Chapter Nineteen: Dream Come True
I wrapped my arms around Cal in a goodbye of sorts. "I'll see you around, big bro." I said to him as he leaned down to pick me up slightly and squeeze me.
"Love you, Hal." He whispered in my ear before he set me down, he pulled back, his eyes glistening with what I thought could've been a tear before he said, "I'm so proud of you."
"Love you back," I told him with a smile.
After Cal, I turned to Lexi. She wrapped me up in her arms and held me tight, "My little Hal, I'm gonna miss you."
I buried my head in her shoulder and squeezed her back, "I'm gonna miss you too."
"Call me, about anything, anytime. I love you so much." Lexi told me, her eyes damp. Everytime Lexi and Jace had to leave, Lexi always got a bit emotional, but nowhere near as much as Jace, though he liked to try and hide it.
And then it was time to say goodbye to Jace. As I slowly turned toward him, a grin already spreading across my face, he rolled his eyes and huffed. "Don't look at me like that." He groaned.
"Like what, Jacey?" I asked him and he place his palm flat on my forehead and shoved backwards. "Hey!" I exclaimed, glaring at him as he laughed.
"Come here, squirt." He said, gathering me into his arms and leaning down to rest his head on my shoulder. "I miss you so much, you know that?"
"You haven't even left yet!" I exclaimed, though hugging him back just as tightly. "But I miss you too."
Jace began to sway side to side with his arms still wrapped around me. It was kind of silly, but I couldn't quite say I minded.
"I love you," he whispered, his voice choking slightly.
"I love you too," I replied, mine probably doing the same, but I couldn't bring myself to care.
My mom and I watched as first Cal, then Jace and Lexi drove away. The moment was bittersweet. The house wouldn't be as crowded anymore, but I would miss them so much. My mom pulled me into a hug before we went inside, and I noticed she was crying.
"I love you so much, Hallie." She said into my hair.
"Love you too mom," I replied, hugging her back though slightly confused.
"I know I wasn't there for Jace or Cal, and I wasn't there for you as much as I should've been, but I'm glad I realized it in the end." She whispered.
"They understand mom, they love you. And I do too." I replied, hugging her tighter as I heard her stifle a choked sob.
We stood like that for a few minutes before my mom pulled back, wiped her eyes and we went inside.
++++
"Alright Hallie," Miles said turning to me after putting the car in park, "ready to get wasted?"
We were parked in front of a large house that was on a private strip of beach, except unlike mine, this house was upscale. Like fancy fountain out in front, three story, mini mansion type. The party was being thrown by Lani McHale, a guard from tower 13, and a total all American daddy's girl, so Miles said.
Her parents owned half of the boardwalk, which was how they could afford this house.
"Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I sighed and opened the passenger side door.
This morning had been a repeat of yesterday morning, if not more cold. Miles and I worked morning shift, and Mitchell was scheduled for noon shift. He didn't even come out of his room by the time I was leaving, and I hadn't seen him since last night.
And last night? He had effectively enacted the same silent treatment from yesterday morning.
Miles and I walked up to the house, unlike most trashy beach parties, this one was a bit more calm. The bass was still pounding, but it wasn't rattling the windows, and there weren't any people passed out on the lawn, however, it was only 9:30.
Miles held the door open for me as I walked in, and despite the size of the house, the foyer was pretty packed.
"Hey there pretty lady, have a drink." A guy who was already stumbling said, passing me a red solo cup filled with a dark brown liquid.
I shrugged and began to bring it up to my mouth when Miles elbowed me sharply in the ribs and took it from my hand. "Make your own drinks, Hallie." He scolded, before passing it off to another stumbling drunk guy.
"Yeah, yeah" I sighed as I walked toward the kitchen, though my eyes locked on one person in particular across the room, and I dragged Miles behind me.
"Woah, woah, woah, what was that for?" Miles asked.
"Miles, George is here." I whined, glancing back at where I'd last seen him.
Fortunately, I didn't think he'd seen us yet, but I'm sure it wouldn't be long.
"Of course he is." Miles sighed under his breath.
If George was here, did that mean Connor was too?
I'd texted Connor that I was too tired to talk last night, being completely worn out by overthinking everything about Mitchell. He'd said that it was cool, and that had pretty much been it.
"He takes any chance he can to get himself fucked up." Miles added in rolling his eyes.
A laugh barked out from beside us. I turned to see a short, tanned girl with long jet black hair and a couple piercings standing there, sipping from a red solo cup. "Good one." She commented.
Miles and I turned to her. "You know George, huh?" I asked her.
"Yeah, he's only the biggest asshole at every party in this damn town." She cursed, tilting her head back and finishing her drink in one gulp. "Follow me, I need a refill." She said, motioning is toward the kitchen with her head.
"So you must live around here?" Miles asked her.
She stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway and turned around to face us. "You could say that," she said smirking.
"What part?" I asked her.
"Oh, you know, right around here." She replied still smirking.
We entered the kitchen, and she walked straight to the humongous fridge, opening it up and grabbing a coke. She poured half into her cup and then poured in some vodka, very heavy handily.
