Guilty By Association

Chapter 20 - A Tiger's Eye

Chapter 20 – A Tiger’s Eye

Kelsey groaned, attempting to turn to her side. She squirmed a little before she realized something was holding her back. She groaned. She always hated this part of the day. Waking up. She always hated waking up, but there was something different today.

She could sense it before she even opened her eyes. She felt different. It was weird, but she felt warmer than she normally did, more comfortable. She peeled her eyes open and squinted, looking around. The first thing she noticed was a large arm wrapped around her abdomen. Forcing herself to stay calm, she looked around and realized she wasn’t in her own bedroom.

That’s when she lost it.

She grabbed the arm and yanked it off of her, simultaneously jumping out of the bed with a small scream. “Ah!”

The individual beside her also got up with a startling quickness. Relief flooded through Kelsey when she realized it was just Alex. “W-why am I here?” She asked looking around. She wasn’t in her own room. She was in Alex’s room—in his bed. With him. Kelsey couldn’t form a single plausible reason as to why she was.

She glanced down. She was dressed. That was good news. No, it wasn’t. Yes, she was dressed, but not in her own clothes. What had happened? She was supposed to be wearing the purple dress she’d worn to Dana’s wedding. Instead, she was adorning a…t-shirt? It had to be Alex’s. She felt all of her blood rush to her cheeks and embarrassment and humiliation ran through her. What had happened last night?

The wedding went smoothly. When James had seen Dana, his eyes had nearly fallen out of his sockets. He was smitten, that one. The wedding had ended efficiently and then they’d all left the church and….

Reception! Maria and Jonathan had arranged a small reception party for Dana and James. They had a bar. Kelsey felt a sudden throbbing in her head and groaned, clutching it.

“Hangover.” Alex said, slowly making his way around the bed. He went into his bathroom. Kelsey blinked. Hangover? There was no way Kelsey could have a hangover. She’d have to drink for that. The throbbing in her head reminded her that either she had a killer migraine, or Alex was right. Still…hangover?

Alex emerged from the bathroom with a bottle of Advil in his hands. He handed it to her and she took it, dumbly staring at it. What had she done? “Why am I in your bedroom?”

Alex smirked. “Are you saying you don’t remember?”

Anxiety build up in Kelsey’s gut and she frowned. “Remember what?” She asked, tense. Alex smirked, wider.

“You mean you really don’t remember?” He asked. “You woke up in my bed, Kelsey. I’m sure you can do the math.”

“Oh, I can do math.” Kelsey snapped at him. “It’s the logic part that’s bugging me.”

“Calm down, Kelsey. Nothing happened, I assure you.” His tone was convincing but Kelsey wasn’t entirely convinced. After all, she was the one in his bed, wearing his t-shirt. She sighed, inhaling the scent that came off of the shirt. “What are you doing?” Alex asked, curiously.

“This is your shirt.” She stated the obvious. And it smelled just like him. Kelsey never paid attention to the way Alex smelled. It would have been weird, but then again, maybe being hangover made a person do weird things.

Alex had a very industrial smell, a scent that Kelsey liked, but she couldn’t quite identify. Kelsey sighed. All this thinking was giving her a headache. She opened up the little bottle of tablets and took out a couple pills. She looked around the room.