Unexpected | ✔️

55- Post-Party Feels

I jolted awake and felt around the bed. I sighed out of relief when I felt exactly what I was looking for: Ryder. I was scared that I was so drunk last night that I kept him in the bathroom. That didn't seem to be an issue.

I quickly scooped him up and ran downstairs. Lord knew the last time he went to the bathroom and I could only hope there weren't any accidents in my room. When we reached the grass in the backyard, I let him down.

With a sigh, I sat down. The hangover was really settling in now. Even Ryder seemed to notice because he ran straight over when he was finished.

Well, more like hobbled.

"You're such a good puppy," I cooed, petting him behind his heads. He nearly flopped over, making me smile in the best way possible.

A body sat next to me and I looked over to see Reece.

"Oh, you're still here?" I asked with a slight shock. I didn't realize we were close enough for him to spend the night. Then again, Reece knew more about me than one of my best friends, which was saying something.

He pretended to be offended. "Do you not want me here?"

I laughed and shook my head, continuing to pet the puppy. "Nah, I'm just surprised is all. I figured you would have left by now."

"I hate to break it to you, but your living room is full of hungover people."

I groaned, putting my head on his shoulder. "That's the suckiest thing about throwing parties. The aftermath. I'm going to spend all day cleaning," I whined.

Behind me, another voice spoke. "Don't worry about it Bellz, it's being taken care of," Dylan said, joining me on my other side. He cooed at Ryder before addressing my curious face. "I've hired a cleaning company. They'll be here soon."

"Genius," I grinned, giving him a small side hug. "Gosh, I can't remember the last time I had a hangover."

"Oh, here," he shoved a small gift bag toward me and I recognized it as the one Andrew gifted to me last night.

A small giggle left my lips and both the boys gave me questioning looks. "Ah, nothing. He just told me some dumb shit last night that I don't even want to think about," I explained, taking the tissue paper out. Ryder immediately began to rip the paper apart and I cooed at his cuteness before focusing on the gift.

It was a book. The Giver to be exact. A small smile played on my lips, knowing exactly why he chose this.

In middle school, he was in my English period and we were paired up. He always told me that he didn't understand the ending, and I'd always remind him that it was really up to our interpretation. Then we had a huge debate about whether he died or survived in the end.

My fingers skimmed the fragile book. It looked used, like it was his copy from back then. I opened the front cover and our teacher's name was stamped on the inside. I flickered through the pages and got to the back cover.

A gasp escaped my lips as I looked at the page. The words 'Drew + Bella' were written all over, encompassed with a heart. I recognized the handwriting from middle school, so this really was his old copy.

"Holy shit," Dylan whispered, in as much shock as me. I looked over at him with wide eyes.

Andrew freaking Boyce used to have a crush on me.

I snapped the book shut. "Wow," I whispered in complete shock. So if he was telling the truth last night, did that mean everything he did was to protect me?

I was still unsure, but I definitely felt the need to figure it out.

"I guess I was wrong about him," Dylan mumbled.