SHE'S MYSTIQUE

♂ Chapter 20 - B R A S H

I woke up with a throbbing pain in my head. The worst kind of headache. The morning after getting drunk, this is the time you regret all the alcohol consumption. Rash decisions hurt, not only physically but mentally too (this I would know later). Somebody had left the curtains open in my room. I woke up rubbing my eyes and reached for the last drawer in my nightstand. That's when I realised something was amiss.

I realised I was naked under the covers. That's when I realised what had happened but my mind wasn't in any mood of acceptance.

Maybe it's just a big misunderstanding.

Yeah, right!

I turned slightly to my left and voila, the realization set in. Oh, the horrors. Now this is not how I would normally react to a one - night stand, but this was just wrong on so many levels.

First, I was drunk and this wouldn't have happened if I were sober.
Second, my friends were supposed be there to stop me from making stupid decisions because this lady was atleast double my age.

Pft, some kind of friends I've got huh?

Third, it wouldn't have happened unless I was motivated by anger.

That's when last night's events came rushing back to me. This time it wasn't pissing off, it was just annoying and some part of me took it as a major blow to my ego.

I got dressed as fast as I could, without making any noise, and sneaked out. I called Chase to ask him to give me a ride home.

A very sleepy Chase answered the phone which meant he'd slept at someone else's place too. Implying he had had a long night too. His housekeeper would never let him stay in bed this late.

"Hey man." Came Chase's raspy voice through the phone.

"Get dressed and meet me at the coffee shack, now. Don't stay there doing some more of what you did last night."

I decided it was probably a good idea to meet him up there than to ask him to come here. I decides to check up on Matt, Levi and Caleb as well. I had two messages, one from Levi checking up on me, to which I replied. Then I texted Matt and Caleb.

The second text was from Sasha.

"Hey. Everything's sorted now. Coming back today. Thanks for asking :D"

Liar.

I didn't bother sending in another text and took a cab to the Shack. Chase would probably be late. I ordered a coffee and some eggs. Works like a miracle on hangovers.

After I had my fill and felt a little better, I just closed my eyes and felt myself relaxing. Someone came and sat on the table in the chair opposite to mine. That person smelt like booze and that signalled that my troublemaker of a best friend had arrived.

"Took you long enough to get here."

I opened my eyes to see a tired but happy looking Chase in front of me.

"She would not let me go, man. Here's another girl added to the long list of girls pining after me."

"Whatever. Tell me you didn't give her your number."

"I did actually."

I have him a are-you-stupid look.

"What? She was good in bed. Besides it's not like I'm getting into a serious relationship with her."

"We both know you don't do relationships Chase."

"Enough about me. You're wearing the same clothes as yesterday. So you did end up going home with that girl huh?"

I groaned.

"Don't remind me. Girl? She wasn't a girl. She was a woman atleast 20 years older. What kind of a friend are you dude? You let me leave with her."

"Whoa. I did try to tell you that you would regret it later, but the last time you ever listened to me was.. " He pretended to think hard. " see, I can't even remember. Besides it can't really have been that bad?"

"I don't really remember."

The waitress interrupted our conversation and left after Chase ordered.

"Now that I think of it, it wasn't bad. Maybe I shouldn't have snuck out."

"You snuck out?" He burst out laughing.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Just didn't want to deal with the morning-after awkwardness. Mostly, just didn't want to give her my number."

"Bummer."

The conversation breezed on with both of us talking about everything insignificant. That's the deal with me and Chase. We're both exactly the same. The only difference is that he's a, dare I say it, man whore. On the other hand, I don't really think it's necessary to do every girl in school, or outside school.

After we both finished, Chase gave me a ride home. Thinking no one would be home now, I headed in whistling, not bothering to sneak in. The first mistake I made.

Just as I shut the front door, I heard my father's voice booming through the living room.

"Get in here young man. We need to talk."

I cringed and thought of a believable reason to give for not coming home last night. Now some of you may think it's an easy job, and for some of you it is. But let me remind you that my dad is a cop.

"Hey dad." I casully poked my head into the loving room. "What's up?" Pretending that nothing was wrong was the best strategy for now.

"Are you going to let me know of your whereabouts last night?"

"Last night? Ohh. Yeah. I was at Chase's place. Stayed there late so crashed there instead. Should've told you or mom. Won't happen again."

"It better not."

He bought it. Maybe he did. But it's good he didn't drill me further.

"Sit down and watch some baseball with your old man."

"Sure. I'll be down in a second."

After taking a shower, I headed down to watch baseball and spend some 'quality' time with dad.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in arguing about who was the better team. Also, there were a few mentions of how I should study a little more and spend more time at home with family.
Both of which I ignored since I had good grades already and we all spent time together atleast one day in a week.

Sometimes I wondered why dad even told me all this. Maybe he just thought it was his job.

Not to brag, but I am a good kid. Trouble maker, but a good kid nevertheless.

My phone beeped.

New text message from Matt.

"Race this Sunday. You up for it?"

"Who am I racing?"

Okay.
Maybe not a good kid after all.