Bad friend

CHAPTER SIX

"3...2..." THE COUNTDOWN began. I looked to my left, seeing an extremely chiseled blonde boy standing at the top of the white tarpaulin water slide while I stood at the top of the other. I tilt my head and give him a sweet grin, my fist clenching by my sides.

"1....GO!"

I didn't need to be told twice. I dive onto the plastic, water-proof material that was covered in soap liquid and water. The echoes of people's shouts are heard

along with the crinkling of the material beneath me as I slide down it at the speed of f*****g light.

At the bottom of the two slides was a large inflatable pool filled to the brim with soap suds. I go in head first -but first nonetheless.

"And we have a winner!" Another guy at the bottom exclaims as I sit up amongst the fluffy white soap. I put my hands up as I hear cheering at the top and cheering around me. I push to my feet and step over the barrier of the inflatable sand, my feet landing back on the warm sand.

I had forgotten how popular Spencer was because as I looked over the beach and the outdoor area of David's house, it honestly looked like three-quarters of Holden Bay was here. Spencer's 21st birthday was surprisitell going off without a hitch.

There were people swimming in the ocean, people racing down the two water slides and some people were just dawdling about on the sand. Blaring music floated from the house where there was more of a population of people. Some were chilling in the pool and spa-pool while others were dancing to the music and just having fun.

I had been so absorbed by work and school that I forgot how fun it is to party and let loose, even for just one night. I had forgotten how many drinks I had or where my clothes were but it didn't matter because since I got here a week ago, I've basically lived in swimwear.

I was wearing a nice white one tonight to enhan the appearance of the golden tan I was currently sporting.

"Great race." I turn around at the deep voice to see Mr Chiseled standing behind me with his hand extended. He too was covered in soap suds that were slowly slipping off his amazing body.

"Yeah it was...for me." I grin cheekily as I shake his

hand, "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"Embarrassed me? Come one, I let you win." He chuckles as I roll my eyes, watching as a pair of girls coming screaming into the end of the water slides.

"Well, I disagree with you because you're wrong." I state as I turn and begin to make my way back up the hill and towards the hill. Mr Chiseled quickly jogs up to my side.

"I'm Thomas." He introduces himself and I give him a

tight-lsurprisis

"Great," I say, "I'm in need of another drink."

"Seriously, you're not going to tell me your name?"

Thomas questions as he wipes the excess soap off his

body. It was honestly the body of a damn god. How is that even legal? Surely it should come with a warning like 'do not look if you are prone to heart failure or strokes'.

I'm pretty sure you could both if you stare at his abs

for too long.

"Well where's the fun is that?" I grin sweetly as I stare up at him, "I'll tell you what, if you win a race I'll tell you my name."

He nods, "Deal."

Just as we were walking up the elevated sand bank, Chase and Levi were making there way down. I smile at both of them and we all stop as we reach each other.

"You went on the waterslide?" Levi questions as he notices the soap still attached to my skin.

"Yup. I completely annihilated Thomas here," I chuckle as I nudge him with my shoulder. It just barely reached the middle of his bicep. I glance at Chase, noticing he was staring at my shoulder with his jaw clenched tightly. "He's feeling a little butthurt."

Thomas points a finger at himself and laughs. "I'm Thomas."

Chase takes a sip of the beer in his hand and gives Thomas a bitter look, "I didn't ask."

And with that, he walks past Thomas, bumping him with his shoulder. They were the same height and build so the bump caused Thomas to stumble back slightly.

Thomas quickly turns around and takes a step to go follow Chase but I grab onto his arm, "Don't mind him."

"I better go after him." Levi announces before he moves past us and follows after Chase.

"What the hell is his problem?" Thomas questions while still looking at Chase. I wanted to run to Chase, to tell him that nothing's going on between Thomas and I which I no doubt know is running through his head right now. But if he resented me in the slightest, it would make this whole thing a lot better.

"Don't worry about him, okay?" I question as Thomas glances back at me, "Look, I'm going to go and get a drink while you go and try to win a race."

Thomas smirks as I begin to slowly walk towards the

house, "Try? I don't need to try."

"You sure?" I raise an eyebrow as he laughs at me. I chuckle to myself as I turn and quickly jog up to the house. There was a DJ spinning tracks on the porch with large speakers on either side of him. Most people on the porch were dancing and seemingly having a great time.

I push past them and walk inside which was just as busy as outside. I find a large yellow button up shirt lying on the back of the couch and slip it on, leaving it unbutton and letting it fall down the sides of my body.

I'm not sure where anyone was at this point, the party was getting too chaotic even for me. Emily wasn't able to make it because she had a shift at her work that she couldn't get out of. I was kind of glad because I know the entire night she'd be hanging around Chase.

