Stomachaches

This morning I woke up on the right side of the wrong bed, in the arms of a stranger. I fought the urge to groan, in fear of waking up the person sleeping next to me. Carefully, I rolled out from his grasp, sighing as tattooed arm hit the bed, his hand hanging off the side of the mattress. I could only assume that this is one of the better wasted hookups that I've had, considering that he was very cute an my ass didn't burn.

My head was still spinning, obvious that the alcohol was still strong in my system. I got up off of the bed, my legs shaking underneath my weight. Glancing around the bedroom, my eyes fell upon the open door of the bathroom. I slowly made my way over there, feeling that if I walked any faster than I was, I would surely vomit.

Reaching the bathroom, my hand rests on the door frame, walking inside and closing the door behind me. At first, I refused to look at myself in the mirror, in fear of finding a monster staring back at me. I couldn't stand it anymore, deciding that when I left this house, I didn't want to exit looking the way I probably did now. Glancing up into the mirror, I found that my assumption was correct.

Instead of the familiar, warm brown eyes that I was used to, an entirely different pair was staring back at me, a pair far from recognizable. My eyes had always been a little...different. But recently I've been getting out of control. Not only were they so unrecognizable, but they were bloodshot. Dark bags lay underneath my wasted eyes. Above them, a deep gash found it's way onto my temple, blood still oozing out of it at a slow pace. I take a deep breath, glancing up to my hair. Besides the bed head, my hair had somehow manage to keep itself together overnight. Scanning down my body, my eyes stopped when they reached the two, big purple bruises on my hips.

"Shit," I mumble, pushing down lightly on one of them, only to wince in pain. Those were a lot more tender than I thought they'd be. The kid in the bedroom didn't look that strong, but obviously he was if he was able to leave these marks on me. Not to mention the multiple hickies on my neck and chest. Fuck, how was I supposed to go home like this?

I decided that I'd better take a shower, considering that this was my best friend, Matt's house and I highly doubted that he'd care if I took a cold shower to loosen my muscles. Starting the shower, I turned the dial to cold, stepping straight into the shower since I wasn't wearing any clothes. At first, the water stung my skin, and felt as though I was being pelted with ice. Although I didn't mind.

I stared down at my body, water droplets falling from strands of my hair and onto my feet. I can't go home like this. The bruises on my hips? Sure, no problem. But these hickies? They were all over my neck. I lived with my best friends, Rian, Zack, and my ex-boyfriend Alex. Why do I live with my ex? I don't fucking know. He just so happened to be friends with my friends and all of us were inseparable. Well, ever since Alex and I broke up, I've kind of...drifted. That explains why I woke up on the right side of the wrong bed, after sleeping with a stranger.

Rian was going to fucking kill me, I knew that much. Not only had I told them that I was visiting my uncle in the hospital, but I told them that I was going to therapy before I left for the hospital. When in reality, I was going day drinking with Matt and his boyfriend, Nick. So, I could only assume that when I stumbled into the house with bloodshot eyes and hickies, I was going to get a long ass lecture.

I was reaching around to scrub my back, when I winced in pain when the soap touched my flesh. Doing my best to look over my shoulder, I could see even more hickies and even worse, more bruises. Fuck, that kid must have really had some muscle on him.

After I had gotten out of the shower, I pulled a towel off of the rack, drying myself off and wrapping it around my waist before exiting the bathroom. I found that the boy I had left in the bedroom was sitting up, staring at me with wide eyes.

"You're awake," I force a smile, before scanning the floor for my clothes.

"Yeah," The kid chuckles, his bright brown eyes appearing even more beautiful in the sunlight than I remember them being last night. "Do you even remember who I am?"

Shit, did I remember who he was? "You're Brendon." I smile triumphantly, picking my ripped skinny jeans up off the floor. "And your dick was in my ass last night."

Brendon chuckles again. It was definitely something I could get used to. "You're not wrong." He states, nodding. "And I really hope it wasn't a one time thing."

I blush as I sit down on the bed, dropping my towel. "Way to flirt very bluntly."

"I pride myself in that," He tells me, his eyes traveling down to my dick before scanning up my body and finally reaching my eyes. "So, what do you say? Are you going to give me your number? Or do I have to force it out of you?"

"How about you give me your number?" I retort, pushing my legs through my pants, pulling my pants up. I stand up, and button them before turning back to Brendon.

"How do I know you'll call me?"

"Touché." I smirk, rolling my eyes before looking around for my shirt. "You seen my shirt anywhere?"

"Nope, don't see it." Brendon replies instantly, sitting up in bed, clearly displaying his body clad in my boxers. "So, do I get to see you again?"

I smile, feeling butterflies in my stomach at the fact that someone was so interested in me. "Fine. I'll write it down for ya before I leave. Okay?"

He nods. "Come cuddle for a little while?" He pouts.

