Chapter Text
*****Hannah******
“Oh, come on, Hannah! Please, go with me, it's gonna be so much fun” My friend, Sydney, begged for the 100th time.
“Syd, I'm kind of busy.” I reminded her, pointing towards my music sheet. “I'm almost finished with that song, I can hear it in my head and I need to put it on paper before it's gone.” It was often the case with me. A few different ideas would settle in my head, some melodies, different lyrics and it was sometimes hard to put it all in order and write it down before I forgot.
But I had a good feeling about the song I was writing at the moment. The idea first came to me a few weeks ago, a simple melody, which stuck to my mind and refused to leave. Then came the lyrics, simple but honest, about a beauty which I saw in my life - in my hometown, in my parents, in music. It was coming along great and I didn't want to lose this one. So, that's why I was planning on spending Saturday night at home. It wasn't a regular Saturday night, though. Just the day before, our high school hockey team won the state championship. People were ecstatic and eager to celebrate.
“But it's a party at Aaron Delaney's house! Everyone's gonna be there.” She insisted. “Come on, Taylor Swift, I know your songs are great, but it's not like you have a deal with a record studio. Can't it wait till tomorrow?”
She got me there. I loved music and I dreamed of having an actual career in the future. But I was only 16 and had no desire to share my art with the world yet. I only ever showed my songs to my parents and sometimes Syd. So, really, did it matter if and when I finish the song? I was fairly sure that I wouldn't forget it by the next day.
“Okay, I surrounder.” I raised my hands up, resigned. “Let's get to this party.”
“Really?” Sydney squealed happily. “You won't regret it, Hannah. I promise, it's gonna be the best party ever.”
***
The house was packed by the time we got there. All of the boys from the hockey team were the center of attention, naturally. But not only the popular crowd came - the jocks, the geeks and everyone in between. It seemed that every kid from Ransom was parting at Delaney's tonight.
“Sydney, you came!” Someone shouted over the music. Syd smiled widely when she saw who it was. Tom Drew was a Junior like us, and my friend's biggest crush. She was madly in love with him since the moment he transferred to our school over a year ago. He played basketball which wasn't the biggest sport for our town, but still respected enough to make him popular. It seemed that Sydney's feelings were unreciprocated, but lately Tom started to pay attention to her. I was happy for my friend, because Tom seemed to be a genuinely good guy, but right now I kind of wished he wasn't here. I wanted to party with my friend, and it seemed obvious that right now she had better plans.
“Hann, I'm gonna say hi to Tom real quick, okay?” She asked me, excitement clearly visible in her eyes. I had to laugh at her pleading face.
“Go, have fun and stop pretending you don't want to dance with Tom all night.” I chuckled.
“Are you sure?” She asked, feeling a little guilty. “I mean, I drag you here, and then I'm abandoning you the minute we walk through the door.”
“It's okay, I promise. I'm gonna be fine.” She hugged me, greatful, and ran to Tom.
For a minute I stand near the entrance wondering what to do. I could bail, really. I knew Sydney would catch a ride with Tom and I still had my song to finish. But then I saw my classmate Anna, waving at me from the opposite end of the living room, and I decided it wouldn't hurt to stay and mingle for a bit. I wasn't really a loner, but I wasn't popular either. Sydney was my best friend and I spent most of my time with her but I decided that maybe tonight would be a good opportunity to get to know some of the other people from my school.
I was walking towards Anna when someone stood in my way. I looked up to see the face of this guy, who was clearly much taller than me.
“Hi, are you new here? Cause I think I would have remembered someone as gorgeous as you.” Aaron Delaney asked with a flirtatious smile. It could've been a good pick up line if it wasn't for the fact that we grew up in the same small town for the past 16 years. It would make sense though for him to not know me. Aaron was a year older than me, already a senior. Also, he was the most popular guy in the school, in the town really. Rich, famous and handsome. Our paths never really crossed, apart from the time I spent at the ice rink in my band uniform.
“Hi, and no. I'm Hannah. Hannah Wells. We go to the same high school.”
“Oh, sorry, Hannah, of course you are. It's a little dark here.” He explained, although I had no problem recognising him, even with dim lights.
“That's okay.” I assured him.
“So, Hannah, what are you drinking tonight?” He asked.
“Oh, nothing” I said. “I came by car,” I explained quickly. I wasn't a big drinker really, but I didn't want to seem uncool.
“Come on, live a little. Let me get you one drink, okay? And I promise it will be like 90% juice and 10% alcohol” He offered.
“Why not?” I caved. He flashed me another smile and disappeared into the kitchen.
***
It took me about 3 minutes to understand that Aaron Delaney was definitely not the guy for me. Sure, he was handsome and definitely charming but we had absolutely nothing in common. He wasn't really that much into music, and he never even heard of any of my favourite artists. I mean seriously, has this guy been living under a rock? The only thing he was passionate about was hockey. More specifically - him playing hockey. Gosh, he was in love with himself and couldn't stop talking about all of his great moves at the state championship game. I was getting bored and ready to leave.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy. And hot. This many people shouldn't be together in one place at once. The crowd was giving me claustrophobia.
“I'm sorry, Aaron, I have to go home.” I told him and got up from the couch. My knees gave up on me and I would've fallen down on my face if he didn't catch me.
“Hey, you alright?” He asked with concern. He looked at me and something in his eyes rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to say that I'm fine but I could barely move. “Come on, let's get you away from this crowd.” He suggested and grabbed me by the waist. I couldn't really protest. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew I wasn't able to walk by myself. Maybe it would be better once I got some fresh air. But Aaron didn't take me outside. Instead he walked me upstairs to an empty bedroom. Oh God.
