bad timing

ten

{chapter playlist}
life in the city - the lumineers
pickup truck - kings of leon

          I hugged myself to keep from shivering as I walked down the streets of New York. I watched the snow as it fell slowly, coating everything in sight with an icy white blanket. Christmas lights wrapped around the trees, lighting up the streets as if it were the middle of the day. I had only been to Manhattan once before, but I was very young and didn't remember it much. Coincidentally, I had come the first time with the same people I was with now. I was only able to get off of work for the first day they were in New York, so we decided to go explore, despite how cold it was. Tomorrow was the first show of their tour, and it was killing me that I had to go home tonight instead of staying to watch it.

"Cold, huh?" Sam asks with a grin, looking over at me. "Not at all." I say sarcastically, trying to keep my teeth from chattering. "I've heard of this place on Broome that supposedly has the world's best hot chocolate. Wanna swing by?" He asks, taking my hand in his own. My heart fluttered in my chest as his fingers laced with mine. We hadn't really talked about us much since we had kissed a few days ago, so I honestly didn't know where we stood. "You're freezing." He says, squeezing my hand. His skin was warm, which I didn't really understand given the ten degree air surrounding us. "Hot chocolate sounds good." I say after a moment, and he nods before turning down a street.

"You've only been here, what, three times? How do you know how to get everywhere?" I ask, sighing and watching my breath trail away from my face. "I don't." He grins at me, and I roll my eyes, "I'm gonna freeze to death if we take one wrong turn." I try to avoid thinking about the cold, but it didn't help much. "Fine, fine. I'll look up directions." He says, sounding defeated. "Thank god."

It took us about ten minutes to get to the cafe, and I practically ran inside once I saw the doors. I pulled him along with me, and he only laughed. I closed my eyes, sighing in relief as we entered the small building, heat radiating around us. "Better?" He wraps an arm around me, and I nod quickly. "Much better."

We got our hot chocolate and took our seats at one of the booths. "I wish you didn't have to go home." He says sadly. "Me too. I wish I could come to every show." I chew on my lip, and he reaches across the table to take both of my hands in his. "Can't you just do your school from your laptop, or something? And you hate your job. You don't need it." He offers, and I smile at him. "Easy for you to say. You don't have to worry about money." "Alex, if moneys the problem, then-"

"I'm not taking your money, Sam. I'm not a charity case. I'm getting by just fine with working." I say, and I wasn't sure why I was so annoyed that he would offer me money. I knew he was just trying to be nice. He lets go of my hands, looking away, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I just meant... I don't know. Like I can pay your rent while you're on tour with us." He shrugs. I nod, "I would love to. But I can't miss school."

He frowns before nodding a little, "I get it. Maybe next tour you can come with us." I take a sip of my hot chocolate. He was right. This was by far the best hot chocolate I had ever had. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"So.. we haven't really gotten a chance to talk." He starts, looking at me nervously. "Yeah, I know. You've just been so busy and... I don't want to hold you back." I shrug. His expression changes, and he looks to the side, "Oh. I get it." He mumbles. "What's that face for?" I ask, slightly annoyed at his response. I wasn't sure why he was getting on my nerves so much today. "If you don't want to be with me, you can just say it. I can take it. I just need to know."

I look up at him, realizing he was expecting an answer right then. I had never been so grateful for Josh's face to show up on my phone. I answered it quickly, "What's up?" I ask, curious as to why he was calling. "Sorry, date's over. Cab's outside. We gotta get you to the airport." He says, and I scrunch my nose. "We'll be right out. Wait, how do you know where we are?" I heard him laugh on the other end. "I know everything." He says before hanging up. "He has our locations." Sam grumbles, seemingly annoyed that our conversation was interrupted. He stands up, walking past me and out to the cab. I clenched my jaw before standing up and following him.

—

As I was waiting to board my plane, they announced that there was a huge snowstorm passing through Detroit, and that my flight was pushed back until tomorrow. I pulled out my phone, chewing on my lip as my thumb hovered over Sammy's contact. I swipe away, going to Jake's instead.

