Love or Lust

As night fell and sunshine rose the following day, Hazel spent most of the day helping her mother around the house; babysitting the twins, cleaning, cooking and tidying up in general. She had officially unpacked her suitcase and tucked it underneath the disguise of her bed.

It was when the family was returning from grocery shopping, hands filled with bags of food – mostly unhealthy items, treats for the twins – did Hazel discover Garrett sitting on the doorstep wearing a rather bored expression. His face lit up at the sight of them; clearly he must have been waiting for longer than he wanted.

“Garrett it’s been a while” Hazel’s mother spoke noticing the boy sitting down.

“It certainly has Mrs Hastings”

“How many times must I tell you, please call me Claire” Garrett nodded at her request and politely took the bags she was carrying from her, following the group inside.

Settling down at the small, round breakfast table in the kitchen as the kettle boiled, Hazel watched absentmindedly as Garrett interacted with her mother, apparently Garrett had neglected to make a proper house call for quite a while.

“Actually I came over to ask Hazel something” At the sound of her name coming from Garrett, Hazel snapped her head up, slightly confused and curious as to what he was referring too. “My band mate and friend Kennedy, the one that you saw the other day, is having a party tonight and told me it was fine to invite you, that is only if you’re up to it?”

“Oh Garrett, you know I love a party”

“I’ll pick you up at 7 then”



“We’re going to a party” Garrett huffed “not a freaking ball”

Garrett was waiting downstairs in the living room while Hazel put the finishes touches to her outfit later that evening. Her heels clicked against the wooden stairs as she made her way down them.

“Oh Garrett when will you learn” she smirked “I’m a woman”

“What gave that away?” sarcastic remarks were always Garrett’s speciality.

Hazel climbed into the passenger seat of Garrett’s prized bright yellow car as he drove them to their destination.

The minute they arrived at the party, Hazel was slightly shocked. Garrett had to park almost a block away from the house because there were a ton of cars lined up beside the house. When he mentioned ‘party’, she had imagined a solid number of about fifteen, maybe twenty, people inside a small house, happily socialising with each other in the kitchen with their cold beers in hand. But as they got closer to the house, it resembled that of a zoo.

“A house party?” Hazel observed “how original”

“Not quite up to your standards?”

“You could say that or that I’ve never been to one before, it seems so clichéd to me”

“How the hell do you party in New York?”

“Fake ID’s my compadre” she said with a pat to his shoulder “nearly all the rich kids have one by the time they’re 14”

“Well then” Garrett linked his arm with Hazels “welcome to the parties of the not so rich kids”

Dodging party goers helping a drunken friend spill his guts into the front garden; they made their way inside to where the centre of the party was taking place. People turned their heads as the pair walked past, whether it was Hazel herself or the fact Garrett had arrived with someone they didn’t know, it didn’t bother her she loved the attention either way.

“I’ll get us some drinks!” Garrett yelled loudly over the music as they stopped it what appeared to be the main living area. With a quick “be right back”, he disappeared into the sea of unfamiliar faces.

Hazel did a quick survey of her surroundings. The pop music was pounding loudly throughout the whole house, guys who smelled like mini bars were drunkenly pushing themselves past them with red cups grasped in their hands, couples were making out in corners and on the couches while trashy girls were dancing on the dining room table. There was even glitter on the floor. Glitter.

“Here we go” Garrett broke her thoughts “A fine drink for a fine lady”

“Such a gentlemen” Hazel took the drink he was offering to her “You sure know how to flatter a lady Mr Nickelsen”

“Coke and vodka.” He explained when she peered down at the cup he had given her, “It was the only alcohol I could reach since someone was leaning against the cases of beers” Without another word she downed the whole drink in one go, earning herself a questioning look and raised eyebrows from her friend.

“Don’t give me that look; I know how to hold my liquor”

“If you weren’t one of my best friend I would kiss you”

“Now I know you aren’t in a one man band” she smirked “where are these band members of yours?”

“They’d be outside setting up for our set” he replied “follow me”

Garrett pulled her through the busy house, making their way through the foyer and towards the kitchen that had been turned into a mini bar. Hazel noticed that as they walked past everyone, she was getting even more glances from both the guys and girls. They were probably wondering why she wasn’t dressed in tacky tops and denim cut offs. Finally they reached the outside, were a bonfire was blazing in the centre of the backyard close to what appeared to be a make-shift stage.
A group of five guys were sitting on the edge of the ‘stage’ with drinks in hand heavily involved in their nonchalant conversation. Unaware at their approach, Garrett cleared his throat grabbing their attention. They all voiced their greetings to their friend and then instantly turned their attention to the girl beside they’d never seen before.

“Guys this is Hazel DeLancey” he said “We grew up together and used to live next door to each other until she moved to New York”

Hazel grinned slightly as she watched them all look her up and down with their eyes, no doubt wondering how Garrett had managed to be friends with someone like her. They had a very unique friendship, they weren’t exactly opposites, but definitely shared many differences.

“And this is Jared Monaco, Pat Kirch, Eric Halvorsen – but we call him Halvo, Kennedy Brock who you saw yesterday ” Garrett continued, pointing to each of them as they gave her a small wave or nod. “and this is –” Hazel’s jaw almost dropped at the sight of the last boy as he turned around, Tempe consists of only a small population, so of course he would be here and friends with Garrett no less.

“John” Hazel finished for Garrett, earning her five confused faces. “We met yesterday at the cafe while I was out and about in town” she explained.

“You guys are on now!” someone called out to their small group of people, a few people around them cheered at the announcement.

As the others around them all proceeded to grab their instruments and do the final fine tuning, Hazel watched John stare at her, and this time he couldn’t hide behind his sunglasses. The corners of his mouth were again turned up as he smirked at her, knowing she was studying him as well. Shaking her head slightly, she began to leave to find a place to sit. As she did though, cold fingers wrapped out the circumference of her tiny wrist. She turned to see John.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I’ll figure you out eventually”