– Zach –
I'm woken up by the sound of a loud thud, followed by a troublesome groan. I shift my head and instantly regret it when I feel a sharp pain on my neck. I rub it gently, feeling a rock in my skull. It's a given, I'm in terrible shape right now.
I hear snores coming from my left, and I decide to open my eyes, squinting as hard as I can while I study my surroundings. I feel the soft carpet underneath me, and all I can see is a horrible mess made up of empty pizza boxes, greasy plates and half-empty glasses scattered randomly in the room. It takes me a while to adjust to the blinding light which is only contributing to my headache. I spot a few people lying limp on the ground, the incandescent sunlight shooting from outside through the garden window, and I can identify now that the room is wallpapered with baby blue. In other words, this is not my room at all.
I'm sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall behind me, and this is how I fell asleep last night. At least it explains my sore neck. I hear something else this time, a steady breathing, and I see Terra asleep next to me, her head on my shoulder. There's drool.
Does she always have a habit of drooling?
"Where am I?" someone drones, and I search for the direction of the voice. It's Samuel, his eyes completely bloodshot and his hair in a disheveled, tangled mess. There's even some odd stain on his shirt, and I'm not feeling enthusiastic to find out what it is.
"Best...party...ever." Daniel barely manages, his body sagging on the couch with his leg dangling off the edge. Someone else is snoring, but I don't bother searching for who it is.
I shut my weary eyes, my head aching a little more as time continues to pass. I wasn't drunk, but I definitely had too much to drink. My throbbing head is proof enough. I sigh, feeling extremely hesitant to move another muscle despite my sore back. My movements are largely restricted when there's someone leaning on me.
What happened last night?
I try my best to recall without straining myself. The fog in my mind is barely lifting, and all I can feel is the nagging pain that will definitely overstay its welcome. I rub my head, looking at my surroundings again with one eye open. There's an empty plastic bottle on the ground, enough to jog my memory. Cody's truth or dare with alcohol is the culprit.
Speaking of Cody, he is the only one who isn't in the room.
"Hey man, great night, right?" Daniel slurs and shifts himself slowly on the couch, facing me with a weak thumbs up. "That's how we throw a party."
"Do we have to do this every semester?" I drone.
"Hell yeah." He says woozily, then he hiccups. "I mean, we gotta do this while we're still young, right?"
"No." I say.
There's a pause in our sleazy conversation whereby neither of us is in the condition to think or speak. My eyes dart to the clock on the wall, and I'm surprised to find that it is already pass four in the afternoon. I've never had a real hangover before, and I definitely wasn't prepared for one. What happened to my initial plan of leaving after one hour?
"My parents are going to be back in three hours." Daniel mumbles. "We need to clean this up."
"...how?" I ask, considering the impossibilities.
"We'll do it just like how we always do." He says, rolling off the couch and crashing onto the ground with a heavy thud. I don't think he intended to do that, but okay.
I watch as Daniel sits himself upright, his enervated face looking nothing like the President or founder of an existing college club. He takes a deep breath, reaches into his pockets for his phone and blasts his ringtone at full volume. When experiencing a headache, noises are amplified by at least ten times, and I'll be the first to say it's not a good feeling.
A series of groans emerge throughout the room, and everyone seems to be more or less awake now, or at least half-awake. Kacey who is lying sloppily on the bean bag starts murmuring something, and from a short distance away I hear someone throwing up. It's coming from the kitchen.
"Alright guys, let's do this." Daniel says, not even bothering to give specific instructions. It's starting to sound like this is a norm for the club.
One by one, people start reluctantly getting up from their boneless sleep positions, dragging themselves across the room, picking up trash and collecting the silverwares. I should get up too, except, why the heck is Terra still asleep?
Sighing, I flick her forehead with my fingers, only because I'm not in the mood to be nice. I wait for five seconds to see if she will respond, but nothing.
"That's one heavy sleeper." Kelly yawns, and I'll be honest, it took me a good ten seconds to recognize her. Her eyeliner is smudged and her usual straight hair is crinkled like used toilet paper, seemingly trying to escape her scalp from all directions. I keep that comment to myself, though.
"I know." I say, and I flick her head again. This time, I regret it when she bites my finger.
I swear to God, she's a monster.
"Bleh." She mutters, rubbing her eyes. She shoots me a look, the infamous grumpy look.
"Good morning, drool." I say, wiping the drool she left on my finger onto her face, and thankfully, she is still too dazed to notice.
"Ah, great, now you two can help us." Kelly says, and Terra unleashes a screech.
"Who are you?!" she points at Kelly, confused and terrified.
"Eh?" Kelly responds. Clearly she is unaware of her post-alcohol getup. "Looks like someone has had too much to drink." She says.
Yep.
Ignoring us, Kelly resumes picking up the trash, kicking Samuel, who is still lying on the ground, by accident.
"Who is that?" Terra turns to me, shocked.
"It's Kelly." I say.
"What?!" she shrieks in disbelief.
"Nobody looks attractive during a hangover." I say, wincing at my throbbing head.