"Damn Lani, having a rough night?" A douchey looking guy asked her. He had on a surf shop tee, and his jeans were hanging way too low on his hips. All in all, he looked like a classic beach bum stoner.
"Shut the fuck up, Andrew." She cursed, giving him the finger.
"Oooh, good girl gone bad." He mocked, teasing her and smirking.
"Get the fuck out of my house." She fumed, and when he made no attempt at moving, "I mean it, asshole, leave!"
Andrew held up his hands in surrender and turned around to leave.
Miles and I looked at the girl- Lani- shocked.
"So you're the blonde girl in the pictures on the walls all over this house?" Miles asked stunned.
She groaned, "Yes, the family photos posted about the house. They make everything look happy, but really those photoshoots were just hell on Earth.
"Thank god I don't have to do them anymore." She shuddered, downing half of her drink in one gulp.
"Oh yeah? Why?" I questioned.
"Mummy and Daddy aren't exactly fond of my hair." She replied with a slight smirk, "'Lani, why would you do such a thing? You're so blessed with beautiful blonde hair, and now you just-'" Lani said, quoting her parents. "But she never finishes the sentence, big wonder."
"Well she must not hate it too much," Miles reasoned.
"Why do you say?" Lani asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"She hasn't made you dye it back." Miles replied shrugging.
Lani simply laughed, and I joined her. "Why do you think I chose to die my hair black?" She asked rhetorically, before answering, "there is no getting this hair back to the blonde it was before, no matter how much she pays the stylist. The only way to do so would be to completely fry my hair off with bleach."
"So is that what this is about?" I asked and she turned toward me, "Trying to piss off mummy and daddy by throwing a huge rager?"
"Think it'll work?" Lani asked with a wink. Coincidentally, at that moment a glass shattered somewhere in the house, "Ah, music to my ears." Lani replied with a devious grin sneaking up on her face.
+++
Miles and I spent the next few hours with Lani, and it truly was a shame she wasn't at our tower with how well the three of us got along. Spending time with them, I hadn't even noticed anyone else in the room, and I was forgetting about the things that had been upsetting me previously.
That was until Miles's face shifted. Immediately, I looked behind me to see Mitchell and Wes walking in to the room where Lani, Miles, and I were.
"I should go say hi? That's not awkward right? It would be more awkward to not say hi?" I asked the both of them, with a nervous smile on my face. I almost felt like i was going to be sick.
Miles opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Lani, "Girl, stop overthinking it." She said and pushed me toward them.
I slowly made my way over there, acting like I had been sentenced to be burned at the stake and this was my death march, but when I did make it to them, I put on a facade and said, "Hey guys! Good to see you!"
"Hallie, babe, what's up?" Wes asked, winking at me jokingly and pulled me into a side hug.
"Hey Hallie," Mitchell replied, not making eye contact with me, instead scanning the room. "I didn't know you were coming."
"Well how would you? Not like you were too chatty these past two days." I replied boldly.
Ah yes, I'd let Lani talk me into trying one of her vodka soda mixes, and they weren't as bad as I thought. The liquid courage truly was showing through now.
"Hallie-" Mitchell started but I cut him off.
"No, it's fine. Have fun guys." I replied breezily and walked back over to Miles and Lani.
Miles's face again, however, was not anywhere near pleasant, nor one I wanted to see.
"Oh god, what is it?" I asked him.
"Well first of all, that was ice cold. But second, we've got company in 3, 2, and-"
"Hey Hallie," a low, charming voice said from behind me, and I turned to see Connor, of course.
"Hey yourself," I replied with a wink and Connor laughed.
Honestly, he looked kinda bad. I knew he wasn't sleeping much, but the bags under his eyes looked like he hadn't been sleeping at all.
"Can we talk? Outside or something?" He asked softly, leaning in so I could hear him.
"Yeah, of course." I replied, softly as well, looking at him with concerned eyes.
I turned to Lani and Mitchell "Be right ba-"
"Get some girllll," Lani whispered in my ear while Miles nodded subtly, making me wonder who else had heard Lani's 'whisper.'
+++
Thankfully for us, Lani's backyard was big, and there weren't many people out, so when Connor dragged me over past one sleeping drunk guy, and a couple making out in the hedges, I wasn't truly worried about privacy.
"Hey," I replied, when we stopped and faced each other.
"Hey," he said again with a small smile, "So, I got your favorite." Connor said, holding out a can of cherry cola for me.
"No way, where did you find it? Lani said she didn't have any-"
"I actually brought it for you, I know you love them." Connor said blushing and looking down at his feet.
"Connor, that is so sweet," I thanked him genuinely, looking up into his kind blue eyes, but then remembering the dark circles under them, "Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked him with a little frown.
"No, but it's fine. Don't worry about me." He replied.
"Are you sure? You look like you got run over by a bus, and then they reversed back over you, only to re-run you over." I said, getting a small smile from him.
"Gee thanks, nice to know I look that bad." Connor replied laughing.
