Crash and Burn

s e v e n: Remember

I awoke Saturday morning to the chirping of birds perched on my window sill, my head hazy from the events that occurred the previous night. Images of dancing teens, spilled alcohol, an angry Roman, and a mysterious Logan flood my brain. I try to grasp what exactly happened, but it seems as if my brain doesn't want to remember what happened at my first ever high school party.

I throw the covers off of my body, temporarily giving up on my attempts to put together the bits and pieces I remember from last night. Right now I'm much more focused on feeding my now grumbling belly, putting aside the thought that I don't even remember how I returned home last night even though I didn't have a drop of alcohol.

I stumble out of my room, my legs still stiff from being in the same position all night. I walk down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes just as the mouth-watering smell of something cooking in the kitchen enters my nose.

"Morning sleepy head." My mom calls over her shoulder just as I enter the kitchen, further proving that mothers really do have eyes in the back of their heads.

"Whatcha cooking?" I chirp, taking a seat in a swiveling bar stool.

"Grilled cheese," she responds, smiling at me over her shoulder as she continues to cook. My eyebrows furrow in confusion. Grilled cheese? Why in the world was she making grilled cheese for breakfast?

"What about Saturday morning pancakes?" I ask, scaring myself by how weird my morning was going and I had only been awake for ten minutes.

"Well Tessa Lynne, these are Saturday afternoon grilled cheese," She replies, putting a plate with grilled cheese in front of me, making my mouth water.

"Afternoon? What time is it?" I ask hurriedly, looking at my wrist, expecting to find a watch there, but of course, there was none.

"It's one in the afternoon sweetie, this is the latest you've slept in since you were little." My mom laughs, while I sit horrified. I hated sleeping in past eight. I absolutely hated it. I could have accomplished so much by now. I could have gone for my usual Saturday run, studied for my coming statistics test, talked to Gemma, and much more. But no, I decide to go to a party once and I wake up halfway through the day with little to no memory of what even happened. Great choice.

"What? No, no, no this is not good," I mumble, standing up and completely disregarding the grilled cheese I once looked forward to eating.

"Tessa honey, calm down. It's not against the law to sleep in every once and awhile."

My mom, of course, didn't understand why I was freaking out so bad, she merely thought that I was petrified because I slept in, but no, there was far more to the story. She had not a clue in the lightest about the party that I attended last night, thanks to Casey who covered for me just like he promised.

The majority of the reason for my semi-panic attack this morning was for the reason that I felt like a brick wall had been placed around my memories of last night, making it impossible to remember what actually happened. I remembered Gemma ditching me, shoving Roman then running out into the yard crying, followed by Logan showing up. I don't remember what was said between Roman and me to make me break down, and I don't remember what Logan did to calm me. Hell, I don't even know how I got home last night. I know I didn't drink anything but that glass of water, and I was praying to God that someone didn't drug it while I was looking away, causing my memory loss.

"I think I'm just gonna lay down for a second," I say to my mom all the while running up the stairs, retreating back to my room.

When I enter my room, closing the door behind me, I collapse in my bed, letting out a strangled scream into my pillow. I wracked my brain trying to regain my memory, thinking of what happened at the party step by step.