ONCE IN A LIFETIME ≫ h.g

Chapter 3

HAYES' P.O.V:

"Hayes, are you with us?" Nash snapped his fingers in front of my face. I quickly fell out of my day daze. "Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking..." My  voice trailed off as I tried to focus on whatever Nash talked about. I couldn't get my mind of Alicia and Brooke, and my entire, ridiculous plan to make Brooke jealous. Like I had a shot with her, like she would care. I was the only one naive enough to be into someone I just met. "What were you thinking about, Hayes?" a familiar voice asked behind me. It was Will and he gave Brooke a piggy back ride as he looked at me, a little concerned. Nash took a picture of the two of them. "Nothing", I said and felt my cheeks turn hot, and probably also red. I blushed a lot today. Nash smiled at me, as if he knew something the others didn't, as if he knew something I didn't. I shook his look of me and walked over to the bar with some money. Ten minutes had passed.

Brooke came running after me. "So, why did you need my help?" she asked me. I didn't respond right away because I didn't even know myself. Did I need her advice? Maybe honesty was the best? "Oh", I said as I handed the bartender three dollars to buy some ice cream. "Well, I kinda like this girl. Her name is Alicia". I tried to search for a reaction in Brooke's face, something that showed slight disappointment, but her face was one big smile. "She's here today", I continued and Brooke nodded. "I need your help to impress her. Like, I want to impress her and you know what girls like. Right?" Again, no sign of any resentment in her face. She really didn't care, and I felt stupid for thinking that she might. "You should just be yourself, Hayes. You're handsome, super funny and nice. I guarantee that she already likes you. You don't need my help with getting her!" Brooke giggled. "Was that it?" Maybe I imagined it, but the last question seemed harder for her to get out. She smiled but I felt like her eyes told a different story. Like they were trying to tell me something else. But it was probably just my imagination.

"No", I said. "That's not all". While desperately trying to come up with anything to say, because I wanted to keep the conversation going, I grabbed her hand. "Uhm, I'm kinda like doing a YouTube video when I get home, and I wondered if you wanted to like... Ehh, join, I suppose?" My voice sounded nervous, as if it was on the verge of shaking and my hand felt sweaty and misplaced in Brooke's hand. Brooke laughed again, like she always did, that calming laughter and I felt myself relax. "You're kind of doing a YouTube video and you want me to like, join? Sure, I'll join you". I breathed out and saw Alicia waving at me. "Well, there she is", I said to Brooke and pointed at Alicia, standing a few feet away. "The lucky girl. I better leave". I didn't look back when I walked away. I swore I could hear Brooke mumble "right.." but I didn't dare to turn around and see what she did. Alicia waited on me. I had to see how that would turn out, before I jumped into something new with someone I didn't even really know. 

BROOKE'S P.O.V:

"You know, I had such an amazing day today", I said to Nash as we walked into Nash's family home after a long day at the beach. The temperature had dropped a little, to around 80 degrees but it was still crazy hot so the two of us decided to sit outside on the balcony. "Thank you so much for all of this, Nash. It's better than I had ever imagined". Nash kissed my forehead. "No problem, sweetie". I honestly loved these moments with Nash, just spending time with him. "Oh, and I forgot that I have a Magcon tour this summer", he said and I raised my eyebrow at him. "Oh?" I said and wondered where he was headed at. Did I have to go home early? I was so pleased to be here and just chill. "Yeah, I totally forgot about it. But I thought that you'd maybe want to join? You can come on tour and hang with the Magcon family as well? I don't want to send you home, we are having such a great time". 

I got up from the chair, and tried to keep my calm. "W-w-wait, does that include Jacob Whitesides and Mahogany?" I asked as calmly as I possibly could. "Yup", Nash said and popped the P. I tried not to freak out but it was hard to hide my excitement since Nash knew how much I loved them. Still, to be as respectable as possible, I tried to express my excitement with a smile. "It's okay. You can fangirl", Nash said and laughed. I honestly felt a little weird fangirling over Nash's friends. When I first met Nash, a year ago, he wasn't that famous. It was amazing to witness how much he had grown in just a year. I met Cameron closely after Nash and I became friends, and now I met Hayes, but other than that I hadn't really met anyone of his friends. He had offered me to meet them plenty of times but I always turned him down. I didn't want to give him the impression that I was friends with him to become famous or something, that I used him, which almost everyone said I was. 

I snapped out of my thoughts and realized what Nash had said to me. I was going to go on tour and hang out with Jacob. And. Mahogany. OH. MY. GOD. I couldn't help myself. I started to scream and jump around at the balcony while Nash watched me freak out. After a good two to three minutes I calmed down. That's when I saw Hayes. In the doorway. He watched me with a shocked expression. I was so embarrassed, I just wanted to go invisible right there and never appear ever again. Hayes cleared his throat and cut through the awkward tension. "So, uhm... Are we still doing that video?" I nodded, too embarrassed to speak at the moment and gave Nash a shaky hug. I pulled away slowly, not wanting to leave the comfort of his arms and he grabbed my wrist. "Love you", he said with a grin that said it all. He had a blast because of my stupidness. "Love you more, Nash", I responded and shot him a warning look that said 'we will never speak of this again' and went upstairs with Hayes.

My phone beeped when we got into Hayes' room. It was a Twitter notification from Nash. He had posted a picture of Hayes and I asleep in the car, with my head on his shoulder. 'Someone's sleepy' he had written under the picture, and he had tagged us both. I smiled at the picture and retweeted it. I noticed Hayes doing the same, and decided to follow him on Twitter. He was quick to follow me back. "Ready for the video?" he asked, and I nodded and sat down beside him.