crossways: a jack hughes story

chapter 4

cole gets out and opens carly's door for her. before you can get jealous, you see another car pull up next to cole's. you and the driver make eye contact, and it's none other than jack hughes.

jack smiles through the window at you, with you smiling back. you get out of cole's car and tap carly on the shoulder pointing to jack's car.

carly's eyes go wide and she mouths "you gotta get with him tonight". before jack gets out of his car, you're being pushed into the club.

it's loud, dark, and smells of alcohol. you start to get overwhelmed when a familiar voice calls you to a nearby booth.

"zoe! over here". says brock, patting the seat cushion. it's a circular booth, as you scoot in next to carly, who is seated next to cole. brock takes a seat next to you.

"so, you wanna get drinks?" says cole to the group over the loud music.

"for sure. what's everyone's order?" brock asks.

"get everyone a shot of vodka to start off". says an eager cole.

"oh i'm not 21," starts carly, but before she can finish, you give her a don't-say-that-too-loud look.

"oh it's fine, as long as brock or i get the drinks, no one's gonna check your ids". says cole, reassuring you and carly.

a few minutes later, brock comes back with 4 shots. you look around for jack, hoping to see him, but you're out of luck so far; no sight of him yet.

"alright everyone let's get this party started!" says brock, passing everyone a shot glass.

"to cole", starts brock, as he raises up his glass.

"carly's never had alcohol before". you say.

"are you kidding?" asks cole, "you've never even had a sip?!"

"nope", says carly, as her face turns redder by the second. "i was saving it for my 21st, you know, to go all out".

"oh screw that", says cole, as you and carly's eyes go wide.

brock picks up his shot glass again, raising it and looking around the booth.

"to cole, for scoring the game winning goal tonight".

everyone else including you raise their shot glass as you look at carly and mouth, "are you actually gonna drink it?"

she mouths back, "i think so" as everyone takes their shot, you see jack walk in the club, looking around confused.

another devil player greets him, bringing him over to his booth. wrong booth. you think to yourself as you hear cole reassuring carly that she won't get drunk off of one shot.

"is that my boy JACK HUGHES over there?" you hear cole shout from across the club.

jack looks over and smiles. oh my god. you turn around and see jack walking over to your booth. he embraces cole in a handshake and a hug, slaps his back with his hand and takes a seat next to cole.

"hey guys, what's up?" says jack, making eye contact with everyone at the table.

once he makes eye contact with you, his eyes widen, he points at you and goes, "you're from the elevator in the hotel aren't you?"