The Square Root

The whole weekend I stayed at the mansion and Stephanie bombarding me with questions like why I wasn't in school, coincidently the same day that her brother wasn't. I told her how Ryan came over, and how I got drunk the other night and Ryan got pissed and whatnot.

She told me that her brother has been pissy since Friday, and has been hanging out with the guys lately. She even said that he came home drunk Saturday night. What the hell?

Then we started talking about Kyle and how worried he was that I didn’t show up at school and how I was having second thoughts about dating him.

I guess my brothers heard us talking, and walked in my room without knocking. “You have a boyfriend?” I was scared. They looked like steam was coming out of their ears.

“Yeah?” I squeaked.

“Whose this guy? Why didn’t you tell us, Hazelyn?” Tristan asked.

“Kyle Andrews. And I didn’t?” I asked.

“No, you did not. And the guy that held the party?” Nathan asked, deathly calm.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “And yeah, him.”

“I’ll be back,” Stephanie said, and kissed Tristan, whispering something in his ear before leaving the room.

They sat down next to me. Tristan spoke first. “Are you guys serious?”

“I don’t think so,” I told them honestly. “I like him but not as much as I thought,” I told them.

“We just don’t want you getting hurt,” Nathan told me.

“I wont and I think I’m breaking up with him. I think he deserves somebody that really likes him,” I told them, feeling guilty.

“We don’t want you breaking up with him because of us,” Nathan said.

“I’m not. I just think it’s wrong for me to be doing this,” I said honestly.

“We know you’re mature enough to sort out your feelings and making the right decisions,” Nathan said. “Hell, you make better decisions that me and Tristan put together,” he chuckled.

“You guys just need to relax, okay?” I smiled and hugged them both.

“Well, go on. Go talk to him. You don’t wanna get yourself in an even bigger mess, do you?” Tristan smirked.

“I guess not,” I sighed.

Later that afternoon, I called Kyle up and met up with him.

“Is there a problem?” he asked me.

I looked at him with remorseful eyes. “Kyle, I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I can't do this,” I told him.

“Is there something I did?” he asked nervously.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just think that you deserve better than me. You’re honestly a great guy. You’re a sweetheart, you’re nice and you’re everything a girl could want. But I don’t think that I level up with you,” I told him. He tried to say something, but I held a hand up. “I hope this doesn’t change anything between us and I’m sorry, but I have to admit - even how much I wanna deny it, the time that I agreed to be with you, I guess it was the spur of the moment. I really did like you, and I do really like you, but I don’t know if this is going anywhere. I hope we’d still stay friends,” I said to him.

He did the most unexpected thing ever. He hugged me. “Don’t fret, it’s all-good,” he said to me then pulled away. “I knew you were distracted, it’s been pretty obvious. But it’s okay. I’m glad that you know how you feel, and you know what you want. I’m glad that you’re honest with me, and that you didn’t lead me onto nothing longer,” he said to me. That made me tackle him in another hug, which made him chuckle. “So, what about watching a movie? As friends hanging out?” he suggested.

“Sounds good,” I said smiling at him. “But wait, I should give this back to you,” I said to him and gave him the envelope I got on valentines.

“That’s not from me,” he said handing it back to me.

“Ohhh…,” Ryan’s the only other person that knows about the bracelet.

~~Ryan POV~~

Why I was so pissed? Yeah, I had no clue either. Friday night until Saturday, I hung out with the guys, and we decided to go fly to Vegas and party our Asses. Oh hell yeah, you thought right. Private Jet baby!

Sunday, I just hung out at the store for a while. It’s been awhile since I’ve been around and I’ve just been checking on stocks and whatnot. I started walking around the mall when I saw something familiar. I got closer and saw that it was Hazelyn and Kyle They were both laughing and throwing popcorn at each other. I walked over to Starbucks and saw my cousin.

“Hey Sandra,” I grunted, leaning over the counter watching her make the drinks.

“You seem pissed of cuz,” she chuckled at me.

“You know what? You’re not helping. Forget it,” I sighed and started to leave.

“Wait!” she called out running after me. I turned around and glared at her. She just rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said and pulled me to one of the tables. “What’s up with you that you’re here?” she smiled at me.

