Keep You Close - HO

•13•

Days pass, and Friday comes. Today I have my publishing party, tomorrow I have the big charity dinner with Haz's company. This will be an eventful weekend. I still can't get Alex to text me back, but I need to realize time can fix this better than I can. Technically I didn't even do anything wrong, so I need to just give him some space so he can get over it.
I push the thoughts aside, and finish getting ready. The bathroom door opens as I hold my hair on the curling wand, and Haz walks in.
"Which one?" He asks, holding up two suits.
I shake my head, setting the curling wand down.
"Neither." I say. "Wear a nice sweater, jeans, and nice shoes."
"This is so weird." He mutters to himself, walking out of the bathroom.
Now, I have to be honest. I'm a little nervous to have Haz come with me to this party. My work friends are all very creative, artistic, and open. Haz is more business oriented. He is clean cut and I hate to admit it, but he's a little bland. He's definitely going to struggle to make conversation. But I'll be right there to help if needed.
"How do I look?"
My eyes lift, seeing he has a turtleneck black sweater with nice pants and shoes. He looks perfect for this. "I even added my glasses so I look smarter."
I giggle, lightly wrapping my arms around his neck.
"You look perfect." I smile.
I quickly realize that I've gotten way too comfortable, and forgot that Haz and I are just friends. I remove my arms from him, and see his face fall slightly.
"You don't have to do that." He says softly.
"Do what?" I ask.
"You can let moments like this happen." He says, grabbing my arms and putting them back in their place around his neck. "I'm not going to expect a relationship, or assume that something is happening. It's okay. You can let it happen."
Little does he know something is happening...
"Ready to go?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Okay..."
we don't move from our spot, mostly because I'm more comfortable here, with his hands on my waist than anywhere else. With a small sigh, I pull away from him, and walk out the bathroom door.
We go out to his lambo, which I feel a little weird showing up to the party in but sometimes I just need to accept that Haz is who he is. He enjoys nice cars, and he works his ass off for them. I don't need to feel insecure riding with him.
"So Sunday marks ten days." He says quietly.
"Really? Already?" I ask.
"So.. you haven't been counting down the days until you get to leave?" He asks.
"Of course not. I liked being back here." I say.
My phone dings, and I grab it to read the text.
Alex: hey Ky, can we talk?
I roll my eyes, not wanting him to ruin my night. Tonight is suppose to be fun and stress free, and that's exactly what will happen. I lock my phone, not responding. Tonight I will not worry about boys. Any of them.
We get to the small party, and I see all my co workers and other workers that I haven't met yet chatting and drinking with each other. Haz's hand rests on my back, leading me inside. Am I excited to show him off? Yeah a little bit. I'm always the one to come alone to these parties, now I have the hottest guy in the room.
"Kylie!" Jenelle calls, walking over to me. "Oh my god you look beautiful!"
"Thank you! You do too!" I smile.
Her attention turns to Haz, and she puts out her hand.
"I'm Jenelle, you must be the sugar daddy." She giggles, shaking his hand.
"Haz." He introduces himself.
"You are as gorgeous as she said you are!" She exclaims.
"Alright well we're going to go mingle, great to see you Jenelle." I say quickly and pull Haz away.
"So you tell people I'm your gorgeous sugar daddy?" Haz smirks.
"Not the gorgeous part." I tease. 
"Ah, I see. You're just using me for my money." He nods. "That's okay. I'm completely okay with that."
"Shut up." I laugh.
I introduce Haz to all of my co workers, and he instantly connects with each and every one of them. He's a people's person, and he somehow manages to be liked by almost everyone. I thought he was going to struggle with making conversation, but he's doing really well.  They're definitely in awe of him, and I can't help but feel a little superior to everyone else because I have the best date.
"So you know that Kylie's novel is being published?" My boss asks.
"Oh yeah. I watched her write that over the past two years. Her blood sweat and tears went into that book." Haz says and I smile.
"She's doing great things." My boss says.
"I always knew she would." Haz states.

*Haz's pov*
I notice as the night goes on, that Kylie's phone keeps going off. She's definitely getting frustrated with whoever it is but I'm not going to ask who it is because that's none of my business. Learning to give her privacy and not overwhelm her has been difficult. I really just want to go to the way things were before I started fucking up but that's not an option, so I need to take it slow.
She sips her drink, looking as beautiful as ever in her mid length royal blue dress. I walk over, taking a risk by wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her into me. She gazes up at me, a neutral look on her face. She's not pulling away. That's progress.
"You look stunning tonight Angel."
"Thank you." She smiles.
"After the ten days are up.. can we still talk? And hang out?" I ask.
"Yes. Of course." She says quickly.
"Good. I need you in my life. Even if it's just as friends."
Her phone dings again, and she sighs. She grabs her phone, and turns it off. Must not be important if she's shutting off her phone.
"How about we go home and break out a tub of cookies and cream ice cream?" I ask.
"Harrison Osterfield, this is why you are currently my favorite person." She giggles.
"Currently? I should always be your favorite!" I scoff.
"It's a toss up between you and Alice." She shrugs.
She says goodbye to her co workers, and we make our way out to the car. I open the door for her and see her blush slightly. Maybe I'm getting somewhere with her... maybe it's worth trying to discuss tonight. I get in my side of the car, and pull out onto the road, heading home.
As I pull up to the gate, I see a car parked there and a guy standing next to it. As we get closer we both are able to make out who it is.
"You've got to be kidding.." Kylie mutters.
"Why is Alex here?" I ask.
"You go ahead, im going to talk to him real quick." She says as I come to a stop outside the gate, rolling down my window to press in the code. His car is parked over at the side, and Kylie gets out and starts to walk over towards him. I hate leaving her out here with a guy that im unsure about, but it's all part of giving her some space.
I park the car in the garage and very quickly make my way inside to look out the window and watch the interaction. They're just talking.. but he seems to be distressed. He better not be yelling at my girl.
His hand glides up her arm, and I feel extreme anger just at the sight of another man touching her. I take a deep breath to calm down, but then I see something I wasn't expecting at all.
They kiss each other, and I turn around as fast as possible, not able to even stand the sight of that. He's out there.. his hands on her.. his lips on her.. my hands clench into fists, my blood boiling. How could this happen?! How could I let her get away from me?! I fucked up my entire life, and there's no taking it back. She was everything to me, and now she's out there kissing another guy.
It's fine. I knew there was a huge chance that I'd have to finally make the decision to move on, and now is that time. Kylie isn't mine anymore.

A/N: this chapter makes me big sad