Hollingwood University

Chapter 14

The next morning I woke up with a busting headache. This is why I DO NOT drink! My head felt like there was a jackhammer ringing over again and again, annoying as hell.

I was in my room, still in my jeans and t-shirt. How did I get back? Again, why I DO NOT drink. The evening before was a bit of a blur, but there was only one event that I could remember.

"Oh my god," I grabbed a pillow and covered my face with it, putting piece by piece of the memories form last night. I was drinking...I flirted with Ethan...I kissed Ethan...he took my upstairs into a room...oh my god.

Erica was still in bed, snoring quite loudly may I add. Sami was gone, most likely to her own room. I groaned and sat up, then grabbed that same pillow and chucked it at Erica.

"Hey! Wake up!" I hissed at her. She shot up with an unattractive snort.

"Ugh, what happened? Why won't you let me sleep?" she asked.

"How did we get home last night?" I asked her. She yawned and placed her hand on her forehead.

"Um...God...yes that's right! The boys drove us home," she replied. I blew out a sigh, then tumbled out of bed and onto my feet. I grabbed the aspirin out of the cupboard and downed it with a shot of tap water.

"Is something wrong?" Erica asked. I came back out and took my seat back on my bed.

"I um...I...oh my God!" I groaned in reply. Erica seemed less hungover now as she jumped off her bed and plopped onto mine.

"What happened? Do you remember?" she asked. I nodded, but not wanting to admit it. Why is this so god damn hard to say?

"I got into bed with Ethan last night," I replied. Her jaw dropped and she let out a small squeal.

"Oh my God, Lucy! Well...well tell me! How was he?" she asked. I huffed...now here comes the awkward part.

"Well here's the thing...we didn't really do it." I replied. Her excited face twisted up into confusion.

"What?" 

"Well I mean...the relationship we have...it's not very easy to turn into something more. You get what I'm trying to say?" I asked. She nodded, urging me to continue. "No, we did not do each other...the good news...we laughed a lot. And I think that we both just weren't ready," I replied. Erica scoffed.

"Ethan Patterson has slept his way across campus, and when it comes to you he just...isn't ready?" she asked.

"Well, maybe it was me? I mean, maybe I said something that made him laugh and the...sexual mood in the room changed to a funny one. Either way I didn't do it with him," I replied.

"Okay but...then what happened?" she asked. I wracked my brain, taking back the memory and replaying it in words.

"He kissed me again, then we got redressed and went out to party some more," I replied. Erica sighed and leaned against the bed post.

"Oh, well...I was kind of hoping for a happy ending there," she said. I chuckled.

"I know, I know I'm sorry. Somethings just don't go the way we plan. Here's an example: I did not plan to kiss Ethan Patterson. Than again...I was drunk," I replied.

"Well, now we know you almost popped the big V. I'll give you a half congratulations," she said and stood up, venturing to her closet.

"Uh, excuse me? Who said I was a virgin?" I asked. Erica stopped dead and turned to look at me.

"Oh...oh my God Luce, I'm sorry. I thought that-" I cut her off by laughing.

"Don't worry 'bout it. It's not like it was special anyway," I said.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It was me and my ex, Todd Solloway. We did it after a home-coming dance at some sleazy motel. It wasn't really special. And when I woke up, he was playing his guitar and singing to me in this really low voice...it was creepy," I said. She giggled at my story.

"Well, maybe when the time comes, you can pretend your first time was with Ethan?" she suggested. That got me to thinking...what did Ethan think of last night?

-

He was sitting outside on a bench with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, talking with his finky four; most likely about the party. I wasn't scared of them though, I strode up to him and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hey, we need to talk," I said.

"You going to get a little more action Ethan?" Lawrence asked him. I saw I was going to have to do some damage control over the next few days.

"What do you mean 'action'?" Franklin asked.

"I caught these two a couple weeks ago on the floor, looking like they did something mischevious," he replied with a smirk. The other three burst out laughing, while Ethan rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Sure, come on," he said, leading me over to a tree. Luckily we were out of earshot of the jackasses.

"You doing alright?" Ethan asked me.

"Yeah, I got a small head cold but it'll wear off. How 'bout you?" I asked. He held up his coffee cup.

"I've been better," he replied. There was no point in letting this linger any longer. Huh, that rhymed.

"Okay, so...do you remember what we did last night?" I asked. It took a couple minutes for him to register what I meant, then he nodded.

"Yeah, do you?" he asked. I nodded instantly. "Well, we have two options here: act on it, or pretend it never happened." he said. Well, I mean it was pretty obvious which to choose here.

"Pretend it never happened?" I asked.

"That's a much better way to go." he replied, then extended his hand. We shook on it and parted.

"Alright, never happened starting now. If anybody asks, we just say we don't remember," I said.

"Great,"

"Good,"

"Goodbye,"

"See you later," as thrilled as I was to have that awkwardness over with...a part of me wished I had chosen the other option. But who am I kidding? Ethan was a rich boy, and what was I? Oh that's right! A poor American girl riding on a scholarship. 

I was definitely not his type.