~~Hazelyn POV~~

The next morning, I was dreading to go to school. I really didn’t wanna face Ryan at the moment. I was scared. I didn’t know why, but I really was. I was singing along to Varsity Fanclub’s “Domino” while driving to school and took a deep breath before entering the school.

“You and I need to talk,” Trisha said pulling me off to a deserted hallway. “You need to stay away from my boyfriend,” she glared at me.

“Okay,” I simply said and walked away.

“What okay?” she asked pulling me back.

“Okay, I will,” I told her with a shrug.

“Just like that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t wanna get involved in you guys’ relationship, and I don’t wanna interfere. So yes, just like that. And Ryan has done it before it’s not like it’s any different,” I told her and walking away once again.

The day was terrible, I have to say. Ryan and I were going back to ignoring each other - but this time, there was tension and awkwardness. I wanted to try talking to him, but I didn’t wanna make a scene in class. I waited until afterschool to talk to him.

He was walking towards his car when I ran after him.

“Ryan! Damn it!” I called out, running. He didn’t turn back. I finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “What is your problem?” I asked furiously when I caught up with him.

He snapped towards me, which made me flinch backwards and for a second, he had a sympathetic look in his eyes, but quickly turned into rage in a split second. “Nothing. Leave me alone,” he said and got in his car. I quickly ran to the passenger’s side. “Get out,” he told me.

I can't believe I’m pulling a Ryan Dolciani move. “No,” I said sternly.

“What if I take you to a club that full of pedophiles?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t,” I said so surely. I shrugged off my bag and buckled my seatbelt. “Drive,” I told him.

Several minutes of silence and we arrived at their mansion in Beverly Hills. We went up to the garage, but when I expected him to go park the car, he went up through a route that I didn’t notice was there. It went higher up on the mountain their property was in.

He got out of the car and quickly walking through a hedge maze. “Damn it, I hate mazes,” I muttered and followed close behind him, wondering why he brought me here. I followed him and he seemed to know exactly where he was going. He finally slowed down and we ended up on the other side of the maze, with a beautiful view of the entire Los Angeles area.

“Why here?” I asked him. He just shrugged and took a seat against a tree. I sat down next to him.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It calms me and it’s kind of my secret spot,” he smiled lightly.

“You’re seriously bipolar,” I mumbled. He gave me a weird look. “Why are you mad at me?” I asked him. “Besides me not telling you that I was with Kyle, but then again you haven’t talked to me in so long, so I really didn’t have a chance to tell you,” I told him.

“I have no idea,” he told me with a shrug. That set me off.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve been worried all weekend about you being mad at me and you don’t even know why?!” I asked, laughing dryly and stood up. “You stormed out of my house after you stayed with me through a thunderstorm, and you’re telling me you don’t know?!” I asked him, and walking off, trying to find my way out of there. I heard him yell incoherent words.

I ended up at the very middle of the whole thing, where there was a fountain, and was surrounded by flowers. “Can you wait up? Damn it,” he said leaning on his knees and panting.

“What?” I snapped.

“Oh, and you’re the one mad now?” he asked.

“You’re the one that doesn’t know why he’s mad at me!” I pouted.

“Let’s just let this one go, okay?” he asked me. “I’m sorry,” he sighed.

“Fine. Just this once,” I told him.

“Can I get a hug now?” he asked me. I looked at him like he was crazy. “What? I miss my bestfriend’s huggles!,” he pouted. I rolled my eyes and turned on my heel, trying to find my way out of the stupid thing. I was starting to get lightheaded and all I wanted was to get out of there. I kept walking and found another dead end, and sighed. I slowly turned around and I almost had a heart attack because I felt arms wind around my waist.

I was thought comforted when I felt the familiarity of the arms and the familiar scent that instantly enveloped me.

“Are you lost, beautiful?” he whispered to my ear, causing chills to go down my spine.

“Kind of,” I chuckled nervously.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said and lead me out of there. I gasped for air, and sighed contentedly leaning against his chest.

“I hate mazes.”

“Well it loves you,” he mumbled in my hair.

I didn’t know what to say anymore and I wanted to hide the blush that I could feel that was creeping up my neck. “How’d you get in the house anyways?” I asked him quickly.

