“We should check out Hot Topic.” Tess said as we walked out of the store we were just at. I wasn’t much of a mall person, I never knew the stores by name, just where I needed to go, and I liked to make my trips to the mall as quick as possible. I’ve spent more time here today than I probably have my entire life.
“Okay,” I agreed as I followed her to an escalator.
“So, how do you like it here?”
“Well, I’ve made better friends in the past, what, two days than I had back home.” I laughed nervously. “I really enjoy being around most of you.”
“Uh oh, who don’t you like?” she laughed.
“Ugh, Eric.” I mumbled.
“What? Halvo? You can’t be serious! He is the sweetest kid ever.”
“More like the creepiest person ever. He just stares at me, and breathes down my neck.” She laughed.
“Hey, he can’t help that.”
“And earlier he called me “Babe.” I AM NOT his Babe.” She laughed again as we entered Hot Topic. They had a whole display of masks and she just picked a random black one. I on the other hand, was torn between two, both were pink and black with lace but so different at the same time.
“I don’t know which one to get.” I fake cried into my hands. She laughed and took one out of my hand and put it back on the shelf.
“That one, is way prettier, and will totally bring out your eyes.” I smiled and thanked her.
“You should really give Eric a chance.” Tess whispered in my ear as we waited against the wall for Daisy. What the fuck is taking her so long? I yelled in my head as I tried to ignore Eric burning holes into me.
“Shut up.” I whispered to her, and she laughed and whispered something to Gabi who squealed and whispered “how cute.” “Both of you, shut up.” They giggled. I felt like we were in elementary school again. Daisy finally showed up, walking close to John, and I bolted from my spot on the wall and as far from Eric as I could get as we all began to leave. At least there will be a lot of people at Chuck E Cheese.
When we got into the Cheese, the giant panda bear on the prize wall caught my attention. “I don’t care how, but I’m leaving with that panda bear; even if I have to steal it.” I said to Tessa as we grabbed our tokens. She laughed at me and walked the way Eric went. I groaned inwardly, forgetting he was there, and walked in the opposite direction. Daisy and John stayed behind, how cute. I watched with a smirk on my face as Kennedy held on to the Gorilla game that shocks you.
“Kenny, maybe you should stop.” Gabi said with a worried look on her face.
“No, I’m fine.” Kenny said, as his teeth chattered together. I giggled as they argued back and forth. I joined Nick at the game where you have to stop the spinning light.
“I bet I can hit the jackpot.” I said holding up a token.
“I bet you can’t.” he said slapping the butting, and landing on five. I smiled and put my token in and watched the light spin past me. When I hit the button the sirens went off and my 200 tickets came spitting out. I looked up at Nick you glared at me. “I hate you.” he mumbled and left the game. Just as my tickets stopped coming out, Daisy called us all to eat.
“Garrett won’t come out.” Justin laughed, out of breath as he sat next to me, his arm brushed mine.
“Ew, dude, you’re sweating like a pig!” I whined and scooted away from him, but it brought me closer to Eric, so I scooted back. I heard him sigh, and then he got up and walked away, thank God. I ate my pizza happily, laughing at Justin’s story he was telling me. It was about this one time he got in a fight in high school.
“Alyssa.” someone called my name and I turned around and was face to face with a panda. I squeaked from shock. Eric placed the bear in the seat he was just sitting it. “I, um… I won that for you.” He sighed again and grabbed his stuff from the table. “I’m going to head out guys, see you around.” He turned and left, I stared in shock after him. He won me the fucking bear.
“Told you he was a sweet guy.” Tess yelled from across the table. I flipped her off and she yelled. After a few more hours we left, except for John and Rach; they had to try and get Garrett out of the tubes. While we walked out I heard Garrett yell “I’m not leaving John, I’m the King!” and saw John pulling his shoes off and climbing into the tubes; a pissed look on his face.
I yawned as I pulled my dress and panda out of Daisy’s car. “Today was really fun, thank you.”
“No problem, Best Friend,” she smiled at me, and I just shook my head.
“You’re insane.” She laughed.
“Don’t forget to thank Halvo, okay?” she asked before we walked into our apartments.
“Yeah, yeah.” I mumbled and closed my door, making sure I locked it. I hung my dress up and tossed my panda on my bed. When I got an idea, I grabbed my phone, a pair of sun glasses, and an old jersey. I put the jersey and glasses on the bear and snapped a picture and sent it to Eric. “Thanx 4 winnin meh brah,” I added to the text. A few moments later he wrote back.
