Love or Lust

Hazel kept her hand curled around the handle of her suitcase, excitement built up in her chest, her hair was flying as her eyes searched around, trying to find the family she was anxious to see again.

When Hazel was just newly twelve after countless fights, her parents made a mutual decision to get a divorce, leaving their only child with the impossible choice of choosing which parent she wanted to live with. After much debate between herself, Hazel chose to leave the comfortable life with her mum in Arizona to live with her dad in New York. Being a high class businessman with endless amounts of money, Hazel knew that her dad could help her get into the best schools and set up her future. It was a hard choice to make but she was chasing her dreams.

She attended a high school close to where she lived on the upper east side of Manhattan and joined the high class of society straight away. Supplied with whatever she wanted and little boundaries from her dad, she soon became an ‘it girl’. Since living in New York, her mother had visited on many occasions, including her high school graduation but she never returned to Arizona. A few years after moving, her mother remarried providing Hazel with two siblings, Harry and Josephine a pair of 5 year old twins who always got up to mischief.

“Hazel!”

Harry and Josephine both held their mum’s hand while waving at her, both with wide smiles on their faces. Robert Hastings, Hazel’s step-father and father to Harry and Josie was currently in England on a very long business trip and wouldn’t be back until just before Christmas.

Hazel grinned, dropped her suitcase and knelt down with her arms wide open as the twins ran straight for her.

“We’ve missed you!” they both chorused at her

“I’ve missed you guys too; you’ve both grown so much since I last saw you”

Hazel let go of the two smiling children in front of her and looked over at her mum standing there watching the scene unfold.

“You get more beautiful every time I see you” her mum pulled her into an embrace “you look just like me at your age”

Hazel was almost the spitting image of her mother, with her pale scene, rosy cheeks and perfectly kept dark brunette locks that shone in the sunlight. The only difference between the two was their personalities.

“It’s good to be home”

Stepping out of the airport, Hazel was met with the familiar Arizona weather. It was a drastic change from what she was used to in New York. She threw her suitcase into the back of her mother’s car and they drove off, weaving through the intense traffic of Phoenix to, back to nearby Tempe.

As she stepped out of the car and retrieved her bags Hazel noticed a car pulling into the driveway of the house to the left of hers. Two boys who looked around the same age as her stepped out and looked over in her direction. She smirked as they gaped at her with open mouths. Stares like that didn’t bother her; she got them all the time. With a flick of her hair she turned back towards her childhood home.

“Hazel!” the girl turned to see who had called her name and saw one of the boys jogging across the lawn toward her while the others all looked confused “holy shit it’s really you”

Hazel took in the boys features, light brown her and soft green eyes. A smile crept across her face as he finally reached her.

“Garrett Nickelsen my friend you got hot!” He was no longer the skinny boy she knew from middle school who was a little too obsessed with zombies. Now he’d grown up, sporting slight facial hair and buffer upper arms.

“What about you, look at all this” he gestured to the outfit Hazel was wearing. She did a little twirl just to show off “been hanging out with the rich New York kids far too long”

“Oh believe me I would prefer a band shirt and jeans to this but I dress to impress and judging by the looks on your friends face right now it’s working” gestured to the brunette haired boy leaning against the car.

Garrett rolled his eyes, Hazel was always one who loved the attention “How’s the dancing thing going?”

“I’ll have you know it’s not a ‘thing’ as you call it” she spoke with a fake shocked voice “and it’s going very well, I got accepted into Julliard last year”

“No freaking way!” Garrett pulled Hazel into a hug and lifted her off the ground as she laughed at his sudden outburst “I always knew you’d get in there”

Garrett Nickelsen and Hazel had grown up together, and only living next door to each other they became quite close. Before she moved away, both supported each other dreams and Hazel’s of course was to become a well-known dancer.

“Enough about me!” she exclaimed “what about you?”

“I’m in a band called The Maine” he smiled proudly “Kennedy over there is a part of it, he plays rhythm guitar and does the backup vocals.

“You any good?” Hazel queried

“We like to think so I mean we’ve played shows, but we’re yet to secure a record deal”

“Oh and here I was thinking you were some kind of garage band”

“Ouch Hazel” he grinned, still overjoyed at seeing his childhood best friend.

"It was good to see you again Garrett" She gave him one last hug before crossing the luscious green lawn to the front door.

"I'll see you around Hazel"

"Oh you can count on it Nickelsen"

She twirled around on her heel and disappeared through the open front door, shutting right behind her. Hazel DeLancey was back in town and as Garrett Nickelsen returned to his friend he knew this could only mean trouble.