I entered the Mystic Grill looking for Ryan. My eyes were still trying to adjust to the dim lighting, I was squinting. I looked all around, but I couldn't find him. Finally, I spotted him at one of the corner tables, working on something on his laptop.
"Sorry I'm late," I say sliding into the chair across from him. "Rehearsal went a little later than expected."
"Not a problem," he said, not looking up from his laptop. "I'm working on a history project for Mr. Saltzman's class."
"Since when did Mr. Saltzman assign a project?" I question. We had the same teacher.
Ryan sighed and closed his laptop, finally looking at me.
"Well, there's this hot new girl-"
"Wait," I interrupt him. "Hot new girl? What happened to Marissa?"
"Not interested anymore."
"She's not interested or you're not interested?"
He gave me a look that said he was the one who wasn't interested anymore.
"Because of the hot new girl?" I guess.
He looked away, avoiding my eyes.
"Ryan!" I scold. "You know, you're kind of a man-whore."
He smiled and shrugged, "So?"
I sigh. My twin brother's reputation with girls was infamous. He dated one for at least a week, then dumped them when a better option came along. I didn't understand why girls even dated him in the first place if they knew they were probably going to get their hearts broken. My guess was that they all thought that they could be that one special girl who changed my brother for the better. It didn't help that he led them to believe it, either.
"I swear one of these days, a girl is going to do the exact same thing as you're doing to other girls," I remarked. "Karma is going to be there to bite you in the ass eventually."
He gave a little smirk. My brother was so damn cocky that it annoyed me to no end.
"Who says that day will come?"
"You're way too cocky for your own good," I say, getting up. "When the waitress comes, order me a sweet tea, please."
"Where are you going?"
"The bathroom."
I make my way to the bathroom, thinking about all the lines I had to memorize for the new play I was doing. The drama club was putting on Romeo and Juliet and I had landed the lead role of Juliet. I was stressing over the lines I would have to learn, especially because it was all in Shakespearean context.
I was so deeply in my thoughts that I didn't realize that I'd bumped into someone.
"Oh," l looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. "I'm sorry-"
The person I'd bumped into was a guy who was about 6'1, brown eyes that looked like chocolate and a very handsome face.
He didn't say anything, just studied my face for what seemed like an eternity. I felt frozen in time, locked in his gaze. I got goosebumps all over and my mind went foggy. The tense moment was over and he moved past me and headed back towards the bar, joining another guy who I assumed was one of his buddies.
How weird, I thought, continuing to the bathroom. I hadn't liked the way he made me feel. Every nerve in my body was telling me to stay away, that something was off.
After finishing in the bathroom, I made my way back towards Ryan and I's table. When I sat down, my drink and food were already there.
"I didn't order anything yet," I say, looking at the chicken club wrap and onion rings that were in front of my seat. How long had that tense moment with that guy lasted?
"You always order the same thing," Ryan shrugged. "I figured that I'd go ahead and order for you."
"What if I didn't want it today?" I question.
He gives me a look, "We both know you were going to order it anyway, so just sit down and eat and stop arguing."
"I'm not arguing…"I sit down.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, eating our food.
"So what was with that guy you bumped into at the bar?" Ryan asked. "You stared at each other for a while."
"I don't know," I answered truthfully and then something clicked. "It was weird. I feel like he was staring into my soul or something."
Ryan shrugged again. "I thought you knew him or something."
"No," I shook my head, trying to figure out how time could've passed like that. "I said I was sorry for bumping into him and then he just stared at me, saying nothing."
"Want me to go talk to him?" Ryan's devil may care smile came out.
"No," I was adamant. "Last time you did that, I didn't have a date to homecoming because you scared him off."
"Not my fault Lockwood can't take a joke," Ryan's smile turned mischievous, remembering his shenanigans on Tyler freshman year.
Ryan and Tyler were childhood best friends. Our families had been close, so we all grew up together. The boys had been inseparable until sophomore year of high school. Tyler got into football and Ryan got into music. They were friendly when they saw each other, but never hung out anymore.
