Apartment 6F

thirteen; hangovers and escapes

Being drunk sucks, but not as much as being hungover the next day. Plus, the dreams were weird, I had kissed Casey in one of them. That was a dream right?

I groaned from the aching in my entire body. I tried to maneuver myself out of bed in hope that food would make me feel slightly better.

All of this because of one drink, apparently a very strong one...
I eventually ended up just rolling out of the bed into the floor, which hurt. A lot. I pushed myself off the wooden floor, I had hoped to never associate with. I heard my bedroom door open, despite my current condition. Then there standing in the doorway comfortably, was Casey. He smirked. "Oh, how the tables have turned." He puckered his lips and started making kissing noises before saying,"Still wanna kiss?" That's when the probably very unattractive gagging came from me. The kiss was not a dream. I threw a towel at Casey in hopes he would leave me alone. "I'm not leaving until I get another kissssssss!" I groaned, still lying on the floor. "Casey, I was drunk. Leave me alone." He just laughed. "You often do things you want, but normally wouldn't do, when you're drunk. I know from experience." The smirk returned to his face. I pushed myself up from the ground to face him. "Listen, it was a mistake. I was drunk. Just please leave." Casey raised an eyebrow, then replied,"Whatever you say, Einstein." I could tell he didn't believe my words. I'm not sure I even did myself.

The sick feeling in my stomach only increased after the confrontation. The thought of last night horrified me. After a half hour of sitting in my bed, contemplating whether or not to leave or not, I decided it was time. I had already skipped my first class, hoping to avoid both Casey and Levi. I pushed the feeling of regret down my throat and pushed myself off the bed. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

There sitting on the couch was my worst fear, staring back at me. "I was wondering when you were gonna actually come out and face the world." I stopped and buried my face in my hands.

I couldn't handle this. I should be focused on school, on graduating, getting a job. My plan, it was foolproof, and here I had already destroyed it on only the first day of school. I had turned into the traditional college girl, getting drunk at parties, playing with boys. This wasn't me. I heard Casey get off the couch and move towards me. A sob escaped my mouth and suddenly I was wrapped in his arms, crying into his shoulder. "What's wrong with me?" He held me tighter and said,"Come on. Let's go back to the secret spot. You can actually kiss me there this time." I laughed and slapped him in the shoulder. "I was drunk!" Casey rolled his eyes, grabbed me by the wrist, and we ran out the door. Who knew a jerk could make me feel so free?
The hallway was empty leaving it free for us to sprint down. Just as we turned the corner, a face appeared. We halted before slamming into them, giving me a chance to see it was Rachel. She glanced down at our entwined hands and raised her eyebrows at me before saying,"Shoo, continue whatever you were doing." She walked around me, but not before whispering in my ear, "Good luck," which caused me to giggle and Casey to give me a confused look. I smirked and pulled him down the stairs after me. For once, I felt a flutter in my chest. Excitement, freedom flowed through my veins as we ran connected to each other through the parking lot. Our hands never separated until we reached the car, and I didn't even care. The guy that once was repulsive to me, now actually felt like good company. I never would of guessed when I entered that apartment door five days ago.

We didn't talk on the way there. Our hands were enough. Casey kept one on the steering wheel and another in mine. I felt different, happy almost. The roads were empty. Everyone either at school or work. We drove for hours, and the funny thing was, for once I didn't even care that I was missing classes. I was completely calm with driving with Casey to the spot we visited when we first met. We definitely were ones for running away from our problems.

After a long drive, Casey pulled into a clearing in front of the woods. The area certainly looked different in daylight. It was more beautiful then I remembered. We walked through the forest, branches scratching my bare legs, reminding me I was still in my pajama shorts. I immediately started laughing, causing Casey to turn around. "What's so funny? Is there something on me?" He started swatting his back and arms, which made me laugh even harder. "No! I'm still in my pajamas, you didn't even bother to tell me!" Casey raised his eyebrows and replied,"I didn't even notice... But honestly it's pretty hilarious now that I think about it." We both laughed and I slapped his arm in response.

Without realizing it, we came upon the beach. The trees surrounding let the sun shine through and the light reflected off the water making it look like glitter. It never ceased to amazing me how this place could immediately took my breath away. I grabbed Casey's hand and pulled him towards the water. "What are you doing?!" He shouted as our feet hit the icy water. "It's September!"

 I laughed and scooped water into my hands to splash him. "Who cares!" 

He smirked and splashed me with even more water in response. I looked away to get water to get him back with when I was suddenly under the water with Casey's arms around me. When we reached the surface, I hit him immediately in the face with a large splash of lake water. "That's what you get!" And I wriggled out of his arms and ran out onto the beach laughing. He chased after me, laughter filling the air around us. I was genuinely happy.

I made a misstep and he caught me and flipped me over his shoulders, causing me to scream. He just laughed and ran back into the water with me trapped in his arms. "Let me down! Let me down!" I yelled with laughter in my voice.

 "Not until you kiss me, Einstein!" 

I slapped his back, considering it was all I could reach in my current position."It's kinda hard at this position!" 

He flipped me down so I was facing him and I leaned in to do as promised. Just as he closed his eyes, I ducked and ran behind him. "Ha!"

 Casey made an angry face before following me across the beach in a sprint. "I'll get you for that!" 

I tried to fake him out, but he caught me and pulled me into him, my chest pressed against his.My stomach felt like it'd just done a backflip.

 Our eyes met and he moved his hands up to my cheeks. "I told you I'd catch you," he said with a smile. 

Then he kissed me. This time I didn't regret it. This time it was okay. It was just fine that I was kissing Casey. It was truly perfect.