Breaking Rules

14.

I awoke to the familiar feeling of pure hangover, the animal noises that come out of your mouth as you gain consciousness, the feeling of your own heartbeat in your head, the taste of dirt and leftover alcohol in your mouth. But my hangover was complete with pain throbbing at the majority of my body parts as well as confusion about my surroundings.

 I let my tired eyes take in the room I was in, definitely too nice to be a houseparty room since it was actually clean and I was alone in the very high quality bed. I was also wearing clothes. The shorts and t-shirt weren't my own but they fit almost perfectly and the fact that I was actually dressed made a difference. 

I let my other senses come to life and heard hushed, muffled voices through the thin walls but that didn't give me much either. I brought the t-shirt to my nose and sniffed which sounds odd but when I recognised the heavenly scent on the clothing as my crush and teacher's scent the  from my first American Halloween came flooding back. 

Josh was the reason my hands knees and face hurt like hell, and Thalia was the reason I was clothed and safe. 

The embarrassment washed over me immediately and I dragged my grazed hands over my face in frustration and let out a groan. I sat up in the bed and stretched my arms above my head, letting my shoulder blades cracking in relief. My phone was on the bedside table and I unlocked it to see that it was 1:50pm which was honestly early for a hangover day. I had a ton of messaged from Jason so I calmed his worries by sending a quick text that I was okay before trudging to the en suite to asses the damage on my face.

My lip was slightly swollen and bruised but I've had worse so I rinsed my mouth with the miniature mouthwash bottle provided and put my knotted hair up in a messy bun to wash my face. Then I made the bed I had previously slept in and took a deep, calming breath before opening the bedroom door to face my teacher and her, probably very confused, friends.

I must have been quiet when walking down the stairs because I could still hear Thalia, Tyler and Gracie speaking over each other. I heard my name mentioned a couple of times but it was even more obvious that I was the topic of the conversation when I entered the kitchen space and all voices were shushed and 3 heads turned my way.

Gracie's eyes scanned up my legs and hips in the shorts I was wearing as she bit her lip, which gave my an urge to wink when her eyes finally met mine, as a reflex, but thankfully I refrained. Tyler's eyes were on mine as soon as he turned to face me and he gave me a wide, inviting smile. 

However, I focused on Thalia. I noticed the woman physically gulp as her deep green eyes trailed over my revealed skin as I was her favourite food and made her mouth water. Her tongue grazed her lips when she stared at my chest and since I wasn't wearing a bra in the breezy room, my nipples were definitely visible through the white t-shirt. I just watched her gaze over every inch of my skin, up to my lips and then finally to my eyes.

I couldn't help but smirk when she kept eye contact with me after being 'caught' and took a sip of her coffee that she held with her middle and ring finger in the handle. 

Everything this woman did was so effortlessly sexy and I almost forgot there were other people in the room until Tyler cleared his throat and tore the both of us away from our eye fucking. 

"So, how you feelin' Harper?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Better, definitely." I told him honestly, I'd completely forgotten my headache after seeing Thalia. It was like she immediately made me feel better without even speaking. "And thank you, all, for helping me out and, well... not leaving me drunk and bleeding on your doorstep." My eyes fell to the floor and I played with my fingers behind my back.