Scratched

Thirteen

THIRTEEN

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I could feel sunlight on my face. I groaned, rolling over as I tried to avoid the light prodding at my closed lids. Why was it so bright in here? I wondered to my sleep addled brain. And that’s when I started coming to. This wasn’t my bed and this wasn’t my room. My eyes flickered open, blinking once the light pressed into them. “Urgh,” I groaned as I rubbed at my eyes. I slowly drug myself up, taking a look around. Where the hell was I? I glanced down at myself. Whose clothes was I wearing? And then it all came back in a rush.

I was at Reed’s apartment.

I glanced down at my clothes again, feeling my heart lock up in my chest. What the hell? He had changed me out of my dress? I shook away the thought, not even wanting to let my mind go there. I pushed myself off the couch, wandering to the bathroom. I felt like I was about to hurl all over Reed’s nice living room. The night was catching up with me already. It was going to be a long day.

I slipped through the cracked door of Reed’s bedroom, finding him sprawled across his bed. I allowed myself to watch him while he was sleeping. He was shirtless and had a white sheet tangled around his lower body. If he was wearing anything else I had no idea and I didn’t want to find out. I moved away from that thought, focusing on the rest of him. He had his hand stretched out; hanging off the side of the bed and his hair was even wilder than it normally was. I felt myself smile. I turned away from him, continuing my creep through his room. I finally managed to make it to the bathroom. I sighed, relieved. Now I could clean up a little. I leaned over the sink, splashing water in my face. I grabbed a towel off a rack on the wall, pressing it to my face. I straightened back up, lowering the towel from my face. And that’s when I saw my reflection. I froze, staring at myself in the mirror.

“Reed!” I screamed.

I spun around, propelling myself out of the bathroom and down the hall. I was standing in front of Reed’s bed before he had even managed to pull himself into a sitting position. He was sitting in the center of the bed. My eyes flickered to his chest, noting the defined muscles that managed to be both sleek and toned. I scolded myself, focusing back on Reed, who was now rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “What the hell, Piper? I was sleeping in here,” he said in a rough voice. “It’s too early to go running around screaming. Now kindly leave me alone.”

“What the hell is this?” I demanded.

“What are you talking about, Piper?"

I couldn’t believe him! How could he act like he didn’t know exactly what I was talking about? I gestured angrily to my face. “This! What the hell is all this, Reed? I know you did it damn it!” I watched as his eyes widened, finally processing the state of my face. My face was vandalized with things I didn’t even want to think about. It could only be one person who did it and that was Reed. I couldn’t see Luke doing this to me but Toad; on the other hand, I could be persuaded to believe that he was an accomplice.

And then he started laughing. Out of everything he could have possibly done he had to laugh. I felt my anger rising as he threw his head back, laughter echoing in the room. “Come on, Piper it’s not so bad. I mean it’ll wash off, right?” he asked finally reining in his laughter. I glared at him as he continued to talk. “Now if you don’t mind I should really be getting back to sleep. I have big plans for the day, you know? Unless you plan to join me.” With that he threw himself back down onto his bed, pulling the blankets over his head to keep out the light. I could have walked away and washed the drawings off my face but I didn’t. I wanted to make a point.

I ripped a pillow off the bed, bringing it down on Reed. He coughed, clearly surprised. He scrambled around, clawing the blankets off his face as I hit him again. “You have plans? Shut up—you don’t have shit to do!” I slammed him with the pillow one more time before I grabbed up my clothes and snatched twenty dollars off the nightstand. He gaped at me. “Thanks, Reed! This should get me lunch.” With that I hurried out of the room. I needed to jump into my clothes and finish getting ready or I’d be late.