That Summer Feeling: SUMMER 4EVER [H.S.]

23. Lights Up

The first thing I noticed as soon as my eyes opened was the throbbing sensation of my head, pounding and swelling inside my skull to remind me of every drink I had last night. The second thing was that I am not in my room.

My memory of last night was fuzzy. I get flashes of being with everyone, laughing and downing shots. Of arguing with Eli, of not being able to tell him how disconnected I've felt from him, possibly since the very beginning of our relationship. I know what I was thinking and feeling for the majority of those events.

And then like a pound of bricks, the image of being in the dark woods hit harder than ever. It broke me out of whatever bubble the night built up around me and threw me on the cold dirt, literally and figuratively.

I remember the pain inflicted on my forehead sometime after I was conscious enough to get up in the middle of all those trees and the cold wind. I remember the small amount of blood on my fingertips after blindly reaching up to touch the open wound. I remember feeling so emotional and physically unwell that I just wanted to numb it all down. I somehow stumbled into that house without anyone noticing my appearance and the rest of the night becomes even fuzzier.

The third thing I noticed was the soreness and redness of my right knuckles. I thought punching Eli was a dream or a hallucination even, but the adrenaline and anger that circled my body long after it happened stayed. I'm sure it would have kept me up the entire night if I wasn't so fucking exhausted and drained.

I turn in the comfortable white sheets, immediately spotting the figure beside me. I can't say for sure I know how I got here but I'm relieved I'm not on my usual bed.

As if Bella heard me moving around the bed, she took a sharp breath of air and rolled her head slightly before opening her eyes. The fourth thing I noticed was the soft rumbling of snores that echoed in the room despite both of us being awake. Any morning light was fortunately shielded by the thick curtains on the other side of the room.

"Morning," Bella groggily greets me after she notices me, lazily smiling as she turns on her side.

"Hey," I whisper back. It almost felt like it hurt too much to talk, which might be the ultimate golden excuse to not face the one person I didn't want to and have to talk to him today or ever.

"How's your head?" She stares at the spot above my eyebrows. It took this moment to notice the large bandage I feel on my skin.

I run a light hand across the soft texture and sigh at the memory of how this came to be.

"Hurts." I shove my arms back underneath the warm blanket and bring it up to my neck. "How'd I get here?"

She chuckles but stops when it seemed like it hurt to do so. She drags a hand to her forehead. "Not sure. I walked in on Harry and Jerry tucking you in this bed. Well, it was mostly Harry."

"Oh." She chuckles again while the blood rapidly surfaces to my cheeks.

"I think Niall told them they could come in here because he was just watching you guys from the corner of the room. Then I told Harry he could stay the night because he didn't leave your side even after you fell asleep. So he and Niall made a bed on the floor, hence the crazy loud fucking snoring you hear that I deal with every night."

She threw a glare behind her shoulder where the louder snores came from. I slowly lift myself on my elbow and look past her. Niall was on the carpeted floor with a pillow and a sheet underneath him and a bigger white blanket covered him.

"Don't worry, he's slept in worse places," Bella chuckles.

I move back and slowly turn my head behind me. A beat interrupts the rate of my heart when I see Harry is laying down with his stomach to the floor. His body was wrapped with the blanket I gifted him and the side of his face squished on a pillow. A bigger gray duvet underneath his long body.