Finding Ourselves Together (READ REVAMP VERSION - IN WAVES)

09 | The Morning After

A throbbing sensation clashed around my brain and caused me to slowly wake up in a daze. I sat up sluggishly with painfully aching stomach muscles and then brought my fingertips to my temples, massaging them and groaning at the pressure in my head.

Never. Drinking. Again.

My eyelids finally peeled open and adjusted to the lightness after a few seconds. Confusion washed over me as I tried to remember what the hell had happened last night. I froze when I figured out where I was - Rachel's pool house. Wait, what? How did I even get here? I noticed a blanket draped over my half-naked body and quickly shot up from the couch I was sitting on. There was a brief flash of warmth, the memory of fierce kissing and bare skin rolled through my hazy mind.

Nate Miller! Holy crap, did I sleep with him or something?! He was nowhere in sight, so he must have left before I woke up. I bunched up my tangled hair in my fists and shouted at myself, unable to process what was going on.

"Did I lose my virginity to Nate Miller last night? Why can't I remember?!" I pulled hard at my hair, as if that was going to elicit all the details I knew were stored in my brain somewhere, but it only made the headache worse.

Stumbling forward to where my clothes were scattered on the wooden floor, I reached forward to pick them up and instantly recoiled when my hand touched the fabric. Both my shirt and jeans were damp, nearly wet. Okay this keeps getting weirder. I slid on the wet clothes and shivered at the gross feeling, wanting to get answers to what happened as soon as possible. I burst through the backdoor into Rachel's house and called for her, dodging all the empty red solo cups on the floor and the mess from the party that was left behind. When I found her in the kitchen, she was dressed in her silky pink pajamas and happily humming to herself as she cooked something over the stove.

"Rachel!"

She dropped the spatula into the pan and spun around with wide eyes.

"Lia?? What are you doing here?" She scanned my body from head-to-toe and hesitated at my crazy appearance. "Um, no offense, but you look a little rough."

I dragged myself over to her as she turned off the heat on the stove and looked back at me quizzically.

"I thought you went home last night, what's going on?"

"I think I made a huge mistake last night!" I said, glassy tears brimmed my eyes and threatened to spill out.

"Oh my god, what happened?" She grasped my shoulders and pulled me into a hug, hearing the panic and regret in my voice. I was hoping Rachel could help me, but I knew she couldn't really. Not if I actually ended up having sex with Nate.

She abruptly held me away from her and crinkled her nose up. "Ew, why are your clothes wet?"

"I don't know! I was really drunk!" I held my face in my hands and tried to control the flurry of emotions hurtling through me right then. "I can only remember little bits and pieces from last night, and that I was with-"

"Oh, hey Lia. I didn't know you slept here." Harris moseyed into the kitchen in nothing but a pair of boxers, revealing his huge muscular torso in all its might. Being one of the school's top athletes, he was obviously used to showing off his body and didn't make any effort to cover up. He stopped for a second when he saw me, but carried on and kissed Rachel on the cheek, wrapping an arm completely around her waist as he did it. I guess I wasn't the only one who spent the night here...

The comparison in size between these two was crazy, kind of like a large horse and a little mouse, except the mouse wasn't scared of the horse at all.