brooks & hale ✔️

hale

four ;
h a l e

HALE WAS KISSING A pretty blonde girl, and all he could think about was the fact that someone was playing Stupid Hoe.

It was such a fucking dumb song, and it was somehow putting him even less in the mood than he had already been. The girl he was kissing, whose name had entirely eluded him, was pressed up against him with her arms twined around his neck. Her fingers were curling through his hair and his hands obligingly slid down the narrow dip of her waist, gripping her hips lightly. He knew all the right moves to make, all the right places to touch, but it was all preplanned and thought out.

Oh, man. He was so not turned on.

He thought his plan had been going pretty well. He'd ended up at the pool with Calla and a bunch of others from his school, perfectly contented to chat while he searched for someone to hook up with. The blonde girl was easily one of the prettiest ones at the party, and even better, a complete stranger who attended Woodway High School. The perfect chance. It had taken little more than a glittering smile and few careless compliments to win her over.

She was nice, too, but that didn't really help with his attraction to her. They were currently holed up in the corner of the living room with the girl - he mentally labelled her as Blondie until he figured out her name - curled up against him, tugging Hale closer with her hands. She whispered his name again his lips (oops, she remembered his name) and her mouth slowly began roaming down the length of his jaw, peppering more light kisses against his skin.

Well, at least she was a good kisser. Not that it was making this any more interesting.

He opened his eyes out of boredom and absently glanced around the living room while Blondie continued moving her mouth down his neck. As the night wore on, more alcohol had been spilled and more inhibitions had been lowered, until it got to the point that 99% of the guests were at least slightly drunk. It meant the chatter and laughter and music was ten times louder, with people swaying wildly out of tune to the music as some form of dancing.

Hale could see a game of beer pong was taking place on the ping pong table in the next room over, through the open double doors. Will was refereeing the match, a very drunk referee yelling bad calls from the side, as four guys aimed balls at the cups of beer. Hale was more than a little surprised to see that one of the players, on a team with Elliot, was Brooks. His usually tidy caramel hair was mussed up and he was doing surprisingly well at the game.

"Hale?" Blondie pulled back with a frown, and Hale realised in his distraction he'd made the mistake of dropping his hands to his side. "Is something wrong?"

Just that I'm not even remotely bothered whether I make out with you or not. "Nah," he lied, extracting himself from her grip. There was no point faking it anymore when he could at least be enjoying the party. "You know what? That was fun. Now let's play beer pong."

She blinked. "What?"

"Contrary to popular belief, this isn't the only kind of entertainment I provide," Hale said breezily, gesturing between them to indicate the kiss. "I'm also an exceptional beer ponger, as you're about to find out."

She tagged along behind him as he made his way over to the game. A pretty large crowd had gathered around to watch the "match", cheering and encouraging the "players". Hale sidled up alongside Will and Oli, who both grinned in greeting. "You've missed the best round ever, man!" Will exclaimed. Everything just got louder with him when he was drunk. "Dylan has downed so much beer he'll be pissing the stuff."