a/n: listen to Fallin' All In You by Shawn Mendes / New Year's Day by Taylor Swift while reading this and I will love you forever. That was my PSA.
I wake up to the sound of chimes- a groan coming from next to me as Jase curses, and I can feel the muscles in his chest- the one I'm currently curled into- grow taut as he reaches backwards to turn off the alarm.
"Morning," I whisper, turning my head and realizing that we're still tangled in a woven tapestry of blankets and pillows and arms and legs and my hair, which seems to have spilled out of its bun overnight.
"Morning, Red," Jase says, but it's in a different way than a usual customary 'good morning'- his voice is soft and warm and I feel his fingertips lightly graze against my cheekbone before cupping my chin, forcing me to look up at him, at the deep blue eyes that are still dazzling, even with the faded dark circles underneath. The sky behind him is a brilliant burnt orange like it's been lit on fire, spreading to the ocean and making it hard to tell if I'm staring at water or a great lake of flames. I've barely ever been awake early enough for the sunrise, and when I have, I've never noticed it like this.
"So," I say, not even trying to hide the grin on my face as I look over at where he's lying next to me. "Last night."
I'm trying to stay awake as I talk, but with each word, my eyelids feel heavier and soon I close them again, moving myself even closer to Jase until I can practically feel his breath on the back of my neck, sending goosebumps down my spine. "Last night," he says back, his voice soft and his words slow. "Last night was... impulsive."
"Reckless."
"Stupid," he adds, his fingers running through a strand of my hair as I open my eyes for a second before closing them again, just long enough to see the dimpled grin on Jase's face. "But maybe we could... be stupid again sometime?"
"You know, that actually sounds really nice," I murmur against his chest, not bothering to open my eyes again. "But can we have maybe... five more minutes to sleep?"
"Five minutes. That can't hurt," I hear Jase say, and suddenly I can hear the exhaustion in his voice, too. We were up pretty late last night... but we need to get to school soon. We can't exactly sleep in.
But five minutes will be fine.
--
"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!"
I wake up to Jase cursing and the sun, staring me directly in the eyes as I groan, a dull ache throbbing through my forehead. "W-what's going on?" I manage to mutter, rolling over onto my side to see Jase get up, running a hand through his hair as he looks at his cell phone. "Red," he says, and though his voice is gentle and quiet, the insistence in it makes my head hurt all the same. "It's already 8:30. We have to go."
I groan, sitting up as the dull ache turns into throbbing pain. "What the hell?" I hear myself mutter, the words ragged and mumbly. This isn't quite the worst headache I've ever had (I mean, I just recovered from a concussion), but it... isn't great, either.
Jase gives me an amused smile. He certainly looks a hell of a lot better than I feel, but there are still slight dark circles under his eyes and his hair is messy, falling in clumps that either stick up or wave down over his face. It almost would make him look more attractive if my head wasn't pounding.
"How are you feeling?" Jase asks, a punchable smirk on his face. A kissable smirk on his face, really, I think as I look up at him.
Ha. And I did kiss it...
Holy shit. I KISSED JASE TURNER?
"I-uh-" I try to focus on something other than him, my gaze darting wildly around me to the sky, catching on the sun. Which apparently was a bad idea, since the throbbing pain in my head has just intensified, and the world around me seems to be spinning like a top. "Bright. Everything is very bright."
Jase chuckles a little and I can't resist glaring at him. Does he really think this is funny? "It's your first hangover, Red. Enjoy it."
With that, he picks up some of the pillows and blankets from the ground, carrying them to the car. He doesn't ask me to help, which I feel bad about, but at the same time... I feel kind of terrible right now so I somewhat appreciate it.
I shift my position slightly so that I'm on my knees, but I guess the motion is too fast because my ribcage lurches and I feel nausea rise up from my chest, sickening and cold, as I lean over the dock, throwing up the 995 pounds of alcohol I apparently drank last night into the ocean- it's funny, I don't even remember being that drunk. Happy... yes. Free and uninhibited and like I didn't have to think... yes. But drunk, drunk enough to have this horrible hangover? No.
