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19

"Okay, so according to Blake, James did his last round at 8:00. It's 8:45 and he usually does them every hour, so if we leave now, we should be good," Noah whispers to the three of us, a slightly nervous tone to his voice. 

"Are we going to Uber? How far is the nightclub?," Olivia asks, glancing down at her 4-inch heels that are definitely not easy to walk in. 

Noah pulls out his phone to enter the directions to the club. "No, if we hang out in the front of the hotel waiting for the Uber it might catch too much attention. It's only a 10-minute walk according to google maps."

We all nod and follow him out of the room, walking quietly through the hallway. We soon make it to the elevators and make it down to the lobby. 

Since it's only around 9, we're technically allowed to be out right now. However, me and Olivia's and clothes are a dead giveaway that we're going out to a club, so it's better to make our exit quickly to avoid any questions.

The four of us quicken our pace to reach the massive golden doors. As we step out into the night air, goosebumps run up and down my exposed skin and I instantly regret not wearing a jacket.

Noah leads the way with the maps on his phone, Olivia right by his side.

Blake and I trail a few feet behind them, our shoulders are within inches of each other.

Even through the crisp windy air, I can still smell his cologne. 

I can tell he just showered from his perfectly curled hair that is still slightly damp, radiating scents of mint. Even though he is already handsome, the sleep he got on the plane today somehow made him look even better. The deep purple bags under his eyes have faded significantly, and the corneas of his eyes are also whiter than I've seen in a while.

I decide to break the ice, feeling a bit awkward in the silence. "So.. are you excited for tonight?"

"Not particularly," he mutters with his typical tone of annoyance.

"Why did you even come then?" I fire back a bit ruder, matching his energy. 

I know Blake thinks he can intimidate me, but I won't let him.

He shrugs. "I gotta make sure Noah doesn't end up passed out drunk in an alley somewhere. That would definitely hurt my pass-completion percentage." 

"You care about him, just admit it," I tease, trying to add some light humor to the conversation.

"No actually, I don't."

It is astonishing to me that Blake struggles with something as simple as this. Even saying out loud that he cares about his best friend must be a little too vulnerable for him so he feels the need to make up some stupid excuse about football.

"Oh come on. You're seriously trying to tell me that you don't care about-" 

"Look," he snaps, stopping in his tracks to turn to me as my heart skips a beat. "Just because we had a moment or whatever the fuck you wanna call it on the plane doesn't mean I suddenly wanna talk to you. Just leave me alone."

Okay then.

I was just trying to be nice anyway, he can fuck right off. 

I roll my eyes at him and quicken up my pace to now walk with Olivia and Noah.

"How much longer till we're there," I groan, desperately needing alcohol at this point.

Noah checks his phone. "Another two minutes." 

Olivia and I squeal excitedly, linking our arms together. 

"You okay back there bud?" Noah laughs over his shoulder at Blake, who is now a good 10 feet behind us walking alone.