Chapter 13

Time froze, all I could feel was his lips, just a peck, lightly touching mine. Then it left, a second later, and time once again passed as if nothing had happened. I could once again hear the sound of people partying.

"Come on, I should take you home." He said gently, he pulled me up and put his arms around me, supporting my weight.

My mind was empty the whole ride, soon I passed out. The last thing I felt was someone carrying me bridal style.

I woke up, feeling this wicked headache.

Hangover.

I'm having my first hangover! I didn't know should I be happy or sad. I groaned, this was so much worst than I thought.

Someone knocked on my door and my dad came in, "Hey Laura, how is the hangover." He teased me.

I groaned, not able to say anything.

He chuckled, "Come down stairs when you are ready, we made the special tea that could cure your hangover in no time." And he shut the door softly, but it sounded very loud to me and I groaned in pain once again.

It took me ages before I managed to get down and join my family for breakfast, or their lunch whatever you wanted to call it.

I drank the tea and felt better, but still tired and the headache was still there.

"How was last night?" My dad asked, while sipping his coffee.

So I told him, that I did the project and how I won in beer pong, drank a whole bottle of champagne, and how I finally socialize, which was just talking with Tom and I told them he likes Maya, then I couldn't remember anything.

"Who brought me home last night? The last thing I remembered was talking to Tom." I asked them.

"Asher." My mom replied, placing a plate of pancakes for me.

Asher? Why him. I racked my brain for information, everything was fuzzy after the talked with Tom. The harder I tried to remember, the more painful my headache got.

"He sure is a nice boy." My dad added unnecessarily.

After brunch, I went back into my room, lay on my bed, and called Maya.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"Hey." She answered hoarsely.

"Wicked hangover?"

"Yes."

"Who brought you home?" I asked her.

"Asher, according to my mom."

"Asher? He brought me home too."

"What?" I could hear a bit of jealousy.

Should I tell her Tom likes her?

"Hey Maya."

"Right here."

"Tom likes you."

The line went silence, and I was scared that she ended the call.

"WHAT?" She screamed, then she groaned in pain.

"Yes Tom the football player, that cute guy likes you, he told me yesterday."

"Wow, girl you sure had a wild night tell me everything."

So I did.

"Wow." She said once again, speechless.

"I'm so proud of you Lau, you had your first party, first hangover, first beer pong game which you slay in, and socializing? Who are you and what have you done with the Laura Clark I known." She said, I could hear the pride in her voice, and how happy she was for me.

"I don't know, I'm just a clone of her." I joked, but there was an undertone of happiness.

Soon we ended the call, since we both had a hard time thinking with the hangover.

I lay there, thinking about last night, I couldn't believe I did it. I finally went to my first party and it's completely out of my expectation. It was fun. I was surprised that I would like to go to another one.

Then I realized I should probably thank Asher for all the things he did for Maya and I.

"Hey Asher." I called him.

"Laura?" He sound shocked, scared and nervous.

I frowned, why will he be nervous or scared?

"I want to thank you for yesterday."

"Yesterday?" He sounded surprised. I wondered what had happen after I got drunk.

"Yes, thank you for driving Maya and I home."

"Oh, no problem." He sound disappointed.

"Did anything happened last night?" I asked suspiciously.

"You don't remember?" He sound shocked and sad, I could almost imagine his sad face.

"No, right after I talked with Tom everything was a blank. Nothing significant happened right?"

He was silent for a moment before saying, "No." In a strained voice.

"Ok." I breathed a sign of relief. At least I knew I didn't embarrass myself.

I thanked him again and ended the call.

Everyone was talking about was the party, and how I went to it and my beer pong skills, the video of me playing beer pong went viral, and now everyone in my school knows about it.

It was scary and exciting, I tried to act confident and normal, but it was hard. People stared and whispered, with disbelief and others were in awe. The only reason I could go through this was Maya.

While everyone was staring I asked her, "So what do you think about Tom? Will you give him a try?"

"I don't know, you know I like him but I don't know do he likes me back. If he does I will probably reject Tom?" She said unsurely.

"Maybe I can help you find out?"

"Yes. But don't be too obvious!" She said worriedly.

"Of course." I said with a mischievous smile.

"Laura, please, don't be too obvious." She plead, giving me the puppy dog eyes again.

"Ok no promises." I smirked at her, trying not to laugh.

She playfully scowled. I winked at her.

The day ended, finally.

As I was putting away my books at my locker, Asher appeared next to my locker and asked, "Do you want to finish the project today?"

I was surprised that he would want to do the project, "I thought you would want to hang out with your friends? I can finish it by myself."

"Nah," he wave a hand to dismissingly, "I prefer spending time with you, besides I'm a responsible partner."

