Chapter 17:Why did I come?
"Are you ready to go meet some new people?" Jordan grins expectedly at me as I munch on my buttermilk pancakes ignoring the fact that I might look like a hungry raccoon.
We decided to have breakfast at Starbucks—which is just a few streets across my apartment complex—since we all haven't eaten. The boys offered to pay for my meal as remuneration for breaking my trust, in hope of making me at least forget about the ordeal.
As if!
I stare at the grinning Jordan and then shift my eyes to Chase then back to Jordan again. "New people?" I take a sip of my hot chocolate.
"Yeah," his head bobs up and down fervently with excitement. "But don't worry, Tristan and Sam will be there. So it's not entirely new people." He casually explains as if not knowing my predicament which involves the thick tension between Tristan and I.
"Dude," Chase elbows Jordan in the ribs, knowing quite well how I wish not to see Tristan. "Mentioning Tristan won't really convince Hailey to come with us."
"She's going to see him anyway," Jordan glares at his best friend and rubs the sore spot on his ribs. "Might as well get used to his presence now."
I roll my eyes at that statement.
"Well you could've at least not told her about him." Chase scolds his other idiot half. "She would have just agreed to come with us and meet Tristan there."
I thought he was speaking in my favor...
"You do know I'm here, right?" I roll my eyes at Chase's stupid ideas. "And you're right, I don't want to see him. So I'm not hanging out with you guys."
I don't want to be in a situation where I'd be forced to speak to him or even have to look at him. I know it's petty, but I don't think I'll be able to restrain myself from doing something stupid especially since there is still an evident attraction between us. And seeing Sam with him, knowing that she is basically in love with him, will gradually break me within—it'll remind me of what I decided to end.
It'll only deepen my guilt.
I take full responsibility, well eighty percent of it, for how Tristan and I's relationship had come to an end. All I can say is that there was, there still is, a deeper reasoning to my hasty decision back then, but I totally regret making it, especially after I was proven wrong.
He proved me to be wrong.
"C'mon, bro," Jordan pleads. "It'll be fun. And what better way to explore the area if not with a group of friends who already know the area?"
"Jordan's right," Chase butts in. "Besides it'll be a quicker way get over your infatuation with Tristan."
"It's not infatuation," I glare at Chase at his careless way of using his words. "But you're right," I shrug with a sigh. "Maybe it'll give me closure. But if this blows up, I'm gonna end both of you."
"Fine by me."
"It's definitely gonna blow up."
Jordan and Chase reply simultaneously, with Chase's response earning a glare from Jordan.
"Seriously, dude?" Jordan stares at Chase incredulously. "Can we just keep the positivity? We don't need your negative vibe."
"Okay," Chase lifts up his hands in surrender. "Now, can we just get going? They guys are already waiting for us at the beach."
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After a fifteen minute ride to the beach, Chase finally parks his car in the crowded parking lot, and we quickly exit the car to digest the new atmosphere. The air is moist and warm, making it a perfect day to get a tan.
Too bad I refused to bring my swimsuit.
"They are waiting for us," Jordan informs Chase and I, and we nod in response.
"This is gonna be fun," I mutter sarcastically under my breath and shake my hands with apprehension.
Come down, Hailey. No need to overreact.
"Chill, dude," Chase places his hand on my shoulder after noticing my uneasiness. "Don't over think it."
Well, this is also your fault!
"Thanks, Chase," I offer him a tight-lipped smile. "And thanks for dragging me here against my will." I add on with heavy sarcasm.
"You're welcome," Jordan butts in while sliding on a pair of sunglasses on his face. "Let's go now."
Chase and I roll our eyes before following behind an overly excited Jordan to the destination we are supposed to meet with the rest at. A myriad of bodies in their swimwear—girls or women in their bikinis, and boys or men in their swim shorts— are scattered across the sand beach either socializing and playing with each other or taking a dip in the blue waters or getting a tan under the radiant California sun.
Within a few more seconds, we reach the group of familiar and unknown faces, and Jordan is the first to catapult himself onto a grinning Sam, sending them plummeting to the ground in fits of laughter.
"Great to see you, Cuz." Sam is the first to speak as they stand up from their fall.
"How has my Sammy Wammy been?" Jordan gives her an enormous bear hug, almost squeezing the breath out of her.
"Don't call me that," Sam tries to push her cousin away but fails against Jordan's strong bear grip. "I'm too grown up for silly pet names."
"You'll forever be young in my eyes," Jordan puts her down and ruffles her hair, causing Sam to swat his hand away with a childish pout.
"Are you guys done?" A voice interrupts the two's cute family moment, but it simultaneously causes my stomach to twist into knots and my knees to begin shaking a bit.
I'm really having second thoughts about coming here.
"Tristan!" Jordan's face lights up at the sight of his long lost best friend and engulfs him in a hug. "It's been too long since I have seen you."
"Stop be dramatic, dude," Chase rolls his eyes. "You saw him this morning."
This morning? I thought they only arrived this morning. Unless they went to see him before coming to my apartment of course, and they might have also taken a very early flight.
"Great, now we have two Sam's," Another voice interrupts yet another moment.