“No problem bro, take curr of Alyssa 4 me, tell her I said good night.” I rolled my eyes.
“night eric, thanks again.”
“sweet dreams beautiful.” I laughed and tossed my phone on my dresser.
“He’s so weird.” I mumbled to my panda as I pulled him to me and fell asleep.
Two days later, I woke up with the intention of finding a job but when I walked out of my apartment Daisy literally ran into me. “Ow, what the fuck is so important you’re running full speed to an apartment two feet away?”
“Tomorrow is the party! I need your help we have to go to John’s, I have all the decorations there, then we have to go to the hotel and make sure they don’t mess anything up, grab your dress. I got us a room to stay the night.” she yelled at me in one breath.
“But I was gonna—”
“NOW!” she pushed me back inside. “And bring a bathing suit!” Why do I talk to her again? Oh yeah, I have no friends. I grabbed my dress, a bathing suit, and something to change into for the next day and walked out to her car.
“Now I’m never going to get a job.” I whined as we drove off.
“There’s an opening at my job, I’ll hook you up,” she said as she raced the streets.
“Please don’t get us killed.” I begged grabbing on to anything I can hold. She rolled her eyes.
“I’m a great driver! Garrett taught me!”
“Oh god, I’ve got five seconds to live.” I said, closing my eyes for the rest of the ride, not waiting to see any possible accidents we could have got into.
“We’re here!” She got out and ran inside, I, on the other hand, took notice of the shitty white car parked in front of us and groaned to myself. She better make this fast. I jogged into the house after her, following her loud voice.
“What the fuck Ross, go put some clothes on.”
“You’re in my house!” the mysterious voice answered back. I walked into the kitchen and let my jaw drop open at the kid with just a towel wrapped around his lower body.
“Oh god.” I turned around. “Why is there a naked person in your kitchen?” I asked John who was walking my way.
“What?” he asked laughing and walked in. “Whoa, seriously Ross? Go get dressed you creep.” The kid huffed and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the three of us cracking up.
“WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!” I heard someone scream up stairs, and we laughed even harder. Eric, walked into the kitchen laughing too
“Shane and Ross just ran into each other.” Eric said in between laughs, Johns laugh got louder and he punched the counter, while Daisy and I let out a long “Ew,” simultaneously. After our laughter ended we began putting the stuff in Daisy car.
“HEY, there’s no room for me now!”
“Oh,” Daisy said dejectedly. “Ride with John.”
“No, I have to take Shane to school in like five minutes. Ride with Eric.” He pushed me towards the shitty car.
“Bu—”
“Get in the fucking car.” Daisy harshly whispered, as she opened the door for me. I flopped in and buckled my seat belt, and tried to face away from Eric in the small car. We were silent until we got to the stop sign at the end of the long street, when Eric put on Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys. I perked up in my seat and turned his way.
“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.
“Nothing…. This is my favorite song.”
“Really?” he smiled, I nodded, and then we with both began to rock out to the song, doing weird dance moves and trying to sing in the robotic voice. “I’m taking us around the block, we’re going to jam to this whole CD.” I laughed.
“Just don’t drive like Daisy please.” He laughed and turned the opposite way as the hotel. After the CD, and a lot of laughs, we pulled into the parking structure of the hotel. He grabbed his bag, and I surprisingly waited for him, but I just had a really fun time with him so I decided to be nice for a little while longer.
“Where the fuck were you? I thought Eric killed you!” Daisy yelled from across the lobby. “I called you both five times!” She was tapping her foot as we walked her way.
“We got caught up in the CD we were listening to.” Eric said as we got to her. John laughed and sent a smile my way.
“What we’re you listening to?” John asked.
“Beastie Boys Hello Nasty, I love them.” I mumbled, as I looked away from Daisy’s glare.
“Eric, John, get out of my face.” she said lowly they scrambled away.
“Are you seriously mad?” I asked when they were out of sight.
“No!” she squeaked. “Aw, I knew you’d warm up to Halvo.” She pulled me into a hug. “But, no seriously, I thought he kidnapped you. I was like holy shit she was right he is a creep.” I laughed as she pulled me to the elevator. “I already put your stuff in the room. We’re going swimming with all da crew.” I laughed.
“Why do you always say that?”
“’Cause, well I don’t really know, I just like calling us that. Makes us sound tight.” I laughed and when the elevator opened, most of the people Daisy, and, well, I guess me too, chill with were about to get on.
“You guys swimming too?” someone asked.
“Yeah, we’ll be right there.” Daisy answered and I followed her out and to the room.
