Chapter 14: Second Place Is The First Loser

"Oh Nolan, oh Nolan, wherefore art thou Nolan?" Ashlyn asked Nolan.

"Ash--" Nolan began.

The drunk flung her arms out and pushed Nolan into me. I stumbled back a step, holding myself and Nolan as well. People around us were intoxicated. Paris threw me a condemning glance as he took care of his sister. It wasn't my fault Nolan decided to be stupid and use alcohol as ice cream syrup. He didn't even own up to his mistake.

The drunk guys got blamed for the ice cream incident since the liquor was theirs.

"Helen, save yourself from him!" Ashlyn told me. It was too late for that.

I saw Nate continuously eating more ice-cream. I tried to stop him, but no luck. Nolan attempted to help, but when Nate spat out colorful words, he backed off. The adults were furious as they gathered their intoxicated and underage children.

"Nolan, don't ever use your brain again," I said tiredly. We pushed along our friends towards the car. Some of them were puking. "It doesn't function properly."

"That's why I'm number two in the class," he said rolling his eyes. He was dragging Nate by the arm.

"Second place is the first loser, haven't you heard?"

Nolan gave a dry look before pushing Nate towards the car. I suddenly realized that I was doing quite the opposite of what Paris and I had planned. I forced myself to take deep breaths and relax my mind. While Nate vomited to the side and the girls helped him or joined him, I stepped closer to Nolan.

He gave me a weird look. I should be the one concerned about Nolan cooties, not vice versa.

Nonetheless, I took his forearm and distanced us from the group at the car's trunk. He was still staring at me confused as I released his arm.

"What?" he asked.

"Nolan, just listen to me," I said calmly. "These breakups are producing nothing good. Absolutely nothing. Why do you still care about all those girls?"

"I just do, okay?"

"Okay. Say you get in a relationship with someone--me, why not?--say, we get into a relationship and you break up with me. Should I seek revenge in a similar way as you?"

"Your call," he shrugged. I wanted to literally claw my eyes out. Rather than doing that, I just looked away and crossed my arms. "And Helen, you and I won't ever get into a relationship." He had that right. "You're too smart to get stuck with someone like me." His words took me by surprise. He gave me a tiny smile. Little did he know that's exactly what I was planning on doing: get into a relationship with him.

We were interrupted by Nate, who yelled he was done. He was going to sleep in the parking lot tonight. The rest of our "friends" had a similar reaction.

"If we get pulled over by the cops . . . " I trailed off. Nolan and I knew we could get in trouble. The car had three drunk underage teenagers. Now, Nolan and I had a decision to make. Drive or not?

A lot of tourists were staying at inns nearby. We could stay there. However, I knew my parents wouldn't be thrilled to hear this. Nolan wanted to stay because it posed two benefits. One, no trouble.

Two (yes, one can guess), he was still adamant about breaking up Ruth with her "boyfriend."

What was my life anymore?

"Here, ask your parents if they'll let you. Mine won't be home until next week," Nolan said shoving his phone in my hands.

I grimaced and called my mom. She picked up on the third try. I could hear loud chattering in the background as mom said, "Are you home already?"

I was confused. "Not yet. We are actually in the parking lot here and things happened." I quickly informed her about our friends accidentally getting drunk because of some tampered ice-cream. "Mom, I want you to make the decision. Should we drive at this hour and risk getting pulled over or stay and leave early tomorrow morning?"

Psychology class taught me a lot. When you let someone else make your decision, that person will get blamed if anything happens.

Mom was silent. "Well, your dad and I are out of town too . . . We won't make it back till tomorrow late afternoon." What? "Catching up with old friends and whatnot. Just don't tell your dad. Be home early morning, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," I grinned.

"And I am trusting you, Helen. Don't make me regret it."

"I won't. I have some things to . . . " Nolan was strolling nearby, "catch up with you on."

"Alright. Tomorrow."

We bid goodbye and I relaxed back, handed Nolan his phone. We dragged our group to the nearest inn and had no luck in finding rooms. The place was packed. We tried three other places and finally gave up. It was too cold to stay in the car all night.

"Need any help?"

Nolan and I looked up to find Paris.

I thought he was mad at us?

"Do you any inns that might have room for us five?" Nolan asked.

Paris took a minute to think. He then told us to follow him. We trailed behind tiredly at our last hope. Surprisingly, Paris brought us to his house! Nolan and I exchanged a glance.

"Paris, this is--" I started.

"I know. My parents would be more than happy to accommodate you guys." Paris smiled and told us to wait outside the front door for a moment. He returned after fifteen minutes. Nolan was already ready to go back, but I convinced him to take the opportunity that walked right to us. "Come on in."

The girls were put in one room and boys in another. We thanked Paris's parents who nodded. I soon realized they took pity on my drunk friends. Their daughter had been a prey of that situation. After we settled in, I couldn't fall asleep. First, it was cold. There was no electricity in Amish houses. I kept my coat on and paced around the room to warm my body. Ashlyn was already snoring.

The door suddenly opened and I saw a head peek in.

"Hel-en!" It was a sharp whisper.

"Nolan?"