"I'm not so sure about the last part." I teased him, as we started walking towards his car.

"Hey!" He gave me a offended look.

As he drove, I tried to think of a way to ask him about Maya. Do I straight up ask him does he likes Maya? How do I even bring her up? I was so zoned out that I hadn't even noticed we passed my place.

"Hey! My house was there, you just passed it."

"I know." He replied, not sparing me a glance.

"Where are we going?" I asked, not as scared as I should be. He wouldn't kidnap me right?

"Starbucks."

"Why?" I frowned.

"I'm craving a Starbucks drink right now."

"We can actually not do the project today?" I said, not knowing why he asked me if he wanted Starbucks he could just go.

"No I want to do it, I just want Starbucks first."

I groaned, I thought only girls crave Starbucks, not guys, especially not guys like Asher.

"Don't you like Starbucks?" He frowned, giving me a glance.

"I'm fine with it, I guess, just don't get the point." I said nonchalantly.

"Dammit I shouldn't have chosen Starbucks." He muttered to himself.

I raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

We drove in silence, once we arrived he ordered and asked he what I wanted, "I'm good." I replied.

"No order something." He insisted, I could feel the barista was irritated as well as the people behind us.

"I uh I a Java Chip with whipped cream on top please." I said, the only drink I actually liked in Starbucks.

"What size?" The barista asked, bored.

"Tall please, thank you." I said as I looked for my wallet in my bag.

"Thank you." The barista said, I looked up. Asher had already paid for me.

"Next please." The barista said annoyed.

We got out of the line, I tried to pay Asher back, "You already paid last time! It's my turn!"

But he refused, "I brought you here, the least I could do is to buy you a drink."

I put my money back uncomfortably, feeling liked I owed him.

We stand there awkwardly as we wait for my our drinks. Mustering up my courage, I tried to ask casually, "Did you have fun last Friday?"

I slapped myself mentally. What kind of idiotic question is that? Everyone knows he is a party boy and who asks random questions like that?

He looked taken back but replied, "Yes I did."

Silence.

"Did you have fun with Maya?" I pressed on. Now I really wanted to find a hole and bury myself in it.

"Yea, I guess." He said sounding distanced, he had that faraway look on his face, thinking about other things. Is that a good sign? So does that mean he likes her?

"What happened after I got drunk?" I asked, this time out of curiosity. I never got the chance to ask him that.

"Uh well I found you in the kitchen and I brought you home afterwards." He stammered a bit, not fully looking at me.

He is not telling the whole truth.

"What about Maya?"

"I brought her home earlier." He said.

"Oh."

Silence again.

"You told me Maya likes me." Asher said out of the blue.

"I what?" I exclaimed, I tried to think back to when I asked him, but nothing came up. I could not remember.

"Well I found you in the kitchen and you didn't want to leave and then you just suddenly said Maya likes me?" Asher said.

Oh no no no no I'm the worst friend ever, how could I just oh my god no what should I do? Tell him I'm just joking? Laugh it off? Oh my gods how can I tell Maya this? Will she even forgive me?

"Laura, Laura! Our drinks are here." He said, bringing me back.

"Huh what, oh thank you." I said, as he passed me my drink, my mind still spinning. What should I do?

Splat. My drink had spilled all over the floor.

I started to panic even more, as I got tissue to try to clean it up, I rambled, "I'm so sorry! Oh my gods it's all my fault. I will definitely pay you back! Oh my gods I can't believe I wasted your money I'm really sorry."

"Hey, hey it's fine. Laura." He tried to get my attention, as I continued to try to clean it up. I could feel people staring and I panicked even more and felt even more embarrassed.

Stupid stupid. What's wrong with me?

If you hadn't spilled Maya secret... none of this would have happened.

"Laura! Come on, they will clean it up." He said, as he got me back on my feet, the barista had gotten a mop and was cleaning up my mess.

"I'm so sorry." I said again, to the scowling barista and Asher.

"It's fine, let's leave." His hand rested on my arm, guiding me away from the mess that I had created.

Once in the car, I apologized again, "I will pay you back, I'm really, really sorry."

"I said it's fine, Laura, it really is." He said, looking at me with concerned eyes.

I looked away.

"Laura hey, Laura it's ok really." He turned my face, forcing me to look at him.

I blinked and put on a smile, "Yea, no I'm fine."

"It's ok, I told you I didn't like her that way." He said, as he put the keys in, the engine roared to life and he started driving towards my house.

"You did?" I said, trying to sound like it's no big deal.

"Yes, I really don't like her that way, just as a friend."

"Ok." I said, and I tried to keep the smile of my face.