PROLOGUE . . . .
she'll never make it
out alive!

       Inhale. . . .  Exhale.

  COLD WATER brings her back to her senses quickly, a gasp erupts for her lips from the shock her body feels of how cold the water truly was. She blindly reaches for the hand towel that she knows is somewhere on the left side of the bathroom mirror, waiting till she feels the familiar embroidered W that reminds her of whom was waiting for her in the bedroom right next door.

Hayley runs the towel over her face, her mind going a million and one places over the multiple things she was worrying about – Josh's sister, Hannah, pining over a man that she had no right over in the first place in Hayley's opinion and the family troubles she had waiting for her as soon as she stepped foot back into her home when this trip was over. She tosses the navy blue towel onto the sink, making a mental note to pick that up later knowing Beth would continuously remind her of it until she did, and runs a hand over her face out of sheer distress. Hayley didn't know why she was stressing over the Hannah and Mike situation so much, it truly did not involve her at all but it did at the same time.

She had a feeling that Emily was not going to go so easy on Hannah when she finally got a vocal confirmation from the Washington sister that she was going after Emily's man, and that was what Hayley was dreading. It wasn't a hard thing to look past, Hayley had found the couples quiz that Hannah had done and very quickly tossed it into her closet hoping the girl would forget about it. She also noticed how much Hannah changed as soon as Mike was around her – blushing, stuttering, and being a overall klutz.

  Hayley had been that exact way when she met Josh.

     A hand suddenly grasps Hayley's shoulder making the girl let out a shriek, immediately slamming her elbow into the unknown person's stomach and turning around, " Oh shit! " She gasps as soon as she sees Joshua Washington kneeled over groaning as he held his stomach in pain.

  " Damn sweetheart, " Josh groans out as he takes a deep breath trying to get the pain to subside as he slowly straightens himself out and hides the smile that wants to come out when he sees how badly Hayley felt immediately, " Who'd you think I was? I felt a lot of anger behind that. It was Ashley right? " He teases knowing Hayley's almost obvious dislike for the girl.

" She knows not to seek me out alone, " Hayley scoffs as she tries to remember the last time that she had spoken to Ashley alone, she couldn't even remember that. She hears Josh chuckle quietly, them both remembering the last argument the two girls had, before he grasps her by the waist and pulls her close to him.

" How about. . . " Josh trails off as he begins to leave kisses along Hayley's jawline making a ghost of a smile appear on the girl's face as she closes her eyes, " I take you back into that bedroom for a little bit? Let the peanut gallery continue their little game downstairs for a while."

" That sounds like a grand idea, " Hayley hums as she pecks Josh's lips, letting the eldest Washington sibling take her hand and start leading her to his bedroom, " I think we'll have a much more fun time. "

Josh pauses for a second as he spots something on the bathroom sink that Hayley fails to notice, ushering the girl infront of him which gives him a spare few seconds to toss the full pill bottle out of view that had a very bold label stating; JOSHUA WASHINGTON – TAKE DAILY. Josh grimaces behind Hayley and pauses to remind himself that he didn't feel like the same person on those pills at all and he shouldn't feel bad that the prescription that he just picked up a few days ago was now sitting unopened and only collecting dust.

" Hey, " Hayley frowns from a little bit further down the hall as she realizes her boyfriend was still standing in the bathroom and looked quite lost in his thoughts, " Jay? You okay? "

It's like she snaps Josh out of a internal battle – the man almost immediately rushes out of the bathroom like he has something to hide and stops at her side with a wide smile on his face. He intertwines their hands together and starts guiding her to his bedroom once more, " Never been better, baby. "

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     TWO HOURS LATER, Hayley found herself having a very fun time with the bottle of Jack Daniels she held tightly in her grip – noticing the way her boyfriend and Chris were drunkenly eyeing her bottle where they had very quickly finished theirs. She sat on a bar stool in the very large kitchen area with a shocked look on her face as Emily continued to quietly tell her the events that her and Josh had missed upstairs, the younger girl occasionally glancing towards the other side of the kitchen where Hannah stood speaking to her sister and Sam.

  " We played Never Have I Ever and this girl had the balls to admit she wanted to sleep with my man! " Emily speaks hushed with wide eyes as Hayley looks back at her shocked – not sure if the booze was making her more surprised or how bold Hannah had surprisingly been, " It was insane, Lee. Jessica and I couldn't believe it! And you know what Mike did about it? Absolutely nothing! "

  " He's a man, Em, " Hayley shrugs, internally cursing as that simple motion even makes the girl feel a little dazed for a moment, " They say women like all the attention, but it's men. They'll eat up the attention of any woman that even looks their way, especially if they're admitting they want to have sex. You just need to talk to him about this, tell him to stop leading Hannah on. "

   " Jessica and I are gonna teach that little girl a lesson though, " Emily spits out almost venomously, her jealousy clear in her tone. Hayley's thankful that Emily was smart enough to talk quietly, if Josh heard what his girlfriend was hearing right now, he'd be very angry. Hayley didn't believe that Emily was serious in what she was saying, hoping the girl just needed to get these feelings off her chest and was angry that Mike wasn't doing anything to defer Hannah's attention to anything else, " Just wait, Lee. She's never gonna even look Mike's way after tonight. "

" Be careful please, Hannah's fragile. " Hayley sighs, still not really believing that Emily was actually planning something. " That girl and Beth are the two people that Josh loves most in this world, you do something stupid and god knows what Josh is going to do. "

" It's nothing serious, " Emily almost laughs as she waves off her friend's words, not believing Hannah would be that hurt over what her and Jessica were planning, " Just keeping her in check so she's not looking at my man like he is her property. "

  Hayley wordlessly watches the girl basically bounce her way over to where Jessica stood and stands up slowly, turning to see the two couches that her boyfriend and Chris both sat upon. She sluggishly stands up and slowly makes her way over to the couch and sits on the arm of the couch that Josh sat on, " Come on guys, don't let the party stop now! " She holds the half empty bottle of alcohol in the air and Josh quickly tugs her to be next to him on the couch, wanting Hayley's warmth much more than the warmth from the fire that was roaring infront of them.

" We were just waiting on you to finish blabbering with Emily, " Josh states as he wraps an arm around his girlfriend, taking the bottle og alcohol with his other hand and handing it over to Chris, " What were you guys even talking about? "

" Oh, it was nothing, " Hayley lies quickly, but her face stays as straight as possible as she looks up at Josh. " Emily wanted some advice on something Mike did, it was stupid. I told her that they just need to talk about it. "

Josh only kisses her temple as Chris passes the bottle back to the couple and the three friends continued to talk about the stupidest things they could think of – nobody even noticing that start of a prank brewing right behind them.

━━━━━

" HAYLEY! WAKE UP! "

A groan escapes Hayley as she tries hard to focus on the figure hovering above her and Josh laying on the couch, it takes her a second but she finally realizes it's Mike continuously trying to awaken the girl. Hayley quickly realizes the worried look on his face and moves Josh's arm from around her body and sits up as best as she could.

" Mike? What's wrong? " Hayley questions furrowing her eyebrows as she stares up at Mike, whom looked almost sick to his stomach.

" It's Hannah and Beth. . They're gone. "

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authors note;

hope everyone liked it!! i'm so excited for this story!!