"A hangover?" she blinks innocently. "I must be the only one without it."
"Good for you." I mutter under my breath.
Terra gets up, and compared to everyone else, she's really energetic. How is it that she is the one who talked me into coming here, and I'm the one who needs to put up with the nasty aftermath?
Dissatisfied, I force myself off the ground to help the others, taking a short moment to find my balance when I stand. I really hate alcohol. The room is spinning in semi-slow motion and I'd hate to imagine how the world looks like to Matthew right now, who is severely wasted.
Everyone (except Terra) is operating like zombies. Kelly accidentally kicks Samuel again, but he's too absent to respond. Daniel tirelessly drags him away from the center of the room and leaves him alone in the corner, and that's when Kacey slides off the bean bag she has been sleeping on and resumes mumbling.
It takes us a full hour to get the room decently cleaned. It excludes the strange stains on the carpet below the coffee table, but if no one brings it up, I won't either. As soon as we are done, nobody hesitates to collapse to the ground, each tending to their own sore muscles and aching head.
"Where's Cody?" Penelope asks, rubbing her temples.
We hear someone throw up again, and this time we are aware it is coming from the kitchen.
"That's him." Kelly says lazily.
The house is silent apart from the occasional sound of Cody gagging and the spinning ceiling fan. If I could, I'd choose to stay unmoving in this position for the rest of the day until my body says otherwise.
"My parents will be back in an hour." Daniel announces, his voice raspy. "It was a great party guys."
"I don't remember anything." Samuel grunts.
"It's alright, we have plenty of stories to tell." Kelly says, still oblivious to her current appearance. "Thanks for having us, Dan, but I think we should leave before your parents return."
"Good plan." He agrees without hesitation. "But uh, can someone please handle Cody?"
"I'll...do it." Penelope volunteers, but she sounds unwilling.
"Thanks, Penny." Daniel says in relief.
Kelly proceeds to carry her sister off the couch, preparing to leave. Someone should really tell her to look into the mirror before she decides to head out, but I'm too lazy to do that right now, and by the looks of it, everyone else is too.
"Let's go." Terra suggests, hopping onto her feet instantly. She grabs her bag off the chair and starts making her way to the exit after thanking Daniel.
"Slow down, please." I wheeze, struggling to keep up.
I pat Daniel on the back before leaving, which may have been a bad move considering the fact that he rushed to the bathroom seconds later. I shut the front door behind me and now I'm forced to face the unforgiving sunlight. It burns.
Terra is already a distance away, and I have no intention of catching up anymore. Unfortunately, she isn't thinking the same way.
"Are you feeling woozy too?" she asks after running back towards me.
"You don't say?" I say dryly.
"But you weren't even drunk last night." She frowns, then her eyes light up. "D-Does this mean you don't remember anything last night?"
"Is there something I should remember?" I ask, and she starts smiling.
"Nope, nothing at all." She shakes her head, hiding her arms behind her back. "Nothing happened, absolutely nothing."
"Okay." I say while she walks straight ahead, and I can hear her saying words of relief and comfort to herself. Seeing her this way, I suppose it's too late to tell her I lied.
I was only marginally tipsy, but even so, I may have said something that I didn't intend to tell her, and judging by her reaction, she definitely said something that she doesn't want me to remember either. It doesn't take me long to know what it is.
I decide that it is better to pretend this way, simply because it seems to be what Terra wants. I'm not too curious about what she is thinking, but if she were to have any doubts, I hope she knows that I meant what I said despite having a little too much to drink. My giddy head only made my words spell itself out easier.
I follow her as she starts skipping, the same way she did the night when she asked me to walk her back. It's a sign that she is happy, and I suppose I'm content just seeing her that way.
The memory flashes in my mind but disappears as quickly as a lightning strike. Touching her hair and paying attention to it up close, it really does resemble the girl, the same girl who had mistaken me for a homeless man and handed me a ten dollar note, the same girl who saved my life.
Terra is now a few meters in front and I'm seeing her miniature figure from behind. I start picturing her in an oversized coat, walking away from me as she fights the strong breeze blowing against her direction, her brown wavy hair fluttering in the wind.
I can see it now, but it is just my imagination.
"Hey, what are you doing, slow poke?" she turns around, staring at me in the eye.
"Nothing." I shrug, closing the distance between us.
"Hmph." She gives me a skeptical look but resumes walking, the setting sun making her brown hair gleam bright gold.
We continue to walk in silence, just like how we always do. All I can think of is the vivid memory of the events that happened that night, the cold street, the empty plastic cup, the dry winter breeze, and her.
Terra doesn't bring up our conversation from last night, and I don't mention it either. I don't tell her the way she reminds me of the girl I saw last winter.
xxx
Chapter visual credit: tumblr, anonymous. Edited by le me :3
A/N: Well c: not all parties end with a bang.
This chapter is dedicated to anon335, thanks for your reads and votes, I really appreciate it and glad to have you onboard the SE train xD
Thank you all for reading, see you all in the next chapter! <3
imperfectdreamer