Cross My Heart [2]

6.) The Talk

I woke up the next morning, bracing myself for a hangover, like the ones I’ve read about in books and movies. I readied my feet to spring to the bathroom in the quickest of times when the vomit started erupting.

I laid with my eyes closed for about five minutes until I realized that I was in no pain at all. And I didn’t feel the need to vomit. This was good news, yet very, very confusing. Hadn’t I had stuff to drink last night… bad stuff?

I blinked my eyes open and sitting up, bracing myself for a hangover once more. But again, nothing happened. I looked around the room and saw that I was in my room- well, my Hollywood room.

With another look around the room, I noticed that I was alone and completely confused. Why wasn’t I feeling pain?

My confused questions came to an abrupt stop when my eyes landed on a completely new issue: There were two very large suitcases sitting in the corner of my room. My suitcases. The suitcases that I as planning on taking to the University with me.

“What the hell?” I asked to the empty room as I got to my feet, finally feeling a faint headache as I stormed over to the luggage. Yep- it was definitely mine.

I was about to storm out of the room when I remembered that I probably looked like something a rat would throw up. An alley rat.

I muttered a few choice words under my breath as I made a mad dash for the bathroom to clean myself up. I brushed through my matted blonde mess of hair and tried to rub away the redness around my eyes with no success. I was wearing a large shirt and shorts- my normal pajamas, and I didn’t bother changing those before I barged down the hall and into the kitchen where everybody- as in Jackson, Ryder, Andy, Tommy, Kale, and Emily- was sitting around the large table with a stack of pancakes in front of them.

“Prom was amazing.” I hear Libby say and I realized that nobody noticed me standing at the doorway to the kitchen. “We spent four hours one day just going dress shopping and Holly’s date had a matching tie for her dress.” I rolled my eyes at her. I didn’t have a date, and neither did she.

“I thought you guys went as the losers.” Jackson stated.

Libby sent him a quick scowl. “We were going to, if you must know. But then somebody asked Holly out and he was really hot, and sweet. He picked her up in a limo and gave her a corsage and everything. It was so romantic.” What the hell was she getting at?

“What was his name?” Tommy asked curiously, obviously onto her lie. But everyone else seemed convinced.

“Andrew.” Libby said without hesitation. “Andrew Thompson, I think.”

Before this could go any further, I decided to let my presence be known and stepped into the kitchen with crossed arms over my chest. All eyes landed on me as I walked over to the counter and poured myself a glass of orange juice awkwardly. “So when was I going to be notified that this two-day trip wasn’t really a two-day trip?” I asked with raised eyebrows, sending continuous glares from Ryder, Libby, Andy, and then Jackson.

“Hey don’t look at me, I only found out this morning.” Jackson said quickly.

“We were going to tell you when you noticed the luggage in your room, which I’m assuming was a few moments ago. So, Holly, we’re staying for the whole summer.” Libby told me calmly.

I just nodded slowly while everybody watched me slowly, waiting for the eruption that was bound to happen. “Okay.” Was all I said, holding my breath so that I didn’t start freaking out in front of everybody.

“Okay?” Andy asked with a confused frown. “No panicking or nervous babble?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” I counted to ten in my head as I tried to focus on not panicking. I didn’t even want to be here for two days, let alone three months! I just wanted to go home.