Warning: Contains profanity, implied sex, (underage) drinking, and drug references. Oh, and a little bit of angst, too.
A/N: So my MacBook has crashed recently and, until I can get it fixed, 7teen is on a hiatus. I know—I'm sad, too. Until I run maintenance on that, I'm working off the tablet I normally use for school because I got bitten by the writing bug.
I've been listening to Halsey's music 24/7 and I got inspired by her Room 93 EP, which she said was the result of the forced intimacy of sharing a hotel room. Naturally, I based this story around that concept and the five songs from that EP, coming up with this pile of romance, angst, and friendship.
For those of you that read my 7teen series, hopefully this and my other works will keep you occupied until my laptop is revived. Enjoy!
I. "I'm a Wanderess, I'm a One-Night Stand"
A ton of bricks collided with Jen's forehead. It felt that way, at least.
Her eyelids glued shut and her mind groggy, she couldn't be more irritable when she felt a body roll next to her, so close that their skin touched hers.
"Ugh," she muttered, trying to remember what a sentence was. Her words were slow and raspy. "This is my side of the bed. Knock it off."
She heard a one-word apology and, content, tried to fall asleep again.
Wait, she thought as her eyes opened wide. She winced at all the sunlight spilling into her hotel room. Everything was too bright for her to comprehend. Someone being in her bed was too much for her to comprehend. Panicking, she thought, I don't remember bringing anyone in here with me.
She rolled over and stole a glance of the stranger in her bed. He was blonde, face-down, and naked.
She gasped as she stared at him and looked at herself, finding her own body naked and sticky.
"Holy shit!" she exclaimed as she jolted out the bed, covering herself with white linen and the last shred of her dignity. She was never the kind of girl who cursed—hell, she was never a one-night stand—but this morning proved there was a first time for everything.
Her sudden movement caused the blonde stranger to pop up and sit upright, revealing his face.
She didn't think she could be more mortified, but, as she yelled, she was proven wrong once again.
"Jude, what the hell are you doing in my bed?!"
He, adjusting to the world pounding against his head and the sunlight filling the room, said, "Whoa, chill… Wait, why are you naked, brah?"
"News flash: you're naked, too."
He looked at his body and found her to be right. "Holy shit."
"My reaction exactly." With one hand holding the sheet over her body and the other slapping her forehead, hoping she could slap some sense into herself, she asked, "How did this even happen?"
Jude searched the depths of his hazy mind before offering the best answer he could. "Didn't we all go out to some bar last night?"
She slowly nodded as the memories flooded back to her. It made her headache worse, but she needed to sift through these things.
"What up, New York?" an excited pop singer shouted into her microphone, looking off the stage and into the crowd. "My name is Ashley Francis and I'll be tonight's entertainment. Shoutout to my band and the Pop Pub for having me here. Now let's hear some kickass music!"
Eager to hear her setlist, the customers howled and hooted, among those customers being the gang.
"I'm so happy you guys were able to get me in here!" Caitlin squealed to her friends. She was so ecstatic that she bounced up and down in her seat, her blonde curls bouncing with her. "Thanks for the ID, Jonesy!"
"Anytime, princess," he said, winking at her.
Nikki snorted. "You're acting like you've never been in a bar before, Barbie."
"I mean I have, but only because I was legal back in Toronto. New York is way different, and I'm not just talking about bars." Grateful that Jonesy could get her a fake ID before they left Toronto—having perfected the art of getting one made this time around—Caitlin definitely wouldn't let America's legal age steal her spirits. She was here to lift her spirits and feel inspired by New York and all it had to offer, not to focus on being twenty while her other friends had already reached twenty-one.
"Speaking of, we should be the ones thanking you for taking us here," Wyatt said.
She blushed. "Aw, you don't have to thank me. If anything, it was my parents that got us here." Her parents had noticed how much effort all of them were focusing into their college studies and, since the gang just finished their spring semesters and entered the summer, decided to send them on a one-week, all-expenses-paid trip to New York City. And heaven knows they all needed it.
Wyatt just broke up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Kylie Smylie, just after she performed her Toronto concert dates and ended the North American leg of her tour. Though he didn't want them to part ways again, he knew he couldn't keep up with her when she went on the Eurasian tour dates. She offered to bring him on tour with her this summer, but—with his career budding and hers fully bloomed—he knew it wouldn't last and rejected it.
Nikki didn't know what was on Jonesy's mind for the past week, especially not today when they were settling into their hotel room. He tried to tell her something when they were unpacking, but never mustered the right words. She knew it couldn't be anything too bad, but it left her on her toes. It also left her suspicions high, something she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with during the whole trip.
Despite loving the vibes of the city thus far, Caitlin longed for the comfort of her girlfriend Chantel, someone she couldn't bring on the trip with her because she had family obligations for the week. They had only gotten together recently, almost two months ago after meeting each other through a mutual friend, and they were smitten with each other. Though this was Caitlin's second girlfriend thus far, she had good feelings about her. But, while in New York City, Caitlin could only love her from afar.
Jen and Jude needed the most saving during this trip, being at their lowest, lost in a valley of emotions.
Undoubtedly, all of them needed this escape and were grateful to have finally gotten it.
"Hey, if it wasn't for you being our friend, who knows where we'd be?" Jonesy asked before raising his glass of beer in the air. "To Caitlin."
The rest of the gang followed suit, flattering her by toasting in her name. "To Caitlin!"
From there, they downed their drinks and enjoyed the indie pop filling their ears.
From there, Jen wouldn't stop filling her glass with tequila. She gulped her drinks like a champ, wanting to drown her sorrows and bitterness with liquid therapy.
