These Broken Roads

Chapter 4: Break Up

~Elliot~

My head was pounding as I groaned. I sat up and looked around my room. The events from last night hit me like a damn train. My head was thumping as I inched my legs over the side of my bed. I slowly stood up and walked to the window overlooking the pool area to see the damage. I jumped out of my skin when a ball of blankets was snoring on the floor between the wall and my bed.

Who was it?

I squatted down and began to tug the blanket down until I saw familiar blond hair. Again, like a train, everything hit.

Natalie.

I had cheated on Emma, stooping down to her level.

I shook her shoulder gently. "Natalie?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she got a confused look until her eyes found mine. She squinted at me. She looked really cute. Realization flooded over her as she sat up.

"What time is it?" She asked groggily, reaching behind her and putting her glasses back on.

I chuckled. "Like six in the morning. Why did you sleep on the floor?"

She looked uneasy for a moment, but then covered it up with a shrug. "It's really comfy carpeting."

"Is it?"

She nodded, running her hand over the carpet. "Nice and fluffy."

I smiled at her. "You are insanely cute, you know that?"

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes under her glasses and then yawned. "Has everyone left?"

I walked over to my nightstand and turned on my phone. There were twenty-something messages from Emma asking where I was.

I sighed and put my phone down. I heard Natalie walk around behind me.

"Do you mind if I use your bathroom?" She asked.

"Oh no of course." I said

She smiled a thank you and headed to my bathroom, closing the door. I walked over to look out the window. I sighed at how trashed everything looked.

I grabbed my phone again and called the cleaning crew. They told me they'd be there in twenty minutes. I knew they would make this house a priority because Dad and I always make sure to leave a generous tip for them due to the size of the house.

Natalie came out of the bathroom looking refreshed. I walked over to my closet and tugged off my shirt and then pulled on a clean one. I turned around to see Natalie staring at me.

"See anything you like?" I asked with a smirk.

Her cheeks heated up as I headed to my door. I grabbed the little ring of keys before closing my door.

"What are those for?" She asked, gesturing to the keys.

I walked to the door farther down the hallway, but on the same side as mine. I picked out a key and unlocked the door.

"I didn't want anyone having sex in my dad or Quinn's rooms so I locked them." I explained unlocking the last door across the hall but between Quinn and I's doors.

"Clever." She said with a chuckle.

I headed downstairs and sighed. The place was wrecked. Beer bottles, soda cans, and red solo cups scattered everywhere.

"Did you want help?" She asked me.

I snorted. "I'm not cleaning this up. I called the cleaning service."

She nodded slowly.

I walked over to the front door and pressed a code into the lock, resetting it to be the code that we gave the cleaners.