Eleven: Meanwhile At Home

Hazel being picked up by a boy they never heard about became a family event.

Her mom asked Max to search him up on his social media and ended up spending the whole night stalking Lee's I*******m account. They watched all his stories which led them to his Tik-Tok account. Her mom downloaded Tik-Tok, created a fake account just to follow him.

Her dad was still annoyed by the fact Lee was wearing hoop earrings, but then they watched BTS video clips and found out all of the members were wearing them. And from their stalking session, they concluded that Lee's favorite BTS was JungKook, which was accurate, he imitated how he dressed a lot.

"This is just sad," Max complained. "Leave them alone, maybe they're just friends ... she never mentioned anything about him before."

Theo was slumped on the sofa looking bummed because he had to listen to them talking about Hazel and her 'new friend' for hours after she left. He was just waiting around until it was time for them to leave and pick up their girlfriends to go out clubbing that night.

At one point he went upstairs to Max's room which was right across from Hazel's. Her bedroom door was ajar, he could see the cardboard cut out through the crack which reminded him they were all going to the upcoming Harry Styles concert at spring break.

He stood by the door and looked at the inside of her room. A typical teenage girl's room, posters plastered on the wall, clothes scattered on the floor. She must've changed a dozen times before she found the perfect outfit, the one she looked really good in when he bumped into them earlier. She was dressing up for a guy, he thought.

There was a faint scent of her perfume left in the room, he inhaled it and stepped further inside. Being an only child, he never knew how it feels like to have a sibling and Hazel was the closest thing to a sibling he had ever gotten. She was always staying in her room on Saturday nights, blaring Harry Styles songs on her speaker, or talking on the phone with her girlfriend, or reading a book quietly when he went out with Max. Bumping into her as she was going out with a guy felt strange to him.

Then something caught his eyes. It was laying on her writing desk among her pens, markers, paper clips, and her journaling kit, there was a very bright pink notepad. He recognized it immediately. His heart pounded faster. He was curious and walked over to the desk to make sure.

It was one and the same. The Valentine's letter he received came from that notepad, and on the desk also he found the same flower sticker. He was dumbfounded. It was Hazel.

"Hey, man, what are you doing in here? Come on, let's go ... before my parents asked me to follow all of Lee's other social media," Max startled him.

"Oh ... yeah, I was just ..." he didn't know what he was doing there in the first place.

"Don't mess up her desk ... she's very particular with her writing stuff," Max added.

Theo put the notepad back on the desk exactly where he found it. "Sure."

He wasn't drinking that night because he was the designated driver, but that was not why he didn't enjoy his night. Even with Peyton all over him in her super sexy outfit, he was quiet the whole night. He couldn't stop thinking about that pink notepad, but more than that, he couldn't stop thinking about what was written on it.

Everyone was pretty drunk by the time they drove home. Max and Mia were going at it in the backseat. He kissed his girlfriend goodnight on her porch. She asked him to come back and sneak in through her bedroom window after he gets Max and Mia home safely, but he declined.

He was sober as Monday morning, and all he wanted to do was go back to Max's house and see if she was home, sleep the night away, and maybe ask her things in the morning when they have breakfast together like they always do when he sleeps over.

"Are you sure babe? I could use some company tonight ... please?" she bit her lower lip, her eyes told him everything she didn't say.

Peyton was hot, probably the hottest girl he ever dated, but that night his game was totally off. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, kissed her again to see if it will change his mind.

"I don't feel so good tonight ... I don't want you to catch a bug or anything, next time ... kay?" he said.

"Promise?"

He nodded.

"I love you," Peyton said with her drunken eyes.

He pressed his lips together, she'd been saying it to him a few times now and he couldn't bring himself to say it back.

"I'll see you Monday," he kissed her again.

**********

They arrived a little after 2 AM. He woke Max up a bit before going in. They sneaked into the house as quietly as possible not wanting to wake anybody. All the lights were off, Max stumbled on the stairs a couple of times and went straight to his room, fell flat on his face on the bed.

He could see the lights in Hazel's room were still on from below her door. He took some clothes from Max's closet and changed. He felt surprisingly up afterward and thought he'll get a glass of water downstairs. Max's house was his second home, they practically grew up there together because he spent half of the week there since he was in kindergarten.

When he turned on the light in the kitchen, Hazel jumped in surprise. She was in her Max's oversized T-shirt and super-tight short pants stuffing her face with ice cream in the dark.

She put her hand on her chest, "Oh my God ... you scared me."

"Sorry ... I didn't know you were there," he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water.

She sat on one of the stools by the kitchen island, "I was just on the phone with Jan."

"She's still up?" he closed the fridge door and leaned on it while drinking his water.

"Hmm ... she was out on a date with her new boyfriend," she put a whole spoon of cookies and cream in her mouth.

He watched her, he wanted so much to ask her about the letter, "How was your date?" he asked instead.

She smiled, "It was not a date ... why is everyone keeps asking me that, you know when I got home, my mom and dad were interrogating me about 'the date'" she air quoted with her fingers.

He raised his brows, "You should see them stalking him on Tik-Tok right after you left," he sucked on the bottle again.

"What? Oh my God ... that's so embarrassing ... he's just a friend ... what else did they do when I was gone?"

He tilted his head to one side, "Let's see ... they made Max followed his I*******m, liking his posts, they said and I quote, "so he'll know that big brother is watching", they watched all his IG stories and IGTV videos ... they watched BTS videos and concluded he had a favorite member, they argued about his hoop earrings ... you know, the stuff your parents would do."

She laughed out loud, it was too hilarious to imagine.

He watched her laugh, she looked happy and that made him feel funny.

"Maybe it's because I told them I was going to ask Lee to come to see the concert with us in March," she said.

His eyes widened, "Really? He's coming to the concert? Wow ... that's pretty special."

"Well ... you're all going with someone, I don't want to be the only one who doesn't have a partner."

"So he is a potential boyfriend?" he pushed on.

"No ... we're friends ... we clicked ... you know? Jan will be busy with Kyle, they'll be cuddling in the concert, and ..." she realized it didn't come outright.

Theo's jaw dropped, "Oh you want to cuddle with him in the concert? So you do like this guy?" he was teasing.

"No ... I meant ... oh you know what I mean ..."

"Oooh Hazel's got a new boyfriend ... wait 'til your parents find out ..."

"No! Forget I said that ... he's just a friend ... I want him to come as a friend ... which I totally forgot to ask him because we were busy talking about other things," she put down her spoon and the empty bucket of ice cream.

"But you do want to cuddle at the concert ... tsk ... tsk ... tsk ... what would Harry say?" he teased her again.

She punched his arm, "Shut up ... I don't want to cuddle ... jeez ... you know what I meant."

He just laughed it off, she was too cute not to tease.

"I'm going upstairs, please don't put ideas in my parents' head ... I just got to know this guy, it'll be super awkward if he thinks I like him or anything."

"Why? Maybe he likes you too?"

She thought about it for a moment, and smiled like she had remembered something funny, "I don't know ... we're just friends, he's really cool, don't ..." she slapped his arm, "Tell my parents."

"Okay ... okay ... jeez."

She climbed up the stairs and left him in the kitchen.

"Hey ... Hazel ..." he really wanted to ask her about the letter.

She turned, "What?"

He looked at her for a moment and changed his mind. "Good night."

She smiled, "You just called me Hazel ... Good night, Theo."