Hazel's Hitchhiker

40: Never Have I Ever

Joey

Damn, who knew my boy Phillip could be so bold and take charge? My own dude knew exactly what he wanted and went after his girl. It must've been a scary move for him considering they never seemed to be very serious with each other. Seeing this bravery in Phillip made me wish for my own bravery. It made me want to be bold and go after that one girl. Maybe someday it would happen. Maybe.

Everyone seemed to be having a good and merry time while making their s'mores. Jokes were to be had and funny stories were to be told. For some reason, I stayed quiet. Hazel definitely wasn't quiet. Clearly, having her sister with her was good for her. She seemed alive. Her laughter was hot. Phillip and Amber also seemed to get quietly flirty with each other during this time. Looks like things were actually official with them. When everyone had their s'mores, Phillip suggested we play 'Never Have I Ever.'  Everyone agreed and just like that, Amber passed out beer cans to everyone in order to play. To nobody's surprise, Hazel substituted her beer for an Arizona Iced Tea.

"Never have I ever pretended to be a cop," began Hazel.

Both Phillip and Amber took a sip of their beer. We all knew Phillip had been pretending, but we didn't know about Amber. Apparently Amber dressed as a cop for Halloween during middle school. After Hazel, Hannah went next.

"Never have I ever hated a parent."

Damn. Really? To nobody's shock, everyone took a sip of their drink. Things grew a little more interesting when Phillip claimed he never set something on fire. Amber and Hannah both took their sip. Both of the girls had apparently once set their hair on fire while getting ready in the morning for school. It was a pretty good game. And drinking beer was also fun. Things made an unexpected turn when it was back to Phillip.

"Never have I ever vandalized a bathroom." Amber laughed and took a sip.

Amber couldn't help herself when it was her turn. "Never have I ever paid someone to vandalized a bathroom."

All laughter died with that one. Why did Amber have to say that? The temptation to get up and run away was real. My throat began to feel weird. Standing up in this situation wasn't going to work this time. My brain had completely forgotten how to do so. Damn. The only thing I could do was take a sip of my beer.

"Wait a minute," blurted Hazel in excitement. "Joey, you paid someone to vandalize a bathroom. Spill the beans bro."

Phillip gave Amber a look. It was a look asking her why she would ask something like that. She returned the look which asked why he would bring up the topic in the first place. They really were the perfect couple for each other. They were seriously a match made in Heaven.

"I paid Amber to vandalize the bathroom," I spoke with a burning and sweaty forehead. "And I got the principal on it as well." My eyes were directly on the ground not wanting to look at Hazel.

It was clear that Hazel wasn't sure if she should be confused or pissed. She simply sat there in the quiet with everyone else until she was able to speak up. "You paid Amber to vandalize the bathroom? Why? Because of that, I ended up having to tutor you."

Amber began scratching her head also looking at the ground while taking a large gulp of her beverage.

"That's why I paid her to do that." My eyes were off the ground and back on her. "I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to get to know you, but I didn't know how to do it. Up until that point, I saw you every day at lunch sitting at your table as you read a book waiting for all your friends to get there. There were times, I wanted to sit there and ask what you were reading, but I couldn't. The times we did cross paths made me want to talk to you even more. I figured if Amber destroyed the damn bathroom, I could get you to be my tutor. It would be the perfect way to talk to you. If I hadn't done any of that, the principal would've gotten someone else to tutor me eventually. It would've sucked a lot."

The game pretty much died after that. Everyone just sat there unsure of what to say. Hazel was the first to stand up and walked up to her car and went inside. Everyone else stood up and went their separate ways. Phillip put out the fire and slipped into the tent with Amber.

Hazel

Shit, Joey seriously was able to pull all of that off? I'll admit, for a second I wanted to punch that bastard in the jaw for what he did. So much of my time went to tutoring him. But tutoring him wasn't all that bad. Getting to know him was nice. But if he wanted to talk to me so much, why wouldn't he just walk up to me? Was I really that scary to approach? What was wrong with him? With all that thinking, Hannah joined me on the passenger side.

"Quite a big reveal tonight," she stated. "How are you feeling about all of this?"

My eyes wanted to release tears, but they couldn't. Maybe the moment didn't require sadness. "I don't know. Maybe a little bothered. A little confused and a little angry."

"Well if I learned anything from this game, it's that Joey likes you. He's got a full-on crush on you but hasn't realized it yet. Maybe you haven't either."

"Maybe I do have a crush, but I don't know. It would never work between us. We're too different from each other. It just wouldn't work."

"I know I don't know Joey that well, but you guys really aren't that different from each other. Hell, I think there might be something between you two. But you never know unless you give him a chance. Just a little food for thought."

She left me alone in the car with my new thoughts. She also left me alone leaving two cans of beer on the passenger seat.

WOW! Quite a big reveal! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to comment and vote.

What's the craziest thing you've done to get the attention of a crush?

Should Joey have found another way to get Hazel's attention?