Playing His Game

Chapter Seventeen | Break the Spell

Seventeen:

The first thing I registered when I woke up was the unending spinning of Lauren's ceiling fan.

The next thing I noticed was Lauren's face, staring down as she loomed over me. "About time," she said impatiently.

I rolled over groggily and pressed my face into the soft couch cushions, ignoring her protests for me to get up.
"God dammit, Audrey, I'll be right back. You better be awake!"

I waited for the sounds of her retreating footsteps before letting out a groan.

My head spun as my eyes slowly peeled open once again. Was last night even real? My brain was overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the past 24 hours; the dance, the party, the kiss, it was all too much to handle.

The only alcohol I'd had last night was the one cup of beer, so I remembered everything perfectly. After the kiss with you-know-who, the party had gone on for three more hours, ensuring that by the time we stumbled into Lauren's house at 3 AM, I fell onto the couch in a dead sleep.

I reluctantly sat up, my muscles aching in protest from sleeping curled up all night. I cursed when I ran a finger through my hair and it snagged, no doubt tangled as hell.

I squinted at the clock mounted on the wall, trying to read the time. I let out an annoyed huff of air when I saw it was only 8:00; why the hell was Lauren forcing me up so early?

She came waltzing back into the room at that moment, smiling in approval when she saw me. "Good, you're up, we need to hurry!"

"What, why?" I groaned, noticing that she was already dressed for the day in jeans and a red sweatshirt.

"We're leaving for the trip, duh?" She said impatiently.

"You can't expect me to do anything in this state, I feel like a sleep deprived zombie!" I whined.

"Do zombies even sleep?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Not the point," I pouted, swinging my legs around and standing up.

"Hurry up so we can swing by your house and get your stuff. It's kind of a long drive, so we gotta get going." I noticed she now had a large duffel bag in her arms.

"I'm supposed to be riding in Austin's car..." I trailed off confusedly, yawning.

"In case you're forgetting, Austin has the worst hangover of his life, probably. He already left with Will and some other people."

"Oh, I totally forgot how drunk he got last night." Somehow, Austin drunkenly trying to grope me had slipped my mind.

"Tyler too. I swear, he was so out of it, he tried to have sex with me in one of the bathrooms!" She laughed.

My jaw dropped, "Thank you for the wonderful imagery."

She shook her head in silent laughter. "Ah, my sweet, innocent Audrey."

Her words made me suddenly remember last night, when her brother had me pinned up against a wall, and I felt color swarming my cheeks.

I said nothing, instead walking around her and towards the kitchen.

I sluggishly made my way to the half-full pot of coffee, pouring myself a steaming mug of it.

"I'm gonna throw this in the trunk, be right back!" Lauren's voice hollered, followed by the slamming of the front door.

"Sure thing," I muttered to the empty kitchen, using a spoon to stir in the generous amount of creamer I'd poured.

I was just taking the first delicious gulp of my coffee, when someone I rarely saw in the Blake household appeared in the doorway.