Head In The Stars

Chapter Ten

My stomach lurches and I groan, sitting up in my bed. I cover my face to protect my eyes from my bedroom light. My head pounds unevenly.

I hear a familiar, annoyingly loud sound and open my eyes slowly, looking around.

I spot my phone and realize that the noise is coming from it. I reach over and grab it off the bedside table, wincing.

"Hmmm?" I mumble.

"Avril?"

"Hunter?" I question.

"What the hell is going on?" He asks.

"What do you mean?" I say, the memories from last night flooding forwards.

"Maybe the fact that you're the main topic of conversation in this town?" His voice is cool and hard. I feel terrible and it's not just the hangover.

"Hunter," I say, tears rushing down my cheeks. I don't mean to start crying, it just happens. "I'm sorry."

"You seriously made out with Jake Evans?" Hunter asks sternly but I sense some sympathy.

"No!" I wail. "I didn't.. He was there.. I can't remember! Dallas..," I choke on a sob.

"Dallas?" Hunter questions. "You were with him?"

"Yes," I say. "He stopped Jake from..," I pause as I suddenly realize what would have happened if Dallas hadn't been there. "Oh my god."

"Stopped Jake from what?" Hunter exclaim, his tone protective. "Oh god, Avril."

"Hunter," I hiss, tears springing to my eyes again. Suddenly, I'm totally crying.

Hunter's saying something on the other line but I'm not paying attention. All I can think of is hating Dallas for caring about me. All I can think about is Jake Evans and that stupid, stupid cherry vodka.

"Avril?"

"Dallas?" Hunter says from my phone.

I look up into Dallas's blue eyes. He pushes my hair, wet with tears, out of my face and picks up my phone.

"Hunt?" He says. "Yeah, it's me." I listen intently to his side of the conversation.

"Yeah." Pause. "I brought her home." Pause. "Hungover." Pause. "What? No!" Pause. "Yeah, he was-" Pause. "No, he didn't." Pause. "I can explain."

Dallas walks out of the room so I can't hear the rest of the conversation.

I sit and stare at my hands, sitting in my lap. My legs are crossed and I pull my covers up over my knees. I take a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm myself.

What if Dallas hadn't been there? What would Jake have done? Was he drunk? Why didn't I listen to Dallas? Why does he care so much?

I whimper softly, biting my lip to keep from crying. I hate being emotional. I hate all these feelings. I hate the fact that Dallas is always here, even after I'm a bitch and push him away.

"Hey," Dallas says, walking into my room and sitting down on the bed. He takes my hand. "Are you okay?"

"Everything hurts," I mumble, not looking at him.

"I know," he whispers. I finally look up and lose it. Tears start falling down my face again. Dallas pulls me closer to him. I cry into his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. "You're okay, Avril. I'm here."

"I'm so sorry!" I bawl. "I should have trusted you. Should have listened."

"It's not your fault," he replies calmly. "You're fine. You did nothing."