GRAY

CHAPTER 11: AFTERMATH

A beam of sunlight through the half-drawn curtains causes my closed eyes to strain and I roll around. Though I'm awake now, I'm unable to open my eyes, so I rub them roughly and they flash open. As my blurry sight focuses, the first thing I observe is that the mattress looks swollen. So, I hit it hard to make it shrink but instead hear a husky wince. I almost jump out of my bed and in that moment I experience a terrible, pounding headache.

"Ahhhh," I cry and sit back on the bed in order to support myself.

"Hey, you're alright?" Immediately Jason is beside me, rubbing my back.

I notice that we both are in the same outfit as yesterday's and I start to remember how we ended up like this, with me looking like Annabelle in my smudged make-up and my hair all over the place. And no matter how hard I try to think, not a single memory from the party comes up.

"Ahhh," I wince again, my head throbs. This has to be a hangover, I decide.

Jason gets me some medicine and I take them. He also prepares my bathtub and after drowning myself in it, I feel much better. I clean up myself and when I come out, Jason looks fresh too.

"Okay, so this means I embarrassed myself for an entire eternity last night, didn't I?" I ask him.

"Totally!!" he chuckles.

"Please do the honors of bringing back my lost memories," I sarcastically grin.

"How much do you remember?"

"Oh! You're really tell me? And here I thought that I'm gonna be blackmailed throughout my life for all the unAnika things I might've done."

"Well, of course I'm gonna keep out the details which have the potential of becoming my swords when the time comes, but you can know other things," he chuckles again. I groan.

"I remember Nick introducing me to your friends and then playing that stupid game. I remember Kiara's death glare, and oh! I blurrily remember dancing..., wait, when did I dance?!!" I shriek, now this...must be heights of embarrassment.

"Uhh, well, I don't know if you danced or not, I wasn't there at that time, do you remember anything after that?" he inquires.

"Uhh" I strained hard, but not a single coherent memory forms.

"It's ok, I'll tell you, sit," I sit across him.

"So, well, we were dared to get into a drinking battle, and you drank a lot," he starts, getting straight to the point.

"That explains this," I gesture towards my head.

"Yeah, I guess that's all, then I brought you home," he decides.

"Wait, I didn't embarrass myself?" was that so hard to believe?

"No, you just couldn't stop talking. Bermuda Triangle and tattoos and your wish list," he seems lost as he smirks in my direction.

"Wish list? I really don't have one, that must be the drunk Anika's fantasy. And I swear that I'm never. ever. getting drunk again."

"Well then, you should make a wish list as a tribute to drunk Anika, she really deserves that, now that I know she's much cooler," he winks.

I roll my eyes, "But that's it?"

"Yes, if you don't count the time when you almost peed in a garden," he casually says, clearly enjoying to tease me.

"I WHAT??"

"Hey, I didn't let you okay?" he justifies.

"Don't try to act like you're being a good boy here, you certainly let me drink when you shouldn't have, after all Tristan asked you to take care of me and though I'm not a kid, you should've at least taken up the responsibility - " he interrupts me.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold your horse," he gets into the self-defensive mode, "I did take up my responsibility well and drove you home safely before you could even start to communicate in that drunken state with anybody at the party. Also, I did try to stop you from drinking, but you being you -"now I interrupt him.

"What do you mean by me being me? Of course I'm me. And how can you expect me to not enjoy?" I knew this wasn't a valid argument but considering that I had no facts to argue upon, this was my best shot.

"Not enjoy? Are you seriously -" I interrupt him again.

"Forget it -"

"Let me complete," he almost shouts, "Do you know that when you become really adamant to drink I had to actually mix vinegar, water and some color-flavors so that you think that you're drinking but actually you're not?"

okay, that is really thoughtful of him. I let him continue.

"But unfortunately, someone swapped our drinks, so you really did drink and I had those modified, vinegar drinks. But that did some good as I could drive you home without being penalized for drinking and driving." he explains.

"Wow," I say after absorbing all this information.

He wiggles his eyebrows as if feeling proud about his actions which actually didn't quite work out.

"But...who would swap our drinks? Who would want me drunk when no one there actually knew me?" I wonder.

"I think I know who'd do that," Jason says after a couple of thinking/analyzing minutes.

"And who is that?"

"I can't tell you now!" he exclaims and starts to walk out.

"What? Why?"

"I just can't okay?" he yells.

Wait, what is wrong with him? One second he's all playful and the next second...

"Oh, I get it!" I yell equally loudly, "I know what!! You're just so self-centered. Have you ever thought that this is something to do with me? That I have a right to know everything that happened there? You can't trust me enough with such sensitive information, now can you?"

"Yes! I can't trust you okay? Happy?" he's agitated and fuming mad and he bangs my door with a thud as he leaves.

I stare at the closed door, my eyes welling up with the unbearable headache but not due to the aftermath of the party but because of the turn of events in a matter of 30 seconds.