Hypnotized to Love Me

8 - Hypnotized to Love Me

During class I ruminate on the news Amanda just gave me. It was definitely rude of her to tell me like that, but she has her moments sometimes. Once, back when I was going out with Landon, she told me something that almost wrecked my relationship with him before the incident that officially broke us up.

We were all at a party after a basketball game around November when Landon and I got separated at some point. We'd both had a few drinks already, so we weren't paying the most attention to our surroundings. Me, Gina, and some others were out by the fire pit in the back while different people trickled in and out of the house. All of a sudden, Amanda comes jogging towards us with an upset look on her face.

"What's wrong, Manda?" I use her nickname I'd given her in the fifth grade.

"Hannah, I was walking through the hallway just now and thought I heard Landon's voice, so I peeked into one of the rooms. They were...they were..." Amanda looks down, ashamed.

I'm confused by how she's acting. "What are you saying? They were, what? Who's they?"

She pauses for another few seconds. "Landon was...making out with some senior girl. I don't know who she was."

I'm utterly shocked by the news. We'd only been dating for a few months, but Landon had never done anything like this.

"What? Are you sure?" I ask, my voice coming out as almost a whisper. I can hardly believe it. This is humiliating.

"What? What are you talking about, Amanda? I highly doubt he'd do that," Gena scoffs. "I'll go find Reece, Hans, don't worry. It'll be okay." Gena squeezes my arm and then heads inside to find her boyfriend.

"Let's head inside, too, Hannah. If Landon's still hanging out at the party then maybe it wasn't him in that room," Amanda suggests.

I reply weakly, "Okay." We head inside.

We look everywhere, but no one can tell us where Landon has gone. I finally ask Amanda which door she looked into. She points towards the hallway nearest to the master bedroom. As we're walking that way, a senior boy basketball player sticks his arm out to block our path.

"Woah there, ladies. Where do you think you're headed?" He says with a sultry smile. He's clearly been drinking quite a bit.

"We need to see something in that room," I say with false confidence. I'm only a freshman and senior boys can be very intimidating.

"Sorry, no can do. Unless you want in on the action? Then maybe I can let you head on in." He smirks.

My worst fear is confirmed. Landon must be in one of those rooms. Where else could he be? I call his phone. His ringtone can be heard over the music in the background. It's coming from that hallway.

I feel tears welling in my eyes. My cheeks feel hot and the music has become unbearably loud. Just as I'm about to burst out crying, I hear my name being called from behind the tall senior.

     "Hannah! Come in here!" Someone calls out. I look around the boy and sure enough, Gena is sticking her head from out one of the doorways. Confused, I walk down the hallway only to find Gena and Reece standing in the bathroom. Looking down, I see Landon hunched over the toilet in the midst of throwing up what was probably whiskey, his drink of choice. I sigh in relief. Gena closes the door behind me.

     "Reece has been in here with him for the past 45 minutes, Hans," Gena shakes her head and rolls her eyes slightly. "I don't know what Amanda saw, but it definitely wasn't Landon."

     "Thank goodness. I'll talk to her about it later."

   Gena nods her head towards the phone sitting next to the sink. "Sorry that we couldn't answer your call. Landon was trying to get up and fell into the bathtub. It's been a mess."