by Hannah Meade
The owner of the fingers moans. "Babe?"
I breathe a sigh of relief. It is Marcus. "Marcus. Can you turn on a light?"
He chuckles and lifts the blanket off of our heads. And it is still dark. "It's dark outside. I don't think I can change that."
I grab my head, feeling it pound roughly against my skull. "Fuck. My head really hurts."
"Yeah, well. That's a given."
I hear ruffling as Marcus sits up. "What do you mean? What happened last night?"
"Uh, you mean a couple of hours ago? You got totally wasted, that's what happened. I don't even think you realized what was even happening after the dance started."
I try to think back to what happened, mostly to what the hell I was thinking. I hate getting drunk, because there are always consequences. Consequences I certainly do not want to deal with.
"I asked you if you wanted to get out of there some time after the dinner and you practically begged me. You started making out with me at our table before we even left. And now we are parked on the side of the road somewhere, because you couldn't wait until we got to my apartment." He finds my hand in the dark and squeezes it, reassuring me that everything is fine. "Although we didn't do anything. At first, all I wanted was to make love to you. You pushed all rational thoughts out of my mind. But then, I snapped out of my trance. You were so drunk, and I shouldn't be taking advantage of you like that. So, we only got as far as both of our tops off."
I let out a breath. Thank god. I would've regretted that so much. "Okay. Well, can we get breakfast then? I'm starving."
Marcus laughs. "Of course. But first..." He digs around on the floor, searching for god knows what. He pulls his hand up and holds it in front of my face. But since it is dark and I don't know where the light is, I can't tell what it is.
I take the items from his hand and crinkle my nose, wondering what he has given me. "What is this?" I can tell it is two little items of some sort.
"Tylenol. It's Tylenol. You really couldn't tell they were two little pills?"
I glare at him, even though he can't see me. "Whatever." Without saying thank you, I down the pills. "Now can we eat?"
I'm sure he is rolling his eyes at me. I don't need a light to tell me that. "Sure, babe. Whatever you want. I'm not sure who's open at 7 in the morning though."
What?! "It's fucking 7 o'clock in the morning!? Why am I awake?!"
"Hey, I didn't wake you up. You can't blame me."
I huff. Now, I can't go back to sleep. So, I might as well get my ass up. "Let's go to McDonalds." My mouth is already drooling at the thought of a warm, bacon, egg, & cheese biscuit, with orange juice on the side.
I live for McDonald's all day breakfast.
"McDonalds, really?"
I smile. "Hell yeah. Now, we might need to go home first. I don't really feel like walking into a public place, looking like a raccoon." I am 99% sure my makeup is all over the place. It is probably smeared all over this blanket too.
"Alright." Marcus pushes a button, and light suddenly floods through the car.
My eyes close on instinct, burning from the newfound light. "Jesus, Marcus! You could've given me some warning." I pull the blanket up over my eyes, wincing as the pounding starts up again.
He laughs, thinking this is oh so funny. Jackass.
Once my head stops pounding, I pull the blanket down. Now that I can see, I stick my hand out and punch him right in the stomach.
He cries out and clutches his stomach tightly. I smirk as he doubles over in pain. Payback's a bitch.
~~~
I moan loudly, causing all the patrons to look at me. Little do they know, I don't care. I bite down on my warm breakfast sandwich, savoring in the way it melts in my mouth. I close my eyes as warm chills are sent down the length of my body.
"Stop moaning. People are going to think you're doing something there under the table. Jesus Christ."
Marcus sits down across from me and I glare at him. "I don't fucking care. This sandwich is so good, and I'm going to moan all about it."
"So, we should talk about Thanksgiving."
"What about it?" I know it is coming up, but I wasn't thinking of celebrating it.
"My mom wants to meet you. She wants us to go to her and my dad's house for the weekend."
Thanksgiving is next week and his parents live in New York. "I need more than a week's notice to fly to New York for Thanksgiving. The flights might already be booked up. Plus, I need to check the weather and decide what I'm going to wear. You need to tell me what your mom likes, so I can get her something. And your dad too. Maybe even bake a pie. Shit. But then I can't bring it on the plane..." I am busy making a mental list in my head of all the things I need to do before next weekend, when Marcus interrupts me.
