𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐣. 𝐝𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞

chapter 17

"okay, all the guys are supposed to be here in like fifteen minutes. we need to set the food out," reese told willow. the two had been trying to get reese's place in order. it's not like it was very messy to begin with, but the girls were nervous and needed something to do. well, more like reese needed something to do since she could never sit still when she was nervous or excited.

willow and reese grabbed snacks from the pantry and placed them in bowls. reese made everything look neat and organized, even though she was definitely the only one who cared. as reese was making everything look pretty, willow set the burgers they made on the table as well. before they knew it, the doorbell rang.

at the sound of the bell, reese stood frozen. she knew she had to get the door, but her mind went blank. willow watched her friend and gestured her to the door, "are you gonna get that or not?" reese slowly nodded in response.

she walked up to the door and took a deep breath. once she began to open the door, a smile was plastered on her face. as the door fully opened, the smile was replaced with an annoyed look. reese said, "oh, it's just you," before walking away.

"wow, what a nice way to greet your best friends," austin sarcastically remarked. colten shut the door behind him. the two made a b-line to the snacks that were set out. colten immediately started munching on the pretzels.

reese smacked colten's arm, "don't eat until they get here!" colten looked over at austin and gave him a look that said 'this girl is crazy!'

"i'm sure they won't mind if i start eating some snacks. it's not like it's the burgers," colten tried pointing out. unfortunately for colten, reese did not seem to care. one thing about reese is that she is stubborn.

willow muttered, "please, for the love of god, can they just show up." austin and colten fully agreed with her statement and nodded. they didn't have the same reasoning as they just wanted food while willow wanted reese to stop being so uptight.

it was as of god had answered willow's prayers because the door bell began to ring. unlike last time, reese rushed to get the door. austin and colten were surprised at this behavior, especially since these were people reese hardly knew. the two of them quietly followed reese to the door. this left willow to watch the situation unfold in front of her. she knew this was going to be good.

reese opened the door to meet three familiar faces. "jamie, trevor, and mason, come on in!" she smiled at her guests. as the three entered, each stopped to give her a hug. jamie's hug lasted in a bit longer than trevor and mason's. both trevor and mason noticed and took a mental note of it.

"thank you so much for inviting us!" trevor thanked reese. the three of them spotted willow across the room and waved. then their eyes darted to the two tall brunettes with crossed arms. they were trying to look intimidating.

mason was the first one to break the divide between the actors and the hockey players. he stuck out his hand and introduced himself, "i'm mason! and you guys are?"

colten took his hand first and said with no emotion, "i'm colten." mason looked skeptically at him and glanced over at reese. he knew this wasn't normal. austin then shook his hand and told mason, "and i'm austin." he too greeted himself with a monotoned voice.

reese stepped in and demanded, "austin and colten, stop being dicks and act normal. i will not hesitate to take away food privileges." the two sighed and put their usual smiley faces back on. as much as they wanted to mess with these people, they also didn't want to completely piss off reese or willow. they knew willow was behind them rolling her eyes at their stupidity.

after colten and austin decided to drop their act, trevor nudged jamie forward. jamie looked back at his best friend, pleading to not go next. trevor gave him a stern look to which jamie surrendered. he went up to reese's best friends and nervously stated, "hi, i'm jamie! it's nice to meet both of you!" trevor then did the same thing. both of them received handshakes just like mason did.

their introductions ended and the party moved towards the food. reese and willow were watching all the boy interact. it seemed like trevor was hitting it off well with austin, while mason and jamie were having their own conversation with colten. although, it appeared like jamie was just adding his two cents here and there.

"do you think austin and colten are going to stop complaining about us being friends with them now?" reese whispered to willow. she didn't want the guys to hear and wanted them to continue getting to know each other.

willow shrugged, "i mean, it looks like, at the very least, that they both tolerate trevor, jamie, and mason. we probably won't find out until after they leave and maybe the day after."

jamie noticed the two girls whispering and glancing over at the rest of them. he turned to face them and smiled at them. jamie then excused himself from mason and colten and walked up to them. "how are you guys doing? i feel like i haven't talked to the two of you all night," jamie asked.

"good, just happy to see all of you guys getting along!" reese exclaimed. jamie then turned his focus to willow. she responded, "i'm just chilling and waiting to see how this all plays out."

jamie tilted his head to the side and gave willow a confused look. instead of answering jamie's expression, willow grinned and handed the conversation over to reese. willow took jamie's old spot and left reese and jamie alone.

"what does willow mean by how things will play out?" jamie questioned.

reese explained, "she's just waiting to get a debrief from austin and colten. they're very opinionated people and she's curious as to what they have to say about the three of you. but honestly, i don't see what they could possibly dislike about any of you. well, maybe trevor. he can be a bit much at times, but you're really hard to not like."

there were so many thoughts running through jamie's head. was reese flirting with him? were austin and colten not going to like him? why were they going to debrief tonight? so many questions yet he didn't ask any of them. instead, he looked at reese like a lovesick puppy and continued to talk to her the entire night. and, of course, everyone else in the room noticed.