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Chapter 26 - The Boyzz

Almost everybody has a squad, the group do their friends, the ones they hang out with on an almost daily basis. I never had one, I was always very anti-social, only having one friend.

But maybe I could get one now. I mean, if worst comes to worst I'll get a teddy bear family. That's not even that bad.

I don't get angry, and Kingston's excuse was true, I'm stupid to even think for a second that I liked him or I cared about a stupid one of his kisses.

But maybe I'm not...

I danced with a drunk Lilah all night, not wanting to get drunk myself after what my dad did to me while he was drunk. I didn't know that Kingston would leave me to drink anyway.

Lilah is a charismatic drunk, Rain is the hyper drunk, similar to Kingston, and Miah didn't get drunk. Miah seems cool, she didn't do anything rash, she just sat down and played with Reid on his phone.

At about 1:13 am when I decide to sleep, I go over to Kingston, going to this side on the thankfully comfortable couch, putting my arm around him and putting a blanket over us.

I just want to make sure he's okay.

A few people fell asleep in guest rooms, leaving the house not very messy at all, something I could clean in a few hours.

River comes down the steps of the stairs, not wobbling though he's definitely drunk, just not the wobbling type.

He sees me but..not Kingston? Looking at me and smiling, running his fingers through my hand and speaking with alcohol in his breath, "Goodnight Hailey."

Who's Hailey?

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I wake up at 5 am to help Kingston as he throws up his guts. Hailey is in the back of my mind. But as most things, I push it away.

I run my fingers through Kingston's greasy blonde hair as he gags, his face almost inside of the toilet. "It's okay, Kingston, I'm right here in case you need anything." I say and he gags again, looking up at me with classy eyes, "What did I do?" He asks, sadness in his voice.

"Well you drank." I say sarcastically and a tear spills from his eye, I hated seeing him cry. "No, no! Don't cry! You didn't do anything, just danced and probably made out with a girl, I think I saw you mostly with Reid. And he was sober!" I say and Kingston gives me a sad, lopsided smile.

I won't tell him, he doesn't want to know.

"Thank you." He says, before throwing up again as I tie his hair in a tiny ponytail at the top of his head to keep it out of his way.

Once he's better, in which I mean stopped throwing up every minute, I gave him an aspirin for his headache.

After I start cleaning, something I do for fun, out of habit, out of stress. I finish up everything, at this point just cleaning a counter out of nowhere. It doesn't need to be cleaned.

River comes down the stairs, the glass of water in his hand as he rubs his head. He sees me on the ground and stares at me for a second. "You didn't have to clean, everything, very thoroughly." He says and I shake my head looking up at him.

"It's fine." I say and he furrows his eyebrows, coming towards me. "I can tell when something is not fine, what's wrong?" He asks and I shake my head, "It's nothing."

"Thank you for the aspirin." He says and I shrug, "You're a really good friend." He says.

He helps me up off the ground, my clothes dirty from me cleaning everything. "I'm going to go change, you need a shower you smell like alcohol and hookup." I say and he smells himself, "Oh god." He says chuckling as he shakes his head to get the stench out.

"I'll tell you later." I say softly, giving him a hug and going up the large stairs and into my room. I take a shower and change, brushing my hair and leaving it to air dry.

When I walk downstairs I see Reid, Kingston and River all playing FIFA. River's hair is wet but Kingston's is too.

It's darker now, as curling as water drips from the ends. He's shirtless and in grey sweatpants.

I bite my lip as I come down the stairs, a striped shirt and leggings on. I sit down on the couch next to Kingston.
He plays his game, the team losing a round after another. "Here, you guys keep losing." I say taking River's controller from him and when he tries to get it back I sit on his lap.

"Just wait, I had a good life at one point." I say as Reid and Kingston start the game. After some continuous screaming we win the game.

I jump up and turn around to River, pointing at him teasingly.

"She's better than you!" Kingston says as he picks me up by my thighs and kisses my neck. I smile and hug him tightly.

River taps my shoulder and brings me into the kitchen, beckoning the boys to follow as they make comments about what he'll do.

I glare at them and Kingston chuckles, Reid just hitting his elbow.