"Okay. Calm down, first of all. I've already booked a flight, so you don't have to worry about that. All you need to bring is enough clothes for four days, and you don't need to bring anything. This is Thanksgiving, not Christmas." He reaches across the table and interlaces his fingers in my one free hand. "It will be fine babe. My parents will love you."
I smile, feeling somewhat better. "I sure hope so." I finish off my biscuit, already wanting more. "Do me a favor?"
His smile disappears. "You want another biscuit, don't you?"
I grin, not saying anything. He knows.
Marcus sighs loudly, but gets up, taking his wallet out on the way.
I smile to myself and pull out my phone. I have such a good boyfriend. I click on the Wattpad app, pulling up the book I am currently reading on there. It is called "A Christmas Wish". Obviously, I love it because of the title. People who know me well, know that I am obsessed with Christmas. It is my favorite holiday of the year.
The book I'm reading is about a girl who makes a wish to have a boyfriend for Christmas. Her mother died a couple years before, and she's always wanted something to make Christmas a less depressing time. I won't say the ending, but it's pretty cliché.
I have read three pages before Marcus comes back, which is a pretty long time, considering each page takes about five minutes to complete. "Why are you reading right now?" Marcus sets down my biscuit down, glaring at me.
I ignore his question. "What the fuck took you so long?"
He sighs, rubbing his temples. "Don't even get me started, Mia. First, they fucked up my order. They thought I had said biscuits and gravy for some fucking odd reason. Then, they put bacon on it instead of sausage. And after all of that, the microwave broke down so they couldn't heat up the sausage. So they had to ask the handyman to quick fix it. And fuck me, the young cashier dropped the first biscuit because of my devilishly good looks."
I roll me eyes, knowing half of that story is complete bullshit. "You're a really good exaggerator." Truth is, I don't even care what happened. I am just glad I finally get my second biscuit. I unwrap my biscuit and take a bite, once again moaning loudly.
"Here we go again."
~~~
Marcus drops me off at my apartment an hour and three biscuits later. That's right, I had three biscuits. Three. And I have absolutely no shame whatsoever.
Just as I sit down on my couch, clad in my fleece pajama pants and long robe, someone knocks on my door. I groan, irritated at whoever is interrupting my relaxing time. I was planning on watching Christmas movies until I fell asleep, whilst drinking hot cocoa. I honestly wish it was Christmas, so people don't judge me so hard when I do this.
I open the door to Emily, who walks right into my apartment. "Mia, why are you in your pajamas still? It's like nine o'clock in the morning!"
"I am not a morning person, Em, and you know it." I purposely leave out the part about me just putting my pajamas on, not "still" being in them.
She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. So, get dressed. We are going out!"
I take in her blue, skin-tight dress that she has on, with her stiletto silver heels to match. It is literally thirty degrees outside and Emily is exposing enough skin to give her hypother
mia. "First, where are we going? And second, why are wearing a dress that's short enough to see your underwear?"
She looks down at her outfit and smiles. "Because we are going out. I can't tell you where or when. All I can tell you is that you need to look sexy as hell." She pushes me towards my bedroom and starts leafing through my closet. She pulls out two of my "sexier" dresses, which are basically Emily's that I stole. "Okay, I'll give you this one option. Which one?" She holds up a silver, long-sleeved, sparkly dress, very form fitting, which cuts just above the knee. "This one?" She holds up the other one, which is a white, tribal print, tight dress that stops a couple of inches below my ass.
"I choose neither. I am not going out." I stalk back to the living room, plopping down on the couch. I had very comfy plans today that I am not going to abandon.
I click play on Christmas with the Kranks and fix my attention on the TV. I hear Emily come up behind me, but don't think anything of it.
She stops, reaches forward, and yanks the remote out of my hands. I whip my head around and glare. "Hey! What the hell was that for?!" I try to grab it back, but she pulls it out of my reach.
