Stuck With You

9: Racing in the rain

My eyes swam as I forced them open upon hearing my alarm clock. I didn't appreciate waking up to such a horrendous noise. I groaned as buried my head under my pillow, deciding to avoid school for the day. This would probably be one of the only times I could have the chance to skip school by choice rather than by sickness or... getting stuck in a warehouse.

The alarm shut off within a few seconds since it was broken and only ever worked for a minute, but I, of course, wasn't complaining. I desperately needed to sleep in.

I spent an hour hanging out in the pool with Kason the night before discussing what we would do for the stupid project. In the end we decided to come up with things as we went since we couldn't seem to agree on anything. Aside from the two obvious things, anyway.

I wasn't excited about getting a tattoo. I thought they were cool, sure, but... it just didn't seem like my sort of thing.

Tattoos were, however, definitely Kason's thing. Along with the wings on his back and the band on his arm, he had a large tattoo on the left side of his stomach of whorls and swirls. Apparently it was symbolic of something, but he wouldn't tell me what. Not matter what it meant, it looked good. Tattoos on Kason were... Wait, why was I thinking of this?

I rolled over and hugged my extra pillow to myself. Once comfortable, I fell back asleep easily.

I was woken up by loud banging at the front door. If I could hear it from upstairs, it was really loud. Knowing my sleeping time was up, I threw myself out of bed, rubbing my face tiredly as I made my way down stairs.

The banging continued, almost sounding louder. No, that was just me getting closer. "Alright, I'm coming!" I hollered in annoyance. I glanced at the clock in the living room as I passed. It was just past noon. Nice.

I unlocked the door and used it as support as I opened it. "What?"

Anne stood on the other side, looking impatient. She looked me over, appalled. "What happened to you? Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah." I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at school."

"Well, you weren't, but I need to talk to you." Anne stepped past me and walked into the living room.

I closed the door and followed after her, concern building up at her behavior. "What's wrong? It's not like you to skip classes."

Anne plopped onto the couch and I sat beside her. She chewed her lip nervously. "I- I just really needed to talk to you."

I was more awake now. "What is it? Spill."

Her eyes finally met mine. "Jackson and I... we- I..." She took a deep breath. "I spent the night with him."

My eyes widened. "What?! Way to get it, girl!"

Anne shook her head. "No, no, it's not 'way to go'. I'm such an idiot, Rylee. I- I'm panicking here."

I grabbed her hands. "Deep breaths, Anne. Deep breaths."

She nodded, closing her eyes as she did just that. When she seemed to be much more calm, she looked back at me. "Okay, I'm... chill."

"Okay, good. Now explain to me why you're so freaked out. It's kind of freaking me out, if I'm honest."

"Right. Uh..." Anne fidgeted uncomfortably, her cheeks blushing a bit. "Well... last night... It was my first." She looked away awkwardly. "And I haven't seen him today."

I stared at her, shocked at what she said, and trying to figure out how I would beat Jackson up. "You're kidding. What about this morning?"

"I left in the middle of the night while he was still asleep. I just-" Anne covered her face, releasing a shaky breath. "I don't know what to do, how to act. It wasn't supposed to happen."