"Whoa, Jen, slow down," Nikki said with a chuckle. "I don't think it's a race."
She appreciated her warning, but, for once, Jen let her signature self-control stay at home in Canada. She let the liquor sit on her lips and glide down her throat, easing her ailing.
Jude did, too.
It was all he could do when his mind longed for Starr and her touch—her comfort. But Starr was only a memory, a queen of no identity. She switched personas so often that Jude didn't know who he was dating anymore. She fell back into her old ways slowly, then all at once. When things got out of hand, when he didn't know what was real anymore, she realized she needed help finding who she truly was. And she couldn't do that with Jude by her side.
So, as she received the therapy she needed, he healed himself by getting high everyday she wasn't in his life. He stayed stoned for two whole weeks, only coming down to join his friends in the Big Apple. He couldn't bring his weed on the flight with him, so he had to settle for alcohol, a substance he used more infrequently.
While he and Jen grew more and more wasted, Nikki tried to maintain a conversation with Jonesy.
Running a hand through her long black and purple-tipped hair—at least the side that wasn't shaved off—she asked, "So, want to go sightseeing tomorrow? I've always wanted to see New York with you."
"You have?" he asked after taking a sip of his second beer.
"Well, not New York specifically, but I just don't mind traveling around with you." Despite the mixed communication they'd been engaging in lately, she wouldn't let it affect her too much. She wasn't a person who pried. She would just carry on like usual, especially because this week would be their most intimate in months, what with them sharing a hotel room for an entire week instead of visiting each others' dorms every other weekend.
"Well, I've got some good news: I don't mind traveling with you either, so I'm down for cruising around tomorrow," he said with a grin on his face.
As they exchanged lingering kisses, Caitlin suggested, "Ooh, we should totally have breakfast together before we split up tomorrow!"
"Sounds good to me," Wyatt said, with Jonesy and Nikki agreeing.
Jen and Jude agreed as soberly as they could, though it was difficult.
Two hours later, as the singer finished her set and a bigger late-night crowd spilled into the bar, the gang decided to part ways for the night. Wyatt went off to talk to Ashley about her music, Jonesy and Nikki went in search of some fresh air, and Jen and Jude tried to convince Caitlin they were capable of walking back to their hotel together, with it being only two blocks away. Though skeptical, she left them to their own devices.
While they let the warm summer air guide them back to Wilson Hotel, stumbling and giggling along the way, Jen felt comfortably numb. Numb enough to leave her previous relationship behind. Numb enough not to cry over her ex's infidelity. She had devoted a year and a half to a guy named Logan, the star of her university's soccer team—only for her relationship to crash and burn when she found out he had been cheating on her… with her roommate. The two people she trusted the most had betrayed her in the worst way, and she vowed to keep them far away from her.
Once she was through with him, she locked up her heart and threw away the key, condemning love and all it entailed. He had only brought her pain and she became a waterfall of tears every time she thought about him.
But not tonight.
As she wandered these New York streets with Jude, hand-in-hand, she felt happy, something she hadn't felt in a long time. She and Jude fumbled their way into the hotel and onto the fifth floor, where they belonged.
They made their way down the hallway, stealing gazes and exchanging smirks along the way.
As soon as they made it to Jen's suite, Room 493, she didn't want to part ways with him. Not when they were beginning to have fun, the most fun both of them have had in ages.
"Jude," she whispered, gazing into his eyes before she let her impulses control her. She stole a sloppy kiss from him.
He embraced her as he kissed her back.
They kissed again and again and again, each time more deeply and passionately.
As his lips traveled down her neck, she moaned louder than she intended—her self-control was long-gone by now—and encouraged his behavior. She giggled as he gently sucked on her skin, surely giving her a hickey.
His lips met hers once more, but he couldn't help it. He was held captive in her kiss.
Though she didn't mind being loved like this, she didn't want to continue in the hallway for everyone to see. Her sobriety, or lack thereof, told her that much.
"Jude, Ireallywantyourightnow," she slurred in between deep breaths and passionate kisses.
"Same," was all he could muster. His one-track mind wanted her, too.
Her hand fumbled through her pockets in search of her room key. Once she grabbed it and managed to slide it in the door, she quickly pulled him into her room, becoming tangled in him.
She pushed him onto the bed and straddled him, feeling so alive and liberated as she grinded on him. Living for the moment, he clawed their clothes off, begging for her skin to press against his. He needed one night to escape from everything that brought him down, and so did she.
As the night went on, she wasn't a waterfall of tears anymore. She was the force of a fucking hurricane.
"Whoa," Jude said as both he and Jen recalled the night's activities. "Y'know, now that I think about it, you were really great last night."
Her skin flushed and grew hot, but part of that could have been due to her hangover. All the numbness she felt last night surely went away, replaced by shame and pain. She was tempted to say that he was great too, but, with her self-control barely in her grip, decided against it.
"Jude, friends aren't supposed to compliment each other on a one-night stand. We're not supposed to have one-night stands!"
Before Jude could reply, they heard three knocks on Jen's door.
"Hey, Jen, are you still gonna join us for breakfast?" Caitlin asked. "Jonesy, Nikki, and I are heading downstairs. Wyatt said he'd be down in ten minutes, though."
"Yeah, I'll meet you down in a few. See you there!" Jen replied in her most composed voice, while mindlessly rubbing the hickey Jude left on her neck. She quickly picked up Jude's scattered clothing and threw it at him. "You need to put your clothes back on. Please pretend like nothing happened when we go downstairs."
While trying to comprehend everything from the past twenty-four hours, he complied. "Okay."