“Spare key baby,” he chuckled.

I smacked him. “That’s invasion of privacy, Dolciani. What if I'm walking around naked?” I joked.

“I’d love to see that,” he winked at me.

I rolled my eyes. “There’s my perv of a bestfriend.”

“So, what do you wanna do now?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe go enjoy that view again? Or maybe get my car and hang out at my house,” I suggested.

“Let’s go get your car. I don’t want you driving around at night.”

We drove back to school and drove to my house to drop off the car, then went to blockbuster to look for movies and get snacks. We got a couple romantic comedies and an action film that Ryan picked out.

“You do know it’s a school night, right?” he asked me.

“It’s not like you sleep anyways,” I shrugged. “You just don’t wanna watch all these romantic movies with me,” I laughed and walked to pay for everything when I bumped into somebody. “Holy sh- sorry,” I said and looked up at the person. “Tristan?” I whispered.

He smiled at me. “Nice to see you too,” he chuckled.

“What are you doing here?”

“Here with Stephanie, you?”

“Ryan,” I told him.

“Isn't he ignoring you?”

“Not anymore,” I mumbled.

“Hey Tristan, what’s up man?” Ryan greeted my brother with a man hug from behind.

“Nothing, just renting movies,” he said.

Stephanie came up behind him and hugged him. “Sup bro, Hey Lyn!” she greeted giving me a hug.

“Hi Steph,” I chuckled.

“Well, we have to get going,” Tristan smirked. “We’ll see you guys,” he said putting his arms around Stephanie and walked out.

“If I didn’t know that guy well enough, I would’ve beat the shit out of him already,” Ryan growled when they were out of sight

“If he hurts her. He’d be grounded for a year,” I muttered under my breath.

Ryan laughed. “Grounded? How the hell would.”

“Trust me, it makes a difference,” I said and went to pay for the movies and snacks, but as always, Ryan beat me to it. “You need to let me pay sometime,” I told him.

“If you’re with me? No,” he said and we drove home. We were in the living room watching The Grown Ups when Ryan took my wrist and clasped something around it. I looked at him, and he just smirked at me. “You’re not mad anymore, right? So you can wear it,” he said, pulling me towards him, and I leaned all my weight onto him. “How long have you been with Kyle?”

“3 weeks probably,” I told him. He didn’t speak, and there was an awkward silence. “Thanks for the charm by the way,” I told him.

“How’d you know?”

“I tried giving it back to Kyle, and he said it wasn't from him,” I said.

“Give it back? What?” he asked, confused.

“I broke up with him,” I said.

He pulled away and made me face him. “What?”

“I broke up with him,” I said rolling my eyes.

“Weren’t you just….,” he started, but cut himself off. “Why?” he asked instead.

“I don’t know. It didn’t feel right,” I told him, and snuggling against him again.

“Did you like him?”

“Yeah.”

“A lot?”

“No, but I liked him,” I mumbled.

“Oh,” he said and pulled me closer, keeping my body warm with his body-heat.

“You smell good,” I chuckled.

“I was at the store today,” he told me.

“Oh.. How’s business going?”

“Good. I have to fly over to New York for some other inventory stuff next week, you wanna come with?”

“New York? As in the original Abercrombie store?” I asked, pulling away and looked at him

“Yeah,” he said unsurely.

“Oh hell yeah. Are there guys walking around half naked?” I asked excitedly. He rolled his eyes.

“You can always ask me to take my shirt off,” he winked at me.

“Take it off,” I dared him.

He shrugged and took it off. My mouth hung open. He must’ve been working out so much lately, because those abs don’t appear like that. “Keep your mouth closed, you’re drooling,” he chuckled. I snapped out of it and leaned back on the chair. “Not fair. It’s your turn,” he chuckled.

I scoffed. “Put your shirt back on,” I said, averting my eyes from his toned midsection. I saw him put his shirt back on and pull me towards him again.

“You still need to see those half naked guys?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I wasn't satisfied,” I chuckled.

“You little.. ugh!” he groaned. I just laughed at his frustration.

I like it when things are like this. There it goes again. Whose heartbeat is that?