I stare in the direction of the voice having thought it sounded too familiar for a first encounter and my expression darkens when I see who it belongs to.
"Hey, you're the guy who was rude to me yesterday," the words roll off my tongue before I get the chance to stop myself. "You're a jerk by the way." I glare at him rudely, totally unaware of the pair of eyes that are glued to me right now.
"You guys know each other?" Sam sends me and the rude guy a quizzical look.
"Of course," Rude Guy sends me a devilish smirk without taking his eyes off me. "Who could I forget the girl who threatened to beat me up right after calling me pretty?"
And that causes me to blush.
Chase releases a snort which makes Sam and Rude Guy to stare at him with puzzled expressions.
"I know, funny," Rude Guy out a little chuckle of his own. "As if a girl could have the skills to fight me."
Chase bursts further into fits of laughter, Jordan later joining, and Sam, Tristan, and two other guys I never really noticed standing within the circle, and I stare at the two laughing lunatics. Rude Guy decides to just let out another small chuckle, thinking that they are just boosting his ego.
"That was funny to imagine," Chase wipes away a tear and struggles to actually catch his breath.
"Too much," Jordan wipes away his tear. "I'd really love to see that happen."
"Just ignore these idiots, Colton," Tristan rolls his eyes at his best friends and casually slings an arm over Sam's shoulder. "But for introduction sake, this is Jordan, Chase, and Hailey," his eyes linger on me for a second too long before pointing at his friends. "And guys this is Colton, Tyler and Sean."
So the jerk's name is Colton...
I wave at Tyler and Sean, completely ignoring Colton, but sadly I am unable to ignore the burning feeling of anger and jealously stirring in my stomach at the sight of Tristan's arm on Sam's shoulder.
"So you're the girl Tristan's been talk—"
"Shut it, Tyler," Tristan abruptly cuts off Tyler's words and Tyler just holds up his hands in surrender.
Tristan's been talking about me? Or is Tyler referring to another girl?
Tyler is a cute guy with shoulder length sandy blonde hair and emerald green eyes. He has an athletic build, lean and muscular at the same time, and with an estimated height of 6 feet 2 inches, making him slightly taller than Tristan.
Sean, on the other hand, has slightly curly ginger red hair and hazel brown eyes, and incredibly pink lips. He has a hard and defined jawline and high cheekbones. His height is probably 6 feet 1 inch and he is very muscular. He must be a body builder.
He's very attractive.
"Right, touchy topic," Tyler pretends to zip and lock his lips and throw away the key, before shoving both his hands into his pockets.
"Why's it a touchy —" Sam tries to ask but Jordan cuts her off, saving both Tristan and I from a confrontation.
"C'mon, Cuz, let's catch up," Jordan detaches Sam from underneath Tristan's arm and throws his own arm over her shoulder before dragging her away from the group.
"I'm guessing she doesn't know yet?" Sean's the first to break the awkward silence between us.
"Not yet," Tristan stares deeply at me, ignoring the eyes watching us and making me shiver under his hard gaze. "Should I tell her?" The question is directed at me and all eyes land on me afterwards.
"I'm trying real hard not to punch you," I glare at him, also avoiding the question.
"We both know you don't want to do that, Angel," he intensifies his glare. I don't miss the fact that he just used my old nickname upon meeting in high school.
I'm trying really hard to hate this guy!
"Should we... uhh... leave?" Tyler breaks off our staring contest, which I'm quite grateful for. "Because the sexual tension here is quite thick."
Why did I come?
"How about we hit the water?" Sean suggests seeing as Tyler's machnism of breaking the ice didn't work out as he expected.
"Yeah, I'm up for it," Chase is the first to take Sean up for the swim, followed by Tyler and an amused Colton, leaving Tristan and I all alone to the sound of the crashing waves.
"You're making this really hard," Tristan speaks up after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"I'm making this hard?" I stare at him incredulously. "Well it didn't seem like it after seeing how comfortable you are with Sam."
Okay, that wasn't supposed to come out?
"What are you talking—" he stops talking after understanding what I am referring to. "Are you jealous?" He chuckles humorlessly.
"No, I'm not!" Lies. "I was just stating how you've already moved on." I cross my arms over my chest.
"Moved on?" He chuckles even more. "I told you I haven't. I told you that I am still in love you. I told you that I'll never forget you. I freaking told you that I'll never be able to live without you!" His outburst seems to have manifested into anger, and all I can do is to fall into a frozen state and stare at him."I told you all of this while you were lying on that hospital bed because of me. And I still mean every word."
My heart rate is alarmingly quickening and I have no idea how to control it. Tristan's straight forward confession has taken me aback and has rendered me speechless.
"I-I..." I stutter as an attempt to form a coherent sentence. "Why are you being so honest?" I can feel a tear threatening to escape from the brink of my eyelid.
"Because I had to get it off my chest," Tristan, in all seriousness, states. "After all, it's the first stepping stone for me to stop loving you the way I do."
And then he walks away.
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A/N: Finally managed to write this chapter. I took long because I ran out of inspiration so I was stuck trying to figure out how to construct this chapter.
Thank you guys for the 110k+ reads and many votes. Hope you enjoyed this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it.
Bye! 🌈