I lean back onto the dock again, sighing as I cover my eyes with the back of my hand. How was everything so good last night, earlier this morning, but now... it all feels awful?
It's probably another minute or two before Jase is back down at the pier from the trail up to his car, but it feels like only a couple seconds before a hand is pulling me up. "C'mon, Sleeping Beauty. We really need to go to school. We're already almost an hour late."
I flash Jase a quick glare, though in truth, I know he's right. The thought of missing first period makes my heart pound, and I feel like I might be sick again. "But- but- why are you so calm? We'll get marked absent, we'll get-"
Jase takes my hand as we walk, probably just as much to make sure I don't fall over as it is for emphasis as he says, "Calm down, Little Red. We're not going to miss anything, at least if you stop walking at the pace of a sloth. The school has some stupid assembly about drugs this morning- that's partially why Phina picked last night for the party, anyways. We'll make it just before they end... if you hurry up."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I mutter, but it feels a little bit like I'm walking through jello, like all of my movements are coated in exhaustion. "And, um... speaking of last night." I don't know what to say, I don't- I mean, Jase and I are friends. Sort of. In a broad sense of the word. But we live together. I can't just go around doing what we did last night with him ever again...
Especially knowing the dozens of other girls he's hooked up with before, in almost the same circumstances...
I wonder if he regrets it. Regrets getting with naive 'Little Red', regrets taking me out, regrets... all of it.
I expected that I would, but honestly, all I have to really regret is how drunk I apparently got. Apparently I'm more of a lightweight than I thought.
But do I regret the Jase part of last night? Not. One. Bit.
"Last night?" He asks, a slight smirk on his face as he raises an eyebrow. It's an arrogant look, almost like he knows what's coming next. That I'm going to profess my love for him or something. Like a million girls must do all the time, only for him to tell them that he's not looking for a relationship.
"Yeah... last night was- it was a mistake."
That's not technically a lie. It was a mistake to go to some stupid party, to get drunk... whatever. But now I don't have to sound like the idiot he probably thinks I am.
I'm expecting him to ask about what part was a mistake, or something along those lines, but... no. Instead, he drops my hand, stepping ahead. Jase almost looks...
No. There is no way in hell he would be hurt by this. The thought is almost laughable. And I mean... what happened between us wasn't even what I was talking about!
"Yup," Jase replies finally, though his voice is cold and unfeeling as we make our way into the parking lot and he unlocks his car. "At least we can both agree on that. At least tRy and keep it in your pants, Red."
His voice is light and joking, but I can see the tension of his jaw as he climbs into the driver's seat and shuts the door behind him. Clearly, something's upsetting him. Maybe it's the thought of what he did, hooking up with me of all people. I didn't expect it to hurt this much... but it does. Even earlier this morning, he said that he wanted to do this again...
Maybe it was the sort of early morning discussion that does best not being brought up again.
"Yeah... getting drunk doesn't exactly lead to the best decision making skills," I say, trying to break the ice, though my head is still throbbing enough to make any coherent thoughts almost impossible.
"Oh- speaking of being drunk-" Jase says, and his tone becomes softer, less cold as he opens the glove compartment, taking out two plastic bottles of water and a very large one of Advil, which he tosses to me before handing me one of the water bottles. "Take two- and drink all of that. It'll help, I swear."
Swallowing anything right now seems like a bad idea, but I pour two tablets into my hand anyways, downing them with a sip of water before I screw the lid back on and hand it back to him. "Why do you have all that Advil? Do you really party that much?" I ask as he shifts the car into reverse and we start driving. I need something to distract me from the fact that we're going a hell of a lot faster than I'd like right now.
Jase just shrugs, the ice returning to his tone as he looks away from me and out at the road. "It's for sports. In case I get injured and don't want my coach to know, or something."
