The Profile

Chapter 12

The glare of the sun stings through my eyelids that I force them to open, even though I'd rather continue to sleep until the entirety of last night is erased from my memory. Mark's room is the same as it was at age eight, navy blue walls, clothes everywhere, stacks of video games, and books scattered around the floor. What was different this time, however, was that I'm seeing it through the perspective of laying in his bed and he's in a sleeping bag on the floor. It wasn't uncommon to sleepover at Mark's, but I never thought it would get to the point of being in his most intimate space. It almost makes me feel like a stranger.

 I start to sit up when I let out a silent cry in pain from my still aching back. I gently lay back onto his flattened pillow and think of my game plan of getting up. After a moment I take a deep breath and slowly lift up, quietly grunting as I sit up enough to see Mark asleep on the wooden floor.

A shiver falls down my back and I realize an unfamiliar fabric against my skin. I look down and see a gray t-shirt with a giant Rolling Stones lips in the middle. More importantly, my bra is gone.

What. The. Hell.

There's confusion and rage building up inside me that I pick up the pillow and pushing aside the pain in my back, launch the pillow onto Mark's face that's pointing up to the ceiling. In an instant he shakes himself awake. 

"Mark! Where are my clothes?!" I yell out, unaware that his parents are probably still asleep next door. Mark stares at me with a confused glance like he forgot I spent the night. I find another pillow at the end of the bed and threaten it into the air when Mark sits up and pushes his hands out.

"Stop, Payton! Do you want answers or are you going to smother me with pillows until I can't talk?"

I gently set down the pillow and slowly turn to face my whole body towards him. I place my hands together in my lap and put on a sweet smile.

"Mark, can you pretty please tell me why my bra is currently not on my body?" His eyes go wide in fear at my small anger that escapes at the word "bra" that it makes me want to laugh, but I maintain a straight face.

Mark sits up straighter and also turns to mimic my stature. Except, instead of an anger in his eyes, there's that similar confusion once again.

"I'm not sure why you're asking me, how am I supposed to know where it went? You were the one wearing it." Unsatisfied with his answer I grab the pillow once more and throw it at his face, yelping in pain as my back twisted with the throw. Mark yells, but quickly gets to his feet and sits next to bed.

"Woah, hold on. Don't move too much, you hit it really hard last night." I feel his hand touch my shoulder in a comforting way, but I'm not letting my back take away from what I'm trying to figure out.

I'm about to question him once more when footsteps arrive at Marks door and a soft knock sounds the room.

"Mark, Payton, are you guys okay? I thought I heard screaming." Mark's mom. I look at the clock and notice it's 11:46 AM, the time that Mark's family is already up and running around preparing for the day. 

"We're okay, mom. Payton thought she saw a spider and freaked out a little." He laughs and I punch him in the arm, however grateful he didn't announce any details of what actually happened.

"Alright, hon, I have eggs on the stove if you guys want any. Payton, don't be ashamed to be scared. I honestly thought it would be Mark who would scream because of a spider. Ever since he was little-"

"Alright, mom, thank you! Thank you, we will be down in a sec!" His mom says okay and the steps retreat back to the kitchen. Mark's head falls into his hands and I can't help but laugh. He looks up and watches me as I'm holding my hand up to my mouth to keep from laughing too hard. We lock eyes and my laugher dissipates, suddenly the room feels different by the way he's looking at me. I speak up to break the strange tension.

"So, you honestly don't know why I'm in your t-shirt, missing a piece of my clothing?"

"You're also in my shorts."

His bluntness stuns me for a moment that I couldn't comprehend right away what he said. I lift up the comforter I'm still under and see black knee length shorts covering my thighs.

"Oh my god, this morning keeps getting better and better." Sarcasm cuts the air like a knife I think Mark was truly silenced by regretting his choice of words.

"Alright, that was not the greatest thing to say, but I assumed you already noticed, so I'm sorry about that.  However, I kind of thought that you would know why you're in my clothes since I asked you if you wanted something comfier to sleep in, which you said yes to and proceeded to strip in my room, thankfully when I stepped out to use the bathroom." It was so matter-of-fact his response that I couldn't understand why I didn't remember. 

Mark was the one to laugh this time.

"Payton, you really don't remember anything?"

Frustration boils inside me. "No! I don't! I can't bring my mind to think of why or how or what, it's so annoying!" 

Mark lets out a big laugh that I punch him again in the arm to make him stop.

"Haha okay I'll stop laughing. Just, tell me what you do remember from last night."

He slides back onto the sleeping bag and waits for me to start. The night was blurry, but I close my eyes to get a clearer picture. I think back to after we left the party, trying to block any details of the party as much as possible.

"Well, I remember leaving the party and driving through darkness for what seemed like forever. And then we got back to your house and... I think we were in your basement? It kind of goes blank after that."

Mark stands and walks to his closet and the clanging of glass awakes more of my attention. Mark turns and in his hands were four bottles of hard lemonade and some kind of root beer. A smirk falls on his lips and he places the bottles back inside his closet.

"You know, I always knew you were a light weight, but I didn't think two drinks could turn you so fast."

I try to process what I just witnessed as he sits back on the floor.

"Wait a minute. We drank? Why?"

"After we got home I could tell you were upset about the night, you barely spoke on the ride home. Once we pulled in I asked if you wanted to watch a movie or something and you agreed. In the basement you saw the bar where my parents keep the alcohol and asked if you could have   a drink. We drank two drinks each, watched a cheesy ninja movie, and then you started majorly giggling and talking to yourself while on your phone. I assumed you were talking to Lindy because you kept saying Leo's name. At one point you were talking way over the movie that we missed the end because I went to take your phone away in case you were doing something weird. This made you jump up and run around the room while I chased you to keep you from making noises and waking my parents. I still can't believe they didn't wake up. I think we did this for about a half an hour when you finally fell on the couch and somehow passed out. You looked insane, so I lugged you to my room and asked you if you wanted to wear better clothes and you fell asleep. I think you took your bra off because you were complaining while I was in the bathroom that your back was hurting, so you took it off so it wouldn't irritate it. That's the whole story, I still can't believe you don't recall any of it."

It was like a flash of light hit my eyes and the night came flooding back. At least some of it. I remember getting the drinks and turning on that movie, but texting Lindy and running around the basement is still faint. It does explain why my back hurts ten times worse then it actually should. 

Then a word strikes me. 

Leo.

"What do you mean I was saying Leo's name? Where's my phone?" I start patting the bed thinking I'll feel the hard case under the covers. Mark stands to his dresser and hands me the teal tinted case. I pause at the massive amounts of notifications coming from Messenger, IMessage, Instagram, and Tinder. 

Not even reading what they say, I slam my passcode into my phone and flip to Tinder. I could barely hear myself whisper the words that I wasn't sure if I wasn't actually saying them.

"No, no, no, no, no."