December, 2018
It's been nearly two months since the Halloween disaster, and all I could focus on doing was successfully avoiding Kate and Dawson.
To my advantage, the two had started "dating", which of course became the source of Pine Hill gossip, making all of the twos attention absorbed by their classmates awe and not focused on me. From what I have noted, people found Kates attitude adjustment quite entertaining. Apparently, she had traded converse for heels and sweats for pricey dresses and jeans while her face was now heavily caked on with well-applied, expensive makeup.
It sounded ridiculous to me, how someone changing their style slightly and dating Dawson Johnson could explode into pools of rumours and gossip. But then again, Pine Hill didn't have big scandals, so this is what we're given to work with.
All I had to do was get through one more day without being noticed, one more day of slyly avoiding Kate, Dawson and really anyone in their crowd.
Knowing my luck, I assumed that wouldn't happen. I'd made it this long, and with one my day until I leave for New York something was bound to happen. As I spotted a familiar blonde and brunette approaching me, just as the last bell rang, I knew I was right.
"Hey Avery! How've you been? I feel like we haven't talked in forever!" Kate gushed. The amount of fabrication in her voice was enough to make me cringe. I wasn't entirely sure why she wanted my attention, or even cared to grab it. People at Pine Hill didn't know me, so why was she do desperate too?
Dawson stood besides Kate, his eyes filled with amusement while his gaze flickered between me and his phone. I glared at him.
"Yeah, sorry. I've just been really pre-occupied with school and work and-" I kept my voice civil, not fake like hers but not rude either. I genuinely didn't dislike Kate, shes done her best to make me feel welcome ever since I got here and I appreciate that. She was my first real friend at Pine Hill.
Does that mean I was going to run off into the sunset and do drugs with her and her new popular friends? Definitely not.
But of course, before I could finish talking, Dawson cut me off.
"Kaden?" He smirked.
"No, not Kaden. My life doesn't revolve around him you know. I don't know why you're so obsessed with our relationship, but we're just friends. Can you stop bringing him up in every conversation-" Annoyance flooded my voice as I spoke, rolling my eyes. Dawson let out an entertained laugh.
"No... Kaden." He tilted his head forward a bit, implying that I should look behind me.
Then, not to my surprise, I looked to see Kaden approaching us cautiously.
"Hey Wells, long time no talk." Dawson's smile wasn't the one that you'd give an old friend, it was mocking and overly prideful.
"Let's keep it that way." Kaden deadpanned before turning to me.
"You ready to go Ave?" He asked, now completely ignoring Dawson and Kates presence. I nodded.
"Actually, before you leave Avery, I wanted to invite you to a Christmas party Dawson is hosting. I know after how you acted last time, it's shocking to recieve an invitation, but we really want you there!" Kate budded in as soon as Kaden finished his sentence.
I raised an eyebrow. "How I acted last time? ?"
"You know, Halloween. You ran off and then completely ghosted me after."
"Thanks for the invite Kate, but I'm okay. For the record, I didn't 'run away', I just got a ride with Cole." My voice came out harsher than I had intended and I immediately felt guilty. Dawson let out a low whistle.
"Come on Ave, lighten up a bit. We just know how to have fun. I'd think since you're spending so much time with Wells over here, you'd be less of a bore. Theres a lot of people in this school that'd kill to be in your position right now, you should be kissing our feet." Dawsons use of the shitty nickname Kaden had given me made me to flinch, but his tone and how it was laced with confidence made me want to punch him in the face.
Kissing their feet? Could someone seriously be that arrogant?
"What do you mean 'since I've been hanging out with Wells so much, I should be less of a bore?'." I huffed, crossing my arms. Kaden stiffened slightly.
"Well you went to quite a few parties in your time Wells. Maybe even more than me. You used to be so much fun. Damn, what happened?" Dawn sighed over-dramatically, directing his reponse more to Kaden than to me.
I wasn't confused as too what Dawson was implying, it just seemed unlikely to me.