She points the remote at the television and powers it off. She turns to me and shrugs.
I watch as she stalks off to my bedroom. "Fuck you! I am not going out!"
I turn back toward the TV, trying to entertain myself with a black screen. I give up after five minutes.
I walk into my bedroom, my eyes widening at the disaster state my room is in. There is a pile of dresses on my bed. My heels are scattered all over the floor. Emily has even gotten out my jewelry and is currently going through my box, which was neatly organized. "Emily! Jesus Christ. You better be planning on picking all this shit up!"
Emily ignores me and keeps searching. "Try on the white dress on the bed with your black heels."
I stare at her, trying to gouge if she is serious. That dress is borderline slutty. "No thanks." I turn to leave, but Emily isn't going to let me.
"Mia. Just try the fucking dress on."
I sigh, knowing she isn't going to give up until I do.
I actually like it, surprisingly. It hits all my curves, accentuating all my good assets. Yes, it is extremely short, but hopefully I won't be bending down a lot today. The only advantage I have is how short I am. People can't really see my ass unless they bend down themselves. These heels give me an extra four inches, turning my 5'0" frame, to 5'4".
"There, Em. I tried the fucking dress on. Happy now?"
Emily turns around and smiles. "Damn, Mia! You look hot for once!" She walks towards me and gives me the black, diamond earrings she has picked out. "Now, go take a nap so you're all rested up for tonight."
~~~
I wake up fully rested with Emily hovering over me with her makeup bag. "Wake up sleeping beauty."
I groan and sit up in bed. "My one condition is I don't want to look like a clown."
~~~
Well, that is two hours of my life I will never get back. Luckily, Emily doesn't put as much makeup on my face as she did on hers. I can almost see the numerous caked on layers of foundation and powder she has on.
Thank god my hair is naturally non-frizzy, so Emily doesn't need to put any hairspray in it. At least something feels normal, besides the beach curls on my head. I have naturally straight hair, so I rarely make time to curl my hair.
As I am checking myself out in the mirror, Emily walks up behind me. "You ready to go now?"
I nod, admiring how put together I can look when I actually try. "Yeah. Let's go." I follow her to the car, careful not to trip, as I am completely inexperienced in wearing heels.
Wherever we go, it better not be to a party.
Twenty-Three
I inwardly groan as Emily pulls up to an obvious house party. Strobe lights are flashing all over the house. I can physically hear the thumping music from outside the house. It's ridiculous, really, how the cops haven't shown up yet. Although, we are in the middle of nowhere. "Emily, why are we at a party?" I haven't really thought through why Emily dressed me in a mini dress and high heels, but now it makes sense.
She grins and gets out of the car. "The better question is: Why wouldn't we be at a party?"
I roll my eyes and follow her up the stone path. It is actually a really beautiful house we are at. It is like a Victorian mansion, complete with long glass windows all around the house. Having a wild party here doesn't seem right, like we are violating the history of this house. "Whose party is this? Who lives here?"
"Ryan Lindon."
I stop in my tracks. "You brought me to Ryan's party? Are you insane!?"
She stopped when she noticed I wasn't right beside her. "Mia, come on. Have a little fun."
Fun? "The guy tried to kiss me, Em. I don't want to see him." I turn back toward the car, ready to head home already.
I hear Emily running after me, or trying to run in her six-inch heels. "Mia, wait! Please don't go!"
I keep walking. "Why? Why should I stay?!"
She catches up to me, not very surprising since I walk two miles an hour in heels. She grabs onto my arm and pulls me to a stop, making me almost fall on my ass. "You are staying at this damn party and I am not letting you fucking leave without me." She locks her car up, stuffing her keys in her built-in bra. "Let's go," she growls out.
I roll my eyes and reluctantly follow Emily. I would take a stand and just sit on the car until she's done, but it's fucking freezing outside. Today is not the day to be brave, standing in the cold.
