The Replacement Boyfriend

Chapter 16

Tace

I would like to say that I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the sunshine streaming in through the window. I would also like to say that I woke up feeling much better but that would be a lie.

How I actually woke up was with a splitting headache and the horrible memories of me sobbing my eyes out like a cry baby in front of Jax and Cassidy. As if it hadn't been embarrassing enough, Jax had held my drunk ass while I cried and screamed at Dane. Talk about melodramatic.

I tried to slowly ease myself up off the pillow only to feel the pounding in my head as it grew. I groaned softly, massaging my forehead before noticing that Jax and Zayne were sleeping on the floor of my room in sleeping bags. I tried to think back to the night before. I remembered how many drinks I had, I remembered dancing with Jax, I remembered looking for Zayne only to find him making out with some girl, I remembered talking to Dane and I remembered Jax driving us back to Stony Island Hall but everything was black after that. Had I passed out in the backseat of Jax's car? Had they carried me back to my room? Why couldn't I remember?

Silently cursing myself, I slipped out of bed to find myself in the same clothes I had gone out in the night before. I had definitely passed out in the car.

I didn't even have to try to smell myself to know that I reeked of alcohol. I tried not to gag as I slowly made my way to the closet and pulled out a clean pair of underwear, a pair of black leggings and an over-sized jersey Dane had given me in junior year. It wasn't a jersey that he had used though. I had pointed out how much I liked one of his jerseys and he had bought me the exact same one for my birthday in junior year. It was kind of like a couple's jersey or something sappy like that. Not that I didn't like the idea of it.

I headed for the bathroom but made my way to Ahana and Yu Na's room first just to check on them. When I was sure that they were both in bed – safe and sound – I dumped my stuff on the marble slab in the bathroom and stripped out of the party clothes as fast as I could. I had a steaming hot shower, shampooing twice and soaping myself twice just to make sure the horrid smell was gone once I dried myself and changed into my clean set of clothes. I dumped the smelly clothes in the laundry hamper and padded back to my room to find Jax awake.

"Good morning," he mumbled, stretching and I tried hard not to notice the way his muscles flexed as he stretched and the way he looked adorable with his bed hair but I couldn't help it. "Sorry for the appearance."

I tried hard to contain my smile as my head told me to tell him that he had nothing to be apologetic about because the appearance was appealing.

"Good morning," I smiled, biting my lower lip.

"What?" he asked, looking up at me. "Is it the hair?" He tried to put down his curly hair but it didn't work.

"No, it's-" I started and then felt a surge of courage. "-kind of cute."

He let out a short laugh and then looked up, his eyes shining a lighter shade of grey as he smiled, taking the compliment. I swear he blushed a little, too.

"Ah, thanks for washing away the stench of alcohol," he told me once he was on his feet and closed the distance between us. "As good as you looked last night; I won't be missing those clothes. They reeked and those two really need to shower."

I laughed half-heartedly as he turn to look at Zayne and Cassidy who were both still fast asleep and wrinkled his nose.

"I'm going to go shower, too," he sighed and started to leave the room but I caught his arm quickly, letting go when my body heat up at the slight twitch of his muscle. He turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'm sorry about last night," I told him, averting my eyes from his. "I didn't mean to be the sad drunk. I'm so embarrassed."

"Hey, the reason we went out was for you to let go of what had happened and it seems to me that you have," he told me, using one finger to lift my chin so I would look up into his eyes. "It's great that Dane or whatever his name is, came all the way here to clear up the air. And whatever happened between you and Zayne-" he continued. "-it'll work out."

"Nothing happened between us," I blurted out, feeling the need to point that out. "I just wanted to talk to him and found him – you know?"

He watched me intently, like he was trying to figure me out before nodding. "Okay. I'll see you later, Tay."

I watched him leave before I started changing the sheets and covers on my bed that reeked from last night's fiasco. Zayne and Cassidy didn't even stir in their beds, let alone open their eyes. I grabbed my laundry hamper and decided to get one job done. I would have done Cassidy's but I knew she had a bunch of stuff she'd want to add to hers so I let hers be. I listened to music as I waited for my laundry and ran it through the dryer. When I reached my room, no one was there and the sleeping bags were gone, too.

Assuming Cassidy had gone to shower and Zayne had gone back to his dorm, I settled onto my bed and picked up phone to call Amara when Zayne slipped into the room, smelling like soap and his hair a spiky mess.

"Hey," he said causally, sitting on the edge of my bed and I wondered whether he remembered what had happened last night. I was kind of hoping that he didn't because I knew I had over-reacted after seeing him making out with that girl. I mean, it wasn't like I was his girlfriend nor had I expected him to sit at the bar all night, waiting in case I needed him. I mean, it would have been stupid if had expected any of those things.

"Hey," I replied, choosing to let it go. I mean, I really had no reason to get mad at him.

"About last night-" he started and I prayed he would tell me that he didn't remember anything.

"Do you remember everything?" I asked him, trying to sound airy about it.

"I'm sorry but I didn't know Dane was going to show up," he told me, ignoring my question. "And about kissing that other girl-"

I felt my pent up breath deflate like a balloon. He remembered and I started laughing nervously.

"Zayne, since when do you explain why you made out with someone?" I joked even though I was wishing the earth would swallow me whole. "It doesn't even matter. I've seen you make out with so many girls; I don't think I can even count."

"Red-"

"I'm sorry that Cassidy made that snarky comment in the car," I wasn't done and I wasn't going to let him speak and make me feel worse about my over-reacting. "I was just really drunk and wanted to talk to you so I got kind of upset when I saw that you – uh – were busy. So let's just forget last night ever happened, okay?"

He watched me silently for a while before nodding and I turned back to my phone, wondering whether it was a good time to be calling home.

"My mom called a while ago," he told me and I looked up. "She was at your house so I spoke to your mom and Amara, too. What do you think about going home next weekend? I mean, I have to get my bike here and Amara really misses us."

I raised an eyebrow at him, thinking about it. It didn't seem to hurt when I thought about going home now. After Dane had cleared the air between us, I felt so much better about going home even though I knew I wouldn't be able to see him. And it wasn't like Omaha was all that far away. If we left on Friday right after our classes, we'd reach home around half past midnight or earlier and then we could leave on Sunday afternoon to get back to the dorm by night.

"Sure, let's go," I told him, smiling. "I was just about to call Amara."

"Call her later," he told me, scooting closer to me since we didn't have any bad air between us. "She has a playdate in like fifteen minutes."

Cassidy walked in fifteen minutes later in a pair of work-out shorts and a pullover with her hair tied up on the top of her head, covered with her towel like a turban.

"Hey," she went over to her bed and sat down. "How do you feel?"

"I'm okay," I told her even though I still had a head ache.

"Want some breakfast?" she asked, drying her hair with her blow-drier. "There's this really good breakfast place and it's walking distance."

"Sure."