Kaden Wells, a party animal? Yeah, right.
"If by fun you mean reckless? Then yeah, I was a blast." Kaden's tone expressed clear annoyance and sarcasm.
My mouth opened slightly as I turned to him, confusion spread evenly throughout my face.
"You look confused, Avery. Has Kaden not told you anything?." Dawson's eyes began on me and ended narrowed towards Kaden.
"Avery can we please leave." Kaden muttered quietly.
But Dawson continued talking before I could answer.
"Kaden here, wasn't always so socially distant. For quite some time, he was like, fun. Always the life of the party. There was never a boring moment when you hung out with Wells. It's quite a shame that you ran off, we were just getting started." Kaden kept his composure as Dawson mocked him.
"Shut up Dawson. If Kaden hasn't told me something, it's none of your buisness to do it for him. For once can you get over yourself. I have much better things to do in free time than listen to your annoying ass voice." I glared, slamming my locker.
"Don't talk too him like that!" Kate defended. I ignored her.
"No, it's okay Kate. One day she'll come around." Dawsons knowing voice mocked.
"Now we can go, Kaden." I ignored Dawsons statement and slung my backpack over my shoulder, beggining to walk away.
Kaden followed besides me, and I swear I could cut the tension between us with a knife.
Of course I was surprised by what Dawson had said and of course I wanted to ask Kaden about it.
I just didn't exactly know how.
Snowflakes drifted gracefully in the air as we walked for what seemed like forever, through the parking lot.
"We gonna talk about what Dawson said or just, pretend it never happened?" I asked bluntly as I buckled my seatbelt and straightened my white, puffball hat.
"The second option sounds more appealing." Kaden mumbled. I sighed, I had a feeling this would be difficult.
"So, you're just not gonna tell me what that was all about? He clearly wasn't making it up or you wouldn't have snapped like that."
"Forget it, Avery." Kaden's voice was harsh, which I didn't hear from him very often.
"What is it that you can trust fucking Dawson Johnson with, but not me?" I return Kaden's tone as I pushed him for the answer.
"It's not that I trust him more than you, he was just... there. Avery you don't see me asking you about things in your past that you don't want to talk about."
"Because I have nothing to hide! If you want to hear about my past then fine. In San Francisco I had two friends, one named Monique who was extremely smart and loved dogs. We still order books for each other on Amazon, just the other day I got one. The others name was Toby, he was obsessed with guys and had better style than anyone I had ever met in my life. I could never grasp how, but he was a prodigy at all sports." I ranted, talking at a slightly faster pace than normal.
"Before that, in Phoenix, there was Kenzie and Mallory. They were extremely close so I always kinda felt like the third wheel, but they gave really good advice and Kenz lived next door so we'd see each other almost every day."
"I lived in Seattle for about four months, then moved again in that July. My friends there were named April, Grayson and Jake. Even though they made the last couple months of Freshman year a whole lot more bare-able, we were never super close. They were extremely secretive. Want me to go on?" I finished.
Kaden's eyes remained steadied on the road. "If you want."
"Actually, I don't want too. I just told you the last four years of my life in about thirty seconds, and that's the problem. We're always talking about me and what I'm freaking out about daily, but I feel like a barely know anything about you Kade. You don't tell me anything and the stuff you do tell me, you're forced too." I huffed, hopefully sounding not as frustrated as I really felt.
Kaden took a deep breath. "I'm not going to tell you, I'm sorry, really. It's justâa conversation for another time."
I was upset, although I didn't have much of a right to be. I remained quiet the rest of the ride, I didn't even realize when we were pulling into my driveway.
I knew I couldn't continue this conversation tomorrow, I didn't want to let Dawson and Kate burrow their way into Kaden and I's trip, so I just gave Kaden a small smile.
"How early are you picking me up?" I asked.
"Six if we want to be there by eleven thirty." Kaden allowed a smile to form onto his face,
which automatically brightened my mood.
