The Tour That Changed Us

Part 5

  I walk around for about an hour, thinking about what I'll say when I get back to the hotel room. So far, the best I came up with is, "Sorry." That's good, right? Wrong. I'm completely screwed.

  I go into a couple shops and look around. It's 12am before I know it. I start to go back to the hotel, but then I see a familiar face.

  Jackson is standing at the end of a nearly empty street looking at me. I turn a corner and try to lose him, but it was to late. He spotted me.

  "Hazel!" Ugh!!! I turn around and see that he looks frantic and exhausted.

  "Yes?" What a stupid question. I know exactly why he was there.

  "Why did you run off?" He's in front of me now looking like an angry mother.

  "I am 16 years old! I can walk around at night by myself!" It came out a lot harsher than I meant it to. He looks offended.

  "This is not a perfect world. Someone could have kidnapped you or raped you or mugged you!" He seems genuinely worried. I take out my pepper spray and show him that I had protection.

  "That doesnt always work! You still could have gotten hurt!" He's yelling now and my vision is randomly blurred by tears. "Shit. Come on. Don't cry," he said. I'm shivering, wishing I had a hoodie.

  I stand there for a minute shaking and silently crying for no reason. Jackson gets closer, but I back away.

  "I'm fine," I say, obviously not fooling him.

  "Sam told us what happened... He was really upset and sorry." That made me cry harder. I sat down against a wall, continuing to shake and cry. Jackson pulled off his jacket and draped it around me before sitting next to me.

  "I'm fine," I try to say more sternly, but failing. I attempt to take off the jacket, but he holds it around me. I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover. Jackson is actually really sweet.

  I look up at him and apologize.

  "For what?" He almost laughs at the fact that I apologized.

  "Making you chase after me," I say. He looks down at me and puts an arm around my shoulders.

  "Just wanted to make sure you were safe." It's funny how you can barely talk to someone and they still care about you like they've known you for years.

  I put my head on his chest and he tenses up. I immidiently pick my head up sensing he was probably uncomfortable. I apologize and stand up.

  "We should head home," I say. I offer him my hand to help him up. He takes it, but doesn't let it go. What is happening??

****

  He doesn't let my hand go the entire walk back to the hotel. I knock with my free hand, and Sam opens up instantly. His face lifts when he sees me, but drops when he notes that mine and Jacksons fingers are still intertwined and I had his jacket on. I let go and give him back his jacket.

  Jackson goes inside and Sam steps out into the hall, closing the door.

  "I'm so sorry." We both say it in unison.

  "I'm sorry I ran off. I shouldn't have done that. And I'm sorry I didn't call to let you know where I was, and I'm sorry I worried you." He looked at me and gave me a weak smile.

  "We can talk about it in the morning, okay?" He looked tired and I was, too. I nodded.

  We both go back inside. Jackson's on the couch and everyone else is in the room. We all say goodnight and I go sit on the couch. I stare into space for a while, dreading our talk in the morning.