Underthink

Chapter Twenty Eight // Pizza And Confessions

- Iris' POV -

My birthday party at Oceania was ending and I was clinging onto Sophia in fear. We had no idea where Dale ran off to and he was too drunk to be running around the streets alone.

Sophia has booked a few hotel rooms for everyone to stay in for the night, it's the same hotel Justin is staying in.

We all made our way to the hotel in silence, I felt bad for not going out and looking for Dale but it was almost 2:00am and really cold outside. Justin kept putting his arms around my waist while walking and I felt uncomfortable. He wasn't acting like himself, I know he was intoxicated and he was allowed to be because we were all celebrating by birthday but it wasn't just that. The way he speaks and his actions aren't what I expected him to be. Maybe I'm just overreacting.

Sophia kept glancing at me as we walked, she could tell I felt awkward with Justin. She pulled me away from him and held my hand, I smiled at her as if to say thank you.

"Are you going to stay in my room tonight mango?" Justin asked me, my college friends started to whistle and giggle at what he said.

"I have a hotel room with Sophia" I muttered, he stared at me with a blank expression.

We reached the hotel and everyone checked in, we were all on the same floor a part from Justin because he had checked in yesterday. We headed to our rooms to get changed into our pyjamas and then everyone planned to come to me and Sophia's room for some food.

Justin grabbed my arm as we all walked up the stairs, he pulled me aside and let everyone else pass us before turning to me.

"Why don't you want to hang out with me?" He asked while pouting, I stood silently for a moment as I was unsure of what to say.

"Who said that? I need to be with my friends too" I said while removing my arm from his grip, he sighed and walked off. Sophia was waiting at the top of the stairs with a concerned expression on her face, Justin pushed passed her and headed up to his hotel room.

"What was that about?" Sophia whispered when I approached her, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

I had an awful headache from dancing around all night to extremely loud music, all I wanted to do was lay down for at least a minute.

"I really need to talk to you" Sophia said nervously when we got to our hotel room. It had a double bed, a TV, a mini fridge and a kettle.. Sounds like heaven to me.

"What's up?" I asked her before diving onto the bed, it felt like I had landed in clouds. Sophia sat down at the end of the bed and began twiddling her thumbs.

"James told me he loves me" She muttered, I sat up and covered my mouth with my hands. I knew this was coming, I knew they had a connection but I was surprised James finally admitted to it.

"..Is this bad news or good news?"

"I don't know? He has a girlfriend. The evil bitch who knows all my secrets" Sophia said before turning to me, she crossed her legs and closed her eyes as if she was thinking.

"I didn't ask about James.. I asked about you, how do you feel about him telling you this?" I asked with a slight smirk, I knew the answer but I just wanted to hear it coming from her.

James and Sophia have this connection, they have been best friends since birth. They know everything about each other and they stick together through thick and thin, there has always been so much love between them. I've seen the sparks flying since the day Sophia introduced James to me and even before then she spoke about him non stop.

"I don't know how I feel, I'm just shocked" She said while opening her eyes. The door began to thump loudly and I rolled my eyes expecting it to be Justin but instead it was James.

- Sophia's POV -

"Have any of you seen Dale?" James' voice came from the door, I hid behind the wall and tried my best to be quiet because I definitely did not want to see him after his confessions.

"You don't know what happened, do you?" Iris asked him, he was silent and then she began to explain how drunk Dale was and then some guys began beating him up.

"Shit! They have been looking for him for days! He could be in big trouble!" James shouted in terror.

"I need to go look for him" He said before turning to run down the corridor, I ran to the door where Iris was standing and stopped him.

"There is a storm outside and it's 3:00am, are you really going to do that? Stupid idea if you ask me" I said while crossing my arms, James stared at me for a moment before smiling.

"I can't just leave him out there, god knows what has happened to him" He said, Iris stood silently in shock that I came out of hiding.

"It's too dangerous now, we can look tomorrow" I nodded to myself before walking back into me and Iris' hotel room.

"We?" James said as he followed me in, Iris watched us at if it was a movie. She closed the hotel door and stood still.

"Dale is also me and Iris' friend, we will help you. Is that a problem?" I said while raising my eyebrows, James began to laugh and then he shook his head.

"I would love some company" He grinned before jumping on the bed, Iris dived onto it too. Everyone else from Iris' birthday joined us a while later and then our hotel room was filled with people, We ordered pizza and listened to the music channel while chatting about anything and everything.

There was no sign of Justin which was good, Iris looked like she needed some time away from him. She wanted to meet him more than anything and now that she has I think she regrets it, maybe he isn't what she expected.

After a while everyone was passing out, some people brought blankets and took naps in the bath while others crowded into the double bed with Iris squished in the middle. I sat at the window and waited for the sunrise, the hotel room was completely silent with some faint snoring in the background. Then there was a tap on my shoulder..

"Hey" James whispered as he shuffled across the floor and sat close to me, how awkward.

"Hello" I answered without looking at him.

"Why did you run off in the club?" He asked, I stared at him in shock.

"Are you kidding me? You just told me that you love me, what did you expect me to do?" I asked in anger, I was trying my best to keep my voice low as everyone was asleep but all I wanted to do was scream in James' face for what he said.

"I honestly thought you felt the same, but I guess I was wrong" He said before getting up and walking off. I looked back at him in disbelief before he opened the hotel room door and walked out, of course I ran after him.

"James!" I shouted while jumping over the passed out people in the room, he was half way down the corridor by the time I got out.

"I'm sorry.." I whispered as he disappeared around the corner.