The Prom Queen's Date

Chapter Sixteen

When waking up, it was to a familiar green apple scent. While it had me confused the last time, this time around it was half expected and more than welcomed. Not even opening my eyes yet I could tell you a few things. It was a cold and wet day, as the rain pattered against the window. My head wasn't on a pillow, but a warm and soft surface of skin that systematically rose and fell like someone was rocking me back to sleep. There were arms wrapped around me, engulfing me into a fuzzy haze of listening to a heartbeat instead of the horrible weather outside.

When moving my legs to find a patch of cool quilt, my legs were stiff. That's when the fabric of the jeans tightened uncomfortably. That's right. I'd fallen asleep before I could change out of my clothes. As expected, when I finally opened my eyes, the clouds were grey, and the rain was misty and continuous yet soft as a feather against the glass. Lifting my head slightly, I peeked up at Sabrina who was still fast asleep, lips parted in her deep slumber. While peaceful then, when she woke up, her head would be in a world of pain. She was definitely more than drunk last night.

Anna was telling the truth. I died from the clingy-cute overload.

Shit. Anna.

Reluctantly I slipped out of bed and fixed the quilt, so it covered Sabrina properly and headed out of the house, over the fence and straight up into my bedroom where Anna was passed out as well. I felt her forehead with the back of my hand, and while clammy, she was a reasonable temperature, meaning if she had a shower, she should've been that more refreshed.

After getting changed into more comfortable clothes, sweatpants and a t-shirt, and washing my face and teeth, I left Anna a note explaining that I was at her house, cleaning up the mess that was leftover from the party. What a mess it was. And boy was it worse than last time. There was bottles, cans, cups, food, and a much stronger smell of alcohol than the last time around and I was assuming it was because I didn't drink this time around that I could actually smell it. Before starting any cleanup, I made my way back upstairs with a bottle of water and headache tablets for when Sabrina woke up and left them by the bedside locker.

First I got a bunch of bin bags, designating them a spot in each room of the house and then got to work filling them with rubbish and when finished with a room, I opened the vents above the windows and the windows themselves a smidge to ventilate the house. Not stopping there, I sprayed the halls with this citrus smelling spray and even lit a candle in each room on the mantels of each window.

It was at least two hours before I was done, avoiding outside in the garden because it was raining. It was the least I could do for Anna since I hadn't visited her once throughout the night. I tiptoed back up the stairs and peeked into Sabrina's room who was now sat up still under the covers in the bed, rubbing her eyes with messy bedhead.

"Sam?" Sabrina's rubbed her palm against her forehead as if that would soothe her pain. "What time is it? Are you wearing one of Anna's cleaning gloves?"

"It's like, nine o'clock and yes, I guess I am." The gloves made a snapping sound as they were pulled off. "There's pain killers there for you . . . Do you want tea?"

Not hesitating, she gulped back the tablets and flopped onto her back, head hitting the pillow. "I'm a horrible host. Anna. Shit. I'm a horrible sister too."

"She's okay. I went over to her a while ago. Look, I even left my curtains open a crack so you can peek in."

"Are you real?"

"I hope so," I said. "Is that a yeah to tea then?"

"Pretty please?"

"Sure." It was the second time seeing her little tea set up and this time I could actually see it. It was like being in a hotel, with two cups, a mini black kettle and a cute container for the teabags. She even had a water dispenser in the corner of her room. "I'm very jealous of your set up, just so you know."