Alexa's Point of View

After work, Hamzah had to pick me up since my mom's car still wasn't working and it was still too cold and windy to walk home.

"How was your day?" Hamzah asked as I got into his car.

"I had to wait Haley, Chase, Claire, and Aaron," I said.

"How was that?" He asked.

"Annoying.. at first," I looked over to Hamzah. "But then Aaron tipped me a hundred dollars."

"What?!" Hamzah said slamming his steering wheel. "You gonna take me shopping?"

"Definitely not," I laughed.

"Why?" He asked. "You're gonna also have to pay for gas, time, and a service fee."

"Shut up Hamzah," I rolled my eyes to look out the window.

Finally, I arrived home after my eight hour shift, "Thank you Hamz," I said leaning over to hug him. "Talk to you later?"

"Definitely yeah," He said giving me one last look before he drove another ten seconds to his house.

I unlocked the door to my house and went in, "I'm home!" I called.

"How was work?" My mom asked.

"Good," I said heading towards my room.

Once in my room I grabbed what I needed to shower.

***

I needed to get out the house tonight, maybe Haley would want to hang out. But my mom probably wouldn't let me go out. Maybe if she knew I was hanging out with a girl, she'd actually let me.

I got dressed in jeans and a hoodie with my same platform converse and went upstairs to my mom's room, "Mom can I go out with a friend?"

"Who?" She asked.

"My friend Haley," I smiled sweetly.

"I've never heard of this.. Haley."

"We've been friends for a while now mom. Come on, we would just be hanging out at her house."

"Your father is out for the night with his friends so.. sure."

"Thanks mom," I said smiling.

"Be home by eleven please!" She called after me as I raced for the door.

I left the house, walking to Hamzah's window.

"What are you doing?" He asked opening his window.

"My mom said I could hang out tonight with Haley," I said.

"You're gonna hang out with Haley?" He asked.

"I mean, I haven't texted her yet, wanted to see if you want to come."

"Okay," He said. "Come in."

Hamzah's mom loves me and didn't mind if I came over at any time. However, I think we just felt cooler if I crawled in through his window like he did mine. While Hamzah was getting dressed and ready, I decided to text Haley.

Me: hey haley! wanna chill?

Haley: omg ofc!! u wanna come to my place? i already have a few people over

Me: sure, it's cool if i bring hamzah?

Haley: i could never deny a cute boy

I laughed at her comment, "What's so funny over there?" Hamzah asked as I laid in his bed.

"Nothing," I said turning over to face Hamzah who was getting dressed. "Just talking to Haley."

"So wha, you two are like besties now?" He asked staring at me without a shirt on.

"Shut up and get dressed Hamzah," I said. "You're irreplaceable."

"You're gonna get in with Aaron's group and leave me all alone aren't you?" He asked, I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Oh you caught me!" I said getting up off his bed.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah," I nodded my head.

We got in his car, I was quick to snatch the aux cord.

"It's my car!" Hamzah raised his voice.

"I don't care!" I said plugging it into my phone and playing Britney Spears."Boy don't try to front, I-I know just, just, what you are, are-are. Boy don't try to front, I-I know just, just, what you are, are-are!!"

"You!" Hamzah sang along. "You say I'm crazy! You! I got your crazy! You! You're nothing a but a! You! Womanizer!"

Hamzah and I were laughing loudly as he pulled into Haley's driveway. She lived super close to Hamzah and I.

I got out of Hamzah's car, linking our arms as we usually did. We walked up the driveway to her front door. She had a big house too, it certainly wasn't as big as Aaron's, but it was bigger than mine. Not that I had a big house or anything.

I knocked on the door, it was opened by Claire, "Oh hey Alexa, didn't know Haley invited you."

"She sure did," I said looking over at Hamzah who had his typical awkward face on.

"Who is it?!" I heard Haley call. "Pizza?"

"Nope!" Claire said. "Just Alexa and Hamzah!"

"Come in!" Haley called.

Claire opened the door all the way and moved out the way, allowing us to come in. We stomped our feet on the mat, making sure not to drag dirt or snow into her house.

