Finally Found

10. Keep It

I woke up with a pounding headache and groaned as Toby stepped across my stomach to lick my face. 

I reached for my phone and with half-closed eyes saw the time- ten am. I usually didn't sleep in this late unless I had been out drinking, which was the case. 

I tried to recall what happened last night and suddenly remembered that Ryan was in bed with me while I fell asleep. 

I vaguely remember waking up a few hours ago and seeing him quietly leaving my room, just as the sun was barely rising. Although, I couldn't tell if it had been a dream or reality, if he had accidentally fallen asleep himself.

I stretched in bed and played on my phone for a few minutes until I heard Alice calling from downstairs, "Breakfast, kids!"

I rolled out of bed and put a sweatshirt over my pajamas. 

I grabbed an Advil and trudged downstairs, never missing the opportunity for food. Alice and Corey were finishing up preparing waffles, bacon and fruit salad and it all smelled delicious. 

I hadn't reached a point where I was ready to call Alice 'mom' and Corey 'dad' just yet, but I was really starting to feel like part of the family. I did refer to them as my parents, but otherwise tried to stay away from specifics, since I didn't want to hurt their feelings.

I helped set the table and the three of us sat down to eat. I was grateful for the coffee, which was quickly helping my pounding headache. 

Just as we started helping ourselves to the food, Matt and Ryan made an appearance in the dining room. 

Matt mumbled a drowsy hello and Ryan said good morning to my parents, taking a seat across from me. His eyes met mine as he sat down and the corners of his lips drew up in a quick smile, "Hey."

I returned a quiet, "hi", as they sat down. I tried to keep my mind off of the boy that was in my bed last night and on the food in front of me, but my eyes seemed to have an agenda of their own and kept wandering up to Ryan, who, a few times, was already looking at me.

Breakfast was mostly quiet. My parents asked about the game and party and Matt told them it was fun, but didn't go into many details. 

Alice talked about her plans for the day and asked if I wanted to join her on a hike. I told her that I would, hoping that exercise might help me sweat out the alcohol, even though the food had already helped quite a bit.

I actually had a lot of fun hiking with Alice. I never did a lot of outdoorsy activities back in Chicago, but really enjoyed it today, especially since I was feeling better after last night. 

After we went hiking, I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. 

I finished up some homework and a few projects for my part-time job. I was happy that I was able to continue it, I liked the work and having some extra money was especially nice.

I was designing a new website when I wanted to sketch out some ideas. I opened my desk drawer to grab a pen and noticed the photo of my Chicago family peeking out from under a notebook. 

I stopped for a second, the photo catching me off guard. I hadn't thought of my old family in a while. I tried not to think about them often, it either made me sad because I missed them or mad because they lied to me my entire life. 

I was still trying to get a handle on my feelings, but tried to push them away most of the time, especially since I was still trying to fit in with my new family.