𝐮𝐡 𝐨𝐡 | 𝐣. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬

chapter 3

eliza watched as her sister spotted the boy from her instagram post. the boy lifted his drink up as a way of acknowledging her. now that eliza was looking at him, he did seem vaguely familiar. she probably did see him at a couple of parties, but eliza never stayed out very long. like she said earlier, she was having to change up some of her habits. eliza just didn't think it would be this exact moment. this was not how she wanted her night to go. 

"eliza, come on!" lola ushered her best friend over.

reluctantly, the girl stood up from her seat and walked over to the large group in the corner. it was a bunch of guys and then her best friend and sister. some looked more familiar than others. the shortest one, who she could assume was named cole from her instagram post, was the one she could remember the most. he seemed friendly enough and not too annoying, especially in comparison to the guy beside him. whoever was to cole's left had such a loud voice she could hear him without reaching their table.

as eliza went to stand next to her sister, sawyer announced, "and this is my sister, eliza!"

"hi!" she sent the group a very shy and forced smile.

the shortest one extended his hand and introduced himself, "hi, eliza! i'm cole! it's nice to properly meet you!"

eliza nodded her head and flashed a smile. her sister rolled her eyes at eliza's awkwardness. "i would like to apologize for eliza's shy behavior. we're trying to get her out of the house more and socialize," sawyer told cole.

"well i think the party on friday is the perfect opportunity to break out of your shell," cole told eliza.

she was starting to feel slightly more comfortable around cole. he did seem to be the most chill out of this group as well. the less intimidating the more likely eliza was to engage.

eliza said, "i'll be there whether i want to be social or not." this earned a chuckle from cole.

now that she was there and the conversation with cole shifted to her two friends, she was able to get a better look at everyone. the one next to cole, the loudest by far, she recognized once she saw his tattoos. another boy in the group also had tattoos but didn't seem to jog any memories. the other three were clearly brothers. the way they were interacting was a dead giveaway and the fact they had similar features.

the girl continued to analyze the group and see if she had any recollection of them when she felt a hand on her shoulder. she turned her head slightly and saw it was only her best friend. lola grabbed the rest of the group's attention as no one besides cole had introduced themselves. "some gentlemen you are! everyone please introduce yourselves to eliza!" lola half jokingly demanded.

the guy covered in tattoos was the first to speak, "i'm sorry, lola! we were in a very intense conversation!" lola crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. he then put his hands up in surrender and added, "i'm trevor!"

eliza nodded and mentally made a note that trevor is very loud and to never go near him if she wanted to be antisocial. alex, the other one with tattoos, greeted her next. he and trevor appeared to be the goofballs of the group.

then, there were the three brothers. the boy across cole had to be the oldest. he also was a man of few words as the only thing he said was 'quinn.' eliza could tell they would at least get along. next to him, was a boy named luke. besides cole, luke was by far the friendliest one. he explained that he was the youngest and was excited to have us over on friday.

this left the boy in the far corner. he hadn't said a word since she came over to the table. it was something eliza noticed. after luke was done talking, the boy just stared at eliza. several seconds had passed and still nothing. as a result, luke nudged his brother, "jack, don't be rude."

jack snapped out of whatever trance he was in and said, "oh, sorry. i'm jack." he then stared down at his drink and started playing with his straw.

the rest of the group continued chatting with eliza, sawyer, and lola. eliza tuned most of it out as it was just party details she didn't really care about. she was in her own little world and so was jack. cole shot his best friend a look and jack just shrugged. jack then decided to talk to luke in hopes that cole would stop glancing over at him.

meanwhile, eliza gently touched her sister's hand. it was a signal they had used since they were little if they wanted to leave. sawyer already had a feeling it was time for them to head back home. "anyways, we should probably get going, but it was nice seeing you guys again! thank you for the invite! we will see you friday!" eliza's sister waved at the group.

the three girls had already turned around when cole had stopped them, "before you guys leave, let me give you guys my number in case anything changes or you have any questions."

"is this your way of flirting with us, mr. caufield?" lola joked.

cole laughed, "of course! why else would i invite three of you over?"

each one handed cole their phones as he put in his contact information. sawyer and lola left the table as eliza still needed her phone back. she stood there slightly uncomfortable since her friends had left her. cole reassured her, "hey, i know the party is going to be out of your comfort zone. and if for some reason sawyer and lola leave you, come find me and i'll hang out with you."

eliza gave a real genuine smile, "thank you, i appreciate the offer!"

cole then added, "and honestly if you find any of these guys, they'll probably stick with you. well, maybe don't try to find trevor and alex. you'll never know what they're up to and they'll probably talk you ear off. but luke and quinn are great."

the blonde furrowed her eyebrows, "what about jack?"

"usually, he's a great person to be around but he seems to be pretty quiet around you."

eliza went to speak but her sister called for her. she quickly grabbed her phone from cole and said her goodbyes. she caught up with sawyer and lola at the door. the two girls grinned as they watched their little caterpillar morph into a butterfly. even thought it was a small interaction with cole, they were beyond happy. they were hoping eliza could keep this up on friday.