Love Hurts

Chapter 4

I staggered upright and looked around confusedly. My right hand came up to my face and wiped mud off my cheek. Instead of falling asleep in my bed, I’d made it to Simon’s house, and apparently collapsed and fallen asleep in his front yard.

How embarrassing.

The door cracked open and Jerry’s smirking face peered out at me. “Had a rough night?” he laughed.

I grunted an indecipherable answer and stalked my way inside and out of the bright sunlight. Luckily, I kept some spare clothing articles here, so I could wear something until I got home to sleep more.

“Wow. Aren’t you attractive?” Louis snorted while the other boys laughed.

“Why are you always here?” I grumbled, moving past them to the staircase.

“Because we’re loved here,” he grinned back foolishly.

I ignored him and went into the bathroom adjacent to the room that was still mine. The entire right side of my body had dirt smeared on it, and my hair was a disaster. Grass stuck sparsely to the now drying mud, and I actually had a few twigs entwined in my hair. I splashed my face with water before determining that a shower was necessary. With that realization, I threw back two Excedrin to get rid of the hangover, pulled a towel out of the cabinet, stripped out of my now ruined dress, and turned on the hot water to remove the mess from my body.

The water turned brown with dirt and everything swirled down the drain. Some of my shampoo was left here, and I scrubbed it into my hair. I used my fingers to comb through my knotted hair and pulled out the various twigs that were causing me to look like something that came out of the jungle.

A quick condition to prevent my hair from becoming brittle and straw-like, and I was done. I wrapped myself in the fluffy towel and exited the bathroom. All I had left here was a pair of baggy sweats, an oversized shirt and a camisole to go under it. I cursed silently and made a mental note to bring some real clothes here next time I visited.

I pulled my now damp hair back into a messy ponytail and made a face at myself in my mirror before going downstairs. I’m not sure whether I looked better right now, or when I was covered in mud and stuff. At least then I had a cute dress on.

Harry raised a silent eyebrow when he saw me come down the staircase. This, of course, caused all the other boys to look my way with amused grins. Louis even had the nerve to snicker.

“Don’t mock me, I know I’m scrubbin’,” I sigh, choosing to sit on the floor.

“I don’t think we’re laughing at your clothes, as amusing as those may be,” Zayn said slowly.

“Huh?” I replied dumbly.

“Well, we’re laughing at… erm…” Liam trailed off.

“Is there something on my face? I just looked in the mirror before coming down here!” I touched my face with my fingers lightly.

“You slept in the yard?” Louis asked bluntly, causing a roar of snickers.

“I was drunk,” I defended myself, “I don’t really know what happened.”

“Oh, because that makes it all better,” he teased back.

“Were you with someone?” Niall spoke up.

“Um… oh yeah! I was,” I remembered.

“Riley?” he asked.

“Erm, well… at first.” The room grew slightly more awkward. “Then I ended up hanging out with this guy I met, Logan. I actually don’t know where Riley is.”