"Gross." I complained, although in reality I didn't mind. I'd barely sleep tonight anyways, I'll be too excited.
"See you bright and early, Ave." Kaden teased.
"Yeah, yeah." I closed the door lightly and began to walk to my porch. Kaden pulled his car out of the driveway as I turned the key harshly in the door and let myself in.
New York, here we come.
â¦psychotic â¦
Although the repetitive beeps and vibrations from my alarm is what woke me from my restless sleep, what got me up and running was the fact I was leaving for New York in thirty minutes.
The thought of being gone during Christmas made me upset, I'm not gonna lie, but I'd rather go to New York with my best friend than sit around in an empty house throwing myself a pity party.
I had done most of my packing yesterday with Kendall. Her being there was a must because she managed to constantly stay organized, and would remember things when I didn't.
If it wasn't for her, I'd be leaving without a hairbrush, laptop, winter jacket, socks and the shoes that Molly had given me for secret Santa. So thanks Kendall.
As I got out of bed I threw on a pair of leggings and an oversized "NYU" sweatshirt. I brushed teeth and slightly straightened my hair so it wouldn't frizz. For this first time this morning, I had decided to pick up my phone.
kendall: hey so i know you're gonna need a list to double check that you have everything, so i made one for you.
A smile spread across my face as I scrolled through the lengthy list Kendall had written.
me: thank you, i was about to forget at least half of those things ksskk
kendall: no problem, but i'm mad at you for leaving me with cole FOR A WHOLE SHIFT!!!!!
kendall: anyways, have fun in the big apple!
kendall: ew i hated that, please forget what you just read
me: good luck with cole ;)
kendall: i hate you.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and slid my large suitcase down the stairway.
As I made final preparations, making sure the house is in check, I have my key, the door is locked you know, all of that stuff, a loud, startling honk rang from outside the house.
I inwardly cringed thinking of how angry my neighbors would be if I had to do with them waking up this early, so I grabbed my stuff and went out the door before Kaden could honk again.
"Don't you know I have neighbors that don't want to be up at 6:30am?" I scolded, trying to hide a smile.
Kaden got out of the car and held his hands up in an "I surrender" type way.
"Don't attack me, I got you Starbucks." He exclaimed, reaching into his car and handing me a Pink Drink.
I took a quick drink from the sippy cup looking lid. "You're forgiven, now lets go before my neighbors form an angry mob."
I opened the passenger door and a blast of warm air immediately hit me. Christmas music played somewhat loudly which caused me to smile immediately.
Despite the warm interior of Kadens car, it was obvious the temperature was at least thirty degrees or less. Large snowflakes fell from the sky and coated the grass and trees while ice started to crystalize around the windshield.
A smile spread widely against my face as I smelt the air freshener I had gotten Kaden a week ago. It wasn't that his car smelt bad before, but it smelt too summery. We got into a small debate and I argued that smells are an important aspect when it comes to seasons. When you smell flowers, spring. When you smell pumkin spice and cider, fall. Pine trees and cinnamon, winter. Beaches, linen and sunscreen, summer. Kaden seemed to think none of it mattered.
Therefore, I had bought him an air freshener that was a winter smell, emphasizing my side of the argument. He told me he was gonna throw it away the second I latched it onto his vent.
"So you did keep it!" I exclaimed, breaking the comfortable silence.
"It's useless, but I wasn't gonna waste it." Kaden defended, but I knew I had won.
"Whatever you say Kade." I smiled, looking down to my phone.
Roughly two hours went by and we were just about enter Vermont. Kaden and I have occupied ourselves by various random conversations and Christmas music until I felt my phone slightly vibrate against the console. Picking it up, Coles name and contact picture popped up.
"Kade." I said, showing him the call.
"How much do you want to bet this is about Kendall?"
Kaden laughed. "Nothing. It'll definitely be about Kendall."
"You're no fun." I huffed, picking up the phone and putting it on speaker.
