ONCE IN A LIFETIME ≫ h.g

Chapter 11

NASH'S P.O.V:

"Brooke, what happened?" I asked as I got close to her. She was lying on the ground crying and she looked completely broken. "I thought you had a date with Hayes tonight, where is he?" Realization suddenly hit. "Did Hayes do this to you?" I said angrily as she sat herself up. "I swear to God, if he did th-" Brooke cut me off. "I'm fine, Nash", she said as she used her sleeve to wipe up the mascara that had fallen off. Whatever had happened, she was NOT fine. I held out my hand for her to grab. "Whatever", I said as I helped her up. "He's missing out. Big time". Brooke let out a little chuckle. We walked back to the hotel holding hands. It didn't seem like Brooke wanted to talk about what had actually happened, but she wanted someone to be there, and I was more than happy to. There was no point in pressuring her to talk so we walked in silence, and I bought her her favorite chocolate. Soon we were back at the hotel and Brooke expressed how grateful she was that I picked her up. 

BROOKE'S P.O.V:

When we got back to the hotel, Madison wasn't back yet. I grabbed my suitcase and quickly packed the few things I had taken out, and headed over to Nash's room. I was going to be staying with him for the night. I really needed to have a relaxed night with my bestie.

I went into Nash's room without even knocking as he had given me a keycard earlier and walked in on him peeing in the bathroom with the door wide open. "Sorry", I mumbled slightly (very) embarrassed. Although Nash and I were super close, we had yet to do anything bathroom related in front of each other, and I'd like to keep some of the mystery alive in that department. "Do you wanna join a YouTube video?" he asked me as he came out of the bathroom, seemingly unbothered by what I had just witnessed. I nodded.  "Cool", he responded. "I'll call over some of the guys, we can do a Q&A". Nash pulled his phone out of his pocket. I watched him type something in and soon enough, there was a knock on the hotel door.

I opened it to reveal Matt, Cam and Carter and although I knew exactly what they were doing here, Matt still explained how Nash had invited them over to shoot a YouTube video. Nash was almost finished setting up the camera and the lights so the rest of us sat on the bed and watched him finish. Soon after Nash started recording and sat down on the bed. "Hello everyone ! I'm Nash Grier and welcome to or back to my channel. Today I am joined with my very best friends Matt, Carter, Cameron and Brooke". I waved shyly when my name was mentioned, knowing the fans weren't too crazy about me.  "Today the plan is to do an #AskNash, and I tweeted out asking you guys to ask questions. It trended so thank you so much for that, you guys are awesome. Since I'm joined with some friends there's going to be a little twist, which is that we'll take turns asking your questions". Nash glanced quickly at his Twitter where he had saved a bunch of questions. "Alright", he said. "Let's start with Carter".

The video was probably one of the funniest Nash had ever made. I laughed so much and all the boys were hilarious with their answers. It made me forget about Hayes and Madison, they were probably out enjoying each others company now. Deep down I was angry and hurt but the boys were good at cheering me up. I suspected Nash had told them something had happened when he texted me, since they were all being extra nice to me. "Well, I think it's time to wrap it up about now", Nash said after we had all laughed for a solide minute due to a joke Cameron told. "This video has been a lot of laughter and fun", he smiled. "But", and now he was dead serious, "I want us all to answer one question completely honest. No jokes. Just yourself". 

Nash went first and the question was if he felt like the fans truly knew the real him. "Uh," he started and seemed a bit unsure but after a few seconds his voice steadied. "Yes, I actually do. I always try to be myself and be comfortable with the content I make, in both Vines and on Youtube. I feel like I've succeed in that. That's something that I'm really grateful for, because I can be myself and you guys know who I am. I don't have to hide anything from you, at least that's what it feels like for me".  I smiled. Nash truly was a genuine guy both on and off camera and I couldn't agree more, he was himself one hundred percent.

Carter's question was if he was seeing someone. Carter blushed, and I knew why. Although he was in a relationship it was rather recent and they had yet to go public. Still, Carter answered truthfully: "I am actually. Her name is Maggie, she's aspiring to be an artist. She makes me very happy". Right after saying that to the camera, he turned to Nash. "Let me just call Maggie real quick so I know she's okay with me confirming the relationship". Nash nodded and Carter went into the bathroom to make the call. He came out a few minutes later and showed a thumbs up so I took it as a sign that it was all good and that their relationship soon was to be confirmed.

The third question went to Cameron and asked about when he lost his virginity, if he had lost it at all. Cameron smiled and I knew why, he was such a player. "Well", he said and I smirked at him. "I'm going to be completely honest with you guys and lay it all on the table. Am I a virgin? No. Today I'm twenty years old and I lost it when I was seventeen. It's not really something I regret, but looking back at it I definitely don't think it was the most charming way to go. But done is done. The most important thing is being comfortable with your partner and honesty goes a long way. Don't be afraid to set boundaries".

My question was who my first romance was but I didn't know what to respond because I didn't really have one. Both luckily and unluckily for me Hayes walked into the hotel room and but walked out as soon as he saw me. Nash quickly ended the video and I didn't answer the question. What would I answer? It was clear that Hayes was the boy I liked, but it was all so new to me, I had never liked a boy that way before. I didn't know how to handle these situations. Hayes and I just met and I had a bugging feeling that I put more into our newfound friendship than he did. Although, after giving the whole Madison situation some distance while shooting the video, I had also began to think that maybe I overreacted and that there was a reasonable explanation behind it. It didn't seem like Hayes to ask me out while he was interested in Madison. However, I still didn't know if I wanted to let Hayes more in than I already had, because feelings are scary. With these thoughts spinning in my head, I fell asleep as Nash edited the video we had just recorded.

A few hours later I woke up by a knock on the door. I was alone so I quickly got up to open the door and Hayes was outside. "Hi Hayes!" I said as cheerfully as I possibly could. He looked awful with big bags under his eyes and he was really pale. He seemed nervous. "I just-" he started while letting himself all the way in to the hotel room. "Brooke, are you okay?" I sighed. "I'm fine, Hayes". He asked me if I was still mad at him and I rolled my eyes. "I'm not mad Hayes, but I was a bit hurt. There's a difference". I lied down on the bed again, and zoomed through some TV-channels on the TV. "Look", I started when I saw Hayes' pleading eyes but he cut me off. " I do NOT like Madison", he whispered. 

"That's okay, Hayes", I responded. "I kind of figured, it didn't make sense. Maybe Madison did set us up, but I think this outcome is the right one. We hardly know each other, and it is way too early for me to start thinking about you romantically. I think we should just be friends for now, and maybe forever. It just seems like the right thing to do, let's not complicate things and get to know each other properly first. What if we secretly hate each other but we didn't know that when we started dating? Nash is my best friend and I'm going to be around a lot". I had to take a deep breath, having spoken fast and much. "Is that a deal? Friends?"

Hayes' faced cracked into a smile. "Best friends", he responded.