Seashells

August 2nd, 2008

When I woke up the next morning, I had no idea where I was. I turned over and felt the unfamiliar texture of the blankets against my body. I experienced temporary amnesia until I was completely awake.

My hands went around the bed but there was no one there. I sat up, still a bit dazed, but at least I could recognize my surroundings. I felt the aching in my body, and then remembered what had happened the night before.

Oddly, the situation slightly reminded me of a one-night stand. Except he was the one who left his own house. I didn't think he actually left, though. Because that would be really retarded.

Slowly, I got up and looked for my clothes. I still felt paranoid about being naked in someone else's room, even though the only other person that could possibly see me was Matt. And since last night, it didn't really matter anymore.

I took a quick shower. I didn't have a towel, but it was warm inside the house so it wasn't too bad. After I was done, I went into the kitchen. I saw that breakfast was already on the table, but Matt was no where to be seen. I saw the pancakes (your favorite) on the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. The chair made a scraping noise against the floor and I cringed. The sound got Matt's attention, though, because he came in from the living room.

"Cassidy," he said. He moved in, giving me a kiss on the forehead and embracing me. The fact that his hands were on my waist bothered me slightly, even though the had been... other places the night before.

"Hi," I said. "Did you make this?"

"Yeah." He pushed me into the chair. "Eat up, fatass."

I just rolled my eyes and started eating, because I was pretty hungry. He sat down also. The pancakes weren't as the delicious as the ones we had in the diner two summers before, but they were good. As I ate, I noticed that he was watching me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked. A piece of pancake fell from my mouth in the most unattractive fashion.

"I'm wondering why you're such a slob."

"Fuck you."

"That already happened."

My phone started ringing then from Matt's bedroom. I could faintly make out Sim's ring tone, and reality came back to me.

"My parents are going to kill me," I said. I knew the moment of caring was going to come soon.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. I could tell that he was genuinely concerned (even if it was just a little bit). At the same time, I was envious of him because he wouldn't get in trouble at all. his mom would probably never even know I was here.

"I really don't know," I admitted. "I can't tell them I spent the night here, obviously."

"Why not?" he said, smirking. "We weren't doing anything bad."

The false statement made me laugh at first, but then the seriousness of the situation won in the end. "This feels just like last year. You know, when we left the island without telling anyone."

"Well, it's not like you can really get grounded now," he pointed out. "We're like at the end of summer and that would just be cruel. Besides, you were gone for less than twenty-four hours."

"I can still get punished once we get home, though. Like, off the island. And I have no way to get back to my house right now."

He frowned. "I'd drive you, but..."

"Yeah, I know." There was a long pause. "I think my best bet is to ask Sim to cover for me."

"Yeah, I guess. She's going to ask like a million questions, though. And you don't know what she's gonna say, especially 'cause it's me..."

He was right, but it was my only option. "It's the best chance I've got."

"Better hurry, slut muffin."

So he was still the same as always. I went into his room, which looked very different from the first time I had seen it, due to the fact that I had messed up everything while I was looking for my clothes. I started searching around for my phone and found it on his desk. I don't remember how it got there. He probably found it on the floor or something and put it there.

I had two missed calls from my mom, one from the night before and one in the morning while I was sleeping. I'd have to tell her I was either sleeping when she called or I had lost my phone. I'd have to think about which was more plausible (probably the lost phone thing).

The call that I had heard while Matt and I were eating was from Sim. She had probably wanted to hang out. I hoped she didn't call my house to see if I would answer there.

I remembered that Austin had dropped me off here. I wondered if he told my parents. Probably not, I decided, because they weren't here to kill me yet.

I texted Sim, but she didn't answer fast enough so I called her. "Sim, can you pick me up at Matt's house and take me home? I'll explain in the car."

Fifteen minutes later, she showed up looking both curious and pissed off. Matt said he would go and pretend he was sleeping because he didn't particularly want to talk to her.

"I don't want to be there when she finds out about us," he said, kissing me goodbye. The way he said us made me feel slightly sick, but I kissed him back all the same.

Sim took me home and covered for me just like I hoped she would. Our story was that we went to Matt's house to hang out with other people (like you) and I ended up leaving my phone at Matt's. Sim and I then went to her house where I stayed the night, and in the morning she took me to Matt's house again to pick up my phone, and then home.

"I never thought that it would happen..." Sim said as we were pulling into my driveway. "I didn't even think it was possible really."

"Well he has a penis, and I have - "

"We're not in health class, Cass," she said, rolling her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I didn't think it would either," I said truthfully, and I still didn't know how I felt about it.

My parents bought the story and let me off with a warning that I should tell them next time I decide to stay out. After that was over, I figured I should catch up with everyone, especially you, because it was getting closer and closer to your leaving date.

But of course, since I like to fuck things up, I didn't. For the next few days, I stayed shut up in my house, hiding from the rest of the world.