"You do realize the point of Kade and I going to New York for winter break was so we didn't have to put up with your whining." I joked.
"You guys need to come back. I'm genuinely worried Kendalls gonna hurt me." Cole whined. Kaden and I briefly looked at eachother, both of us desperately trying to hold in laughter.
We failed.
"This isn't funny!"
"Cole, Kendall is five-four, you're five-ten, I think you can handle it." I reasoned. Before Cole could say anything else, a slight ruffle came from the phone.
"You guys are never allowed to leave again." Kendalls annoyed voice said through the speakers. Cole and Kendall began arguing one more, their words only coming through in muffled shouts.
Kaden took the phone out of my hand. "Sorry guys, we're going through a tunnel." He spoke somewhat loudly into the phone before hanging up.
I laughed. "Jesus, we've been gone for what? Two and a half hours? They'd kill eachother without us. I can't imagine them dating."
"It's weird to picture now, but at the time it really wasn't weird at all. They acted pretty much the exact same as they do now." Kaden shrugged, his eyes focused on the road.
I wonder what Kade was like back then.
Reminders of our intense conversation yesterday flooded my mind. It feels wrong that I don't know anything about Kaden and I don't want too be kept in the dark.
"You know you can't just pretend everything that happened yesterday vanished. I can't forget Kade, and it kinda sucks that the rest of the school seems to know whatever it is that you're trying to hide but I don't. I'm not trying to pressure you, okay, maybe I am but-"
"I already said I really don't want to talk about that Avery."
"Why not? Do you seriously think I'm gonna judge you. I don't care about what you did before we met, I care that you're keeping things from me, that are basically public domain."
"That's why I'm keeping it from you. If you want to go ask someone else about it, be my guest. Sure, they'll probably give you some twisted version of it that the student body made up to make it more dramatic than it is, but go right ahead."
"This is ridiculous. I don't care what other people have to say. I just want to know what Dawson was referring too yesterday. Sue me."
"If you haven't noticed, Runswick isn't a huge town. People don't just show up very often, most people who live here grew up here. Everyone knows me based on what they want too believe, or who I was. So if I tell you, you might as well have been here through it."
"You can't base conclusions on predictions." I argued.
"Just did."
This was the first time Kaden and I have really ever 'argued' and I definitely didn't like it. Although soft holiday music was playing and snowflakes still flurried delicately, the atmosphere was anything but comforting.
The car remained completely void of conversation for about ten minutes.
Suddenly, Kadens car jerked and we were pulled over on the side of the road.
"Why'd you stop?" I questioned, avoiding eye contact.
"Because I didnt feel like having this conversation and driving at the same time."
I turned my head to face Kaden, although his vison was focused on the windshield. "So, you're gonna tell me?"
"Dawson wasn't always how he is now. He was the chunky, smart kid that seemed to have the brightest future out of everyone in our grade. He and I got paired up for a science project at the beginning of eighth grade and immediately became friends. We had the same interests, opinions and similar home lives. Kind of like you and me."
"It's actually unfair of me to compare Dawson and I lives, because his is way worse. Both of his parents have done things that even my dad would say is fucked up. The guy may have all the money in the world, but he was so unhappy. Later in the year, he became focused not on changing things at school, but at home. He told me he wanted to be more like Cole Jennings, who I hadn't known at the time but always came off as an asshole."
"That summer I went to Italy with my mom and by the time I had arrived for the school year, he accomplished exactly his goal. Lost fifty pounds, grew six inches, got into sports. I was expecting him to completely cut me off and hang out with people who helped his reputation, but it was the opposite. Dawson told me that we were gonna become the people that everyone wanted to be around, to impress."
"At first I did everything I could to talk him out of it, because it was stupid and unlikely. But further and further into the year, I had become a lost cause. We were fifteen and going to college parties. Dawson had gotten what he wanted. His "golden boy" title, and my "rebellious dumbass" title. I'd do anything for attention, drink, ditch class, throw huge parties, all of it."
