Just Another Reason I Could Never Forget You

When I woke up my head was pounding and my mouth felt dry to the point that I almost couldn’t breathe. I opened my eyes slowly and hoped that the window in my room wasn’t open still. Thank god for small favors, because the curtains were shut and all of the lights were off. I laid there on my side, staring at the door and wondering what exactly happened last night. Honestly, I couldn’t remember very much. I remembered saying hi to everyone, watching the party going full swing, acting like Zack’s girlfriend and then… oh shit. It finally dawned on me that there was cuddling me from behind with their face in between my shoulder blades. Zack was shirtless when I looked at him and that made the worry increase. Ripping back the covers, I was relieved to see that I was still in my clothes from the night before.

“Whuwassat?” Zack grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at me.

I looked at him and bit my lip, wondering if it was safe to assume we didn’t do… anything too rash last night. Looking down at Zack made me realize that it wasn’t just comfort he’d given me over the past week. He’d also given me companionship, the kind where you go to sleep knowing that someone will be there beside you when you wake up. But was that what I wanted? Did I really want to be able to go to sleep next to Zack and wake up to find those beautiful hazel eyes staring back at me? He must have sensed the internal conflicts I was having because he sat up and pulled me to him. There wasn’t anything sexual about it; it was just him trying to tell me that he was here if I needed him to be. His presence alone, however, was part of my problem at the moment.

“What time is it?”

“Seven thirty,” I said as I glanced at my alarm clock. The red numbers glared at me and I swore mentally to myself as I pulled away from Zack.

“We’ve got to find the others and get this place cleaned up,” I mumbled as I ran a hand through my hair. The red locks were tangled all to hell, but I didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

Opening my bedroom door, I winced at the bright fluorescent light that hit me. Who the hell left every light in this house on? I wondered as I made my way down to the backyard. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the backyard; there were red cups strewn all over the place, somebody’s jeans were floating in the pool and there was so much beer on the porch that it was nearly impossible to walk across. My eyes were starting to adjust to the harsh light as I began picking up the mess that the partiers had left. This was going to be a long day, especially if I didn’t find the others.

“Yo Jack, Amanda, wake your asses up. We have to help Jerri clean up the mess from the party before her mom gets home.”

I turned to see Zack gently kicking the pair as they lay curled up on an inflated inner tube that was lying in the grass. What it was doing there was beyond me, because last I’d seen, it was floating in the pool. Amanda sat up first, rubbing her eyes and looking around. She let out a quiet gasp when she saw how much damage the backyard had taken. Jack sat up soon after her and said the same thing I had been thinking for the past five minutes.

“If this is what your backyard looks like, I’m afraid to see the rest of the house.”

“You and I both, Jack. You and I both.”

I left Amanda and Jack in charge of cleaning up the backyard while I went inside to assess the rest of the damage. The living room was just littered with red cups, as was the kitchen, the dining room and both hallways. One of the small mirrors in the hallway was broken, but it wasn’t anything super expensive, so I wasn’t worried all that much. What I was worried about was that I couldn’t find the other two members of our group. My worrying was cut a bit short when I found Alex passed out in the upstairs bathroom, his pants missing. Looks like I’d find the owner of the floating pants. Now I just had to find Rian. Turning around, I stifled a squeak as I ran into somebody. Who should it be but the missing person? Rian grabbed my arm to steady me and laughed quietly.

“Zack told me to help you find Alex, but it looks like you already found him. Should we start cleaning up here?”

I nodded and watched him open up one of the black garbage bags he had in his hand. We left that sitting open by the bathroom door and began picking up all of the cups that were strewn about in the hallway. It was a painstaking task and believe it or not, some of the cups were hard to get to. Some people had the bright idea to leave half full cups of beer on the tops of doors, almost as if they were expecting somebody to walk through the doorways without looking. Which actually did happen. How was I to know some jackass had rigged the doorways in my house?

Alex had woken up by this point and helped us finish cleaning the upstairs before the three of went down to see how the other three had done. The kitchen was spotless and shiny, almost as if it were brand new. I looked out in the backyard and everything was clean there too, though Alex’s pants were still floating in my pool.

“Alex, hun, as much as I’m enjoying the view, I think you need to go fetch your pants out of my pool,” I said with a slight chuckle.

“What? How the fuck did my pants end up in the pool?” he asked as he went outside and fished them out with a net.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Walking into the living room, I found Jack, Amanda and Zack pushing the furniture back into its proper place. I helped them move the sectional back and then looked around. This room was almost as spotless as the others and I turned to look at my three friends. “Okay, which one of you is the fucking wizard, er, witch?”

Almost simultaneously, Amanda and Jack pointed to Zack. I smiled and shook my head before giving him a hug. “Well thank you. It doesn’t look like anything at all happened here.”

“That was kinda the point. Now all we have to do is put the valuables back before your mom gets home.” I nodded and we all hurried about putting things where they were before the party.

The guys had all left and after both taking showers, me and Amanda were sitting on the couch watching old reruns of Legends of the Hidden Temple when my mom came in through the front door and eyed us both warily.

“Why was there a half full cup of beer setting on our front porch?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe one of the neighbors sat there yesterday during the huge party they were having,” I said casually. It was believable too, because we’d stuffed all three of the black garbage bags in their trash can so that we wouldn’t give ourselves away. She shuffled into the kitchen, muttering under her breath about “those damn college kids,” as she went. Me and Amanda looked at each other, high-fived, and then went back to watching our show.