I keep hearing my name and some rapping sound from afar until the sounds are so close to me that I have to open my dizzy eyes.
"Mike," I hear the person say, following a knock, and my blur vision gradually becomes clear.
"Who is it?" I ask,
"Maria,"
"What do you want?" I inquire, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
"To do my morning chore," She answers. I can't believe we are already in the morning. I rub down my face with my both hands and manage to get up and veer to switch on the bulb before opening the door for her.
"Good morning," She greets, holding a tray containing some sliced toast bread and two cups of hot coffee.
"Morning," I reply. "What time is it please?"
"It's past eight," She answers.
"Really!" I react. Why does it feel like I only slept for thirty minutes?
"I thought you guys wouldn't come back last night," Her words make me remember what happened last night and why I had to sleep on the couch.
I turn around to see Karen still lying on the bed.
"Yeah," I respond to Maria. "We came back late and we couldn't inconvenience you," I explain and she nods okay while I yawn loudly.
"I made you this," She states and I mouth wow! Maria is such a nice woman. I take the tray from her.
"Thank you," I am showing her some appreciation when I hear Karen softly grunt.
I look back to see her thigh moving on the bed, revealing she is somehow awake.
Something else comes to my mind.
"Can you do me one more favor?" I whisper, staring back at Maria. She nods, gesturing yes.
"I made this," I say with my eyes pointing to the tray in my hand.
Her brows are raised in shock, giving me that cunning smile that Scott gave me last night. I hope she is not also assuming I'm falling in love.
All I am doing is being a caring guy for her to develop feelings for me.
"What?" I react.
"Nothing," She answers. "I will come back to clean up your room,"
"Yeah, that will be great," I say and she nods.
"What am I doing here?" I hear Karen's curious crack voice and I quickly shut the door. I turn around to see her already sitting up under the duvet.
She looks so confused as she glares at me.
"You are awake," I say, smiling and I veer to place the tray on the table.
"That doesn't answer my question,"
Noticing she feels uncomfortable, not letting go of the blanket.
"You can put on the T-shirt beside you," I suggest with a shrug.
"That will be better," I hear her mutter and I turn around for her to put it on. I hope I am acting like a lover boy.
"So?" She says and I turn back to her.
She has finally released the blanket as she is now in my black t-shirt which reaches her half-thigh, covering her shorts.
Now back to our conversation that she finds confusing.
"Really?" I react as I sit on the chair, facing her. "When I told you not to listen to Tracy, what did you say?" I add and she gives me long looks that seem she is trying to remember what happened.
"What! I got drunk!" She exclaimed in shock and scoffs.
Not only that, you almost wanted to spit out about your two exes, her ex-boyfriend and her ex-best friend which would have made her be on social media today.
I try hard to keep and bury those thoughts to myself.
"Why would you even do that?" I inquire.
"I just..." She pauses and she scrunches her face in pain, touching her head. She must be having a headache.
Gosh! I even almost forgot.
Why wouldn't I forget when I wasn't the one who prepare this treat? I get up to carry the tray and gently place it beside her on the bed.
"You should sip some coffee, you will feel better," I back up and hand over a cup to her while I sit on the bed.
"Thanks," She manages to say and blows on the coffee before sipping some.
"I just wanted to have fun," She states gently to me. I nod okay in reply.
"So my assumption was right last night before reaching a verdict," I retort and she bursts out laughing.
"One just needs to be careful," I add.
"I know right," She smiles and takes another sip. I also grab mine and slowly sip it. Thanks to Maria.
"We sleep on the bed?" She inquires in her calm voice. I slip my eyeballs to her and I chuckle a little.
"Is that what you think?"
"Waking up to see me on your bed proves it,"
"My room is so luxurious for us to sleep separately," I clarify and she looks around for what I have no idea about.
"The comfy couch," I guess and she reacts Oh!
"But next time, you will be the one lying on the couch if you think we can't sleep next to each other on my bed," I tease and she laughs, showing her upper teeth.
She picks up a slice of toast bread and takes a bite.
"Hmm, yummy," She comments as she nibbles it. "You made this?"
"Of course," I answer with a smile and she furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
"What happened to you being terrible at this?" She lets out and I clear my throat, trying to think about what to say.
I knew she will remember my statement and why would I even lie?
"I can still try some fast foods with the help of YouTube," I explain.
"Right," She retorts and I nod yes.
"And I hope I didn't cause any stupid scene like throwing up, tripping, babbling..." She is saying and I grunt in disbelief while she pauses.
"Probably this is the fourth question you are asking me about you being drunk," I complain and she chuckles.
"I just want to know," She pouts her lips to me and I shake my head.
"This reminds me of the last time I was drunk," I say.
"Your birthday party,"
"You remember this?" I marvel, surprisingly looking into her eyes.
"Sure," She answers. "Was that not the reason you approached me despite the way I dressed? And when I saw your make-up video the next morning, I realized I was right," She expresses.
I scoff a little knowing she was completely wrong.
"What?" She reacts, trying to read my face.
"I was drunk because I felt rejected by you," I clarify in my calm voice and her brows are raised in shock.
"That must be bad," She mutters, gazing back at her toast bread.
"Even though your friend asked you to stay and have fun with me," I smirk at her in a silly way and she giggles at me.
"Tobi was just upset that night," She says.
"Why would she be?" I shrug as I am eager to hear her response.
"She is one of those girls who are crushing on you on campus. She thought you were approaching her till you faced me and she felt so disappointed,"
"Oh! I can relate," I exclaim and she nods. "But you also have a crush on me,"
She scoffs, rolling her eyes.
"You should know from the start that I dislike you," She retorts and I laugh.
Sometimes I wonder if this girl never falls for me or if she is just pretending. I can't even read her.
Then we suddenly hear a knock.
"Mike," My sister's voice follows.
"Come in," I shout.
"Are you crazy?" Karen whispers to me with a frown. I wonder why she looks so terrified because of my sister.
She roughly crawls out of bed and places the tray on the table. She reaches for her gown, her handbag, and her pair of heels as Olivia walks in.
"I'm having class by nine," Karen says to me.
"Okay, I will see you around," I respond confusedly and she starts leaving.
She must have muttered hi to Olivia as she walks past her and I can hear Olivia replying Hi back.