You're the Only Place I've Ever Called Home

Ryder’s eyes slowly fluttered opening, immediately closing as the bright sun hit them. Her head was already pounding, even though she had only been awake for a matter of two seconds. Ryder groaned a bit, rubbing her eyes and not daring to open them again just yet. Instead, she rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. After a few moments, she slowly lifted her head from the pillow, opening her eyes a bit. What startled her though, wasn’t the sun this time, it was the sudden groan from beside her. Slowly, Ryder turned her head to the right, seeing a head off brown and blonde hair next to her. Ryder tried to peek over to see the face of the mystery man beside her, but jerked back as she located his eyes, which were starting to open slowly. The figured rolled over, eyes shut again. Ryder froze when she felt his arms wrap around her waist. Hesitantly, Ryder relaxed into his chest, knowing it was going to be hard to get out of bed now, and for some reason, she felt comfortable in the arms of this strange man. She knew that she knew him, she knew they had talked all night and apparently gotten very cozy, but she couldn’t put her finger on what exactly his name was. Did it start with a J? Josh? Jim? Jordan? Jack? Jack! Jack was his name, Jack Barakat, the guy who this whole party was for, the whole reason Ryder had come to Vegas.
Ryder laid in bed still, still laying against Jack’s chest, not able to leave the bed just yet. Most of last night was still a blur to her, but she did know she spent most of it with Jack… Actually, the whole night with him. She wondered if when Jack woke up, he would even remember who she was, or any parts of the night before at all. She hoped so though, the pair had really hit it off last night, and she wasn’t up to losing that.

“Good Morning,” Jack’s raspy voice mumbled in her ear. The voice startled Ryder a bit, not knowing he had exactly woken up yet, and not expecting him to say anything once he did.

Once finding her voice after being shocked for a moment, Ryder quietly mumbled, “Morning,” before biting her lip, wondering exactly what he was going to say to her, usually if she had a one night stand the guy was gone before she woke up, or she left before the guy woke up.

Ryder heard Jack groan behind her, probably realizing just how much his head hurt, or just how bright the sun was already. She then felt the bed shift, and his arms leave her waist. Ryder looked over her shoulder a bit, seeing Jack sit up in the bed, his bare back facing her. Slowly, Ryder decided to sit up herself, holding the sheet to her bare chest, even though, she didn’t know exactly why, he had probably seen every inch of her already anyway.

“Well, this is defiantly a different type of one night stand,” Jack started, his voice filled with sleep. Which was defiantly cute on him. “Usually either one of us would be gone before the other woke up,” he continued, nodding a bit and glancing at Ryder out of the corner of his eye.

Ryder nodded in agreement, “Usually,” she said, shrugging a bit. “But from what I’ve gathered, you’re not that normal of a person, and neither am I,” she said with a light chuckle, smiling a bit.

Jack chuckled a bit, nodding. “That’s defiantly true,” he said, running a hand through his brown and blonde hair. After a few moments, he spoke again. “Ryder, right?” he asked, turning to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, that’s me,” she said with a soft smile. “And you’re Jack?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him in return.

Ryder watched Jack nod and give her a small smile, which caused her stomach to do small flip flops. Something about Jack, made her excited and nervous both at the same time.

She watched as Jack opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a loud banging on the door. “Jack! Wake the fuck up!” Ryder’s face scrunched up in confusion, not really recognizing the voice, but the way Jack acted, she knew that he defiantly did.

“Hold on!” Jack called back, Ryder wincing at how loud he was. “You might want to get dressed,” he mumbled, climbing out of the bed. “Unless you want the bass player for my band to check you out,” he said with a chuckle, looking around for his boxers and eventually pulling them on.

Ryder nodded, slipping out of the bed and looking around the room for her clothes. “Did you really have to throw my bra onto the lamp?” she asked, giggling a bit and walking over to it, grabbing the bra and slipping it on.

Jack chuckled and nodded. “I just really wanted it far away from you,” he said, smirking a bit and winking at her. Ryder chuckled a bit and rolled her eyes, pulling the rest of her clothes on as he did the same. This was defiantly a different way to end a one night stand, if it even was that. Still, it was slightly strange.

“So, I guess I’ll be leaving then,” she said softly, grabbing her purse and making sure all of her things were still inside of it.

Jack hesitantly nodded, “Yeah, I guess. But I um, did give you my number right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “And I think you gave me yours,” he said with another nod.

“Yeah,” Ryder said with a nod, smiling softly at him.

“Call me or text me sometime then,” he said with a nod. “I kinda want to get to know you,” he told her, biting his lip a bit.

The thought of getting to know him, and possibly getting closer to him, made Ryder quite happy. “Yeah, sure,” she said with a nod. “As long as you promise to answer and text back?” she asked with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at him.

Jack chuckled and nodded, “Of course of course, I never deny a pretty lady,” he said, smirking and winking at her a bit as he started to walk to the door, putting his hand on the handle.

“See ya then,” she said with a nod, giving him a small hug and leaving the room once he opened the door for her, waving goodbye and passing by what Ryder assumed was his bass player and probably his girlfriend.

“Fuck that was interesting,” Ryder mumbled to herself, walking out of the hotel.