"Oh." That's all I can think to say. Personally, it doesn't seem like the smartest thing in the world to ignore your injuries, but something in Jase's eyes tells me that he's not exactly open for a conversation about it right now. So I just don't say anything at all.
We pull off the freeway twenty minutes later when Jase stops at the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru, ordering us both bagels, coffee, and hashbrowns. By now, the nausea has mostly subsided and just left me with gnawing hunger, and of course, caffeine can't exactly hurt. I barely slept at all last night...
It's another twenty minutes for us to get off the freeway, even though Jase is barely going above the speed limit, and we have to drive through downtown Glendale to get to school, which means... Glendale traffic. Apparently Jason Derulo is performing some concert here tonight, which means that every car on earth has decided to join us for this occasion. Finally, after being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for almost thirty minutes, we make it out of the main streets and through the suburbs of Glendale, heading towards school. I try not to get dizzy at how fast Jase is driving- we'll barely make it if we keep this pace.
The car is silent until after we drive by the spot where Jase always drops me off, and I'm shocked that he isn't slowing down. I guess I didn't even think about it. "Hang on- wha-what are you doing?"
"Driving to school. Which would be a lot easier if you would stop distracting me," Jase responds sharply, turning the corner and starting up onto the hill.
"But... you always drop me off back there."
"So?" Jase responds. "It's not like anyone's gonna notice... we should get there ten minutes before the assembly's scheduled to end. Plus, I'm not going to make you walk right now- you're hungover, already late enough as it is, and you're not even wearing pants."
"I could change back into my dress," I say, looking down at the maroon sweatshirt that I'm still wearing. It does cover me, technically... but Jase wears this all the time. It's not exactly going to help me fly under the radar.
"It's still soaked, covered in grass stains and smells like a bar floor, but if you want, go ahead. Though that's probably not going to help you blend in. I doubt you want anyone knowing about this."
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Just... wear your sweatshirt and no pants while looking like-" my gaze catches on the rearview mirror, which, from this angle, I can see myself perfectly in- the smeared makeup, mascara smudged under my eyes that only makes my dark circles worse, the snarls that my hair has now become- "this? I'm still going to look hungover and drunk, and even more like I slept with you!"
"I practically have my entire wardrobe in the locker room," Jase says. "If we hurry, we can make it in time to get you a plain hoodie and sweatpants or something. It's probably not going to be a fashion statement... but you can just say you were dress-coded or something.
His plan makes sense, and I'm starting to calm down by the time we pull into the school parking lot. I put on my heels as we run out, since I have no other shoes (heels and Jase's sweatshirt- what a cute outfit) and stumble after Jase as well as I can. It's only 9:17, so we should have plenty of time to make it inside. I don't know why Jase is hurrying. I run up the stairs after him, almost falling off the top step as I trip in my heels, until I feel an arm pull me upright by the waist as Jase takes a deep breath. "Okay... let's do this."
I nod, trying to fight my blush as his arm stays around me, and take a deep breath as the door opens and we step inside-
To the buzz of students leaving the assembly hall. The buzz that stops the second the two of us get inside, leaving the entire school in stony silence- except for the door slamming behind us.
Shit.
A/N: Hey guys! I know this chapter was a little bit short and not that great- I spent most of my day on chemistry homework so my brain is a bit fried right now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyways, and I want to know... what do you think will happen next? Because things are about to get... let's just say, dRaMatiC.
Annnnyways. I hope you're all having a great day and I'll be back with an update you don't want to miss (I mean, unless you do) next Friday!
Ily all,
-Selene
P.S. If you're reading this, comment your favorite Taylor Swift song (or if you don't like her, comment that too). I need to know which ones of you deserve rights.
(Just kidding about the last part- or am I?)
Anywaysss, Enchanted, Delicate and Begin Again own my heart- I'm a MASSIVE Taylor fan.