The New American Dream

Part Four: Amsterdam | Chapter Twenty-Seven

When I opened my eyes the next time I realized that it was light in the room, while it had been getting dark when I had closed my eyes. At first I was completely disoriented, it took me a moment to process where I was and why I was there. And most importantly, hadn't I just closed my eyes a moment ago?

The next thing I noticed was that I wasn't alone. Many people were around me, it took me another moment to notice that those people were actually my friends, who were all still passed out. First I was freaked out what the hell seven boys did in my room but then I remembered everything that had happened the evening before.

The TV must have turned itself off, or maybe someone did it, I didn't know. I had fallen asleep first I assumed.

Seemingly no one had moved from their position, Cassie was still next to me like I had left her the evening before and Nate was soundly asleep in the same position I had last seen him in. Only Dan had moved as far as I could tell. He wasn't leaning against my bed anymore, instead he was lying on the floor and... was holding my hand. Who had grabbed whose hand I didn't remember, I had no recollection, I only knew that I panicked.

Somewhat shocked I pulled my hand away and woke him up in the process. He gave a quiet groan and wiped his hands over his face, then he stopped in his tracks and looked around. Seeing him wake up was precious and I would savor that view for a long time.

"Oh," he said when he spotted me looking back at him.

My cheeks were flushed from the feeling of his hand in mine, the feeling of his warm and soft skin against mine, but I pretended nothing had happened. "Good morning, I guess," I whispered, looking for my phone. I found it somewhere next to Nate, it still had 7% battery left. Quickly and quietly I got up, careful not to wake Cassie or Nate, and walked over to my suitcase to get my charger, connecting my phone to the power outlet once I had found the charger.

The clock on my phone said it was barely six in the morning, but I wasn't feeling tired at all anymore, quite the contrary actually. I didn't remember when I had had a sleep that restful.

By now Dan had sat up again, he sat cross legged and with his back against the nightstand. His hair looked ruffled and his clothes deranged, his face still looked sleepy.

My heart jumped at the sight of him like that. Imagine waking up to that every morning. Quickly I banished the thought.

Dan grabbed his phone and took a look at it. Promptly he dropped it and with a clatter it woke up most people on the room, only Nate, whose sleep wouldn't be interrupted by an atomic bomb, and Bram were still asleep, the others now all came back to their senses.

"Shit, sorry," Dan said apologetically and grabbed his phone off the ground.

It was interesting to watch everyone come back to life and remember what had happened the night before, though it wasn't as precious at it had been when Dan had woken up. Eventually I did walk over to Nate and woke him up by gently shaking his shoulder, Kendall took care of Bram.

"How late is it?" Jace asked, yawning and stretching his limbs in all directions like a cat. His blond hair, usually carefully combed and set in place, now stuck up into the air.

"6 a.m." I told everyone.

"Maybe we should get ready for the day," Nick suggested, rubbing his eyes. His hair was short enough not to stick out wildly, but his clothes looked just as deranged as everyone else's.

That suggestion seemed to be something we all could agree on and Cassie and I watched as the seven boys scrambled out of our room and told us they'd see us soon. The first thing we did when they were gone were throwing away the plastic cups from the pot cookies and then putting our bedsheets back in place. Finally we were alone and the room somewhat tidy again.