me, texas, and the popular boy

chapter 8

I woke up and looked at my phone. I had a text from Matt, but I didn't look at it. It was 3:00 am. I'd only been asleep for an hour. I was parched, to say the least. I looked around Molly's room for my water bottle. Empty. I didn' see any other water around. Molly said to just go downstairs and get water from the Brita filter in the fridge if I got thirsty earlier, so that's what I had to do.

I cracked open the door to Molly's room and started my adventure to her kitchen. I must've taken a wrong turn at some point because I was lost. It also was pitch black. And I had left my phone -- a.k.a. My flashlight -- in Molly's room. I couldn't even find my way back to her room. After what felt like ten minutes searching around in the dark trying not to fall down a staircase I'd pretty much resigned to sleeping in the hallway, cold and thirsty. I had my arms reached out in front of me so I wouldn't hit a wall.

I hit something. But it wasn't a wall. It was someone. Someone much bigger than me. I yelped out of surprise. A hand quickly went over my mouth. It was removed after a couple of seconds. I went to say something but was immediately shushed. There was a ten-second pause before I heard a whisper.

"You really don't want to be waking up the worst children in the world right now," The voice was husky, "What are you doing in this part of the house?"

I answered his whisper with shy whispers of my own, "Thirsty."

"Thirsty, but more importantly lost," He laughed as quietly as he could, "You mind if I pick you up? It's quicker than trying to lead you through the house like a puppy."

"Uh, I guess not," I was so exhausted, a piggyback ride sounded pretty good. I'd realized that I could only be talking to Molly's brother, Porter. He grabbed me but did not put me on his back. Instead, he had me straddle him with my arms around his neck. My arms and legs were more for balance as his hands were strategically placed on my butt keeping me up. Whether they needed to be directly on my butt or not was up for debate. He navigated his house infinitely better than I was able to. I wondered whether he could see, or if he just knew the layout of his house that well. I decided it was likely a combination of the two.

We walked for only a short time before he turned the lights on to the kitchen. He set me down on the white marble kitchen island. I could finally see him. Porter also looked like he had just woken up. He had East Sunfall sweats on and no shirt. Molly had mentioned he played soccer and it was noticeable. His muscles were a little bit smaller than that of a football player, but he was leaner, and his abs were more defined. He was very tan. He was a perfect blonde. He was very, very hot. I then realized what I was doing and was embarrassed at how long I was staring at his body. My eyes shot up to his. His eyes didn't meet mine. He never moved back and was still standing in between my legs. He was doing the same thing I was moments ago. I'd forgotten that I was wearing nothing but a skimpy bralette and lululemon shorts. After a couple of seconds, his hands moved from the counter to my thighs and his eyes met mine for the first time. I opened my mouth to say something when Porter leaned in to kiss me.

I placed my hand on his chest and stopped him. He looked at me for a second, bit his lip, then laughed to himself and looked down. He moved his hand from my thighs back to the counter. He still didn't step back.

"I really need some water," I whispered, breaking our silence. My raspy voice was evident.

He smirked, stretched, and finally walked away from between my legs. In a normal tone he said, "You don't need to whisper anymore, it's a big house." His voice was still husky.

"Well, then why was I whispering before?" I said in a slightly snarky tone. I watched him walk around his kitchen.

"We were whispering before because you were right outside Georgie's room," He answered in just as snarky of a tone. He took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, "Which is the literal farthest you could be from both Molly's room and the kitchen."