"That went on up until January of our junior year. I decided that I didn't really feel like destroying my future anymore. So just like that, I stopped, put down the shit I have done in the last two years and picked up a book. That majorly pissed off Dawson. He acted as it I betrayed him, that without me he'd go back to how he was in eighth grade, which frankly wasn't a bad thing. His first instinct was to go to Cole, but he was so in love with Kendall at the time that he wouldn't even consider doing anything to put that in jeopardy. That was the first time in over two years that Dawson didn't have a partner in crime, long story short, he still hates me for it too this day." Kaden's gaze never changed as he spoke, but the emotion in his eyes was clear.
"Kaden, can you actually look at me." Hesitantly, Kaden turned towards me.
I shook my head slightly. "You're an idiot."
"You're an idiot for thinking that I care about what you did a year ago. You don't have to be scared to tell me stuff Kade, because I don't care who you were back then." I stared into Kadens green eyes as I spoke and I don't know what it was, but something shifted. I didn't know if it was because I got him to finally open up to me, or because we were on the side of the road in a borderline blizzard, or that I noticed that he had small specks of brown in his eyes for the first time.
But something definitely felt different.
Turning away from me, Kaden began to drive again. "I swear, one more minute sitting there and my car would've froze to the ground."
I laughed, shaking off whatever just happened. "Well it was your bright idea to pull over."
For the next thirty minutes, Kaden and I played a completely rigged game of twenty questions.
"Kade that is completely unfair! How on earth am I supposed to guess the ace of hearts!" I exclaimed.
"The same way I'm supposed to guess a sixth grade english textbook."
"That's different! You have an IQ of one hundred and thirty five."
"Whatever." Kaden flipped on the right turn signal and pulled into a 7/11.
"What are we doing here?" I questioned.
"I need to get gas. You can just stay in here."
"That's a no. If we're at 7/11 than we have to get slurpees."
"Avery, it's like twenty-eight degrees out." Kadens amused voice replied, getting out of the car.
"Your point is?"
"Fine, we get slurpees, then gas."
"Deal."
As we exit his car, I immediately regret not wearing more than a sweatshirt for the car ride, I had just assumed I wouldn't really be getting out anywhere.
Entering the smallish space, I immediately recognized that nobody else was in here. Only a purple haired cashier who looked to be around twenty one or twenty two. Her head immediately sprung up from her phone when she saw us enter, but her gaze focused on Kaden.
Great, here we go again.
Not even acknowledging her presence, Kade walks towards the back of the store where the slurpees were and handed me a cup.
I thanked him before filling my cup up with to the rim with cherry slush.
"Are you seriously getting orange?" I asked in fake disgust, motioning to Kadens cup.
"What's wrong with orange?"
"It's gross, and a mistake of the slurpee gods."
"The slurpee gods? Are you feeling okay, Ave? Because you're starting to sound like my uncle on Easter." Kaden laughed, closing the lid onto his drink.
"Am I okay? You're the one that just got an orange slurpee."
Before Kaden could say anything else, the girl behind the counter interrupted. "I like orange slurpees."
No, you like the guy holding the orange slurpee.
"See Ave, not so weird." Kaden gave me knowing smile as he looked from the girl behind the counter to me.
"I guess not." I mumbled, approaching the cashier alongside Kaden.
"So, what are you guys doing out here in this weather?" The lady asked, charging us as slow as she possibly can.
"We're going to New York for winter break." I replied. She gave me a tight smile than continued looking at Kaden.
"Whos idea was that?"
"Mine." Kaden answered shortly, pulling out his wallet.
"No way. You're not paying. It was my idea to get slurpees."
"Too late." Kaden had already swiped his card. I groaned.
"You're so cute." The girl awed to Kaden, causing me to unwillingly roll my eyes.
"And underage." I mumbled before I could stop myself.
As if he attempted to hold it in, Kaden let out a muffled laugh, trying not to lose his composure.
