Mark My Words

9 | Partners In Crime

Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved. This is for the repeat readers--hello I love you.

An alarm startled Rosalie out of her sleep and into the dreaded world of tomorrow. She slouched back, hair splayed, and pushed her hands over her face. She felt gross, and approximately two seconds away from letting her brain ooze out her ears. Her skin felt grimy, so she sat up and prepared to go to the bathroom. Only, her head swam, and it took both hands to keep her brain where it was supposed to be.

She heard people outside her room, and her worry spiked. Please tell me Sami kicked everyone out and I'm just hallucinating, she thought, aware that the sunlight was brighter than morning. It had to be midday by now.

Rosalie crept to her door, and felt the familiar touch of Khoshekh running by. She scooped him up and opened the door. She rubbed a finger under her eye and when she pulled it away, it was littered in sparkly gold makeup. Just as she was thinking about the odds of looking like a raccoon, she looked up at the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs. A familiar head of black hair came swinging up, awake as ever.

"Oh! You're alive!" Ray cried, and they both instantly winced. Rosalie put a hand to her head.

"I've... never gotten a hangover before, but I think this is it," she said, and Ray apologized in a whisper. "Khoshekh probably needs to get to the basement."

"Do you want me to feed him?"

"Yeah, that'd be swell," she said, and placed Khoshekh onto his paws. He took off for the stairs, and a moment later, they listened to the sound of someone squeaking in surprise at the sight of a black, furry mass darting across the house. "Who all is here?"

"Most of the soccer team. Both guys and girls," Ray said, hitching a quilt under her arm. Rosalie realized then that Ray was in the middle of cleaning up. "Everything went fine last night. Football guys left around eleven and some of the girls ditched for curfew."

Rosalie covered her eyes with her hands and moaned. "I'm such an awful host..."

"No, no! It's fine, honest. Sami and I took care of everything while Joanna cleaned you up. You got a little messy around ten but, like, classy messy. Alyssa was just straight up messy the entire night."

Rosalie stole a look at Ray through her fingers, and tried to cover her own smile. Ray grinned and started ahead down the hall. She opened the spare blanket and towel cabinet and pushed the blankets in. "We had to stop Jamie-Lee and Alyssa from shagging in your mom's room, but other than that Lennie and Harper took it home."

"Does that mean Jace is still here?" Rosalie said, and refrained from admitting just how much she loathed that he was invited.

Ray grimaced, and it gave the impression that more than just annoyance was festering. Rosalie's expression dropped, and she lowered her hand. "What? What is it? I thought I saw him last night. I took a shot with him and the other guys."

"Uh... yeah, about that," Ray said, hand on her hip. She hissed low, expression pained.

"I kicked him out," a familiar voice said, and the minimal color in Rosalie's face drained away. Ray glanced over Rosalie's shoulder, and Rosalie turned to face a sleepy-looking Joanna climbing the steps.

Joanna's hair was in a gnarled, low bun, and she hadn't even bothered with pants. She wore male swim trunks and her top from the night before. She rubbed a hand under her eyes and said, mid-yawn, "I got pissed at him and threatened to give him another shiner. He's still bitter about the one he already has."