Back to Square One

Hazelyn has not spoken to me since we left France and once in awhile, when we went out for lunch, she’d let me hold her hand because of paparazzi. I guess Derek let her do this. What kind of guy would let his girlfriend pretend to be somebody else’s girl? The hell I’d do that with my girlfriend, especially if she was Hazelyn. I wouldn’t let anybody use her. I know what you’re thinking: I’m a hypocrite. But you know my motives. I’m not using her.

We’ve been in Orlando for three days. Hazelyn has just been staying in her room, (curse my decision to get a three bedroom condo), and didn’t even talk to me.

“I don’t wanna fucking go!” Hazelyn shouted at me.

“I thought you agreed to pretending to be my girlfriend?!” I crossed my arms.

“I did, but I don’t wanna fucking go anywhere!”

“Fine. I’m gonna have to tell Derek,” I spat the name out venomously “That you almost had sex with a stranger.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t,” she glared.

“I would,” I nodded, because I knew I would. Not because it was for blackmail, but because I’d do anything to pull them apart. “I’d also dare to tell T about your relationship,” I nodded. She screamed out and stormed to the room she occupied, leaving me alone to go to do my business.

On the fourth day, I planned something for us.

“Haze?” I knocked on her door early in the morning. I heard shuffling and some sniffling before I heard her croak a ‘yes’. “Would you mind opening the door?”

“Yes,” she sneered. I almost chuckled, but I didn’t since her voice broke.

“Open up or I’m gonna force my way in,” I threatened.

“Go ahead, it’s your door,” she scoffed.

I chuckled and shook my head. I then went through my keys and found the one to the guest bedroom, quickly opening it and was about to joke with Hazelyn about something until I saw her on her bed. She was crying, and trying to cover her face.

“Oh my fuck! What’s wrong?” I asked rushing towards her.

“Nothing,” she shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean to keep you prisoner in here,” I sighed. “I’ll book you a-….”

“No, it’s not you,” she interrupted, shaking her head.

“What?”

“Nothing, what did you need?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to uhh, spend the day with me,” I scratched the back of my neck nervously

“Yeah, sure,” she softly smiled at me.

“Really?” I asked shocked.

She bit her lip and nodded. “Oh and you need to get rid of that habit of rubbing the back of your neck when you’re nervous,” she said through sniffles as she made her way to her bathroom.

I just stared at the door. She didn’t bitch at me. Something’s definitely wrong.



“What the fuck? Universal Studios?” Hazelyn laughed when we drove into the parking.

“Yeah! I wanted to see that Harry Potter Attraction,” I grinned goofily as I parked the car and got out.

“I’m in no attire for this,” she frowned as she was in jeans, a cute shirt and flats.

“We’ll go shop,” I shrugged as I pulled her out of the Camaro.

“You’re still not learning how to handle your money right?” she asked shaking her head.

“Who said I’m paying?” I scoffed as we started walking.

“You’re the one that pulled me here!”

I just shrugged and kept walking. “But you’re the one that decided to not bring any clothes.”

“You didn’t tell me where we were going,” she crossed her arms.

I chuckled softly as I shook my head. “Fine, let’s go shopping.”

“Not here though,” she pointed out.

“Where do you wanna shop then?” I asked her.

“There’s an outlet nearby,” she batted her eyelashes.

“You’re bipolar,” I mumbled. “Let’s go,” I sighed as we got back into the car. We drove over to the outlet on International Drive, as she gave me directions. “How are you so familiar with this place?” I asked her.

“I uhh- I have a map,” she said holding it up.

“You really need to stop lying,” I chuckled as I parked the car and got out. Hazelyn jumped out of her seat and started rushing towards the Burton Outlet. “Wait up!” I called out as I jogged after her.

“Slow poke!” she stuck her tongue out and kept walking without me.

I shook my head at how childish she was acting and how bipolar she was being. I walked inside, immediately engulfed by the cold temperature - a huge change from the ninety-degree weather outside. I sighed in relief and started looking for clothes for myself as I waited for Hazelyn to make her selections.