The girl narrowed her eyes towards me, as the receipt printer. She quickly grabbed a pen and scribbled numbers onto the paper, before handing it to Kaden.
His eyes flashed towards the writing for a quick second before shaking his head.
"No its okay, I don't need the receipt." He smiled before we both walked out of the 7/11 slightly quicker than we needed too, holding in laughter.
⦠Psychotic â¦
"Ave, wake up." I felt a hand nudge my shoulder but I quickly turned away, burying my head back into the palm of my hand.
"Ave, we're here." That was all it took for me too become wide awake.
Holy shit, we're in New York City.
The smile spread across my face was nearly unremovable. Cabs covered the streets, sidewalks were overflowed with people and snow drizzled onto the pavement.
It was exactly how I'd imagined it.
"Have you ever been to New York before, Kade?" I asked, turning to him. A smile spread across his face aswell.
"I used to go all the time with my parents, but when they got their jobs at Glaze, we never went back." Kaden's expression saddened a bit.
I could've said "I'm sorry." or something like that, but I knew Kaden well enough at this point that he was not a fan of pity, and we've already had enough depressing conversations in the last five hours.
"Well, we're here now, and trust me, whenever you want to go I'm all for it. You're the only person I hang out with anyways." I spoke with a laugh, then just like that, Kaden's face lightened up once again.
He pulled his car into an extended stay parking garage and parked. I had grabbed my jacket from the back about an hour ago, now knowing what I was in for, and for once, Kaden wore one along with me. We closed the car doors and opened the trunk.
Kaden and I both brought a large, rollable suitcase along with a back pack. I slipped on my famous white puff ball hat, pulling it so that it would cover the top of my ears and not a whole lot of my forehead.
Kaden pressed a button on his keys and closed the trunk. We walked over to the machine where you pay for the spot.
I frowned when Kaden took out his wallet and started to pay for the parking.
"At least let me pay half." I insisted.
"Ave, if you hadn't already noticed, I'm not particularly struggling in money department." Kaden shook his head slightly while laughing.
I rolled my eyes at his over-confidence. "And so down to earth."
"It's my car, you shouldn't have to pay Ave. Seriously, it's fine."
"But you already payed for slurpees!"
"A whole five dollars, you're right, pretty great of me." Kaden's amused voice mocked. I know I could've argued with him forever, but before I could continue the machine made a noise indicating that his payment method went through.
I huffed, Kaden turned to me with a proud look covering his face.
"You ready?"
"Yep." I nodded.
The dim lights and quietness of the parking garage made me uneasy. When I was younger, my older sister would constantly tell me all the bad stuff that happened in parking garages. To be fair, most of it was probably made up, but it still freaked me out to this day.
I bit the side of my lip nervously, but kept walking steadily besides Kaden, dragging along my suitcase.
But as if he read my mind, Kaden turned to me, a confused look on his face.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Did you know more murder's happen in parking lots a year than-well I forgot but I know theres a lot." I spoke quickly. Kaden raised his eyebrows, clearly amused.
"Where did you hear that?"
"My sister. I'm not sure how factual it is, actually I'm not sure if it's true at all but parking garages still scare the hell out of me."
"Ave, you're fine." He insisted. I opened my mouth to spew out more or the bullshit Olivia had told me when we were younger, but before I could get any words out, Kaden grabbed my hand.
Well, this is new.
Kaden obviously noticed how taken back I was, because he laughed.
"Less nervous?" His light, mocking voice made it obvious that he found this situation entertaining.
"No, you holding my hand isn't gonna stop someone from murdering me." I lied. Kaden rolled his eyes in amusement. Finally, we approached the exit and got onto the sidewalk.
But Kaden didn't let go of my hand.
"The hotel is just a block away."
Soon enough, the Kingsley Hotel came into view and I think I literally gasped.
The exterior was grand and sophisticated, it basically screamed rich, fancy people.
