Bound

Chapter Forty

I woke up the morning after Jace's party with a vicious headache. I groaned and rolled onto my back, unsure of why I was so hungover. I hadn't drank that much and yet I felt like complete shit; I sighed and looked over to see that my bed was empty. Will must have left my bedroom without me even noticing, and I absentmindedly ran my fingers along the empty space where he had slept. Will had held me all night and it had been the best sleep I had had in awhile.

However, I couldn't understand how we had gone from fighting with one another, to kissing on a table in the middle of a party. I was still surprised that Will had kissed me like that in front of everyone and I blushed. I slowly sat up in my bed and realized that I was still in my dress from the night before, and I hauled myself onto my feet. My head was still killing and I dragged myself into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

When I walked downstairs and into the kitchen, Cecily, Gabriel and Rupert were all sat there. I tried to ignore the way something in me deflated at Will's absence; I had been wanting to see him quite badly.

"Good morning." Cecily chirped when she saw me. "The medicine is in the cabinet by the sink."

"How did you know?" I mumbled as I moved to pour a glass of water.

"You seemed pretty drunk last night." Cecily mused.

I knew she was referring to my dancing on the table and kissing Will, and I didn't meet her eyes. I hastily took the medicine and hoped that it would start working very soon. I felt slightly awkward being around Rupert; I knew that he must have seen mine and Will's kiss, and even though we were broken up, it still felt odd.

"So, Tessa." Gabriel started. "Are you and Will dating?"

I saw Rupert glance over at me and my cheeks heated. I really didn't want to talk about Will with anyone, but I forced myself to answer Gabriel's question.

"No, we aren't." I replied simply.

Gabriel's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That wasn't what it seemed like last night. He could barely get his hands off of you."

I blushed, averting my gaze away from him. "I don't know about that."

"I never thought you two would be like this." Gabriel admitted honestly. "You two hated each other so much when we were kids; it was so weird seeing you and him like that last night."

"It was weird for me too." Cecily agreed. "And gross. I never want to see Will do that with any girl ever again."

"Um, where is Will?" I asked awkwardly, looking over at Cecily. "Is he home?"

She shook her head. "He isn't. I haven't seen him all morning."

Disappoint crashed through me and I only nodded my head at Cecily. I guessed that Will was probably at Jace's, although I couldn't deny that I had wanted him to be here this morning. I wondered if asking him to stay the night with me had been a good idea, but I knew that it hadn't been. I couldn't keep holding onto Will -- he was going to be leaving.

"Will's going to be moving to Australia then." Cecily announced, her tone sounding sad.

"So he told you?" I looked up at her.

She nodded, looking sad. "He told me yesterday before the party; I didn't bring it up because I didn't want to ruin the party by being sad. I -- I can't believe he's going to be leaving. Will and I have never been separated for very long before."

Pain was evident in Cecily's voice and her blue eyes were filled with sadness; it hurt my heart to see her looking like that, and I knew how much it must be hurting her to know that her twin brother was going to be moving away. Will and Cecily had always been close and I couldn't even imagine how hard it was going to be for her. Mind you, it was going to be very hard for me as well.