a/n: sorry that I've been really slacking on my updates—school just started like last week for me and I feel like it's already been months :(((( but here is the next chapter, enjoy!
ALSO thank you all so so much for 100 votes! Let's get those reads up to 1,000 and a bonus chapter will be headin' your way ;)
F I F T E E N : SCHEMES
MAE AWOKE to a terrible pounding in her head. The feeling was foreign to her, and so was the taste of bile in her mouth as she scrambled out of the sheets and into the bathroom. Bending over the rim of the toilet, she sat on her legs and threw up the little content in her stomach into the porcelain bowl.
She was having a hangover, she eventually concluded. It was her first ever, actually. Never had she had to deal with vomiting up her dinner, feeling like a nail was being hammered into her scalp, or worst of all—not being able to remember anything that had happened the night before.
She groaned, flushing down the disgusting things in the toilet before limping over to the sink. When she caught her reflection, she almost three up again. Her hair was a tangled, deconstructed bird's nest, her eyeshadow was smudged across the top half of her face, but her winged liner still looked on fleek.
The mini pack of makeup wipes felt heavy in her jacket pocket and she dug around for them. After successfully removing her face of all makeup, she rinsed her mouth thoroughly.
When she turned to walk back into the bedroom, she finally took in all of it: black walls, a cluttered desk with charcoal pencils scattered across it, and white shutters on the windows instead of curtains.
Her eyes widened. "Oh fuck no..."
Just then, the door to the bedroom began to open, and Mae panicked, ducking back into the bathroom and locking the door.
"Mae?" She recognized Parker's voice and she began to hyperventilate.
What happened last night? Did she say something stupid? Did they have sex?
Her pants had been on when she awoke, actually all of her clothes were still in her person. So having been deflowered was thrown off the table.
Parker knocked on the bathroom door behind her. "Mae? I know you're in there..."
"How did I get here?" She demanded, ripping the hair tie off her wrist and throwing her hair up into a makeshift ponytail. "And is this what a hangover feels like?"
He chuckled through the door. "Yes, Miss I-have-a-very-high-alcohol-tolerance. And how you got here—I drove you. You fell asleep at the party last night, and I'm pretty sure bringing you back to Icelyn with your unconscious body in my arms would look pretty bad. But please, open the door. I can make the pain go away."
Mae huffed, removing the jacket she had on off. "Are you sure that's all that happened last night? And also, how in the hell could you have gotten me so drunk that I passed out?"
There was a very unnerving pause from Parker's side of the door. Then he sighed heavily. "I'll tell you if you open the door."
She pursed her lips, considering it. Even if she looked like a total hot mess, she wanted to know this boy's secret. For the three years she's been drinking, never have she ever gotten herself drunk enough to forget. Now, when she wanted to know what happened, she couldn't.
Mae opened the door.
Parker stood on the other side, a little surprise and relieved, holding a plate of toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon with a glass of water and two pills under it. He offered her the plate first, but she took the water and Motrin first. Dunking the pills back and half of the glass of water, Mae sat on the edge of Parker's small bed.
The headache was beginning to die down, but it still lingered. Parker sat down next to her and gave her the plate, handing her a fork, too.
"Thanks," she murmured, popping a bit of egg into her mouth. "So I guess you know for real now that..."
"That you're Snow?"
She nodded bitterly. "Yeah. And I guess I probably admitted to some other things, too then?"
Parker cocked his head side to side. "I guess."
Mae stared at her plate uncomfortably. She never had the appetite to eat in the morning, how could she finish all of this? "What was I..." She whispered, "What was I like when I was out of it? Did I do anything stupid?"
She glanced at Parker who was staring at her with unreadable emotions swirling around in his eyes. "No, you didn't."
"Do you have my phone?"
"Yes, I was charging it last night." Parker broke his gaze and turned to the nightstand and unhooked Mae's hardly used phone. After handing it to her, she returned the plate that was barely touched to Parker. Mae stood, tying the jacket around her waist.
"Thanks, but I should go." She managed to open the door a millimeter before Parker closed it with his hand. He stood directly behind her, and Mae could feel the body heat radiating off him.
"Leaving so soon?" It came out unintentionally husky and rasped; it had a shiver running down Mae's spine.
Without turning around, she answered, "Lyn will be worried." Then she opened the door out of his room, this time without him stopping her. The apartment she emerged into was small with a little kitchen before her and a living room to her right. The door out was reached in about seven steps, and she was out in eight.
Once Mae was out of the building, she concluded that she was around 15 minutes of a drive away from the dorms, which meant it would take her maybe 45 minutes to an hour to walk all the way there. With the headache bugging her, she dialled Icelyn's number and started toward a local Starbucks.
Something just came to her mind.
When Icelyn answered, Mae gave her no time to yell, scold, or chide. "Lyn, meet me at the Starbucks 15 minutes away from school—" she paused, thinking on something, "—and bring Jo, too."
"Wait, what the hell, Mae? Where were you all night? I was worried sick!" Icelyn cried from the other side.
"I promise I'll explain everything... I'll even admit all of this to Jo. I'll stop partying. I'll stop going out at night." Mae was five minutes away now.
"Wait! What do you mean?"
Mae pressed her lips together. "I mean, Parker got me drunk and I can't remember anything that happened last night."
"WAIT," Joanna scrunched her eyebrows up, "so you dared Tommy to kiss Adrianna?"
Mae nodded, chewing the green Starbucks straw like it was piece of gum. "Yes, but that's not the point."
"But doesn't this mean that you also dared Maria to take a body shot off of Alex?"
"Still not the point."
"And didn't you save Oliver and Daniella from a crumbling relationship?"
"Yes, but that's still not the point, Jo." Mae sighed, "I was Snow. Again, I was. I'm done with that. I don't think I should put my body on the line again like that. I admit it was stupid, Lyn, and I am sorry I didn't listen to you sooner." Mae had just finished going through her whole explanation of everything—from being Snow, to where she was last night.
Joanna and Mae turned to Icelyn expectantly. Icelyn frowned down at her caramel frappuccino, slowly swirling the caramel into the whipped cream. "It's fine, Mae. I'm just glad that you're okay. Something seriously bad could've happened to you. If Parker really was a bad guy, he might have taken advantage of you."
"I'm sure he did—" Joanna covered her mouth as soon as the words slipped from her mouth. "I mean! I mean, like not in that way, but Mae might have spilled some secrets of hers while she was drunk. That's all I'm trying to say."
Icelyn nodded. "It's natural to take advantage of situations like that. You just have to be more careful."
Joanna leaned forward on her elbows. "So how do you think he got you drunk in the first place?"
Mae shrugged. "Probably drugged me."
a/n: that was chapter fifteen! and I probably won't get the next one out until... at least next week :/ what do you think Parker's thinking right now? is the guilt eating him up? does he have no regrets whatsoever?