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Chapter 7
Ugh, I thought. Where am I? I sat up in a dark room. To my horror, I discovered
I wasn’t in my room. Then I remembered… Orlando, Nick, and the
party. I put a hand to my head. And the drinking… I sat up, and I realized
I was lying on the floor of what appeared to be a bedroom.
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Oh, my G-d. I didn’t have any clothes on, there was a guy lying next
to me. He suddenly rolled over. I squinted in the dark room to figure out
who it was. There were people lying all over the room, sleeping on chairs,
the floor, and the bed. I recognized the guy I had been dancing with most
of the night draped over a chair, so the guy next to me couldn’t possibly
be him.
The guy next to me had blonde hair… He rolled over even more, so I could
now see his face. OH MY G-D! It’s Nick! Holy shit… I stood up rapidly,
and hunted around for my clothes. Once I had found them, a hastily got
dressed…
Where was Scott? I needed to get out of here, quick. Maybe when Nick woke
up, he won’t have remembered last night, because he had had at least
as many drinks as I, if not more, and I didn’t even remember what happened
last night, except for the fact that I had been dancing with some hot guy
for most of the night.
I exited the room quickly, realizing that people were beginning to stir.
Scott and I had to get back to my uncle’s house before he noticed us
missing.
I opened the door to what appeared to be another bedroom, and saw Scott and
some girl lying in the bed. Neither of them appeared to have any clothed
on. I hit Scott on the back, hard, and shook him.
“Scott!” I whispered. “Wake up! We need to get out of
here!”
“Huh?” he replied drowsily. Once he had processed what had happened
and where we were. He sat up, and got out of the bed, with nothing but his
boxers on, and grabbed his jeans and pulled them on.
“Hurry up and get dressed! And find Nick and wake him up! We need a
ride back!” I added, pretending I didn’t know where Nick was. If
he didn’t remember last night, or at least didn’t remember anything
more than that he had gotten some, maybe I could pretend nothing had happened
and no one would be any the wiser.
“Where’s Nick?” Scott asked me.
“I don’t know… I’d check one of the bedrooms or something.
That redhead vixen was all over him last night.”
“Speaking of which… where’d you disappear to last night?”
Scott asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Where do you think?” I replied, hoping Scott wouldn’t press
for anything more. He didn’t, I guess figuring he didn’t need know
more than that.
Scott and I quietly escaped from the bedroom, and went to the one next door,
where I “found” Nick. “Nick,” I whispered, right next
to his ear. “Get up!” He sat up, and squinted around. Suddenly
realization of where he was dawned on him, and he squinted at me, as though
he was trying to remember where he’d seen me before. Or what he’s
done with me…
“C’mon!” Scott said to him. “Dad won’t care that
I’m gone, but if he finds Brooke missing, I’m dead. And you’re
our ride, so kiss your whore goodbye and get dressed. We need to go.”
After leaving the room, I was leaning over the balcony of the bedroom, just
smelling the air. Ugh, if it weren’t for this stupid hangover, it would
be a beautiful day, I thought. Or maybe not, remembering what had happened
with Nick. Maybe nothing at all had happened, I thought hopefully.
Yeah right. You and he just HAPPENED to be hungover and naked next to each
other in the morning.
Some of last night started coming back to me. I remembered how Nick had been
drunkenly talking to me one second, then passionately kissing me the other.
I remembered pulling his shirt over his head, but after that, my mind went
blank.
I hope he doesn’t remember anything… That would ruin our friendship.
If only there were something there… But there isn’t. I don’t
feel anything for Nick. And he doesn’t feel anything for me, so he
shouldn’t care.
But if neither of us care, why am I obsessing over this? He probably has
tons of one-night stands with twelve year-olds, and none of them will matter
in the least. In the morning, they’re just a body, and a nameless face.
He won’t care, I finally concluded. He doesn’t care for me like
that. He was just drunk.
Understanding dawned on me at that moment.
Maybe at the moment I had been kissing him, I had thought there might be
something there. Maybe there is.
I have to tell him what happened… Maybe he needed to know. At eleven,
I had had an immense crush on Nick. But when I had left, I had buried it
deep inside of me.
I was able to roll my eyes at Carrie’s obsession, never understanding
how someone could be head-over-heels for someone like she was. But that was
different. Carrie had a normal, stupid crush. I hated to admit it… But
I felt something for Nick. Something much deeper than I had ever felt before.
As a friend, nothing more, right?
Or was it love?