She had recovered well from the drowning incident yesterday. Or what was deemed a near-drowning accident. What Noah said was true, the whole thing wasn't sitting well with me. But she was my old friend that's done nothing bad before. I have to trust her until I can't.

And just because she's crushing on Chase doesn't

mean I have to hate her.

I feel really shitty that I don't want that to happen because I honestly have no f*****g right. I got myself into this mess so I have to deal with the consequences no matter how painful they are.

"Hayden!" Penn waves at me from where she sat on the kitchen island, a blue solo cup in her hand. She had the biggest smile on her face as I walked over to her. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me to her, "I missed you so much!"

"I was gone for twenty minutes." I shrug as I stand back. I glance around the room with a small frown, "Where is your boyfriend?"

And in that exact moment, Noah jogs into the semi-packed kitchen holding many things in his hand, "Ok, so I couldn't decide what you wanted so I bought these rose tined sunglasses or these red love heart ones. Then I had a panic attack and I thought you didn't say sunglasses at all so I bought a Shrek mask."

"Shrek!" Penn gasps as she grabs the Shrek mask from his hand and quickly puts it on her face, "How do I look?"

"Beautiful." Noah chuckles as he places the sunglasses down beside her and I slowly notice how normal he was. Well-Noah-normal is much different from the regular type of normal anyway.

"You're not drinking?" I question as I lean one hand on the counter top.

"Nope," Noah shakes his head as he grabs me out a

can of alcohol from the sink filled with ice cubes and

passes it to me, "When Penny drinks, I don't. I love her

too much so I need to be fully focused to protect her."

My heart warmed at the fact.

Noah places his hand perpendicular to his face and leans towards me as if telling me a secret "Plus, Drunk Penny is way more wild in bed and there's no way I'm forgetting any of that."

And he ruined it.

I quickly tilt my head back and down my drink at a very concerning rate. When I glance back at Noah, I could see him frowning at me.

"They say you can't drown your problems, especially with alcohol" Noah questions as I place the empty can next to Penn who was swaying to the music with her f*****g smiling Shrek mask on. She was too damn cute, no wonder Noah wanted to protect her so much.

I wipe the back of my mouth, "Who the f**k are they?"

"It was on the inside of a lollipop wrapper that I found on the floor of one of my lecture halls." Noah says with a shrug, "I mean it also said 'but you can by getting high' and it was was made from dodgy weed but I still ate it."

I scoff as I lean back against the counter, "I know I can't drown my demons. They're chasing me and they're doing the f*****g naruto run."

"Best way to travel." Noah nods and I laugh at him, "Look, no matter how much you drink, Hay, Chase will still be here."

"Stop being so damn wise." I pout as Noah beams a large grin at me. I then slap the counter, "I need another f*****g drink."

I had made a promise to myself that I was going to stop drinking at 10. Then after a round of tequila shots that time was postponed till 11. Then it was twelve. And now, I wasn't really sure what the time was nor how many l****s of alcohol I had consumed.

I was surprised I was still alive.

Maybe through all the dancing Vera and I were currently doing, I was sweating the alcohol out of my skin. Vera was of course sober but that girl can have fun anywhere and anytime. It's like her superpower, that and being extremely fashionable.

The chorus of 'Blinding Lights' by the Weeknd begins to blare through the speakers and while dancing on the tips of my toes, Vera lifts our hands to the sky and twirls me. I was having too much fun to think about anything else. I could finally feel myself starting to sober up, thank f**k.

Someone pushes past me causing me to stumble and when I turn around with a scowl, I notice it was someone who had come to talk to two other dancing girls beside us.

"There's a fight outside. You guys gotta come." The girl beckons quickly as the two girls instantly stop dancing and follow their friend. Vera and I glance at each other with frowns, both of us having heard her, and we decide to follow as well.

"Spencer is going to freak when he finds out." Vera mumbles into my ear while we hold onto each others hands. Other people were also making their way out to the front house. We hurry through the front door and out onto the porch.

We look down towards the drive to see Chase and Thomas glaring at each other while many other party-goers had congregated around them. The lights from the house and the driveway were shining down onto them.

Thomas says something to Chase but I couldn't hear what. As a result, Chase knocks him on his ass with one single punch.

"Holy s**t!" I shout as I let go of Vera's hand and run down the porch steps. I push through the bodies of people and stop at the edge to see Chase walking towards a panting Thomas who lay on the ground.

"You say another f*****g thing about her and I will make damn sure your ass ends up in the hospital." Chase grunts at Thomas as he stands above him. He was going in for another punch, that much was clear, so pushing off the balls of my feet and rush forward.

"Chase stop!" I say as I jump in front of him and put my hands against his chest, "Look at me. Chase, f*****g look at me!"

Chase's fuming eyes slowly move from Thomas behind me to my face. He was breathing heavily and he glares at my face for a few seconds before his features slowly. begin to soften.

