The next morning was less than pleasant. I closed my eyes shut as my head pounded. My mouth was dry and my tongue felt like sandpaper. My stomach rumbled with nausea. I’d forgotten how bad a hangover felt. It wasn’t exactly how I’d planned to start my day. I rolled over and felt the cold, hard surface beneath me. I slowly opened my eyes and realized I wasn’t in my bed. I was on the bathroom floor. My eyes fixated on a glass of water sitting a few feet in front of me. I slowly sat up and looked around in confusion. I struggled to remember what had happened the night before, but I couldn’t remember past falling asleep next to Aaron. My head pounded and I rested myself against the closed toilet. Standing up seemed far from an option at that point. Leo scampered into the bathroom and barked as he moved closer to me.
“Ugh! Leo! Shut up!” I said as I covered my face with my hands.
“Here, Leo,” said Aaron.
I looked up and saw him handing Leo a bone. Leo happily took it from him and scampered out of the bathroom. Aaron smiled and looked down at my pathetic self on the floor. I grimaced and looked away from him as I made myself comfortable on the toilet again. Aaron sat beside me on the floor and raised his eyebrows in that patronizing manner than always bugged me.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said with a sigh.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a pleasant tone.
“As okay as I can be,” I said in sarcasm. “What the hell happened last night? How’d I get on the floor?”
“You fell asleep for an hour then woke up to make a mad dash to the bathroom,” he said with a chuckle. “You actually pushed me off the bed to go that direction.”
“Sorry,” I said sourly. “I guess I had a little too much to drink.”
Aaron shrugged and patted my leg. “It happens. Don’t worry about it.”
“Did you stay up that whole time?”
Aaron nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “I fell asleep against the wall for a little while. I couldn’t leave you alone like that.”
“Thanks,” I said as I attempted to stand up.
I stumbled a little on my feet and Aaron quickly stood up to help me steady myself. He placed his hand on the small of my back and led me back into the bedroom. I crawled back into the bed and Aaron pulled the curtains in before sitting on the edge of the bed. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
“It’s almost noon. I should probably get back to my dad’s house.”
“Yeah,” I said softly.
Aaron groaned in frustration as he hung up his phone. He looked at me and plopped onto the bed. I smiled and played with the ends of his hair.
“Nick’s a fucking douche,” he complained. “He shut off his phone.”
“I can drive you,” I offered as I picked off a piece of fuzz from his hair.
“No, you’re tired,” he said with a sigh.
“I meant later.”
“Oh,” he said as he rolled over on his stomach. “So, what do we do until then?”
“Sleep,” I said with a grin. “I’ll take you home when I wake up.”
Aaron shrugged and snuggled up to my other pillow. He looked at me with his brown eyes shining. His glance made me smirk as I looked back at him. Aaron yawned and scooted himself and the pillow closer to me. I smiled and leaned my head against his. I felt safe with him around.
“It’s weird,” he said softly.
“What’s weird?”
“Us,” he stated.
I raised my eyebrow at him and poked his arm with my index finger. “What about us?”
Aaron chuckled and looked away from me. “Nevermind.”
“No, tell me,” I said as I pulled the blankets over us.
“Forget it. It’s stupid,” he mumbled.
“It was just a thought. Don’t worry about it.”
I glanced at him and smiled as the color in his cheeks flushed. I sat up on my elbow and laughed.
“Are you blushing, Aaron?”
“No,” he said as he hid himself under the blankets.
“You are!” I said as I tugged on the blankets. “Why are you blushing?”
“I don’t wanna say,” he said while laughing.
“Aaron Charles Carter! Tell me why you’re blushing,” I said as I dug into the blankets and tickled him.
“Ah, you suck!” he said as he came out from underneath the blankets. “Stop ticking me!” he said as I continued to tickle his sides.
Aaron burst into laughter as he collapsed onto the bed and I crawled on top of him. We both laughed as we struggled in a tickle war. Aaron took his leg and wrapped it around mine, causing me to fall to the side.
“Oh no!” I shouted as he quickly got up and pinned me to the bed.
“Whatcha gonna do now?” he said in a sing song voice. “I’ve got you trapped.”
