The Ribbon Campaign

nineteen || of empires and dots

I wake up to an aching in my hand and my phone ringing uncontrollably somewhere behind me. Realizing just how comfortable I am in the position I am, I stay still and hope for my phone to just stop ringing. When it finally does, I allow myself to relax again. I know my fingers are interlaced with something but in my fuzzy mind, all I can register is I like the feel of my hand there and clutch tighter to whatever it is I'm holding onto. I fall back into a relaxed rest.

When I finally come back around, it's to an annoying bullet-like knocking ringing through the room. I groan when it doesn't cease, getting ready to get up when I freeze at the feeling of movement beside me. Blinking away the blurriness, I see... Oh God... Bryce.

Bryce looks just as shocked to see me before it seems that we both remembered what happened last night. "Shit," I whisper to him. "It's probably my mom."

Bryce, whose dark hair is messier than usual and still looks half asleep gives me a sheepish look. He's still under the blankets of the bed and looks like he refuses to let go of them. The knocking continues until my mother shouts hesitantly, "Bryce? Please wake up."

Knowing she's freaking out about me not being in the room, I decide to just go for it, "Mom, I'm in here."

My mother's knocking abruptly stops. Her voice is tight when she says, "You have five minutes to get back to our hotel room." I hear her footsteps angrily scurrying away.

Bryce looks confused and guilty when he turns to me. "I hope she's not mad."

"After I explain what happened, hopefully she won't be. She's assuming the worst right now," I say, running a hand down my face.

Wincing, Bryce says, "Right."

I look down, realizing I'm still in Bryce's clothes. That's not going to help my case. "Um..."

Bryce realizes what I'm worrying about and runs a hand down his face. "Let me get your clothes, I think they should be dry by now..." He throws the sheets off of him and walks over to the bathroom, running a hand through his hair. I sigh exasperatedly, falling back against the mattress. God, my mother is going to kill me.

Bryce comes out with my clothes and I almost groan out loud when I realize they're still damp. "Great," I mutter. I shoot him a weak glare, "Maybe you shouldn't have thrown me in that pool."

Bryce gives me a tired small, one that's so different from his usual ones. It's not full of mischief or energy- it's soft and genuine. "No regrets," he tells me in a small voice.

I give him a small and soft laugh back, not feeling like ruining the comforting silence between us. My fingers twitch, reminding me of the way I had held his hand all of last night. My cheeks warm from the memory, but if Bryce notices, he doesn't say anything.

I force myself off the bed, taking my clothes from Bryce. "I'll text you if I'm still alive in an hour," I tell him.

"You do that," he laughs.

I'm just about to open the door and leave when Bryce calls out, "Hey, Ellie? You're my favourite person."

I laugh, remembering how Bryce had told me that when he was completely wasted. I'm surprised he remembers it. My lips quirk up into a smile, "You too, Bryce. You too."

x

The talk with my mother was awkward and a lot of blushing was done from both of our ends, but eventually I was able to spit out my story without having my head cut off. In the end, my mother had actually ended up laughing at our 'teenager ways'.

An hour later, we were meeting Bryce in the lobby. Maurice had gotten us a tour of the empire state building today and I have to admit- I'm kind of beyond excited. I don't go on vacation too much and if I do, it's usually to a resort in the Caribbean or something so I've never really done much sightseeing. Bryce doesn't understand my excitement, as he's let me know a good five times already. I gave up explaining to him after the third time and just told him to shut up.