𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐌𝐀, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 | 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞

chapter six; rude awakening

꒰꒰・┄┄・𓆩♡𓆪・┄┄・꒱꒱

THE FIRST RAYS OF SUNSHINE HIT SUMMER ON THE CHEEK, A PERSISTENT WARMTH THAT AWOKE HER. Her head began to thump the second she opened her eyes, wincing at the light and then pulling the covers over herself.

After last night all Summer wanted to do was sleep and forget about it all. She considered faking sick or hiding out at the local diner all day, but no matter how many excuses she came up with, she knew she would have to face Steve sooner or later.

Slowly sitting up in the bed, she gazed around the room and then down to her almost naked body, forgetting that she had discarded herself of Steve's clothes the second she got home. Wanting to rid herself of everything from that moment.

It takes her a minute to eventually clamber out of the bed, her movements slow and achy as she trudges towards the bathroom where she quickly showers and takes something for the pounding in her head.

Steve wasn't wrong when he said she was going to regret not keeping herself hydrated.

Once dressed, she checks herself over one last time in the mirror, noting how different she felt after kissing Steve. She'd committed the feeling of him on her lips to memory, the remanence of him lingering on her and when she runs her finger across her bottom lip, visions of the night before consume.

Her mind is flooded with images of his lips on her own, and the way he guided her to him, so close as if they were one. How his skin felt against hers, his warmth suffusing right through her, but mostly how he kissed her with so much urgency as if he had been waiting for it his whole life.

Summer had never felt so alive and content as she had in that very moment, but that's all it was... a moment.

Shaking her head, she blinks away the thoughts and collects her bag before heading downstairs. Helene had thankfully already left for work which meant Summer wouldn't have to hide the fact that she was out late last night drinking and instead heads straight out the door.

Unlike every other morning, Jonathan wasn't able to pick her up, so instead, she was left to ride her bike - something she hadn't done in almost a year, and certainly not while hungover.

However, the road to school was pretty smooth and unless she decided to take a detour through the woods, she wasn't going to encounter anything unpleasant. The urge to throw up had even gone away thanks to all the fresh air, but when she sees a familiar trio not that far ahead of her, she's once again overcome with guilt.

Speeding up on her bike she manages to catch up to Mike who was hanging back a little as Dustin and Lucas rode on. Summer knew that they would still be mad with her, and she would be too if she was in their shoes, but she wanted to at least try and put the tension between them to rest.

"Hey, guys," Summer calls out. "Can we please talk?"

"About what? How you lied to us?" Mike retorts, narrowing his eyes at her.