I hurried to the door where Nolan was peeping in. He grasped my hand and dragged me behind him. I swear Nolan was going to get us in trouble. He took me out to the end of the hallway on the second floor out to a balcony. It was already cold and now we were here.

Go, Nolan the Never Understanding Dimwit.

"Who is Paris?" he asked.

I blinked at him. "Huh?"

"How do you know him and all?"

"He's an old friend," I said, but couldn't help my smile from emerging. If Nolan knew Paris broke into his house that day . . . No comments. "What's it to you?"

"He spent a solid fifteen minutes talking about you," said Nolan. Paris talked about me? We didn't even know each other! Wait, was he trying to work up Nolan?

"How does that make you feel?" I asked and pretended to be a reporter writing down notes on my fake notepad (aka my palm).

"Suspicious of him."

"Tell me more."

He stared at me. "Irritated, annoyed, anxious even--"

"Keep the synonyms of jealous coming," I said, keeping my eyes on my "notepad." Nolan shut up. I knew I was just guessing and messing around. Was Nolan really jealous? He wasn't even making eye contact.

"I am not jealous."

I stepped closer to him, forcing a baffled expression to take over his face. "You brought me out here in the freezing cold weather to tell me how some guy was talking about me which pissed you off." He frowned and shook his head furiously.

"Not true. Nope. It's about Ruth, Helen--"

"You're gonna create another Hanna scenario, aren't you?"

For a bit, we just stood regretting over what had happened with Hanna. Her accident was a huge mistake--the guilt of which was going to stay with us for the rest of our lives. Nolan locked his light green eyes with my brown ones. We could see our breaths making clouds between us in the cold. Slowly, he shook his head.

"Let's go talk with Ruth," he suggested. Without any warning, he walked past me, annoying me beyond words.

I trudged right behind feigning punches to his head and kicks to his butt. If he turned at the wrong moment . . . it'd be bad.

I didn't know how but Nolan knew where Ruth's room was. Before we could enter, we heard a loud conversation going on. I peeked and found Ruth's family inside the bedroom where Ruth lied with a tired face, drowsily staring at her family. Paris fortunately met my eyes and gestured me to be quiet.

"This is enough," Paris's mother said.

Nolan pulled me to leave, but I held up a finger to stop him. I forced him to eavesdrop with me.

"Rebecca, we have to get Ruth married soon," the dad said. Nolan and I exchanged a shocked expression. "She's been in too much trouble. She needs to learn the meaning of family responsibility."

"I agree," said Paris. Was he really supporting his seventeen or eighteen year old sister's marriage? "She hangs out with so many male friends. Get her married to a good guy and I'm sure her behavior will change."

The family all agreed, giving Ruth condemning looks. Nolan and I snuck away before we could get caught.

"It's the Amish culture," said Nolan before I could say anything. "They get married young."

"So, no breakup?" I asked.

He didn't say anything except "I'll see." What was I supposed to get out of that. Nolan bid goodnight and walked to his room. I clutched my face in my hands and resisted the urge to shout at the psycho. What did he want out of someone else's life? The poor girl was already in enough trouble.

I sat down in the corner near the balcony and my room.

It was cold everywhere, so it made no difference if I was here. I pulled my hood over my head and pulled my knees to my chest. I never thought I would ever get into this type of situation in my life. There was no freedom for me.

I put my forehead on my knees and sighed. I wanted to be home.

Suddenly, I heard some creaking and something was put on me. I had been in a drowsy state, but that noise caused a hypnic jerk. I looked up alarmed to find Paris crouched and covering me with a blanket.

"Your Paris couldn't let you freeze to death, Helen," he said with a smile.

I rubbed my eyes as he sat down next to me, his blue eyes twinkling. I let out a yawn and closed my eyes again. "Thanks," I mumbled. "Did you purposely talk about me in front of Nolan, tonight?"

"What're you talking about?" Now, I looked at him. I slowly explained how Nolan took me to the balcony annoyed at Paris. Paris chuckled. "So, he was jealous. Awesome." I blinked a little disappointed that my assumption was right. Paris only talked about me to irritate Nolan. "Now, you really have to push yourself and get him! Works your charm, Helen of Troy."

I chuckled softly. "My charm?"

"You're a girl--"

"Thanks for the observation."

"Trust me, you can have him falling for you easily." He nodded when I gave him a are-you-serious look. "Give him your attention, don't fight too much, spent more time with him, and try to . . . get him to want to be with you." I slumped against the wall and blinked like an owl. "Get up and go inside your room. Get some sleep!"

He helped me stand up and wrap the blanket around me. He walked me to the door and opened it.

I turned to him one last time. "Why did you offer us your place? You knew we were the reason behind your sister's intoxication."

He smiled. "Goodnight." Just like that, he left.

All these men just left me hanging.

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Sorry for the late update. If you didnt know, I tried to update last Sunday. (I missed Friday because I had my tab taken away). However, it wouldnt publish the chapter. "Conflict" showed up. I accidentally hit a wrong option...the entire chapter text deleted except for a few sentences. I was literally ready to smas my tab in the wall. I filed seven complaints to wattpad though.

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Ps its funny how my story Hate vs. Love ranks much much higher than this one. HvsL was last updated ages ago haha.