Escaping Reality

Chapter 38: Midday Mellows

"Woah man, who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom," some half-dressed man-boy asked me as he threw open the shower curtain."

"I-uh, came here with U-Neek last night. I must have fallen asleep in the bathtub at some point. Sorry man, give me a second and I'll be on my way." I responded groggily, wiping the eye boogers from the corner of my eyes.

I had to scoot around a little but eventually pried my phone from my back pocket. It was still early, only 8:30. I texted Lola and asked her if she could pick me up and shot her my location. As I waited for her reply I tried to get out of the bathtub but I was stopped by the piercing headache that I had. It felt like someone was constantly squeezing my brain, not a pleasant feeling. The unorthodox position I had fallen asleep in did a number to my back as well. One of the house dogs offered his condolences by giving me a couple of slobbery licks before I sent him on his way.

After a quick internal motivational speech, I was able to get out of the tub. My whole body ached and my head was throbbing so hard I couldn't hear myself think, I couldn't do much of anything. I checked my reflection in the mirror and was surprised to see that someone had thought my face was a canvas. Apparently, college kids were no different from high school kids because my face was covered in male genitalia. Awesome I mumbled as I started scrubbing my face.Lola had texted back that she could grab me in fifteen. I scrubbed harder, I couldn't let her see me like this, it would be more than a little embarrassing. After rubbing the skin raw my face finally looked semi-presentable besides the fact that it was red with rawness. I crept around the frat house surprised at the number of bodies just passed out randomly. David and the crew were nowhere to be found, I'm guessing they caught an Uber home, I would probably never see them again I thought, feeling a tinge of guilt and sadness for leaving them hanging.

"Heeyyy there," some skimpily dressed girl said as she walked out of a room to my right.

"Oh uh hi," I said awkwardly with my arms at my side, I wasn't sure if there was a different code of conduct for college girls.

"You were quite the party animal last night ya know, do you even remember what happened?"

"No um well kinda, not entirely." I stuttered.

"Well I hope you remember this," she said as she flashed me, laughed, and skipped away.

I will not be telling Lola about that, I thought with a smirk on my face. College is awesome, I can't wait until I have the independence and freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want I thought. Then I realized that I would have to pay for just about everything I did and my parents couldn't just hand me a twenty. My excitement took a few steps backward.

I went outside to escape the stench of the house and decided to wait on the curb for Lola. My headache was still painful but the fresh air helped a little bit. The campus was bustling, kids were running, biking, and rollerblading. Most of the campus was probably sleeping but there were a fair number of go-getters getting their early morning workout in. Longboards also seemed to be popular here, some kids rode back home but they were kind of in their own little social circle. Lola finally pulled up and shot me a look of pity.

"Do I look that terrible?" I asked.

"You don't look great," she said laughing "You have giant bags under your eyes, you face is red, your hair is messy, your eyes are bloodshot, you have stains all over your shirt, and you face still has the pattern of the shower curtain that you most likely used as your pillow."

"Soooo, what you're trying to say is that I look incredibly handsome right now?" I asked.

"You also reek," she said dismissing my comment.