As A Friend

5: Drunk Texts

I wake up surprisingly early the next day and not on my own accord. The brightness from Dominic's phone is what wakes me, along with his muffled laughter. I open my eyes to see him lying down beside me, looking at memes. When he sees that I'm awake, he leans his phone over to me. "Look at this one!"

I squint and give a weak chuckle at the photo he's displaying. Feeling oddly close to him, I glance down and find that my leg is draped over his waist. I immediately pull it off of him and he locks his phone and smiles at me. "Sorry..." What a great thing to wake up to.

"And just last night, you threatened me, and I quote: 'but if I wake up and you're touching me at all, I'll rip your hair off your head,'" he mocks me and I rub my face with my hands.

"Yeah, it's coming back to me, vaguely, but it's there." I groan as I stare at the ceiling.

"You said a lot of interesting things last night. But can we talk about this over breakfast? I've been awake for the past hour and I was pinned under your leg so I couldn't even get my snacks."

"Shut up." I rub my head and frown at him.

"Are you hungover?" He tilts his head as he assesses my face.

"No I'm just tired," I explain as I fight back a yawn.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" he responds and I shake my head. I follow his lead and crawl out of bed.

"I need to brush my teeth," I insist and he points to his toothbrush.

"You can have first dibs on it," he teases and I grunt in reluctance.

I take the toothbrush and toothpaste and go to the bathroom. I stare at it in slight disgust. I wouldn't exactly mind kissing him but using his toothbrush? That's a little too personal. I hold back my gag as I wet it in the hottest water the boy's bathroom can produce. I brush my teeth as fast as I can. I gag more than usual and rinse my mouth. I head back to his dorm room and push open the door, where I find him changing his shirt. I hesitate for a second before continuing into the room. As he pulls on his new top, he takes the toiletries from my hand and smirks at me.

Right after he leaves, I pull on my clothes from last night and fix my hair. By the time he gets back, I look gross but I'm ready. "It's chilly outside." He tosses a hoodie in my general direction. I pull it on and, even though it's a little big on me, I feel comfortable.

"Are you ready?" I offer him a tired nod in response.

As we're exiting the building and heading to the dining hall, I look at him. "Why wasn't I wearing pants last night?" I start the series of questions in my head.

"You insisted that the shirt was long enough and called it a dress." He laughs at the memory before adding, "and then you fell."

"That's embarrassing," I mumble and he chuckles again but a bit more secretive this time.

"It only gets worse," he warns me as we get our food. He gets a large pile of pancakes and I get waffles with fruit on the side. We take our seats and I know better than to start having a conversation with him before he's taken his first bites of food.

"So on a scale of one to ten, how bad was it last night?" I ask once he's eaten a good portion of his food. He grins at me.

"A thousand," he answers. "But it was so entertaining."

"Ugh." I groan as I eat a strawberry. Great, now he's seen me at a very low low.

He explains the majority of the night to me, telling me how at first he was worried about me and Teodoro. He mocks me. He laughs at me. He teases me. But soon enough, I'm laughing, too. Though the memories are a bit spotty, I still have some recollection of these things; they just aren't as dramatic as Dominic is making them out to be. Apparently I swore at the guys and then walked off with Teodoro, who I also called a "rejected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."