I Was Saved... by the Jerkface

The Aftermath

I jerked awake at the sound of my car door opening. At first I was momentarily confused, wondering how I got in this car and why Blake Harold was staring down through the open door. Then I remembered, and even though I'd only been asleep for a maximum of twenty minutes, it felt like forever ago that everything happened.

Blake smiled at me. "Sorry to wake you," he joked, then gently pulled me from the car.

"You were going to have to anyways," I replied, feeling a little flattered that he would apologize for such a silly thing.

"Not necessarily," he said, and I gave him the huh? face. "I could've carried you to your front door." A few seconds later, from the look on his face, I finally got that he was joking.

I laughed awkwardly and belatedly, saying, "Oh, yeah. My parents would love that," laying on the sarcasm.

"Well what did they expect? They're the ones who let you come out to the party," he told me, smiling.

"Uhm, not exactly," I admitted, wrinkling my nose.

He gave me a look. "Awwe, shit Annabelle! I'm not going to have to deal with pissed off parents am I?" he asked, pleading with his eyes.

"I... I can't make any promises... I told them I was staying the night at Gabby's, but she ran off with that one dude," I said, trying to sound as apologetic as possible. I couldn't have Blake mad at me, not so soon after I figured out he could actually be a nice guy. "And all my clothes."

"Your clothes?" he asked, staring at me dumbfounded.

I nodded. "They're in her mom's car, because I was going to stay the night at her house and clean up before I went home. But now they're going to see me like this..." I trailed off, gesturing at myself. I was sweaty, halfway to a hangover, my hair was a mess, and I had a huge purple welt forming on the left side of my face. Not to mention I'm pretty sure my eye makeup was smeared all over my face.

Blake seemed to think for a minute, staring up at my apartment building. A thought struck me suddenly. How does he know where I live?, but I decided to leave that for later. I didn't want to get him any more worked up.

"What are you thinking?" I finally asked, my curiosity getting the best of me. He'd had a pensive look on his face for about two minutes now.

"I'm thinking of what to do with you," he told me, smirking, but in an affectionate way. It was actually kind of cute. "I don't want to drop you off and leave you for dead."

"Good idea. Let's go somewhere else!" I suggested enthusiastically, not wanting to be fed to the sharks, aka my parents.

"Yeah, smart one, but where?" he asked, giving me an Are you stupid? look.

"Oh..." I said. "I was hoping you'd have figured that part out by now." I pressed my lips together, not sure of what to say or do. What had I gotten myself into? I was so stupid.

He sighed, more to himself than anything else, and I knew he had a place in mind, he just didn't know if he wanted to take me there. I wondered where it was, of course, but I didn't want to ask him. He was already doing a lot for me.

"If it's a problem then I can just go home and face my parents, it's not a huge deal," I told him, looking down at my feet. I wasn't really into the idea very much, but I figured if it had to be done, it had to be done. I would be punished fairly for my actions. But I'd like to avoid that, if at all possible.

"No, we'll find someplace," Blake said. "For now why don't we just walk?"

"But... what about your car?" I asked, looking back at the pretty red coup.