The Unknown Road

17 - Archie

OPENING MY EYES, THE first thing I do is smile.

I'm not quite sure if what happened yesterday actually happened, or whether it was the beer I drank, but I think I made a leap with Tessa yesterday. I really hoped I hadn't been dreaming, because for the first time in forever I felt truly happy.

And, as a bonus, I actually didn't feel too bad either. I'd had shots before we even left, and had chugged about sixteen beers by the time I took Matt home. So the fact I felt vaguely okay felt somehow too good to be true. Maybe it's luck heading my way...

Pulling back the covers, I remember I'd fallen asleep in my jeans, so my first job of the day was to find my emergency pile of clothes. I didn't want to go downstairs smelling like beer, so I wasn't going down until I'd showered and freshened up more. I could smell beer on my jeans, so when I strip them off I throw them in a pile for washing for later when I got home.

I find the pile, but I also find Matt asleep on the mattress I usually sleep on.

I have no idea what time he came up last night - I must have been out for the count. I feel bad, given it's his bed, but Tessa and I weren't expecting him to move in the night. He didn't stir once while I was carrying him. Plus, if he'd really wanted it, he could have woken me up and I would have moved. But he didn't. 

He looks awful, so I get my stuff and leave as quietly as I can, allowing him an extra lie-in and some much needed recuperation time.

Yesterday was a weird day, but I'm choosing to focus on the good points. I finally opened my eyes to something, someone incredible, but now I have no idea how to broach that subject with Tessa. I was quite a few beers deep yesterday while we'd had our conversation, so I don't want her to think I've forgotten it. I haven't and I can remember every single minute of it.

Having said that, during the conversation I could not have been more sober at the thought of her liking me back.

As I jump in the shower, mine and Dee's conversation bounces back into my head.

Dee had been something else yesterday. I was already sick and tired of her games for while, and her mood swings these days were giving me whiplash.

She was hot one minute, trying to rip my clothes off, and then the next she was jumping down my throat for trying to protect her dignity, and I just didn't understand anymore. Then to top it all off she'd been incredibly rude to Millie, who was only letting me know that her and Tessa were going home, not asking me to go home with them.

I had been wondering last night, on our walk home, whether to break it off altogether.

I could just text her this morning and that would be it. But I couldn't do that. I need to do it face to face. I want to give her a chance to explain her behaviour. And she's wouldn't talk me out of it, not this time. It wasn't just down to last night, this tension had been building for a couple of months now, and she needed to answer for the stunts she'd pulled since coming back to school, once and for all.

Once out of the shower, I head back to Matt's room and notice he's up on his bed. I wasn't that long, so he must have been aware of me leaving.

He'd drunk the untouched glass of water by the bed, but I was glad he had. He needs the hydration more than I did. He looked slightly better this morning, but he still looked rough.

***

I WAS JUST SHOVING on my tracksuit bottoms when a knock comes from the door. My heart quickens, thinking it could be Tessa.

"Knock, knock," I hear Millie's voice through the door and wipe the disappointment from my face as she sticks her head in the gap. "How we feeling this morning?"