Kingston picks me up again and I struggle against him for a second but eventually give up.

"I'm too lazy for this." I say and he looks at me with a smirk, "I'm sorry I have to do this but it's tradition." He says before throwing me off his arms into the pool. I splash in, it going in all different directions as I bounce up to the surface.

"How is that a tradition!?" I scream.

I quickly get over to the side of the pool, Kingston and River double over in laughter, "Your-Your face!!" River says and Kingston continues to laugh harder.

"Reid, would you be a doll-" he cuts me off with a smile I haven't seen on him before. "I know what your going to say." He says as he approaches towards Kingston.

He can't pick Kingston up fully, but he takes his shoulders while he's laughing and throws him into the pool. I laugh, putting my hand up to high five Reid as we look at River.

He looks between Reid, Kingston, and I, then bolts out of his backyard. Reid chases after him as I turn around and look at Kingston to see my view blocked.

It's him.

I turn to run away but he puts his arms around my waist as I kick myself up, trying to hit him down but instead, we are both thrown into the pool.

Water goes everywhere along the pool as I bounce back up, not having gone far from Kingston. "I was stabbed a month ago and you treat me like this?" I ask sarcastically and he smirks.

"Calm down, Darling," he starts as he swims towards me and pins me against the side of the pool.

"You're too much like me." He says and I smile.

"Good thing?" I ask and he shakes his head sarcastically, "terrible."

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Reid and Kingston have been here all day, now helping me cook a very late dinner since we all swam for so long. Me not having changed out of my clothes to swim like the boys.

It's about nine, Reid and Kingston are leaving after this as I teach them to make a good dinner that's not a pizza pocket. River sits at the island, watching his phone lazily.

I look up at Kingston to see his face full of confusion as he just stares at the dough.

I would pay a penny for that thought. But I don't start my job until after school tomorrow, I have no pennies to spare.

"Okay, don't do that, put the cheese on evenly so that if it's to thick it doesn't make a giant bubble along the entire pizza. It sounds cool but it's not fun when you eat it and the cheese slides off." I say and River laughs.

"I personally love it when the cheese falls off my pizza." He says and I squint my eyes at him. "Stop being so lactose intolerant." I say and he chuckles, a giggle escaping my mouth.

I stick the pizzas in and when they're finished Reid and River eat theirs. I share with Kingston since he wants the pizza but not a whole one, and I could never eat that much. He's to sick to eat an entire one.

River says goodbye to the boys, Kingston being happy and not wanting to leave, picks me up and threatens to bring me with him. I just smirk and laugh as they bicker, kissing Kingston's cheek and jumping out of his bridal-style hold.

Reid just leaves, it seems like he does that a lot, stops here for food then leaves with no warning. Kingston too. Rich people.

I look at River, "I'm tired I'm going to-" I try to avoid him but he stops me, "Tell me, what is wrong?" He asks and I take a deep breath.

"It's nothing you just called me somebody else's name last night and I got that you were drunk but it kinda hurt and like who's is Hailey and why did Kingston kiss me and-" He cuts me off,

"You are lucky I am starting to speak Summer language." He says, staring deeply into my eyes. "I'll tell you about this later, but Hailey was a girl I liked in eighth grade." He says and I nod, so he still likes this Hailey girl.

"Oh, okay." I say as I get up to go to my room, but he stops me. His hand holding mine.

He kisses my cheek. Sitting me back down.

"She is the reason I-.. she's the reason I cared so much when I saw you cut, not the full reason, but, she killed herself. We were dating for a year and in eighth grade she killed herself. I always thought that it was because I did something wrong. It was because she thought I cheated on her."

"I only called you Hailey last night because... I don't know. But it is fine, I am over it." He says and I shake my head.

"I used to say I was fine a lot, I don't like that word. You might be fine, but I want you to know. I care about you, and just because you called me Hailey doesn't mean I'm going to get angry at you. I don't like getting angry." I say and he smiles.

He puts his arms around my back, pulling me in closer. "There's my innocent little Summie back." He says and I smile. "Only around Kingston. You don't get that." I say as I pull away from his hug and head upstairs.