"It's me, I'm here." I tell him softly, "Just look at me."

His eyes soften and become those pools of honey I love so much. I feel his hands on my waist as I begin to smile softly. Then suddenly, his gaze flickers over my head and horror flashes over his face.

"You f*****g asshole!" I hear behind me just before I'm pushed to the ground. I feel my knees scrap the concrete and underneath but I care not for the pain. I glance over my shoulder to see Thomas had gotten up and tackled Chase to the ground.

The crowd goes wild.

Vera places her hands on my shoulder as she crouches down next to me. I watch as Noah emerges from the growing crowd and jumps on the back of Thomas as he attempts to pull him back. Some other guys get the same idea and they help Noah in pulling him back.

The wrestling pair is successfully pulled apart and I notice Thomas' nose was bleeding while Chase left cheekbone was red and angry.

"Thomas, get the f**k out of here before I call the cops." Spencer who had just shown up screams as he points at Thomas. The tall blonde shoves off the guys who were holding him down and disappears through the crowd as he heads to the end of the driveway. "Hay and V, takes Chase upstairs."

I nod as I scurry over to Chase. He was still sitting on the concrete and I crouch down before him, "You ok?"

He nods as he glances up at me, his crazed hair falling over his eyes, "Yes."

"Let's get you upstairs." I say as I place Chase's arm over my shoulders. Vera comes around and grabs Chase's other arm as we help him upstairs.

We manage to get him into mine and Vera's bedroom that we had locked so no gross couples could, in the word of Will Smith, get jiggy with it in here. After we had placed Chase on the edge of the bed, Vera goes downstairs to grab some ice while I go to the bathroom and wet a cloth.

"You know there's a thing called talking." I scoff as I step back into the quiet bedroom with the damp towel in my hand and close the door behind me, "It's where you use your mouths and form coherent sounds instead of using your fists and brute strength. Amazing right?"

"I talk better with my fists." Chase says gruffly and I roll my eyes as I sit down next to him at the end of the bed. Chase remains staring at the bohemian rug that was placed over the wooden floor boards.

"Of course you do." I mumble under my breath as I grab his chin and attempt to turn his face to me. He doesn't move. "Chase, please. Don't fight me."

He takes a few seconds to process my words but nonetheless turns his face to me, his eyes still focused on the rug. Take what you can get, Hayden.

"What did Thomas do Chase?" I question softly as I begin to wash away the dried blood on his cheekbone. It was red and begging to swell.

Chase grunts, "It doesn't matter."

"You got hurt Chase. It matters to me." I tell him as Chase's eyes finally glance at mine, only for a moment however. "Just because we're not together anymore doesn't mean I don't care."

Chase scoffs and rolls his eyes at my statement. It was painful to say the least but I deserved it. I open my mouth to say something but the sound of the door opening has me shutting up. Vera steps in with two bags of frozen peas.

"Ok, so all the ice as been used up for the alcohol. This is the best that I could find." Vera explains as she hands them to Chase.

"Thanks." Chase says to Vera before it goes quiet again. Vera stands in front of us, awkward as hell as she places her hands behind her long flowing white sundress.

"Huh?" Vera says as she steps towards the door and cups her ear, "Guys, I think Noah's calling me. Yup, definetly calling me. You hear that right? Sorry but I gotta go."

"No one was calling yo-" I don't even get to finish before Vera vanishes from the room and closes the door softly behind her. Now it was Chase and I...in this room...alone.

"Just go back downstairs, Jones." Chase sighs as he

stares down at his lap.

I continue to clean his wound, "I can't. You need help."

"I don't need shit." Chase scoffs as he gently grabs my wrist and pulls it away from his face, "Go back to having fun with whoever the f**k you want."

"That's what it was about." I say as Chase's glare meets mine, "You were jealous."

Chase chuckles darkly, "Of course I f*****g was!"

go dead silent while staring at him. I was now only noticing he was begging to draw circles on it with his thumb. Did he even notice?

We stare at each other for f**k knows how long in complete silence. Then, all at once, Chase pulls my wrist towards him and I follow. And then my lips meet his in a blaze of rage and lust.

So much for the night going off without a hitch huh?

"I don't need shit." Chase scoffs as he gently grabs my wrist and pulls it away from his face, "Go back to having fun with whoever the f**k you want."

"That's what it was about." I say as Chase's glare meets mine, "You were jealous."

Chase chuckles darkly, "Of course I f*****g was!"

I go dead silent while staring at him. I was now only noticing he was begging to draw circles on it with his thumb. Did he even notice?

We stare at each other for f**k knows how long in complete silence. Then, all at once, Chase pulls my wrist towards him and I follow. And then my lips meet his in a blaze of rage and lust.

So much for the night going off without a hitch huh?