"Oh come on, I'm just messing with you. You know you never look bad." I said easily, letting the words slip out of my mouth in almost a joking tone, though they were true.
I'm sure the only reason I noticed the lack of sleep and signs of distress on Connor's face was because I knew him so well.
"I need to tell you something." Connor said, the laugh lines around his eyes straightening out, and his the smile dropping from his lips to make him look fully serious. "And you don't have to say anything, just let me finish."
"Okay." I replied seriously, the smile dropping from my face too.
Connor took a deep shaky breath, and I could see that his hands were shaking too, so I grabbed them and linked them with mine.
"Hey C, you don't have to be nervous. It's just me." I told him.
"Hallie, I like you." Connor blurted out, "I like you a lot.
"And I have since last summer when we first met, and I have even when you broke up with me. Damn, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world, but don't I know... you're so stubborn, and once you make up your mind, there's no going back on it.
"Hallie, you changed my life, for the better. And I wasn't good enough for you last year, hell I'm still not, but you mean so much to me, and I would be cheating myself if I didn't give everything I have to win the best thing that's ever happened to me back." Connor said earnestly, then his face shifted slightly, "not that you're a thing. That's not what I meant I-"
"I know what you meant, Connor." I said, laughing softly and stopping him.
I couldn't deny the absolute shockwaves and tingles Connor's words and being so close to him sent through my body.
But I also couldn't ignore that though different, Mitchell also made me feel some type of way. I stood there, frozen, unsure of what to think, do, or say.
"I know I said you didn't have to say anything but, please say something, Hallie." Connor said softly, his eyes pleading with me, and a part of me wanted nothing more than to put him out of the misery of not knowing and tell him how I felt about him.
Well at least until, I heard another voice call out my name, "Hallie," it was Mitchell.
Instinctively, I dropped Connor's hands and stepped back from him.
"Look, I know you're talking to Connor right now, but I just can't hold this in any longer." Mitchell said, "The reason I never called, texted, or hell, sent an email when you left. It was because I was so scared that I was losing you, Hallie. You, the girl I loved, and I was afraid I would never see you again. But this summer? It was a blessing, and a sign, and I can't throw this away with you.
"I'm sorry about the last couple days. I was scared again." Mitchell said ashamed, looking down at the ground. "I was scared because I'm falling for you all over again and I'm scared I'm gonna fuck things up again. But Hallie please, I want to be with you." Mitchell finished.
I opened my mouth slightly, then closing it quickly, and looked between the two boys. This was it, it was time to choose, Mitchell or Connor?
My ex-best friend who broke my heart, turned friend again, or the guy that I dumped, but still broke me in more ways than one?
The guy who had once known me better than anyone, or the one that got away?
In a split second after Mitchell had asked, all of these thoughts that I'd contemplated in the late hours of the night once again swirled through my head. But these thoughts were soon interrupted-
"You know, I'm uh, I'm gonna go." Connor said softly.
"But Connor-" I started, watching him physically cringe at the sound of his name from my mouth.
"No, just forget what I said, okay?" He said looking at me with a soft, sad smile. "Mitchell," he said with a nod toward him, and walked back in to the party.
I turned to Mitchell, "Mitchell-"
He took the few strides to get to me quickly and pulled me close to him. "Say you'll be mine, Hallie."
"Of course." I replied softly, and Mitchell leaned in to kiss me, first slowly, but then gradually faster as we got more comfortable with each other.
It was everything I had ever dreamed of, kissing Mitchell was amazing.
After a few minutes, we broke apart, gasping for air, and Mitchell laced his fingers through mine. "Let's go back in, shall we?" He asked with a smirk.
I nodded in reply, giggling. We walked back into the party, where Wes had gone off with some girl probably, and Lani and Miles were still talking, rather closely.
"Hey guys," I said and they turned to look at me, both of their eyes widening significantly with surprise as they saw the guy next to me.
"Out with one, back with another." Lani mumbles under her breath, so that I just barely heard her and hoped Mitchell didn't, "Damn, you work fast." She said, louder this time with a wink.
Miles just nodded in surprise, not saying anything, though looking slightly confused.
Mitchell greeted them as well, and then we hit the dance floor. However, as I looked around the room, I noticed Connor and George were nowhere to be found.
And even though a great part of my heart was happy, I couldn't help but feel like a part of it was breaking. The same part that broke almost a year ago on that night when I broke up with Connor.
On the very very short list of things I kept from Miles, he never knew how serious Connor and my relationship actually was. All of our friends thought it was just a mutual attraction, and we were simply hooking up, which we did a fair amount of, but our emotional connection ran much deeper. There was a time when I even thought I loved Connor.
But that time had passed. I was with Mitchell now, and Mitchell made me happy too. I had longed to be with Mitchell for the past four years of my life, and now it was finally happening, like a dream come true.
What do y'all think after this chapter?? Anybody changed teams?
(Because this book isn't set in the south and I'm from the south, it's sooooo hard not to write y'all into the book. I really need to start setting my books in the south so I can make them talk like I do haha)
Math is fun! Here's an equation:
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-ps: stan daddy anonymous for clear skin