I giggled as he put his legs tight against my waist. Aaron let go of my arms and began tickling my sides. I laughed loudly as he took his revenge on me. His hands moved too quickly for me to use my own hands to stop him. As I flailed my arms around to get away from him, he pinned them back to the bed and hovered over me. We both laughed and looked at each other for a moment. Aaron stared at me intensely. I struggled to catch my breath and I watched him slowly move closer t me. I closed my eyes and prepared for his lips to press against mine. I could feel his breath against my cheek and my heart skipped a beat. I slowly opened my eyes and jumped when the sound of my front door opening. I quickly pushed him off me and slid off the bed.
“Fuck!” I said as I scrambled around the room to find his shirt.
“Who is that?” he asked in a loud whisper.
“Jeff,” I whispered back and tossed him his shirt.
“He has a key?!”
“He insisted,” I said with a shrug. “Just act natural,” I said as I ran out to the living room.
“Jeff!” I said enthusiastically. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d come over and give you breakfast,” he said as he handed me a bag of doughnuts.
My stomach turned at the smell. I set them on the counter and backed away from the bag. Jeff smiled at me and grabbed my waist, pulling me toward him.
“I’ve hardly seen you all week,” he said as be nuzzled his stubbly chin against my cheek.
“I know,” I replied softly.
I saw Aaron come out of my room from the corner of my eye. He quickly snuck behind Jeff and stood in the doorway of my spare bedroom. I watched as he opened the door and shut it loudly. Jeff jerked back and looked over at Aaron. I held my arms close to my body and waited for Jeff to snap.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asked loudly.
“I’m Aaron,” he replied calmly. “An old friend of Rachel’s.”
“What is he doing here?” Jeff demanded. “Are you fucking around?” he asked as he stepped closer to me.
“He came over to visit,” I replied as I shifted to my left. “We’ve not seen each other in a long time.”
“Nothing happened,” Aaron piped in. “We had some drinks and she let me stay in her spare bedroom.”
Jeff looked at me and clenched his jaw. “Is that all that happened?”
“Yes,” I replied softly.
“Rach…I’m gonna go,” Aaron said as he zipped up his hoodie. “Call me later or something.”
Before I could ever respond, Aaron was already out the door. Stunned that he left so quickly, I hesitated to look at Jeff. He coldly stared at me and backed himself to the guest bedroom. His eyes never left me as I watched him open the door. My stomach sank as I watched him go into the guest bedroom. My voice was lost in my throat as he slammed his fist into the door. Our plan had failed. He saw the neatly made bed and knew we’d been lying. Jeff charged at me in full speed and slammed me against the wall. I gasped as the mirror behind me crashed to the floor, flinging glass in my face. I screamed as the loud crash echoed in my ears. Jeff picked me up and held me against the wall by my neck. I struggled to breathe as he stared at me with cold eyes.
“Jeff!” I choked out as I tried to pry his hand away from my throat.
My hands shook in panic as I started losing oxygen. He pushed harder and tears streamed from the corners of my eyes. He let me go and I fell to the floor in the mess of glass. My heartbeat echoed in my ears as I looked down at my hands. Blood dripped down my hands and I began to sob in pain. Jeff grabbed me by my waist and carried me into the bathroom. I continued to cry as he sat me on the counter and began wiping the blood off my hands. My hands stung from class embedded into them. I couldn’t even look at him. I was trembling with him near me. He placed the cloth on my head and I jumped at the sting.
“I think we discussed what happens when you lie to me,” he said as he continue to dab my head.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered tearfully.
“Well…this will need stitches. You remember the drill.”
“Tell the doctors that I fell, I know,” I said while crying.
“Good,” he replied as he put the cloth down. “Call me when you get back,” he said and left the room.
I listened for him to leave my apartment and wearily made my way off the counter. I heard the door close and I stumbled to my bed. I began searching for my phone. My eye stung from blood dripping down my face. I cried to myself as I found my phone on the nightstand beside the bed. I shakily looked for Aaron’s number and sobbed when I realized I didn’t have his current number. I looked for Nick’s number and threw the phone down as it went to straight to voice mail. Leo came into the room and whimpered at my feet. I slid down to the floor and cried helplessly. Everything around me was starting to blur. I reached for my phone and dialed 911. I tried to choke out the words for the operator, but I felt far too faint. The voice of the operator garbled in my head as I crawled into the living room. My eyes fixated on the front door swinging open. A tall shadow moved toward me and I collapsed to the floor with the phone still in my hand.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Don't kill me. LOL!
