Reliving Yesterday ✔

Chapter 26.

When my neck felt like it was no longer attached to my body, I knew that something was wrong.

Slowly I lifted my head so that my neck, I hoped, didn't snap off and I straightened myself. Things around me seemed pretty quiet except the ringing that was going on somewhere. 

I blinked my eyes until they adjusted to the light and realized that my alarm was ringing and that I had fallen asleep on the couch. 

Unsure of how I got there or how I had remembered to set my alarm if I fell asleep on the couch, I reached out and turned it off and lifted myself from the couch. I stretched my aching limbs and looked around the house. 

Slowly, I remembered the events of the previous night. Parker's face flashed through my mind and I immediately looked around for him. 

He wasn't there. 

His shoes weren't where I had taken them off. His jacket wasn't where he had thrown it. He must have left. He must have woken up in the middle of the night, set my alarm and left. It was a little past seven and I needed to get ready for school.

I wandered upstairs and peered out of my window to see if Parker was there, ambling through his room or passed out on his bed, but he wasn't. There was no sign of him or anyone else in the house. I sighed and went to get ready for school. If there was one thing I was absolutely certain of, it was that Parker wasn't going to be giving me an explanation for the night before. I, however, was not sure whether he'd brush me off or actually acknowledge me now.

*

Hanna had tanned. She'd been visiting her aunt in Florida and came back looking like she lived her life under the open sun. She exclaimed to me and Jackson about her beach adventures despite Jackson telling her that she needs to listen to him tell her about all the work she missed. She was way too excited and full of energy after her trip that she didn't stop talking all the way from the lockers to our class, where Parker had stationed himself in a deep corner and avoided eye contact with everyone.

I was way too preoccupied listening to Hanna's stories that I didn't really have time to think about him.

By the time lunch rolled around and it was just me and Hanna, her talk died down and eventually came to a stop. "How're things with you and Parker?" she asked, just after I'd taken a bite of my sandwich. I eyed her over my open mouth.

"Fine," I said, barely.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "After the wedding?"

"Nothing, Han," I told her, hating that I had to lie to her, "He's still being himself." This wasn't totally untrue.

She gave me the stink eye for a while longer before her eyes gleamed. "And Blake?" she asked, giving his name way more syllables than it has.

I smiled, feeling uneasy. I hadn't seen Blake much since the wedding. This probably makes me the worst girlfriend in the world. "He's great," I replied, perkily, making a mental note to call him. That cheered Hanna up and she and I went back to discussing the latest episode of Supernatural.

*

Friday came as soon as Monday died. True to my mental note, I had spent a lot of my time with Blake, who was being as wonderful as usual. Friday also brought a party into the picture, which, as usual, I wasn't too excited about, but Blake and Hanna had both convinced me to go. So that was why I brushed my hair as I video-chatted with my father on Friday evening. He found the idea that I was being dragged out of the house on a Friday the most hilarious thing.

"Sweetheart," he told me, "Get some fresh air, please. And come home on time, OK?"

"OK, dad," I agreed, having no intention of staying out later than maybe 11.