Hoodie (The Creatures)

Sleep

Renae

I stare after Regan with pleading eyes, hoping she'd see and decide to stay in the living room. My attempts at catching her attention fail and I sink back into the sofa. Great. Now I'm stuck in a room full of people I don't know. Why'd I even let Regan drag me along with her? Because you're her best friend. I softly sigh and push my hair over my shoulder, intently watching James and Dex play Mario Kart. I'd decided to retire from playing for a while after beating the others a generous amount of times.

"What the hell, James? That was cheating!" Dex cries out, startling me with how loud it was.

"Bumping you off the track isn't cheating, asshole. It's called having skill." James retorts, leaning with his controller.

Dex utters a sound that's a combination of "hmph" and "pfft", making me heavily breath out of my nose to prevent the bubble of laughter from exiting my mouth.

An hour or so passes and Regan and Aleks still haven't reappeared. I nervously begin bouncing my legs up and down, hundreds of scenarios running through my head. The others were all doing their own thing at this point; either just chatting or watching whatever movie was currently on the television screen. Someone taps my shoulder, making me jump and turn toward the person.

"I've known Aleks for a long time, you don't need to be worrying about Regan." Dex offers a small smile, which I try to return.

An echoing 'ding dong' makes its way to my ears. Dex frowns and jogs out of the living room to answer the door.

My legs simultaneously stop their bouncing as Dex re-enters with a confused look on his face and a square box balanced in his hands.

"Who ordered a pizza?" He asks no one in particular, though everyone shakes their heads and as if on cue, say "not me."

He huffs and leans his head back before shouting, "Aleks! Come get your damn pizza!"

Nobody speaks as thumping footsteps are heard in the hallway. From my viewpoint, only half of Aleks appears around the doorway as he accepts the pizza before returning to wherever he came from.

"He said he ordered it for only Regan and himself, the little twat." Dex mumbles, taking a seat next to me again.

I lightly laugh and begin pulling at the cuffs of my blazer to tug them up a little bit, as it was beginning to get warmer.

"Where'd you guys meet Aleks again?" He asks, propping an arm on the back of his side of the couch.

"At Target after Regan forgot her favorite hoodie in the cart and Aleks returned it," I say. Seamus's head (reminder that he's watching the movie) snaps toward me and he gets a war flashback- esque look on his face.

Dex looks at him, concern written on his face as well as mine before a look of understanding replaces it. "Oh, yeah. Forgot about that, sorry Seamus. So were you the girls Aleks ran after that day?" I briefly nod. My confusion remains and I look at Seamus for an explanation.

"It was horrible," he begins with the same faraway look on his face, "my coworkers were assholes and the customers were plain out dickheads."

The room falls silent to listen to Seamus's story.

----****----

I've just shrugged my blazer off in an attempt not to sweat to death when Regan stumbles into the room. She looks around before spotting me and wobbling over. I knew immediately that something wasn't normal: she was drunk. I get to my feet, leaving a confused Dex to sit on the couch. The guys pay us no attention, even as she clings to my arm. "Renae, help me."

In a panicky voice, I ask her what happened.

"Aleks won't let me have more vodka," she drawls out just as Aleks stumbles in. He seemed almost if not completely sober. We lock eyes for a second before I briefly nod at him and, with a sigh, pull Regan in front of me.

"You don't need more alcohol," I sternly say, handing her over to Aleks. He lightly grasps her arm and leads her back out of the living room.

----****----

"I can take Regan home with me, no big deal." I calmly say, picking my blazer off the back of the couch I'd been sitting in for the past several hours.

Jordan and Dex both shake their heads, Jordan yawning afterward. "I'm pretty sure she's already asleep." Dex pointedly says. Jordan nods in agreement. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that Jordan's probably the leader of the group of friends.

"The guest room's down the right hallway from here," Jordan points out into the hallway before motioning for me to follow him. He pushes open the door that led to the guest room and flicks on the light. Inside was the usual bedroom furniture: a dresser against one wall, a sliding door closet set into a wall, a lamp on the nightstand, and the large bed in the center of the room. "There's a half-bathroom right there," he points to a closed door beside the dresser. "'Night." He says, disappearing down the hall.

"Goodnight!" I call after him, trying not to speak too loudly.

"G'night," Dex says, giving a small wave as he heads to his room. I reply with a grin and wave back, "goodnight."

I shut the door and think about locking it for a while before actually doing so. I spread my blazer out on the dresser. Since the door was locked, I slide out of my jeans and top, lying them next to my blazer. After washing my face, I peel back the sheets and comforter of the bed and slip under them. They smelled like fabric softener with a hint of cologne, which when given the fact that this house was full of guys, made sense.

After adjusting to the unfamiliar scent, sleep immediately succumbs me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a.n

Hallo everyone! It took a few weeks but I got around to updating and tried to do my best :)

~cookehbutt