Haden Merrick

Chapter Three

          As I open my eyes, I find Haden kissing me with his hands on my waist to pull me close which leads me to run my fingers through his hair as I inhale his scent.

         We break apart and the person in front of me begins to change from Haden to Seth which makes me squint my eyes in confusion, trying to focus onto something or someone more realistic than a drift. The familiar blue eyes change to brown and quickly changing back to blue, making me look around to find the crowd suffocating me as I walk away, pushing through and ignoring a familiar voice calling out my name. My heart starts to beat in an unstable motion as I quicken my pace, immediately stepping out of the house.

         ''What the hell?'' I mutter under my breath, feeling my head aching.

         I walk towards the back of the house where it's more quiet before sitting down on the ground, ignoring the stares I'm getting from people passing by as I look around, finding a familiar figure not quite far from me. ''You there! What are you doing?'' I point at the stranger which causes him to turn around and look at me, his eyes widening a little before his lips begin to curve up into a smile. ''What are you smiling at, huh? Is it funny? Did I say something funny?''

         The figure stays still at his spot which causes me to feel frustrated, making me stand up and immediately walk towards him. Just as I'm about to reach him, I stumble onto something and it feels as if I'm losing my balance but his hands reach out for mine, preventing my fall. ''Why are you touching me?'' I pout, pulling myself away from him.

         He laughs, ''You're drunk.''

         I squint my eyes at him, leaning close. ''No, I'm not.''

        ''Yes, you are.'' He replies, leaning even closer before leaning back. ''Can't we have a nice encounter where you're not falling or drunk?''

        ''I'm not drunk!'' I scoff, raising the bottle to my mouth but only to find it empty; upsetting me in the slightest. The blurry figure in front of me continues to look at me as he smiles, both of his hands are shoved into his jeans' pockets, letting me eye him down—finding him standing tall, probably around 6'2 and casually just hovering down my height. ''You find me entertaining?'' I ask, my eyes droopily closing for a few seconds.

        ''I find you adorable. Why did you drink so much?'' He takes away the empty bottle from my hand, putting it down on the ground.

        For some reason, the person in front of me seems oddly familiar with his eyes staring back at me. The way his features are highlighted in the dark under the dim light, it makes me wonder if we might have met before. Probably once or twice. As I continue to stare at him, he takes his time to do the same without being bothered to hide it away and it's no doubt I look like a miserable drunk at the moment—not that I'm admitting I'm drunk but it sure does feel like the world is moving slow.

        ''You look really familiar,'' I squint my eyes, using my index finger to poke onto his cheek before dragging it down to meet his lips. ''Eh, have we met before?''

        He pays no attention to my hand touching his face, ''What do you think? Have we met before?''

         ''I don't know. Let me think,'' I frown, massaging both of my temples. My eyes continue to wander up and down his figure, the look on his face shows just how much he's interested in me as I am interested in him but as soon as my eyes land on something in his hand, I immediately point at it. ''What's that? Can I have it?''

          ''It's—''

          I cut him off by immediately raising the bottle near my lips, letting the liquid travel down my throat which causes me to frown in disgust. ''Yuck! It's water.''