Before I could realize or stop myself, I was dragging Kaden behind me, my grasp tightening around his hand. Kaden was laughing when we entered the hotel, letting go of my hand.
Right as we entered, I heard my boots click slightly against the smooth,
marble floors.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it did. The front desk sat in front of a mini set of stairs, that I assumed lead up to the main lobby. Garland was draped neatly around the desk and a smiling man in a uniform and hat stood behind it. The whole thing was incredible.
To right of Kaden, I noticed a group of people around our age. There were three girls, one looked slightly guilty, one looked somewhat proud and the other looked like she was trying to impress. The guy on the other hand, looked like he wanted to slam his head in the door over and over again. I don't know why, but I swear he looks vaguely familiar.
After I had done my observing, Kaden and I went to check ourselves in. The guy's at the desk wore a name tag that said "Thomas Wood" and his face lightened slightly as he looked eyes with us.
"Welcome to the Kingsley Hotel. How may I help you two?" He spoke.
"We'd actually like to check in please." Kaden spoke politely. The man nodded and looked down at the computer in front of him.
"Last name?"
"Wells."
"Ah, the two bedroom suite. Here." The man opened a drawer and handed us each an actual key, which I found refreshing because most hotels have scan keys.
"Thank you." I smiled.
Just as we turned around, one of the girls I had seen earlier approached us. She was dressed as if she was about to go outside, already wearing scarf and a winter jacket.
She smiled kindly. "Hey! I'm Scarlett. My parents own this hotel so if you need anything you can ask me."
"Hi, I'm Avery and this is Kaden." I introduced the both of us and returned her smile. Kaden waved politely.
"How long will you be staying?" She asked.
"Probably around January 3rd to the 5th. It's undecided."
"Thats fun! Enjoy your stay." She exclaimed. I thanked her before she waved and left, probably attempting to catch up to the people I had seen her with previously. She seemed really cool.
Finally Kaden and I stepped up the stairs into what I assumed to be the lobby.
Now, I know for sure I gasped.
A large Christmas tree was placed in the center, draped with expensive looking sliver tinsel and hung with large stunning ornaments both matte and shiny with the colour scheme of dark red, silver and gold, matching the aesthetic of the hotel. Two large couches sat on each side of it and underneath it laid a large, beautiful rug.
Behind all of that was more stairs than I could count, slightly curving around part of the large room.
Kaden seemed impressed, but not wowed. Like, he was used to staying at these beautiful hotels. My parents have money, but they're just fine staying at Marriotts. This was foreign territory to me.
After about ten minutes of me just observing the hotel like a crazy person, and Kaden looking like he wants to die because of it, we found our room.
The interior of the room was just as stunning as the lobby. The two bedrooms were across from eachother with the main area, which had two nice couches and a beautiful coffee table, in the middle.
I promised myself I wouldn't spend anymore time gushing over the hotel, so I just placed my bags in the main area, looking to Kaden.
"Okay yeah, this place is really impressive." He admitted, his eyes wandering around the room.
"I know, I'm kind of worried I'm gonna spend this whole time inside the hotel and not the actual city."
"Well, wanna go to Times Square?" Kaden shrugged.
"Is that even a question? Of course!"
Authors Note:
DONT KILL ME FOR NOT UPDATING IN THREE MONTHS I AM SORRY. that was mostly directed at kendall because she's like the only person that reads this but oh well.
so i don't really know what happened, i just got a major writers block and didn't touch this book for a hecka long time. i found inspiration to write other books though so hopefully those will be up sometime soon (like actually up, not like views that was up for a week then taken down HAHAHA)
oh and scarlett??? she's from a REALLY AMAZING FREAKING BOOK called city lights written by my friend okaykendall thats unfortunately temporaryly taken down. kaden and avery appear in her book too and there is definitely more of the crossover to come.
well that's about it, i'll try to update more and not die, this is only somewhat edited so sorry for the mistakes!
ALSO THIS CHAPTER IS OVER SIX THOUSAND WORDS OH MY GOD.