Don't Stop Us Now

Hayley stumbled out of her bed and into the bathroom. The party wasn't as big as usual but still fun. For the most part. What was amusing, however, was watching her drunk friends trying to play Scrabble. When they gave up on that, they moved onto the ever-fabulous Twister. She grinned at the memory.

After washing her face she went on to wake up Kaylie and Noelle. As much as they would hate her for it, she loved waking them up after a late night. She found the right song on her iTunes playlist and turned the volume up. She skipped a few seconds to the right part and...

YO,
I'LL
Tell you what I want, what I really really want!
So tell me what you want, what you really really want.
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
Really really wanna zigazig ha.

Kaylie threw a pillow at Hayley's head, only to make contact with the wall behind her as she ducked. Hayley lowered the volume but started dancing around her friends to get them up. Noelle tried sticking her foot out to trip her friend but she only danced out of the way. "I'm gonna kill you," Noelle mumbled as she pulled the covers over her head. Hayley only laughed at her angry friends.

"YOU GUYS SHOULD REALLY GET OUT OF HERE!" Hayley shouted happily. Being a pain in the ass could be so much fun. "MY PARENTS PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO SEE MY FRIENDS HAVING A HANGOVER!" she extended the last word to make it super long.

Hayley fetched some Advil and two bottles of water. When she came back, her door was closed and locked. She huffed and left the water and pills on the floor. "You can have your own fun trying to feel better!" She shouted through the wood.

Walking down the stairs, she spied someone sleeping in the couch. Ugh! Was there any place for her to be loud in this house without disturbing someone? Deciding that her best bet would be outside, she put her bathing suit on and grabbed a bag of Doritos and a bagel to take outside. She sat on the floating chair with her bag of chips and closed her eyes while munching happily.

Not ten minutes had passed and she heard the door open.

"Bye, Hay hay!" Kaylie shouted. Hayley smiled and waved goodbye. She was facing the opposite direction and was not going to get her chip-eating hand wet. The door slid shut and Hayley heard doors to a car being shut. Then she listened for the sound of tires running on gravel. Hayley slipped another Dorito in her mouth and crunched loudly.

She was in warm pool water. It was peaceful outside. The Doritos were absolutely delicous. Life was good.

!@&*%

"We're home!" Hayley heard her mom call out. She was sitting at her table reading the comics. She said hello to her parents and returned her attention to the paper.

Her mom set some things on the table and looked around at the kitchen. "Did you clean anything like I asked you?" Hayley shook her head. Her mom paused and stared at her daughter. "Well why not?"

Hayley shrugged. "I don't know. I forgot. Sorry," she said. She stood up and walked out. Rolling her eyes, she whipped out her phone and speed-dialed Carly's.

After four rings Carly answered. "Hello Hayley. What is up?" Hayley shut the door of her room and heard Carly panting.

"Not much. You?" she asked curiously. What outrageous thing could Carly be doing?

Carly's breath become more rapid. "Oh, you know. The usual. Just running away from the Vampire of Bryantown." Hayley didn't want to get into that story.

"How would you like to accompany me to the mall? I just got paid and feel like splurging," said Hayley. She had one guess where Carly would want to go.

"Oooh! Can we go to Hot Topic? Please?" Carly dragged out the please. After agreeing to pick Carly up in ten minutes, Hayley changed into something more comfortable.

They got to the mall and entered the familiar store. Carly immediately went to the music section while Hayley browsed the aisles. There had been a Transformers hoodie she was interested in.

Ah-ha! Success! She reached for it and lifted the hanger off of the rack. She began looking for the price tag and was suddenly sent to the floor. She groaned and put her hand on her now throbbing head.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention. Jeez, I'm so stupid. Here, let me help you up," someone said. Hayley glanced up at the person now offering their hand. It was definitely a guy. "I'm really, really sorry," he repeated himself. Hayley accepted his helping hand and stood back up. She brushed her butt off. It was probably dirty. Damn it.

She saw Carly walk over to see what happened. Hayley looked over the guy. He wasn't over-the-top cute or attractive in an obnoxious way. He had a light in his eyes, which seemed to be the nicest shade of brown.

"What happened?" Carly asked. "I laughed when I saw you fall but that's about it."

Mystery Guy looked embarrassed but said nothing. "We just, uh, bumped into each other is all," said Hayley. She knew that was a lame story but she gave Carly one of her looks that shut her up.

"Um, I'm Nate." Mystery Guy stuck out his hand again, only in greeting this time.

If this were any other boy, Hayley would have been furious. She would have been yelling at him for knocking her down. She would have not used his hand to help herself up. And she would definitely not be shaking his hand and saying "I'm Hayley." And there would be no way that she, Carly, and Nate would be leaving to go to the food court together. If this were any other boy, Hayley would not have looked at him at all.

Oh man. There must be something very wrong with Hayley.