I've Had A Funny Feeling About You -- A Starkid Story

The Morning After

I wake up the next morning by the ringtone of my cell phone blaring from the floor. I carefully weasel my way out of Darren's arm and groggily grab my phone from the ground.

“Hello,” I answer in a tired voice.

“Where the hell are you?!” Ali yells. I hold the phone a few inches away from my ear until I am sure she is through with yelling.

“I'm over Darren's.”

“Darren's?” I can practically see that know-it-all-Ali-smirk growing on her face. “Whatcha doing there?”

“We fell asleep watching a movie.”

“Okay,” Ali says in an excited tone.

I roll my eyes and smile. “I'll be home soon, alright?”

“Okay. Have fun with Dar-ren.” After she practically sings his name in a dreamy voice, I hang up the phone, laughing quietly. Just as I lie down next to Darren and close my eyes, my phone rings for the second time. I groan and answer it again.

“Ali, I told you I'd be home soon,” I grumble. It wasn't Ali's voice that answered me, though.

“Vivian...” says Eric. “Don't hang up.”

I don't listen, though, and press end before he can get another word out. I sit up and cover my face with my hands, silently begging myself not to cry. My phone rings again and I make the decision to answer it, knowing exactly who it will be.

“Go away!” I shout into the receiver.

“It's been an entire month, Viv! Can't we just talk?” he begs.

“No! Do you really think you deserve that you lying, ignorant ass!” I am shaking with anger that I've withheld for weeks. “Don't call me again!”

I hang up again and it doesn't take long for the tears to follow. When the phone rings again, I literally throw it across the room forcefully, causing a loud crack to sound throughout the room and for Darren to wake up, startled.

“Wha'shappenin'?” he mumbles, looking around the room.

When he sees me, a complete mess at this point with my face completely hidden and my back wracking with sobs, he grabs me by my shoulders and holds me. I grip his shirt and he lets me stain it with tears, rubbing my back soothingly. After a few minutes of this, he lifts up my chin and makes me look at him.

“What happened?” he asks, sweeping away the blonde bangs from my face.

I try to calm down enough to tell him who called and only manage to get out Eric's name in between sobs. Darren eyes become concerned.

“Your ex-boyfriend?” he says. I nod and he his arms tighten around me protectively. As I lean my head against his chest again, he strokes my hair.

It takes a while before I finally begin to calm down enough to stop crying. By that point, all I can think of is what Ali will say if I dared to tell her who had called. I decide quickly that I didn't dare.

“Darren,” I say urgently. My voice is shaky and weak and I'm sure that I look like hell. Darren doesn't seem to care, though. “You can't tell Ali or any of the others about this...this incident.”

He nods and wipes away the stray tears on my cheeks. “Alright, no problem.”

I manage a half smile and stand up to retrieve my phone, which has a huge crack in the screen. I sigh and turn back to Darren, leaning against the wall.

“He called me twice,” I say. “I guess I just kind of lost it. We haven't talked since I got here.” I sink to the floor and push my hair out of my face. “I don't get him anymore. How could he just expect everything to be okay after I found him in our bed with another girl? How could he expect that, in just a month, I'd be fine and we could just...just go back to being the perfect couple?”