A Guide To The Opposite Sex (Discontinued)

Many the Miles Pt. I

Riley POV

"Oh, my God."

"Is she dead?"

"Shut up, of course she's not dead...I think."

"Try poking her."

"Nothing. How about a slap?" My eyelids flew open when I felt a sharp pain in my cheek. "Ouch!"

I sat up and stared at the small group that had circled around me on the ground. They all eyed me warily as I attempted to stand but I found that my hands and legs weren't exactly cooperating.

"Maybe we should get help..." a boy with shaggy blonde hair said as he watched me give up and flop down on my back again.

"Hey, what's going on?" a familiar voice questioned. I didn't bother calling out because he sounded far away, and plus my mouth was way too dry to be capable of speaking. So I just laid there.

"Holy shit, what happened?" he demanded as he pushed through my little audience to kneel beside me. "Riley, Riley can you hear me?"

"Shut up, I'm fine," I finally said. Or at least I tried to but it came out sounding more like "Buttercup slime pine."

"What?" Josh said in an amused tone. I didn't bother responding and simply hushed him. "Let's go, lightweight." My eyes flew open when I felt Josh pull me up to my feet. I swayed a little and groaned at the intense pain in my head.

"Come on. Let's go find your friends. I'm sure they'll be better at this than me."

"I am never drinking again," I whispered to him as we walked down the clearing in search of any of any of the girls.

Josh laughed and I winced at the noise. "Dude, you had like two shots. Calm down." I was about to try and punch him when we heard the crunch of grass a few feet away.

"Oh man," Anna say when she caught sight of me. I gave her a sheepish smile which she simply responded with a shake of her head. "Thanks Josh. We got it from here."

With a quick thanks in Josh's direction, I allowed Anna and Abby to toe me away. We were a few feet away when I turned back to see Stacy talking to him. A small smile made it's way on to my face at Josh's expression as he looked down at Stacy. Maybe this trip will be more favorable towards those two than with me, and by the time we're driving back home their differences will be all cleared out.

* * *

"Drink!" Abby ordered me as she held out a bottle of water. I pouted but did as I was told.

We all sat inside my tent, huddled around me as I tried to overcome the symptoms of the world's most vengeful hangover. Anna and Delaney had gone off to find me some pain killers while Abby was left in charge of me. Stacy, on the other hand, sat happily humming and looking through my bag for a change of clothes that weren't completely full of branches and dirt like the ones I was currently wearing.

"How's this?" Stacy asked holding up a pair of dark jeans, a t-shirt and a teal fleece. I nodded and reached for the clothes, anxious to shed my dirty layers.

Abby handed me a packet of baby-wipes and shrugged at my look of distaste. I scrunched up my nose but took the wipes nonetheless and began scrubbing the dirt off my arms and face. "So are you gonna tell us what happened?"

"You know what happened. I got utterly thrashed," I said in a curt tone. I honestly wasn't in the mood to talk about the most humiliating night of my life. There I was, practically throwing myself at Grant and he simply walked away. No amount of alcohol could erase the memory of how rejected I felt then.