I shake my head. "Brendon, I'd love to. But I have to get home. It's already-" I glanced to the clock. 4:38 pm. "Shit! I have to go! Brendon, I'll find you, I promise. But I really have to go!" I leaned in, pressing my lips to his before running out of the house, picking up a random shirt on my way out the door. I was relieved to find that my car keys were still in my pants, and I pulled them out, hopping into my car. I told Rian that I would be home last night. I was fucked. I tugged on the shirt, immediately finding that it was luckily mine, and I'd have to go back to Matt's house for my shoes later.

Thank fuck, I didn't live too far from Matt, so I was home within five minutes. Shit, I wish that Rian was still at work so I had time to clean myself up. But of course he got off at three. I couldn't have woken up two hours earlier. Fuck. Oh fuck. What was Rian going to do with me? I pulled into the driveway, finding Alex's and Zack's cars in the driveway, considering that I was driving Rian's, I knew that Rian was home too. I sighed, pulling the keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car.

Wobbling up to the front door, I pulled it open, finding all of the guys sitting on the couch. All of their heads snap towards the door once they see me come in.

"Um, hello." I say quietly, closing the front door behind me before stepping further into the house. I can feel all of their eyes burning into my flesh. Before I can make eye contact, my eyes shift to the floor. "I'm just, uh, gonna go to bed."

I began walking towards the stairs, when someone catches me by the shirt. I close my eyes, waiting to be screamed at.
"Jack, where the fuck were you?" Rian asks. He pulls me back into the living room, where my eyes are met by Zack's and Alex's.

"I told you, I went to therapy and went to see my uncle Rick in the hospital." I grumble, pulling myself from Rian's grip and turning around.

"Really?" Rian asks, standing up off the couch and raising his eyebrows. "Because last night, your uncle's name was Paul."

"Fuck." I groan, slumping down to the ground, ignoring the throbbing in my head.

"Why do you keep lying to us?" Rian asks, joining me on the floor. I keep my eyes glued to the carpet, refusing to look up and see the disappointment and heartbreak in his own eyes. As a matter-of-fact, I was pretty disappointed in myself too. "We're you're best friends, Jack."

I nod in agreement, chewing on the inside of my bottom lip. "I just...I dunno." I answer, unable to think of an excuse. I look up to find all of their eyes glued to mine, before

"Shit, what happened to your forehead?" Rian asks, leaning closer an tentatively touching the tip of his finger to the area of skin around my wound.

"Fuck!" I cringe, accidentally shouting louder than I'd intended to. My cut was much more tender than I had expected it to be.

"I'm sorry," Rian says with sincerity. He looks up to Zack. "Can you go grab the first aid kit?"

Zack nods and walks off.

"Jack, take off your shirt."

"What?" I question, raising my eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because I fucking told you to." Rian snaps, glaring at me. I knew better than to disobey him when he was just trying to help. I sighed, lifting up the bottom hem of my shirt before pulling it over my head. "Jack, what the fuck?" Rian says, staring at me with wide eyes. "Did you get into a fight last night?"

I shake my head, taking a deep breath. "I, uh," I began awkwardly, however, luckily for me, Rian caught on quicker than I expected him to.

"Oh, come on Jack!" He groans, staring at me desperately, begging for me to be wrong. "Please tell me you didn't."

"I slept with someone." I murmur, looking down to the floor.

"That explains what happened to your back," Zack says, startling me. I turn around, finding Zack carrying the first aid kit, staring down at my back.

"What's wrong with his back?" Alex asks quietly, his voice bringing me back into a painful reality. He doesn't have the right to feel bad about what's happening to me. He's the one who cheated on me. He's the one who left me. He's the one who fucked up.

"Jack, stand up." Rian instructs.

"Rian, I-" I begin to protest, but Rian cuts me off.

"I'm getting impatient. Stand the fuck up." He snaps. I do as I'm told and stand up, making eye contact with Alex. His eyes fall to the purple bruises gripping my hips. "You need to be more careful of who you sleep with." Rian sighs, standing up along with me. He places his hands on my shoulders, turning me around so that Alex can get a look at my back.

"Was this consensual, Jack?" Alex asks, his eerily quiet voice making my skin crawl.

"I think so," I reply nervously, my palms beginning to sweat. I remember what Brendon said to me before I left. "I'm supposed to find him later."

"Please don't tell me you're going to another party." Rian sighs, nodding in thanks when Zack returns with the first aid kit.

"No," I shake my head, not sure if I was lying or not yet. I wanted to go party, but then again, I also wanted to find Brendon. Maybe I'll do both. "I was going to try to find him on the internet somehow."

"Nice to see that you're actually sticking to your word for once," Rian says, now doing his best to calm down. "What's his name?"

"Brendon. He's got a weird last name, it shouldn't be too hard to narrow it out." I reply solidly.

"Jack's got himself a bar owner, huh?" Zack chuckles, receiving an icy glare from Rian. "I'm happy for you, Jack. Maybe he'll finally stop you from sleeping around.

Then all of a sudden, Alex gets up off of the couch and mutters something about needing some air before heading outside and slamming the door behind him.