Twenty minutes later, Hazelyn had a guy holding her stuff for her. I couldn’t even see the guy’s face. I shook my head and walked up to them. “You done, Haze?” I asked.

“Almost,” she mumbled.

“Are you her boyfriend?” the guy asked, craning his neck to see me.

I looked at Hazelyn, whom wasn’t paying any attention and nodded at the guy. “Yeah,” I mumbled. “I’ll take those from you,” I said as he dumped the pile into my arms. “Fuck, what the hell?” I complained.

“Your girlfriend’s a shopping freak bro,” he shook his head and started stretching his back as he walked to the back room. I chuckled quietly until Hazelyn threw a shirt at me, landing on my face.

“Hazey! We’re done! Come on!” I tried.

“Shut up,” she mumbled.

“Come on, you have lots of clothes already,” I sighed.

“Fine,” she mumbled as we walked up to the cashier.

“Finally done?” the guy asked.

Hazelyn blushed and nodded. Well, we didn’t finish until 20 minutes later and we had three huge bags. “You’re such a girl,” I complained as I tried to shove everything into the Camaro. “And you didn’t change?” I frowned.

“Come on, I’ll just change here,” she shrugged.

“We’ll find a bathroom,” I sighed as I took the backpack she bought, shoving random clothes inside and made our way back to Universal Studios. We finally got into the park, Hazelyn all changed and I with a new gadget - My new camera.

“So, what are we doing here?” she asked as we got into the gates.

“We first, are going to the Harry Potter attraction!” I cheered as I took her hand, pulling her through the place. She was in pretty good shape, since we didn’t stop and “Hogwarts” was at the very back of the theme park. “You’ve been working out,” I pointed out. She laughed as she just nodded at me. I then got a locker to put all our stuff in, taking our Express Passes, and zipping through the line.

“Ready?” I asked as we got on our seats. She just bit her lip and nodded at me. The ride started and it was amazing. I mean, I’m not much of a Harry Potter fan, but it was just wow. The graphics were amazing. It was just purely amazing. Just like the girl next to me.

I couldn’t see her, but I hoped she was smiling. I used the time to think. Hazelyn wasn’t being a bitch. Something was definitely wrong. She was being bipolar and she wanted to shop. She let me pay and she’s being nice. Something was wrong and I’ll find out. But right now, I’m gonna clear her head.

After the ride was over, Hazelyn was grinning from ear to ear. I loved seeing it when she was happy and this one was because of me. I knew I’ve made her cry, I knew I hurt her - But right now, I’m the one making her smile. Okay, maybe it was the ride, but I actually got her out.

We then left and went to get our pictures. I ordered it without even a glimpse of it and when I did, my smile widened even more. She was smiling like an idiot. Okay, that was mean, but she was smiling! Meaning she was having fun.

“That looks weird,” she pouted.

“No it doesn’t!” I laughed as we picked up our stuff from the lockers.

“Yes it does, look at my smile! It’s gross!”

“It’s cute,” I smiled at her, making her blush and look away.

“Let’s go on that!” she yelled as she pointed at the Dueling Dragons ride.

“You’re kidding,” I gaped at her.

“What?”

“You hate rollercoasters,” I pointed out.

She just shrugged. “You took me on a rollercoaster once. You can take me again,” she smiled as she pulled me towards the line.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“You almost passed out last time!”

“But I didn’t,” she pointed out.

“But you didn’t,” I agreed.

“Then come on!”

I chuckled as we got in line and she was all giddy about it. But once we got to the front of the line, she froze. “Uhm, Ry, I think we should uhh, let them go,” she said pulling on my hand. My heart skipped a beat at the name she called me but I rolled my eyes at her.

“Your idea, now relax. There’s no turning back,” I chuckled.

“Ah Fuck. What did I get myself into?” she mumbled, making me chuckle as we got into our seats and buckled up.

We got off the ride and Hazelyn was so shaken up I wanted to laugh. I had to practically carry her to go see the pictures. I looked at it, and it looked just like the Disneyland one. She was emotionless as I was glancing at her worriedly.

