The Sound of Silence (Previously I Know What You Did Last Summer)

{Sixteen} What Happened Was

I woke feeling as if I'd been hit by a truck. Every bone and muscle in my body ached, my head felt as if it were a heavy weight on my shoulders, my temples pounding a soft lullaby. The second I tried to pried my eyes open, I screamed internally, no sound breaking passed my chapped lips.

This had been a repetitious issue for the last week. I'd drink away my demons the night before and wake up feeling as if I'd already died.

I laid there motionless for a while, trying to force my eyes open. My eyes shot open the second realization hit; I regretted it immensely. A sharp pain shot through my head and I rolled over on to my side, ready to vomit on my clean carpet, but ended up dry heaving instead. I hadn't eaten last night, or any night in the last couple weeks for that matter.

It took my brain a couple more minutes to process the fact that I hadn't fell asleep in this bed last night. I had dozed off out on the roof with the empty liquor bottle pressed against my chest as a security blanket. That meant that one of the boys had climbed out on the roof and risked slipping on a shingle and breaking their neck to get me inside before the thunderstorm hit last night. I just had to pray that my midnight savior had been Colton and not Landon. I don't think I have it in me to try and explain my actions when I couldn't even breathe Kevin's name aloud.

It took a few times, but I eventually made it out of bed without the entire room spinning and tilting on its axis around me. I grasped the door frame tightly, breathing out shakily before I walked to the stairs and headed down them.

I could hear the gentle tapping of Colton's fingers against the keyboard, a steady rhythm that almost eased me into as close of a serene state as I was going to get. To my relief, I was too focused on not tripping over my own foot or a stair to think about anything else all the way down. Wandering into the kitchen, I was greeted by the sound of Colton's typing dying out and his pulsating blue eyes drifting from the bright screen to me.

"You want them?" He asked, referring to the bagel and coffee in the middle of the table. "I was about to bring them up. Got lost in thought, I guess."

I hesitated for a moment, then sat on the edge of the wooden chair, ready to shoot up and out of the room at any second.

I picked at the edges of the bagel as I snuck a few quick sideways looks Colton's way. He was watching me with a detached expression; he was here physically but was somewhere far beyond comprehension inside his own head.

There was a microscopic part of me that wanted him to bring up sharing the alcohol last night; the other was relieved that the subject hadn't been brought up yet.

I curled my fingers around the coffee cup and brought it to my lips, wincing before it was fully down my raw throat. I started coughing almost immediately, sending another round of sharp pains throughout my head.

Colton shut his laptop and pushed it aside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just hot." I responded with a slow nod.

He stared at me for a moment, possibly trying to find a hairline fracture in my façade, then looked down at the table.

"I was thinking the three of us could catch a movie at the theater tonight. You in?" He questioned.

"I can't." I whispered. "I have plans with Belle again, I'm sorry."

My lie left Colton speechless for so long I had no doubt he didn't believe it. He stayed that way for a few minutes before he opened his laptop again and returned to his work without another word.

*

"Just call if you ever need someone to talk to." Bianca said through a mouth full of brownies, resting my phone back in my hand. "I'll always answer, I promise."