Tyler and I were a different story. You know how that one childhood crush you have that lasts up, until sixth grade? Yeah, that was Tyler and I. I honestly thought we were going to end up dating eventually, but it never happened. Not that I'm complaining, Tyler was a major douchebag and I'm glad I didn't end up dating him. Although, he seemed to have changed in the past year and was now dating Caroline Forbes…which is a different story for another day.
Ryan stands up and throws a twenty on the table.
"You're done?" I ask. I'd been so lost in thought that I'd barely touched my food.
"Yeah," he answers. "I'll see you at home."
I stand up to follow Ryan and I feel someone's eyes on me. I turn around and spot that guy I ran into earlier staring at me. What was his problem?
I walk over to him, wanting to know why he was staring at me.
"Dude," I say. "What is your problem? Did anyone ever tell you that staring is rude? Or that not speaking to someone when spoken to is also rude? Were you raised by wolves?"
He continues to stare at me, not saying anything. I was starting to get even more annoyed than I already was.
"Fine," I sigh. "Be that way." I start walking towards the door.
"Wait," I hear behind me.
I turn around once more and he's standing right there. Ever hear of personal space?
"Oh," I said. "Now you decide to talk to me?"
"Forgive me," he says, somewhat apologetically. "I was just looking at the most beautiful thing in this place."
It took me a moment to realize he had meant me.
"Flattery won't do you any good," I tell him.
"I'm Kol," he introduces himself, ignoring my comment.
"Hanna," I reluctantly tell him my name. What game was he playing at?
"Can I buy you a drink?" he asks.
"You do me one better," I say. "You can watch me leave and pretend that this conversation never happened."
I knew I was being a bitch, but he kind of deserved it. I wasn't going to waste my time on a guy who acted one way one minute and acted another way the next. I'd had my fair share of guys who couldn't make up their minds.
When I get home, my mom is on the front porch in her rocking chair, reading a book.
"Hey, honey," she looks up when she sees me. "How was school?"
"Fine," I sigh. "Ryan is on to another girl, just like always."
"That was quick," she says. "What happened to Marissa? She's such a nice girl."
I rolled my eyes. Marissa was not a 'nice girl,' she'd already slept with half of the football team. Not to mention, she was a bitch. Of course, she started acting nice to me when she and my brother started hooking up.
"He said he 'wasn't interested anymore,'" I answer. "Because of some 'hot new girl.'"
My mom shook her head. She was also disappointed in the way my brother treated girls.
"One day that boy is going to meet a girl who he's head over heels for and she's going to end up doing the same thing to him." My mom says. "Karma can be a wonderful thing or it can be a terrible thing. It just depends on which side of it you're on."
"He'll figure it out one day," I sigh, opening the door to go into the house.
"Let's hope so," my mother says before I close the door.
I go up the stairs to my room and plop down on my bed, thinking about today's events. I couldn't stop thinking about that guy Kol. I know most girls would've swooned at a guy like that staring at them.
He is handsome, I admitted to myself.
Shut up, you traitorous mind, I thought to myself.
I decided to take my mind off of it and focus on memorizing my lines for the play. I grabbed a highlighter and my lines and started going over them.
I was so deep into the words that I almost didn't hear the knock on the door.
"Come in," I say, not taking my eyes off of the script.
"Hanna," my little sister Carly says, coming into the room holding what looked like and invitation. "A very handsome guy dropped this off for you at the front door."
She handed me the invitation.
On further inspection, it was a handwritten note:
Hanna,
Meet me in the town square tonight at eight o'clock.
-Kol
I stared at the note blankly after reading it. How did he know where I lived?
"Are you going to go?" Carly asked curiously.
"I don't know," I say, still shocked. "We just met today. I don't even know how he knew where I lived."
"It's kind of romantic," she says, her eyes filled with wonder.
"It's creepy," I correct her.
"You should still go," she encourages me. "Just to see what he wants."
It was obvious my twelve-year-old sister didn't know much about the world yet. I envied her innocence and how naïve she was. I hoped she could stay like that. It was tempting to go, but he could be a serial killer for all I knew.
"Maybe," I sigh.
I had butterflies in my stomach and my heart was beating with anticipation and I was all of a sudden giddy. My body was such a traitor to my mind.