We walk in the door and my nose is instantly assaulted with the smell of alcohol. I am already starting to get light headed and I just got here. I watch as Emily immediately spots some hot guys and goes over to talk to them. I debate about following her, but I have a boyfriend. I don't need some guy feeling me up or looking at my breasts the whole night.
I wander over to the kitchen, searching for something that doesn't have alcohol in it. I find a cooler of water bottles, or what I hope is water, and breathe a sigh of relief. Thank god.
I walk around the huge house, admiring the massiveness of it all. There has to been at least six bedrooms in the entire place. Unfortunately, I can't look in any of them without catching a couple making out on the bed.
I find an unoccupied bathroom and walk into it, thankful for a relief from that fumes of the party. There is a scentsy pot turned on, giving off refreshing smells of pumpkin spice. I breathe in deep, reveling in my favorite smell. Someone knocks on the bathroom repeatedly, and I groan as I realized I have to hurry up. I check myself in the mirror quickly and open the door.
I am pushed roughly against the wall as the two people making out stumble into the bathroom, not once breaking their kiss. I grimace and hurriedly leave the bathroom, closing the door behind me. What is wrong with everyone? Can no one except me keep their hands off one another?
"Nope. You're the only one."
I jump five feet in the air as I search for the sound of the voice. I put a hand on my heart and turn around, trying to calm my breathing. I come face to face with the two eyes I was hoping to avoid tonight. "Ryan," I say shakily, still trying to calm down. I clear my throat and look away, fighting the blush creeping up on my cheeks.
Damn him. Why does he make me feel this way? I have a boyfriend!
"Um, I better go." I turn around and start walking away, ignoring his protests. All that matters is getting away from Ryan as quickly as possible.
Ryan shoots his hand out and grips my wrist, halting my getaway. "Wait. Don't go."
I take a deep breath and yank my arm back. "I shouldn't be talking to you, Ryan." It's too hard.
"Mia, please. You're at a party. My party. We don't have to talk."
I flip him off and stalk down the hall.
Ryan runs out in front me and forces me to stop. "Hey, I'm sorry. It was a joke. Really, though. You should stay and have some fun. I think I saw Emily going into a room with some guy, so I'm guessing you don't even have a ride home."
I look up at him and sigh. He is right. Emily is my ride. It is one party. Nothing is going to happen between Ryan and me. "Fine."
He grins, proud that he has won. "Excellent. Let's go get you a drink." He starts walking away, not leaving room for me to argue.
I walk fast, trying to keep up with him. Although I lose him on the stairs, thanks to my dumbass heels Emily made me wear. I could've caught up with him by now if I had my converse on.
I have just gotten down the stairs when Ryan meets me at the bottom with my drink. I eye the contents, wondering what in the hell he got me. "What did you get me?"
He shrugs, not giving me an answer. "Drink it and see."
I hold up my water bottle. "No thanks. I'm driving home tonight."
Ryan looks between me and my water bottle, smirking.
I furrow my eyebrows, trying to gauge what he is thinking.
I get my answer two seconds later when he shoots out his hand and swipes my water bottle from my hands. I gasp, realizing what is happening too late. "Give that back!"
Ryan starts walking quickly away, weaving in and out of people. I flip him off in my mind. Bastard. Knowing it is useless, I stand where I am. No way am I going to catch him in these shoes.
Five minutes later, Ryan finally comes back. He holds the drink he got me in one hand, and my water bottle in the other. He grins and hands me back my water bottle. "There you go."
I give him a disbelieving look like, Really? You expect me to believe you're just going to give it back to me? "Nice try." I find the nearest trash can and throw my water bottle in it. I start walking towards the kitchen to get myself another, when Ryan runs in front of me again.
"Wait. Please. I will take you home, so you don't have to drive. Just have a drink. At least one!"
He looks like a desperate little puppy, begging me with his eyes to throw him a bone.
"No. I have to drive Emily home, dumbass. She's definitely getting wasted tonight, if not more." I think back to what Ryan said about Emily going into some room with a random guy. Hopefully she doesn't do anything she regrets tonight. I may be pissed at her for bringing me here, but I still care about my best friend.