The Quirky Tale of April Hale (Quirky Series #1)

9. They Say 'Freaks Flock Together'

9. They Say ‘Freaks Flock Together’

The Blacks weren’t on a screaming match this morning.

I knew, because a shaft sunlight had sneaked through my bedroom blinds and started to disturb my sleep. The Blacks usually never wait until the sun fully rise before they decided that they couldn’t stand each other. Ugh. Now that I was almost awake, I became aware of all the aches on my body. My back felt numb, and my shoulders were in anguish. I tried to reach for my phone, which I usually put under my pillow, but as my hand groped the hard, cold tiles, I found neither phone or pillow.

When I opened my eyes, I was head on with Ryder’s horrified face above me.

Ryder. Black. Above me.

Sleeping on my bed, slammed against my pillow, hugging poor Mr. Teddy #44.

Ryder. Black.

No.

Black Ryder.

“Stars my darned!” I screamed, and in that exact moment, Ryder screamed, too.

“My bed you are on!” I flailed my index finger to him.

“I’m in your room!” he flailed his index finger back to me.

“My room you’re sleeping in!”

“You’re sleeping on the fucking floor!”

The aches!

“I’m sleeping on the floor!” my hands grappled either side of my head.

“Did we have sex and I accidentally knock you off your bed?!” Ryder asked me.

I only stared at him blankly, although I was pretty sure that my jaw was unhinged.

“No-no, we didn’t,” Ryder said after he checked the lower part of himself, and then, as if remembering something, he massaged his temple. “My head… it’s the hangover.”

I massaged my shoulders, too. “My shoulders… it’s the floor.”

“What the fuck happened here?!”

My eyes jerked open. Oh, the memories! It all flushed back into my mind, and I couldn’t help giggling at the intermittent flashes of Ryder acting like a little child and nearly peeing on my mother’s flower pots. “You were drunk last night.”

Ryder looked like he had just committed a big scandal. “Was I that drunk?”

“You nearly peed on my mother’s flower pots.”

“Fuck,” he buried his reddened face on his hands.

I was sitting, and I looked at Ryder wistfully. What would I give to lay my back on the springy mattress and not have to feel the cold, hard tiles on my skin. I was quite susceptible to cold, but morning breeze was something of an entirely different entity. Before long, I could already feel my teeth crackle.

“Can I sit on the bed?” I said.

Ryder’s eyes never left me as he shifted a little to the edge of the bed. 

I jumped on the bed and almost immediately the warmth soothed my freezing behind. I was about to request Ryder to let go of my blanket, but he was already putting the blanket all around my body.

“It’s a cold morning here,” he said.

I could only nod, all I could care about at the moment was engulfing my body with heat. Since Ryder had been sleeping on my bed, his body warmth lingered on the sheets. The only thing I would complain about was the slight smell of alcohol on it.