She looked down at it and back at me, and snapped out of her daze. “That was fucking incredible,” she almost screamed.

“Are you kidding me? You looked half dead for a minute there!”

“That was just wow,” she laughed. “I need to live a little,” she mumbled to herself.

“Where are we off to now?”

The day went on like that. We’d go on a ride, get the pictures, go on another ride and so on. We’d also buy a souvenir or two at one of the attractions, and got pictures with my new camera.

By the end of the day, Hazelyn was already whining. “My feet hurt!” she’d whine.

“Come on, just a little more!” I pushed.

“A little more? It’s still too damn far to the car!” she whined. I rolled my eyes and walked up to her, throwing her over my shoulder and making her squeal. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You said you didn’t wanna walk,” I mumbled as everyone’s eyes drifted towards us. An odd couple with the girl over the shoulders of the guy. “If you wanted me to carry you, you should’ve just said so,” I scoffed.

“Put me down.”

“If you shut up,” I mumbled.

“Fine,” she agreed as I set her back down on her feet. “Thank you,” she said dusting herself off.

“You hungry?” I asked her.

“Not really, why?”

“Nothing, I was gonna take you to dinner to the Tommy Bahamas restaurant,” I said looking straight ahead.

“There’s a restaurant?”

“Yup, on international drive - just a few blocks away from the condo, you down?” I asked her.

“Hell to the yeah,” she cheered.

“Okay,” I smiled as we got into the car and began driving to the condo.

“Are we walking?” she whined.

“Yeah, problem?”

She squirmed in her seat. “I don’t think I can walk another step,” she said.

“I’ll carry you,” I grinned as I parked the car, got out and started to walk. “You need me to carry you?” I asked after a block. A long damn block.

“Yes!” she sighed in relief and jumped on my back.

“You’re a dork,” I shook my head.

“I’m your dork,” she grinned, making us both freeze. “I mean, uhh, we’re both dorks,” she laughed nervously.

“Yeah,” I chuckled nervously back. The rest of the walk was quiet, and as we got into the crowded areas, I set her back down on her feet to avoid unwanted attention.

We walked into the restaurant, immediately getting a table for two and ordered our food.

“So, what’s the sudden change of mind?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?”

“Change of mind on letting me take you with me today?”

She just shrugged. “Oh nothing,” she said.

“Really,” I said seriously.

“Nothing. Really,” she smiled at me.

“If you say so,” I sang as she just laughed at me.

We finished our dinner and we took our scenic walk back to the condo. “So, I have something for you,” I told her.

“Oh?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” I nodded. I took the folder out of the backpack I carried and handed it to her. She raised her eyebrow when she took it from my hands.

“What’s it for?” she asked

“Look at it,” I urged.

She raised her eyebrow even higher as she opened it and took out the documents. “What’s this?”

“It’s my birthday present to you.”

“Ryan, I can’t take this,” she sighed as she handed it back to me.

“Yes you can. You spend more time in that hotel room and it’s just fair if you get full ownership,” I said to her.

She bit her lip as she looked at me. “I can’t. It’s yours. It was both ours, and I can’t take it,” she sighed.

“I’m not taking it back either. If we both can’t own it then you might as well take full ownership,” I told her.

She just sighed and nodded, staying silent. We continued our walk as I gazed up at the stars. “Don’t you like this place? We can walk around comfortably without freezing in the middle of the night,” I smiled lightly.

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

I sighed and looked at her. “Something was wrong this morning,” I pointed out.

“Oh?” she asked looking ahead.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” she sighed.

“If you were crying about it, then it did mean something.”

“It’s Derek. He just didn’t remember my birthday, that’s all,” she sighed.

I just kept quiet since I was pissed that after today, she’s still thinking about that bastard. I didn't quite catch it if it was a lie or not, my attention diverted to the fact that I was mad and I was jealous. She was still worrying about him and what he thought. I didn’t know how to react without badmouthing the Son of a bitch.