Ugh, where am I? Why is my head pounding? I can't get up. I need to get up. I need to get up. I need to get up. I slowly open my eyes, everything is blurry. I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest. I can't see anything. I rub my eyes and my vision clears. I look at what I'm on, I'm on a bed. I look around and see red cups all around the room. I try to sit up but I'm stopped my something wrapped around me. I look down and see an arm. My heart starts beating fast, at least all my clothes are on. I look to see who's arm it is. I turn my head slowly and look to see Chace sound asleep. Why is he here with me?
I move his arm off of me and stand up. I felt like I was going to throw up. I stumble to the door and open it. The hall way had two people passed out in it, and it was even worse than Chace's room when it comes down to it being cluttered with cups. I step over the people and open the first door I find. Thankfully it was the bathroom because the moment I open the door I feel sick. I move to the toilet and start throwing up. There was a girl in the bathtub next to me still asleep. I kept heaving even though there was nothing left. My head was pounding, I felt like shit. What did I do last night?
I finish dry heaving, rinse my mouth, and walk back out into the hallway to find Candice. If I stayed here, then she must have too. She would never leave without me. I go back to Chace's room to see if she might be in there, but it was just Chace. I see that my shoes are on the floor, so I put them on. I feel him moving in bed and I look to see if he's waking up. His eyes slowly open and then focus. I look at the time and see it's noon. I need to text my mom. Chace raises himself and sits up.
"Hey Porter." His voice was extremely raspy.
"Hey Chace." I reply.
"How are you feeling?" He says slowly.
"I feel like shit. I don't remember anything." I say to him. He laughs and nods his head.
"You've got a hangover don't you?" He smirks at me. I just laugh and shake my head.
"Yeah I guess I do. Do you know where Candice is?" I ask him.
"Check Veronica's room. I think that's where they passed out." He tells me. I stand up and walk out of his room. I don't know which one is Veronica's so I just open up each door. I finally find it and walk inside. I see Chelsey, Josie, Veronica, and Candice all passed out on the bed. I went over to Candice and shook her. She slowly woke up and focussed.
"Hey we need to go home." I whisper. She nods her head and stands up.
"Yeah let's go." She stands up but then falls back down again. "I feel sick."
I lead her to the bathroom to let her throw up. I hold her hair back while she continues to get every toxin out. I hear a laugh from the door and I look to see Chace leaning on the door frame in just pajama pants.
"What are you laughing at?" I ask him.
"It's just cute, because you guys will probably be holding each others hair in the future." He smiles at me. He walks in and sits next to me and looks at the girl in the bathtub. "You can pass out in the weirdest of places it seems." He laughs.
"Yeah I guess you can." I sigh and laugh with him.
"Just letting you know, you had a lot of fun last night." Chace says to me.
"Really? The last thing I remember was kissing Jeff in spin the bottle and then you kissing Chelsey." I tell him.
"You had a lot of fun with Jeff last night." He states.
"Well that's good. I like Jeff, he's a nice guy. I just hope he knows last night, whatever happened, was all just out of friendship." I yawn.
"Do you remember going into the pool?" He asks.
"No, I don't. What happened in the pool?"
"We had a little competetion, you and I." He smiles to himself.
"Who won?" I ask him.
"I'd say I did." He smirks. Candice finishes her heaving and sits up. She flushes the toilet and washes her mouth out. I stand up and help her back to Veronica's room.
"We need to get going." I tell him. He nods his head.
"I'll drive you. So you don't have to look like you had a walk of shame or anything." Chace says and walks into his room. He comes out a few seconds later with keys in his hand. He helps me with Candice, who still can't coordinate her movements very well. We walk down the stairs and out the door. The light shown so bad in our eyes, we all three squinted as we walked to Chace's mustang.
We put Candice in the backseat where she leaned her head on the window. I got into the passenger seat and Chace got into the drivers seat. He started the car and we drove.
"Can you just take me to my house?" Candice asks. He nods his head and turns toward where Candice lived. We drove in silence the entire way there, but it was better than having music or anything at the moment. We pull up into Candice's driveway and I help her get out.
"I'm going to help her inside and get her changed into her pajamas if you want to wait here. Or you can come inside. It doesn't matter." I inform Chace.
"I'll help you." He says and gets out of the car. It was then that I realized he was still in just his pajama pants. His muscles looked great with the light shining on them. We helped Candice get out of the car. I let go of her so I could get the hidden key from under the mat to unlock the door. I opened the door and we were greeted by her dog, Milo. He was a little pug, and he was the cutest pug I had ever met.
"Hi Milo." I say reaching out to pet him. Chace brings Candice inside and he asks me where he should put her. I stand up and grab her other arm and lead the way to her room. "You should probably step out while I help her change." I tell Chace. He nods and walks out of the room and closes the door. I help Candice out of her costume and into her pajamas.
