The Experience Buddy [Completed]

Chapter 8

When I opened my eyes, I realized it was the next morning already. I was still wearing the same clothes from last night, but surprisingly I don't feel like my breath stinks. No bruises on my arms nor knees. I didn't wake up in my room. This is a seemingly different scenario from the last time although there is still the constant intense throbbing in my head.

I groaned as I tried to get out of the bed and recall the events from last night. So much for avoiding clear liquids, I still ended up drinking alcohol. Somehow I managed to leave the room and navigated myself downstairs to find the rest in the living room. Cheryl and Nat were sleeping on the couch, Toby was asleep while sitting upright on an armchair while Hugh was sprawled out on the rug.

Then it dawned on me that we are still at Hero's place.

So where is the owner?

As if he read my mind, Hero came out from the kitchen, topless, holding a mug.

"Thanks for not puking in my living room. I hope you didn't puke on my bed." He said sarcastically and took a sip from his mug.

"You are welcome." I responded with the same level of sarcasm or perhaps, more.

Did he just say his bed? So the bed that I just got up from was his bed? We didn't sleep on the same bed, right, did we?

Hero probably noticed my inner struggle from my facial expressions as he said, "I slept in the other room."

"I didn't ask." I snorted.

"Just saying. Besides," He shrugged and paused, then he used his eyes to scan me from head to toe. "You are not my type."

"I didn't ask." I repeated myself, this time through clenched teeth.

"Coffee?" He chuckled. I nodded and followed him into the kitchen. My head was still in pain and I felt sick in the stomach. I was glancing around for a chair when Hero lifted me up by my waist and sat me on the counter.

"Thanks." I said as he handed me a mug of hot coffee. The smell of coffee beans made me feel slightly better. "So...where's the girl from last night?"

"We did it in the bathroom then I got her to leave after the party." Hero answered with his default stoic expression.

"You could have left out the first half of your sentence."

"I thought writers are all about the details."

Many times I wondered how did the rest of them put up with this guy for more than a year.

"Oh hey, you two are up. How are you feeling, little miss scholar?" Hugh entered the kitchen while dragging his feet, yawning and stretching.

"Coffee?" Hero asked.

"Thanks, bro." Hugh nodded.

Hero exited the kitchen after pouring a cup of coffee for Hugh. I was filled in on the missing pieces of my memory by Hugh. He told me that I started gagging a lot, so Toby tried to look for a plastic bag while Cheryl and Nat helped me get to the bathroom in Hero's room.

"Then what did you do?" I asked.

"I was busy laughing. Can't believe you did it again." Hugh snickered.

Luckily, they managed to get me to the bathroom in time and I puked into the toilet bowl. After I seemed to have purged most of the alcohol out of my system, I demanded to brush my teeth. Hugh noted that that was the highlight of the night. He also added that he didn't know I would get so feisty for not being able to rinse my mouth. Obviously, he stood by the side the entire time, laughing till there were stitches in his stomach.

"But the funnier thing was, Hero just suddenly showed up with a toothbrush." Hugh said as he was trying to recall the events from memory.

"Hero did?" My eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, he asked Nat to help you wash up. And so Nat did, then after that he swooped you up like a princess and put you on his bed."

"No wonder my breath didn't stink." I thought.

After everyone was awake, we sat around the kitchen island for a simple breakfast. The first conversation topic was obviously about me. I could feel myself blushing from embarrassment as I thanked all of them and apologized for the trouble that I have caused. They just laughed it off in response.

"So is that chick from last night Sierra Davidson?" Hugh asked, looking at Hero.

"Uh...yeah." Hero nodded.

"The cheerleading team captain?" Cheryl asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah." Hero replied.

Cheryl and Nat exchanged looks and then there were a few seconds of silence.

"Jam!" Hugh demanded as he looked at Cheryl. To my surprise, Cheryl did not rebut like how she usually would and obediently passed the bottle of jam to Hugh. She rolled her eyes and sat back on her seat disgruntled.

"You see, after we put you to sleep, these 3 noobs lost to me in poker and now they have to be my slave for the next 24 hours." Hugh explained, one could totally sense the triumph in his tone.

"Worst. Penalty. Ever." Nat sighed loudly. Even Toby shook his head in disbelief at the side.

I didn't have much of an appetite so I barely ate and was done with breakfast pretty quickly. Then I realize I didn' have my phone with me so I excused myself to find it, thinking it would probably be in Hero's room. To get upstairs, I walked past the living room, which was in a huge mess. If I were Hero's parents, I think my blood pressure would have shot through the roof at this sight.

A black trash bag was nearby so I picked it up and started to throw all the disposable cups in it. I was going to pick up the trash under the couch when a hand stopped me and pulled me up.

"I called for a cleaning crew. Don't steal their job." Hero stated.

I didn't know how to respond so I just put the trash bag down and went upstairs to wash my hands. At the sink, I splashed water on my face and looked into the mirror. Then I glanced around the bathroom filled with modern contemporary furnishings, bathing essentials that seem branded, like the ones that hotels used.

"Cleaning crew?" I thought aloud. "Is his family filthy rich? Or is he some spoilt, privileged brat who spends all his family fortune without a thought? Or both?"

Many times the things that Hero says throw me off guard. Whenever I get curious about him, I feel like he acts in a way that makes me rebuke him. His actions at times are inconsistent and incomprehensible. I think it is quite obvious that he is not Lord Voldemort evil, but at the same time he likes to throw around this nonchalant attitude. Maybe our worlds are just too different.

"Whatever." I sighed.