“Do you have a shirt I can put on over my bikini?” I asked through the bathroom door.
“What? No, why do you need a shirt?”
“Cause I don’t feel comfortable, considering my admirer.”
“Oh quit it, you guys are friends now,” I sighed and walked out of the bathroom. “Oh, Eric is going to shit himself.”
“We are not friends. I was nice for my love of the Beastie Boys. And if he tries anything I’ll punch him.” She laughed.
“He’s not a perv.”
“I doubt it.” I grabbed my towel “Let’s get it over with please.” Once we got to the pool, Daisy jumped right in, I opted for not getting wet today and sat at the bar.
“The young man in the corner ordered this for you,” the bartender said, I turned around and looked at the Long Island Ice Tea in his hand.
“Um, thanks but no thanks.” I said to the blonde guy the bartender pointed at. The guy came and sat next to me.
“Don’t drink?” he asked. “I’m Jake.”
“I drink, I just don’t drink drinks from strangers.” Smooth.
“Well, you know my name now.”
“I’m not drinking it.” I said turning away from him. He ran his hands through my hair. “Don’t fucking touch me.” I stood up from my seat. I looked around frantically for someone to help me. I locked eyes with Eric, who quickly stood up and walked my way. The guy stood up and walked closer to me. “Oh, Baby there you are.” I said dodging the guys touch and placing myself at Eric’s side. Hugging him, I whispered. “He won’t leave me alone, go along with it.” But I already knew he was more than loving this.
“Hey, next time you try to pick up a girl make sure he’s single, asshole.” Eric said grabbing my hand, lacing our fingers. As we were about to walk away the guy said,
“Who are you kidding, you know she can handle more then one guy.” My jaw dropped and Eric’s fist collided with his face. I tried to pulled him apart, but I wasn’t strong enough. John and Jared were running our way, but I really wanted this to stop now.
“Eric! Stop, please.”I shouted trying to pull them apart again but Jake pushed away and I lost balance and fell into the pool. I was stunned as I sank to the bottom of the pool. I frantically tried to get out of the water; when I reached the surface Justin’s hand was waiting for me. I grabbed it and he pulled me out and into a waiting towel held by Daisy.
“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly. I shivered as I nodded my head. “What happened?”
“That fucker kept touching me, and then, and then he told Eric I can handle two guys. Then they started fighting.” I stuttered as I tried to get warm again. “Where’s Eric?”
“John took him to his room before security came.” Daisy said. “Maybe we should call it a night.” I nodded.
“Thanks, Justin.”
“No problem, sweetie,” with that the pool area cleared out.
“Are you—”
“Please stop talking about it.” I said as I pulled the covers over my now clothed, but still freezing body.
“Okay, sorry. Good night. I’m sorry.” She turned the light off. I tried to sleep but it just wasn’t happening. I could still feel his hand running through my hair. I sat up and huffed.
“I can’t believe I’m about to do this.” I mumbled to myself as I texted Eric.
‘Where are you?’ I waited, staring at my phone, please write back.
‘floor 3 room 118’
‘can I come over plz cant sleep.’
‘doors open’ I quickly grabbed my key and went to the elevator, still shivering, was it ‘cause I was cold or freaked out? I still didn’t know. We were on floor 4 so the ride in the elevator was quick, but his room was at the end of hall. I knocked before I walked into the on bed room. “Sorry, I know its late.”
“No problem,” he was sitting on his bed, head against the way as he flipped through the channels. I closed the door behind me and stood their awkwardly. “Despite what you may think, I don’t bite.” He said with a smile, and he patted the spot next to him. I sat cross-legged next to him, our arms touching, the bed wasn’t that big. “So…” he sighed as he turned off the TV and tossed the remote.
“Thank you.” I whispered. “For, um… you know.”
“You’re welcome, are you okay?” I smiled inwardly.
“I should be asking you that.”
“Hey, I know how to fight!” he said defensively. I smiled at him.
“Sure that’s why you ran away after.”
“He—”
“Kidding Halvo.” I smiled.
“You called me Halvo!” he said with a huge smile. I laughed.
“Yeah, well, I owe you so I guess I should be nice to you know.” He blushed. “That is until you do something to piss me off.”
“I’ll try not to.” He smiled, but it faded. “You’re shaking.” he said concerned.
“Yeah, I’m really cold.” He placed his hand on my arm.
“You actually feel like you’re on fire and you’re sweating too.”
“Okay, I guess I’m still a little freaked.” I mumbled looking down embarrassed. “I mean I was sexually assaulted and almost drowned today.” He tensed up. “I’m okay now though.”
