed. “And then we can drink whatever is in the mini bar, he kinda deserves it, right?”
Lee was taken aback by her reaction, “Okay … what do you want to eat? Go take a bath, I’ll make the order.”
She said she wanted a hotdog and fries, she smiled before going into the bathroom but her eyes were swollen when she came out.
They had a great night together up until the point they ran into Theo. She was holding it back from him, he thought their friendship was tight enough for them to open up about everything.
Theo was a soft spot she has yet to reveal, she never talked about him or even mentioned his name in all their conversations except for trivial things.
They ate on the bed facing each other, neither of them was sleepy which was surprising because of how much she drank and how tired their trip was. Hazel even continued to open a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the mini bar, she grimaced at the taste.
“My God you’re like an alcoholic,” Lee taunted her.
She threw a stick of fries at him, “They say alcohol makes you feel better,” she laughed, “It kind of makes you sick I think.”
“I don’t know about alcohol … dancing makes me feel better,” he munched on his food. “Why do you need to feel better, Hazel? Other than the concert? What happened out there with Theo?”
She diverted her gaze back to the fries, she shrugged, “He was stupid … I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh come on … why don’t you wanna talk about it? What could be more stupid than losing the tickets?” he was curious.
“I know right? How dumb was that … why do you wanna know anyway? It’s nothing really … he’s just my brother’s stupid best friend.”
Lee looked at her expression, she was hiding her true feelings, “Okay … how about we play truth or dare? If we choose dare, we have to drink … since you don’t want to talk about it, let’s just make it fun.”
She was amused by the offer, but it did sound fun, “Okay … I go first, truth or dare?”
“Truth,” he challenged her with a look.
“Why do you want to know what happened out there?”
He scoffed, “Well, that’s easy … because I care about you, obviously, you were upset by it, you were fine before, I want to know what he said to you.”
She pressed her lips together, she couldn’t possibly tell him what happened between her and Theo, because then she will have to tell him about the letter and everything else. She didn’t want him to know.
“Okay, you have to drink,” Lee said.
“What? Why? It’s not even my turn.”
“Because I told the truth, now my turn … truth or dare?”
Hazel took a sip of the Jack Daniels and her face turned sour, “I’ll be out after the third question … this thing is nasty.”
They laughed.
“What’s the question?” she continued.
They laughed again.
“That’s cheating … you have to choose truth or dare and then I’ll give you the question, you cheated, you have to drink again.”
“What? No … okay I choose truth this time, so you’ll have to drink after this, right? You’re not even close to being tipsy, you have to catch up with me.”
Lee took the bottle from Hazel’s hand and drank it up until the last drop, “Uurrgh … there … I’m catching up with you, let’s open another one.” He reached to the minibar and took another bottle of liquor. “Truth? Okay … but you have to answer truthfully,” he sat in front of her and looked straight into her eyes, “… are you in love with Theo Shanley?”
She stared back at him, he didn’t budge, she wanted to tell him the truth … if she knew what it was. She burst out into a laugh, she took the bottle from his hand and pushed him.
“Ooh … you’re not answering? So I take it’s a yes?”
“It’s complicated … no answer is not a yes … I’m not answering that … let me drink this,” she sipped on the Southern Comfort, it tasted as terrible as the one before. “What about you? Who are you in love with? Truth or dare?”
He paused, he too wasn’t going to answer that question. He snatched the bottle from her hand and drank it.
She laughed so hard she fell back to the bed, she took a pillow and hit his face with it, “Why are we even playing this stupid game?”
“That’s not fair, I will answer the question if you answer the question,” Lee defended himself.
“Oh? Is that what the game is? Just give me that, we should just drink ourselves stupid and pass out ’til they knock on the door on check-out time,” she laughed and hit him again with the pillow.
She took another bottle from the minibar and Lee hit her with another pillow from the back.
“What? They still have 4 more bottles in there, do you want to drink them all?”
Lee was standing on the bed and finished the bottle in his hand with a pillow, on the other hand, he threw the empty bottle to the armchair next to the bed, “Bring it on!”
Hazel took all the bottles from the minibar and opened them, when she drank, a pillow landed on her face almost knocked the bottle off her hand, “Okay … that’s it! You have no idea who you’re messing with … don’t you know I’m the pillow fight champion in the family?” She climbed on the bed with her pillow ready to strike, “Let’s go, buddy!”
What a ridiculous day it was, going on a road trip all the way to Goldstone only to get canceled at the last moment. Explored the city with her best friends, got a halfhearted confession and a kiss from her crush, got drunk, and ended up playing pillow fights with the guy with the best smile in the world.