There's Doodles of Rams in the Margins // Jschlatt x Reader

2

The next morning began significantly better than the night before it. You woke up well rested, your soreness washed away into a dull ache that only made itself known if you stretched your body too hard. For the duration of your morning routine, you didn't find yourself thinking much about the party at all. In a way, it was as if the sun had washed away what had occurred last night. Every time your brain dredged it up, you reasoned with yourself that it wasn't as if you'd see much of Schlatt again anyways, so there wasn't much point of dwelling on the matter.

Regardless of your good mood, however, you delayed opening your phone, feeling a pit in your stomach every time you thought of waking up the black sleeping screen to see if anything had gotten out about the incident. Though, from the lack of notifications coming from the device, you felt a little optimistic of Ted's pull within the group of people that were there to witness it. You distracted yourself from the device by getting dressed, not yet wanting to discard your fairly good mood by giving into the temptation to unlock your phone. Even the sight of it sent a jolt of anxiety through your body. Instead, you opted to occupy your thoughts by getting dressed. You needed to go out and grab toothpaste anyways, and you've spent far too much money on clothes – as an immigrant to the U.S, you found yourself falling victim to the enticingly luxurious L.A lifestyle quite often – to go out in just athleisure.

The smell of eggs wafting from the kitchen had you instantly on guard. Shae made you eggs usually as a way to butter you up before breaking something big. When Shae would serve you a plate, she would often wait for you to get about halfway into the dish before breaking whatever news she had stored in her mouth to you with an apologetic wince, as if each forkful you lifted to your mouth were seconds counting down on a clock.

You hoped it was nothing too bad, today was the day you were to sift through the new roommates Shae had found to replace her. She was the reason you moved to L.A, to live with your lifelong pen-pal best friend, and thought it unfair that her moving in with Ted would uproot your newly settled life unless she found someone to cover her half of the rent. The Ted part was a surprise to you when she brought up the matter at lunch yesterday – you had thought she was just always over at a hookup's place rather than a man she was intending to get serious with – but otherwise the day had been both anxiously and excitingly looming over you. You knew Shae wouldn't do you wrong, certainly you'd become fast friends with the new addition to the apartment, something you looked forward to with your current counter of friends in the area adding up to a whopping one.

You tried not to let the feeling of impending doom that prickled at your every nerve bring you down from the good mood you woke up in – a good mood that seemed increasingly fragile as the day carried on. You intended to move into the open kitchen and living room space with a sense of purpose, though you felt sure your tentative curiosity was evident in your gait.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Your words escaped your mouth faster than your eyes could process the sight before them. Seated at your kitchen island, with a haggard, hungover expression, was Schlatt. Beside him was Ted, who paused his conversation with his friend to look back and forth between you and Shae – her anxious form positioned at the stove with a guilty smile – with worry.

The sight before you was like ice water being poured upon your warm, happy body. Although you were not physically shaking, the anger that vibrated within your form was akin to violent shivering.

"Quiet down toots, m'head hurts," There was the nickname again, emerging from his throat like a groan. If he were less infuriating, perhaps, it would have made your heart skip a beat. However the attractive man's attitude far outweighed his appearance.

"I...made eggs?" Shae gave you a nervous grin.

You narrowed your eyes at the group and ignored the only open seat at the island beside Schlatt, opting to walk over and lean against the side of the island countertop.