The alarm bells started going off in my head. I couldn't move, I was dizzy and confused.
“What was in that drink?” I mumbled quietly, unable to speak in clear sentences and terrified as he looked at me intensely. His light flirtatious smile was gone. In his place was a different smile. Wider, dangerous, wrong.
“Don't worry, baby, I'll make it feel good.” He said as he pushed me to the bed. “You probably wonder why I would do that, right? I mean, I'm Aaron fucking Delaney, I could have every girl at this party, willingly.” In my head I was spiraling. But my body was unaffected. Whatever he slipped in my drink didn't make me unconscious, it made me paralyzed but very aware of what was about to happen. “But you see, this is what really gets me hard. When a girl is completely at my mercy. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” He chuckled darkly. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to tell him to stop, but the words were stuck in my mouth. Unable to move, unable to talk. Stuck in my worst nightmare.
“Let's see those tits up close, shall we?” It wasn't really a question, as his hands were already at my body, removing my shirt.
‘Please, God, help me’. I begged in my mind as it was the only thing I could do. And then, suddenly I heard the sound of the door. Someone was here. Someone other than Aaron. ‘Please, help.’ I thought again.
“Oops, this one looks occupied.” I heard a giggling girl. “Come on, Garrett, let's find another bedroom.”
I wanted to scream, but all I could manage was a pathetic little whimper.
For a second I thought they left and I was all alone with that monster again. But then I heard another voice.
“Hey, man, what the fuck are you doing?” Someone shouted, angry.
“Back off, dude, that's my girlfriend.” Aaron answered coldly.
“You want to have sex with your girlfriend when she's so wasted she can barely move? Step aside, asshole.” He walked inside the room, ignoring Aaron protests and looked at me. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, gently. All I could give him was my terrified look. “What have you done to her?” He turned to Aaron with murderous glare.
“What do you mean?” Delaney asked, an edge of panic in his voice. “I'm telling you, she's my girlfriend and she had a little too much to drink tonight, that's all.”
“Bullshit. She doesn't look drunk. She looks drugged. And scared.”
“Well, I don't know, maybe she took something. She likes to party hard.”
“Like hell she does. Get away from her.”
“You can't tell me what to do. This is my house.” Aaron protested.
“Great, I'll know what to tell the police.” The guy threatened him.
“Get out, I don't want you here.”
“Fine, but this is not over, I promise you. And I'm taking her with me.”
“Fine, I don't care about that lying slut anyway.”
“I thought she was your girlfriend.”
“Well, she's not anymore.” Delaney gave me one last look before he disappeared. I didn't know where the girl who came in here earlier went. All I could see was the guy beside me. The guy who I've never even met before, who somehow understood exactly what was happening and saved me. And even though I was still unable to move, my shirt was lifted and my bra was showing, somehow I knew nothing bad could happen to me now.
“Hey, I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm Garrett, and I promise you, you're gonna be alright. Can you move at all?” He asked gently. I tried with all my willpower but all I could manage was to move the fingers in my hand. “Okay, let's try another way. I'm gonna touch your hand and if you hear me try to give it a little squeeze.” He took my hand carefully, as if he was afraid I would scream at the lightest touch. But Garrett's hand didn't bother me. It was warm and gentle and it felt nothing like the forceful touch of Aaron. I squeezed it lightly, but I wasn't sure he could feel it until I saw him smiling. “Oh, that's good. Now I'm gonna need you to squeeze it once for yes and two for no. Can you do it?” I squeezed his hand again.
“Was that guy really your boyfriend?” He asked. I squeezed his hand twice and my hand trembled a little. Garrett rubbed the top of my palm with his thumb in a calming gesture. “It's okay, I promise. He's gone now but he's not gonna get away with it. Did he put something in your drink?” He asked. I squeezed his hand once. “Do you know what?” Two squeezes. “Okay, listen. I really think I should take you to the hospital. We don't know what you took and I think it would be best to let the doctors test it. But if you're not comfortable with that we can stay here until you can move again and I promise I will stay with you until then and won't let anything bad happen to you. So just squeeze once if you want to go to the hospital and twice if you want to stay.”
God, I didn't know what to do. I hated the thought of going to hospital. Hospital with doctors who would for sure ask me all sorts of questions that I didn't feel like answering. They would have to call my parents and the last thing I wanted was for them to worry about me. But Garrett was right. I didn't know what I took. Maybe it was something really dangerous and I needed it out of my system quickly. So even though I was scared, I squeezed Garrett's hand once.
“Alright, then. I'm gonna pick you up now and take you to my car so I can drive you to the hospital. But first I'm gonna.. fix your shirt. Just a little so you'll be covered up. If that's okay with you, squeeze my hand once.” I was touched by his thoughtfulness. He was making sure every step of the way that I knew what was happening. Even though I couldn't move, he gave me a way to control the situation. And that made me trust him so I squeezed his hand with no hesitation. His touch was light, careful. He fixed my shirt without touching my bare skin and he lifted me up gently.
Right there, in this perfect stranger's arms, the whole situation finally hit me. What almost happened, how close I was to losing my virginity in the worst possible way. And how I was saved. I knew then that no matter what would happen next, I would always owe Garrett. I felt like crying, I felt like screaming, I felt like hugging Garrett and thanking him and killing Aaron Delaney. All of these different emotions were storming inside my head and suddenly I felt more exhausted than I've ever been. My eyes fluttered.
“You can sleep if you want to. I promise you, it'll all be okay.” Garret said when he noticed I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I had no reason to believe him. I didn't know him and I still couldn't move. It would be more than easy for him to do whatever he'd like with me. But somehow I knew I could trust him. So I closed my eyes and let myself sleep.