'not sure if you guys are on yet, but my flight was delayed. huge snowstorm in michigan. can i stay at your hotel tonight?'

For some reason, they wouldn't give us our luggage back, incase the storm blew over and they had to load it back up. All I had was my phone, my earbuds, and my wallet. It was still freezing outside, and I didn't have an extra layer of clothes. My phone buzzes as I make my way back to the entrance of the airport.

'Yeah, of course. We're staying at the Hyatt on 42nd, I'll call ahead so they'll let you in.'

I reached the doors, bracing myself for the cold as I walked outside. I clenched my teeth together to keep them from chattering as I hugged myself to keep warm, only letting go to wave down a cab. Luckily, I didn't have to stand there long before a cab pulled up beside me. I got in and told the driver where I was headed.

It only took about thirty minutes for me to get to the hotel, and into the room. I tossed my backpack onto the ground, crashing onto the nearest bed.

'let me know when you guys are on your way. i'm gonna crash for a little bit, it's been a long day.'

I hit send before swiping away from Jake's contact, setting my phone down. I figured he wouldn't respond soon considering the concert had just started, so instead of waiting up, I wrapped myself in the covers and fell asleep.

—

I jolted awake when I heard the lock on the door turning. I had no idea how long it had been, but I quickly stood up and rushed to the bathroom before I saw them. I was glad I had, because my hair was a disaster, and my makeup was smudged. I made myself look a little more presentable before walking out into the room. Jake gave me an apologetic look, and I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what was wrong. Everyone besides Sam was in the room, and I began to wonder.

A few seconds later, I hear the laughter of two people coming from the hall. Sam makes his way inside, followed by a girl I'd never seen before. My heart sank into my stomach as he shut the door behind them, then turned and saw me. "What are you doing here?" Sam asks, sounding almost angry that I was there. "I..." I begin, my voice catching in my throat. I notice the girl looking at me, so I take a breath. "Jake asked me to come over." I say quickly, slipping my hand into a very confused Jake's. If Sam was trying to hook up with this girl, who was I to stop him? Besides the girl he'd told that he'd been in love with for 10 years, of course.

Jake caught on to what I was doing, and nodded. "Yeah, hopefully that's okay. We can talk tomorrow when we don't have company." He says, and now even he sounded a little annoyed. There was so much tension in the air I was surprised the girl didn't catch on. "You guys are so cute. I'm Lena." She grins, shaking my hand. "Aww, thanks. I'm Alex." I give her a fake smile before kissing Jake on the cheek, "Well, we're gonna head to bed. You guys have fun." I say, trying to sound enthusiastic, but I was almost positive I didn't come off that way.

Jake pulls me into one of the rooms, shutting the door behind us. "I'm sorry, Alex. I don't know what's up with him." He rubs his forehead, and I let out a sigh. "I'm just sick of it, Jake. I'm so fucking sick of it. It's been 3 days since we kissed. He told me he could wait if I wasn't ready." I clench my fists, having the sudden urge to punch something. "The second he thinks I'm gone he turns and fucks the first girl he finds." I exclaim, probably a little too loud.

"Alex," Jake says with an uncomfortable expression, like he was about to give me bad news. "They've been sleeping together for a few weeks. Ever since you and Jonas got together. He flew her out for the concert." He says awkwardly. I had no idea which emotion I was supposed to feel. Anger? Sadness? Frustration?

"This was never going to work." I say through my teeth, and Jake sighs. "Yeah. We've been waiting for you two to figure that out on your own." He rubs the back of his neck, looking at me. "You knew?" I ask, sounding hurt. "We know you and Sam better than anyone. At first, when we found out you guys liked eachother, we thought it would be cool if you guys got together. But ever since Sam told you how he felt, it's been very clear that it would never work out. The universe is trying to pull you guys apart." He explains. "No. Sam is trying to pull us apart. But, yeah. Whatever." I shake my head, grabbing my backpack from the floor.

"I'm gonna go get a different room. I don't trust myself not to charge into their room if I hear a single sound." I mumble, and Jake nods. "I'm sorry. I should've told you." "It's too late for that. I'll see you later."