REALLY excited about this chapter! -T

Ben and I hurry into the motel to get out of the snowstorm just as the lights around us flicker and then go out.

~1 hour earlier~

"Kids there's a storm coming, are you sure you don't want to stay at the resort?" Our Uber driver asks.

"We'll be fine. We're going to stay downtown for a couple of hours." Liam answers for everyone before I can say anything.

We leave the resort and begin the thirty minute drive that will take us to downtown Aspen. The lady driving has a seven seater car, so Ben is sitting up front, Liam and I are on the middle seat and Ash and Angelina on the back seat.

We get dropped off at the address from Henry's message and realization hits me.

"Guys, it's not a house party, it's a club! There's no way any of us will be let in." I exclaim and throw up my hands. I'm not even dressed for a club. I'm wearing the exact same outfit that I wore yesterday only that they're new pieces of clothing.

"Haven't you seen any movies, Hazel? There are ways of getting into a club without an ID too." Liam winks at me and I shudder at whatever idea he has in mind.

"Whatever you are going to try and do, count me out." Ben holds up his hands.

"Me too." I say.

So Ben and I stand some distance away from the club que and watch the other three confidently walk up to the bouncer and say something to him. He looks at them for a second and then steps aside to let them in. My jaw hits the floor and when I look at Ben his eyes are wide open in shock too.

"Unbelievable." He says.

After a moment I ask, "What should we do?"

"What do you want to do?" He asks.

"I really want to go back to the resort. I think the Uber driver was right there is a storm coming. The wind is already too strong." I say.

"I'll find us an Uber." Ben says and we fall silent as he pulls out his phone.

This is the longest conversation we've had in days and while I may still be angry with him, it also makes me miss him that much more.

"Can you check if you have phone signals?" Ben asks me.

I take out my phone from my pocket and try connecting to the internet but it doesn't work. My phone also says 'no signals.'

I shake my head, "I don't have any signals either."

"The wind must have messed up the wires." Ben groans as we look around. It has started to snow by now and the few people on the streets despite it being Saturday is enough proof that there is in fact a storm coming.

"We won't be let into the club without Liam's charms so we need to find shelter before it builds into a storm." Ben says and I nod.

We start walking down the road and we've barely walked for a few minute before the storm hits us with full force.

"Ben look!" I say as I spot a motel across the road.

The snow is falling so thickly and it's so windy that if it hadn't been for the motel's neon lights, I would have never spotted it through the storm. I take Ben's arm as we cross road, fearing that we would get separated otherwise.

Ben and I hurry into the motel to get out of the snowstorm just as the lights around us flicker and then go out.

"Great!" Ben groans as he turns on his phone's torch but not a second later they come back on.

"This is spooky." I say.

A voice makes me jump, "It'll be like this through the storm. Don't worry it happens almost every week. We're used to it."

Ben just nods at him before turning to me, "This storm probably won't blow over until morning so I'm going to get us a room but can you please not make eye contact with anyone in the lobby?"

"Why should I listen to you when you didn't listen to me?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Hazel. Please not now." Ben groans and then lowers his voice to a whisper, "Look at all the people around us, they're all rich and they're bound to know who you are. It's not safe for anyone to recognize you right now. Especially since there are no phone signals to call for help if god forbid anything goes wrong."

My heart sinks as I realize what he's saying is true. "Fine, I'll be careful."

Ben walks to the desk in the lobby and checks in under his mother's name and pays for one night. Just like everything in Aspen, even this little street motel is posh. When Ben is handed the key, he takes the lead and we head to the second floor where our room is.

The minute we step into the room, the electricity goes out again.

"I'm just going to leave my phone's flashlight on. Hazel, don't use your phone's battery so that we can use it once signals come back." Ben instructs me.

"Okay." Is all I say.

While Ben sets down his phone with the flashlight on, face down on a table I sit down on the bed's edge. He comes to sit with me. We sit in silence for a while before Ben speaks up.

"Hazel, I know you said that you will ignore me forever but this just isn't working."

I don't say anything as the feeling in my heart that has been blooming, escalates.

"Hazel." Ben says again.

The softness in his voice shatters my restraint as I turns towards him and kiss him. I place a hand on his cheek and gently kiss him. Surprisingly, I feel him kiss me back.

When I pull away, the shock on his face mirrors mine.

"I need to use the bathroom." With this I don't look back at him and grab my phone before walking into the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind me.

As I lean against the door my breathing is heavy and my heart is running wild. What have I done?

When I finally walk out of the bathroom, Ben is lying on the sofa in the room with his back to me. Thankful that I don't have to talk, I silently lie down on the bed and after a few minutes exhaustion wins over the night's events and I fall asleep.

The next morning I'm woken up by my phone ringing. I instantly sit up and Ben does too at the sounds. Phone signals are back!

"Hello? Is this Hazel Aaron?" The teacher on the other end asks and my body sags in relief as I recognize the voice.

"Yes, I'm Hazel." I answer.

"We're downtown collecting students who were stranded by the storm. Is there any other student with you?" She asks.

"Yes, Ben Higgins is with me." I tell her and she asks me to be at the city center in twenty minutes.

I tell Ben this and we both jump into a flurry of action as we pull on jackets, collect our belongings and then head down to the lobby to hand in the room's key. Twenty minutes later we've given in our names to the teacher in the city center and are allowed onto the waiting shuttle.

"There you two are!" Ash exclaims as he jumps off his seat and pulls us into a hug.

"We were so worried." Angelina says as I pull away from Ash and accept her hug.

"We got thrown out of the club as the storm peaked and Liam caught a cold." Angelina points at him where he's lying across two seats, asleep.

"Did the teacher give him any medicine?" I ask them.

Ash shakes his head, "There's a clinic at the resort. They'll have him checked out there."

"Alright that's everyone. Please settle down." The teacher says coming aboard the shuttle. I sit down next to Angelina and Ben sits with Ash behind us.

I look around the shuttle to see that there are at least twenty students who were here too last night but thankfully no one else got sick like Liam did. But what I'm even more grateful is that in the hurry to get to the teacher, I didn't have to talk to Ben about what happened.

Hope you all now know why I was excited ;)

-T