"Thanks Porter. You're the best." She says and falls back asleep. I walk out of the room and see Chace playing with Milo.
"Where are her parents?" He asks me.
"Probably setting up the property for the haunted house tonight. We help out every year." I tell him.
"The one that's on Lake road?"
"That's the one." I smile.
"I've been to that, and it's so good!" He says standing up. I smile up at him and laugh.
"They work really hard on it each year. Candice and I are normally the ones who take the tickets." I say to him.
"I really like how it's more than just a house though. Like it has food and drinks and music and games for kids. It's really cool. I've gone with Veronica and my brother Luke every year."
"It's a lot of fun." I tell him. We walk out the door and lock it. I text Candice's mom and tell her that she's at home sleeping. I then texted my mom telling her I was on my way home.
"So why were we in the same bed together last night?" I ask Chace.
He laughs and smiles at me. "Well just letting you know, we didn't have sex. If that's what you want to know." I breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God."
"Some guy was being a total creep and so I had you go upstairs to get away from him because he was trying to take advantage of you. You passed out on the floor and I put you in my bed. I stayed in there to make sure the guy didn't come looking for you. He was more drunk than you, so he probably passed out in the house somewhere." He explains. I nod my head and wonder who it was. I can't remember a single thing after spin the bottle.
"Well at least you said I had fun. I just wish I could remember." I say to him. He smiles at me and nods his head.
"I remember everything, so don't worry." We get into the car and drive toward my house. "You're an honorary member of our exclusive group now. You and Candice."
I laugh at him and nod my head. "Thanks for keeping me safe from the creep guy."
"I'll always protect you. Don't worry. You're my friend, friends protect friends." He smiles at me. We pull into my driveway and I open the door.
"I mean it. I may not remember what happened, but I really appreciate it." I say to him. I debate whether or not I should hug him or something, but it would be weird because we are sitting so I just get out of the car. "Thanks for the ride." I say and close the door. I walk up to my door and go inside.
I walk up the stairs and into my room to change into more comfortable clothes. I plug my phone into the charger and then go back down and sit in the living room with my mom.
"How was the party?" She asks me.
"It was fun." I tell her.
"Was there drinking involved? And you can tell me, I won't be mad." That's a trick question. My mom dispises alcohol. Her father was an alcoholic and so if any drinking happens in the family at all, she blows a fuse.
"No, just fun." I lie to her.
"Your sister is coming home for the weekend." She tells me. I brighten up at the mention of Georgie. I haven't seen her in a few weeks.
"What time does she land?" I ask.
"She flew in this morning. Your father went to pick her up. They shoud be home about one."
"I'm going to get a shower. I'll be out in a few minutes." I ran upstairs and showered. I brushed my teeth as well in fear of her possibly smelling something on my breath. After my shower, I check my phone and I see I got a text.
- Hi Porter. It's Chelsey. I just wanted to clarify everything we talked about last night. You understand, right?
I had no idea what she was talking about.
- Hey, what are you talking about?
I waited for her reply. But it didn't come. I waited and waited but she never texted me back. Pretty soon, my sister came home. She bursted through my door and smiled at me. I screamed and hugged her.
"Happy Halloween!" She laughs.
"Happy Halloween! Are you excited for tonight?" I ask her.
"Are you kidding me, of course I am." She releases me from the hug and we just laugh. Georgie helps out with the house too. She normally takes people through. She's such a good actress so she really knows how to sell it.
"Can I ask you something?" I ask her.
"Sure, what's up?" She sits on my bed and I sit next to her.
"Well, last night I went to the Crawford's Halloween party." I start. Her eyes widen.
"Why would you go to that?"
"Well Veronica and Chace are my friends." I explain to her.
"Sweetie, I went to school with Luke, and he started the Crawford parties. They're full of alcohol, pot, and pills." She tells me.
"I thought they moved here last year." I ask her. She laughs and shakes her head.
"No, Veronica, Chace, and Luke all three went to a different school for elementary and middle. I don't know why, but they did. Anyways, Luke has been throwing those parties since he was in middle school." She tells me.
"Did you ever go to those parties?" I ask her.
"Of course I did. I got plastered the first time I ever went to their party." She tells me.
"Well I did too." I admit. She puts her hand on my shoulder and just laughs.
"Anyways, after going to that party, I was stuck in that crowd. It was fun at first, and I ended up dating Luke. We were in love. But mom and dad didn't know I was with him. I dated him for two years. Junior year we broke up because he got involved in a lot of stuff that was way to intense for me. That's when I met Dave." She tells me.
I had no idea all of this stuff happened to my sister. I felt releaved though that I wasn't the only Tapper to go to parties and forget things.
"Chace told me the same thing." I tell her.
"He told you what? That he would protect you?" She asks me.
"Yeah, he was really serious about it too." I explain.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Okay."