“You’re obviously not.” he mumbled. We sat in silence, until he yawned.
“Are you tired? I’ll leave.”
“No, you owe me.” he said with an innocent smile.
“What? I—”
“Stay in here tonight, I won’t do anything, I swear.” I looked at him, his cheeks were flushed and he wasn’t making eye contact. “Fine go ahead, go.” he mumbled. I smiled, and climb under his covers.
“You’re right, I do owe you, don’t try anything fishy. I’ll call my boy Justin on you.” He laughed.
“I can take him.” he mumbled as he pulled me closer. “Is this okay?” he asked his arms wrapped around my body. I turned around and buried my head into his chest.
“Yeah but everyone knows this is more comfortable.” He held his breath.
“You’re a tease.”
“I’ll leave if you want.” He held me tighter and nuzzled his head into my neck.
“Shut up and go to sleep.” I pinched him arm. “Ow, jerk.”
“And don’t get used to this.”
“You said you were going to be nice.” I grunted, and drifted off to sleep.
I remember we woke up the morning, looked at each other, and fell back to sleep. What I didn’t remember was that we had a party we were supposed to get ready for. And that’s why, at 5:30 Daisy was pounding and yelling at us from the other side of the door. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS DOING? SCREWING? OPEN UP!” Eric, scrambled to the door and opened it, then jumped back in to bed, landing face down. I rolled out of bed and onto my feet.
“Stop yelling, we were just sleeping.” I walked past her, her hands were on her waist and her right foot was tapping. “Let’s go, I need help with my hair.”
“What did you gu—”
“We just slept, I couldn’t sleep, and we talked for a while and fell asleep. No big deal.”
“No big deal? That was probably the best night of Eric’s life. Are you messing with him?”
“No, we were just talking Jesus.”
“But—”
“Daisy, it was nothing.” I laughed. “And he knows it. Now, can you please drop it?” She stopped talking to me, and even while she styled my hair for me she didn’t talk. She got dressed, put her mask on and left. My cell phone went off and I answered it. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s John, is Daisy downstairs yet?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need your help putting my mask on, and tying my tie.”
“Oh, okay come up I need help with my dress too.” He said a quick bye and hung up. I got in my dress and tightened it as much as I could. I opened the door for him and he handed me his mask and tie.
“Work your magic, Princess.” I laughed and pulled him in before anyone saw us. “So, Halvo is really happy.” John said winking at me. I rolled my eyes and tied his tie with ease.
“Don’t, start. You’re looking spiffy in your fancy suit here.” He laughed. “Trying to impress a certain flower?”
“I, um, yeah,” he sighed “but I don’t know what she’s wearing and she doesn’t know what I’m wearing.”
“Ahh,” I turn him around to put his mask on for him, “But I, Johnny, I know what she’s wearing.”
“Really? Tell me!” I laughed.
“Blue dress, it kind of fades to white, it has goldish straps, and she has a really pretty blue mask with a lot of glitter on it.” I tied his black mask and he turned around and hugged me.
“Thanks,” he was about to walk away.
“Um, my dress?” I reminded him.
“Oh yeah, I guess I can help since you told me what she has on.”
“Ha. Ha. You’re so funny, John.” He pulled the strings.
“Tighter you moron.”
“I don’t want to you die from not being able to breathe.”
“Just do it, I’m fine.” He pulled it tighter. “Okay that’s good. Shall we walk down together?”
“Hell yeah, I gotta walk in with a fine lady friend.” I laughed and slipped my mask on.
“You guys are the weirdest people I have ever met in life.” He laughed.
“I always forget you just moved here like what, a week ago? I feel like I’ve known you forever.”
“Yeah, same here. I think it’s called Stockholm Syndrome.” We both laughed as we entered the elevator. We stopped on floor three and a group of people in masks got on. Everyone complimented each other and talked about how excited they were. My phone buzzed from the small hand bag and I fished for it.
“Hello.”
“Come to floor 1 room 6, I’m freaking out my hair is being an asshole.” Tessa yelled in my ear.
“Relax, I’ll be right there.” I asked someone to press one for me and look to John, “Someone else needs my fashionista skills, sorry you have to walk in alone.” He playfully turned his head away from me and we both laughed. I pushed my way to the front when the doors opened and before it closed I heard John say, “Eric? You moron put your mask back on.” I laughed and went in search of Tessa and Jared’s room. John better keep his mouth shut around Eric, or I’ll have to hurt him.
Do you want to me stay?
Do you want me to go?
-TAI
Chapter By : Krystal