"Everyone's in the living room," Claire said and walked away.

"Did you know they were gonna be here?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Not them specifically, but I knew other people were here."

"How did we manage to get in with this clique?" Hamzah shook his head looking at the ground.

"Yours truly," I smiled up at him.

He continued to shake his head. I unlinked our arms and walked into the living room with Hamzah following.

"You guys want a drink?" Chase asked from the kitchen.

I shrugged, "Sure."

"Not me," Hamzah said.

"Oh why not?" Haley pouted grabbing onto Hamzah's arm.

"I'm the designated driver for tonight," He laughed.

I left the two of them alone to argue about drinks and walked over to Aaron, "Hey," I said.

"What do you want?" He asked, his arms crossed.

"I just wanted to say thank you.." I trailed off. "For the tip."

"Oh yeah, that," He shrugged. "No big deal. Just had to make you earn it."

"That's why you kept bugging me?" I laughed. "My boss wanted to kill you."

"What? You're screwing the boss or something?" He laughed.

"N-No, not at all," I laughed at the thought of me screwing my boss, or me screwing anyone in general.

Hamzah and I agreed that if we both graduated virgins, we would suck it up and hook up. We would not be going to college as virgins. For a while I secretly hoped Hamzah would stay a virgin so he could be my first. But I grew out of that after a while.

"So Haley says you two are like friends or something now?" He questioned, leaning against the couch.

"I guess so," I said looking down at my fingers. "If that's what she says."

"Look at you two! Getting along!" Haley beamed coming towards the two of us, handing me a drink.

"Thanks Haley," I said grabbing it from her.

"Just trying to be civil," Aaron said.

Why didn't Aaron like me anyways? I had classes with him in middle school like gym or art. We never talked, but he wasn't mean. And then high school came around and he started snickering towards me. Him and Chase especially. Haley and Claire just sat back for the most part and watched it happen. Didn't that make them just as bad?

I looked over to Hamzah, who as soon as I looked at him, looked away from me. He averted his attention back to Claire who was talking to him. Why was Hamzah staring at me?

I shook my head of all the thoughts jumbling up, "What were you doing upstairs? At my house?" Aaron asked. "That was pretty fucking weird."

"Oh that," I said taking a sip of my drink. "Yeah I was just.. looking for the bathroom.."

"There was one downstairs," Aaron said.

"Yeah I know but people were smoking in it and.. I really had to use the bathroom," I said. "I knocked but there was no answer."

"Must've been preoccupied," Aaron smirked.

"Cool," I said scratching the back of my neck.

Was he trying to sound cool because he hooked up with a girl at his party? I could care less. I didn't like Aaron, let alone care if he was screwing someone.

"Why was Vinnie trying to get with you?" Aaron asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "He just wouldn't let go of me when I told him no."

"He gets like that when he's drunk, he'll sleep with anyone," Aaron said laughing.

"So?" I asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't feel special that Vinnie Hacker tried to sleep with.. you," Aaron said looking at me up and down.

"You know you're a dick, right?" I asked.

"I'm just being myself," He shrugged.

"Wow.. so cool.." I said pretending to be amazed.

"Whatever, you're only here because Haley feels bad for you. That you don't have any friends and you need to fuck your boss to make some money," He laughed.

"I- no, that's not it at all," I said crossing my arms.

"Aaron!" Haley said shoving him then facing me. "Alexa I'm sorry he's just.. drunk.."

"Seems sober to me," Hamzah said angrily.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Aaron asked, his eyes darting to Hamzah.

"Can we please calm down?" Claire asked.

"You should leave Aaron," Haley said loudly over the commotion.

"Me?" He laughed. "Me leave?"

I raised my eyebrows, Aaron seemed surprised.

"You're gonna let these two losers stay and ask me to go?" He said dumbfounded.

"Go, now." Haley seemed really angry with Aaron and I couldn't blame her.

"Bye Aaron!" Hamzah waved to Aaron as he pushed past us and made his way to the front door.