Theresa Salvatore
My phone has constantly been beeping for the past ten minutes. It's only 9:30 am. Today is an off day, I wonder who has been texting me. Lydia, why is she texting me. I'm about to text her back but instead she calls me this time.
I answer the call, "Get ready and meet me downstairs with Hardin in an hour!"
"What! Why?" This girl is crazy. She never tells me anything in advance.
She demands, "No more questions. See you in an hour. Bye!"
Before I could say anything she hung up. Ugh. Now I'll have to wake Hardin.
I finally get up from my bed and knock on the connecting door. After five minutes of continuous knocking, I realize he's not a morning person and it's going to be difficult to wake him up. I finally decide to enter the room without waiting any longer.
Hardin is far asleep on his bed, in his boxers. He has so many tattoos. They are really pretty.
I sit on the bed, next to him and watch him sleep for sometime. I don't want to wake him up but Lydia has left me with no other choice.
His hair strands covering his forehead and eyes, a smile on his face as if he is having a nice dream. I want to run my fingers through his soft hair.
Just as I'm about to do that he wakes, "What the fuck? What are you doing here? And why are you staring, you creep!"
Damn. He looks angry. Maybe I should have just called him. This was a bad idea. I start regretting it and he starts laughing. What is wrong with this guy? First he shouts at me and now he's laughing.
"What? Why are you laughing?"
"Just look at your face. You look so scared. I was joking. But seriously why were you staring, it's creepy."
"Well, you looked cute while sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up. But Lydia has left me with no choice," I shrug.
He covers his face with a pillow and says, "First of all, this is the last time you are calling me cute. Do that one more time and I'm not talking to you. And what choice did Lydia give you?"
I remove the pillow from his face, "You have forty-five minutes to get ready. So get up and go! That is the option Lydia gave me. So now hurry up!"
"Someone's demanding!" He says while raising his eyebrow at me.
"Yes I am! Now quick. I'm going to get ready," I chuckle and leave his room.
I go back to my room and start getting dressed. Lydia asked me to dress casually, so I decide to wear black shorts with a white crop top and black converse.
While I'm doing my hair, I notice Hardin standing behind me with his jaw dropped on the floor.
"You.. you look beautiful!" he says nervously as though he's never complimented me before.
I chuckle and say,"Thank you and you can close your mouth!" He just shakes his head in return.
I notice how similar our clothing is today. He is also wearing a white shirt, black jeans with black converse. Definitely Lydia is going to comment on it but he looks so hot in it. I can't take my eyes off of him. He doesn't seem to realise our clothing and how head to toe we are twinning.
"Someone is staring again!" He announces and I roll my eyes.
He offers his hands, "Shall we go Miss. Salvatore?"
I grab his hand and say, "Sure Mr. McCall!"
When we reach the reception, we see Lydia and Trevor waiting for us. They start giggling as soon as they see us. I know what Lydia is thinking just by her looks.
"Well, well, well. Looks like someone planned their outfits. Why didn't y'all tell us? Even we would have co-ordinated our outfits," Lydia says as soon as we reach them.
That is when Hardin notices our outfits. God this is awkward. I should have told him about this in the room itself. Maybe I should have changed my top.
"Shut up Lydia. It was just a coincidence. And what in the world was so urgent?" They just roll their eyes at us.
"Get in the car and we'll tell you every god damn thing," they instruct and sit in the car.
Trevor sits in the driving seat and Lydia sits in the front with him, leaving Hardin and I to sit in the back together. Hardin opens the door for me and I see Lydia smirking at me. This is going to be a long day.
"Suit yourself guys, it's a double date!" Lydia says in excitement.
As soon as she says that our jaws drop. Hardin and I stare at each other as if we've just seen a ghost in front of us.
I look at Lydia and say, "Lydia did you day drink or have you become insane since I left for Atlanta?"
"Why are you overreacting?" Trevor says and Lydia starts laughing.
Hardin murmurs, "Fucking Trevor," to himself and I start laughing.
Trevor looks over his shoulder, "I can hear you," and rolls his eyes. All four of us start laughing.
Without another word, Trevor starts driving and we just give in, knowing that they won't listen to us.
Finally after ten minutes of driving, Lydia says, "I have booked tickets for the latest romantic movie!"
"No you didn't!" I exclaim.
"Yes babe, I did!" She smirks and I roll my eyes.
During the entire ride to the theatre Hardin doesn't utter a single word. I look at him and then out of the window. Lydia has made things pretty awkward. As much as I would love to go on a date with him, he seems least interested. And for some reason that makes me sad.
Hardin opens my side of the door for me. As soon as I get out I notice a guy, leaning against a pole, staring at me. Hardin notices as I shift uncomfortably and gives the creep a dead-eye-look. But that guy seems stubborn. Hardin places his hand on my waist and pulls me closer to him and leads us inside. I just look up at him and smile at his sweet gesture.
We take our recliner seats at the back. Lydia sits in corner beside Trevor. Before I get a chance to sit beside Trevor, Hardin quickly goes and sits beside Trevor.
The movie starts and it's about dark love and intimacy. Lydia and Trevor are enjoying themselves, cuddling, stealing a kiss here and there.
Hardin's knee slightly brushes mine and it tickles so I start chuckling. He's been staring at me for the past fifteen minutes rather than watching the movie. I keep my arm on the hand rest and it touches his arm. His hand starts moving closer to mine and without even realising, now I'm holding his hand. We look exactly like a couple, holding hands, my head on his shoulder, watching a romantic movie. It's feels so good to be like this, with Hardin. I can't help but dream about a day, when we actually date. Will that day ever come?
After half of the movie is done, it's time for the intermission. The lights turn on and we are still in the same position, forgetting about our company. Lydia and Trevor immediately look at us and start smiling, as though they gave achieved what they wanted.
Hardin smirks at Lydia and says, "Stop staring. I know I am hot."
"Overconfidence," Lydia huffs, mocking Hardin's british accent.
"Self-confidence," Hardin replies mocking Lydia's Australian accent and rolling his eyes.
Trevor and I just enjoy their bickering. The boys leave to get some popcorn and coke.
"You definitely did enjoy mocking Hardin!" I tease Lydia.
"Any doubt!?"
I'm glad Lydia made a plan that pulled me close to Hardin.
"Sorry for overreacting earlier. I actually love your idea," I apologise and smile.
She smirks, "I can see your love. Well is it for the movie or Hardin?"
I giggle and before I can reply the boys are back. They saved me and the intermission is also over.
We get back to watching the movie and I shove some popcorn into Hardin's mouth. Later I get so involved in that movie that I don't even realise that Hardin has fallen asleep on my shoulder. I wake him up when the movie is over and we leave the theater.
"Sorry we forgot to mention this earlier, we are going for a lunch date and the driver just brought your car, so suit yourselves. Bye!" Lydia says as soon as we reach out and they leave.
Car ride back to the hotel with Hardin. Interesting.