With a groan, my eyes fluttered open. My vision blurry, I looked around.

   I was in Daveed and Jalene's guest room.

   I sat up, groaning once again. I hated hangovers.

   I looked at the alarm clock that was perched on the guest room's desk, and it read 2:30 AM.

   "Geez, I knew that alcohol knocked me out for a while, but for ten hours..?" I mumbled to myself, rubbing my aching temples. The memories of the day before rushed back, and those memories sent a bit of color to my cheeks. I couldn't believe that I had done that to Daveed. And Luca. And Jalene.

   Damn. I had hurt a lot of people. Well, I guess Daveed didn't really count, since he didn't exactly try to stop me.

   That's when I noticed that there was a sticky note with writing on it stuck to the same desk that the alarm clock occupied.

   I raised an eyebrow and tore it off the desk.

   It read,

   Went home. Daveed'll drive you home once you wake up. I'm assuming your hangover's gonna be pretty nasty because of how much wine you had, but if you feel well enough to drive home on your own, feel free to do that.

   -Luca ♡

   I smiled to myself. Whenever Luca texted me or wrote me a note, he always put a little heart next to the last word he had sent/written.

   I reread the letter for some reason, (I really don't know why,) and felt my heart involuntarily jump when I read over Daveed's name. I stared at his name.

   It really was a weird name. But it suited him. After all, he was also weird.

   But in the best way possible.

   I stretched, setting the note back down on the desk.

   Time to start the day, I thought, standing up, trying to act like I didn't have a pounding headache. I glanced at the clock again, and it read 2:37 AM.

   Wait, Luca said Daveed would drive me home.., I thought. But it's 2:37. Is he even up? I don't wanna wake him up...The levels of awkward would depend on where he was sleeping when I woke him. You know what, I'll just go into the living room, and if he's up, great. If he's not, depending on my headache, I'll either drive home or wait for him to wake up.

   I nodded to myself, figuring that I made the right call. I sauntered into the living room, and was pretty startled once I saw Daveed sitting on the couch on his phone.

   "Jesus..," I mumbled, placing a hand over my chest as I tried to regulate my heartbeat.

   Daveed looked up from his phone and at me. He looked happy to see me, but he also looked awkward. "You're up," he stated.

   "No, I'm still asleep," I said, rolling my eyes and sitting down next to Daveed. "I'm sleep-walking and sleep-talking at the same time."

   Daveed rolled his eyes also. "Smart ass."

   "Well, one of us has to be smart," I teased with a smirk. I was trying my best to act as if nothing happened between us. I thought that I was doing a pretty good job at it.

   Daveed rolled his eyes once more, a small smile on his lips. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

   There was silence between us. My heart stung with sadness as I realized that things would probably never be the same between Daveed and I.

   The silence continued to hang over us as I stared down at my feet. It was so quiet that my ears had started to ring. I glanced over at Daveed, and he was intently staring at his shoes.

   "So..," I said, making Daveed look up at me. "I should be going..." I stood up, trying my best to ignore the searing pain in my head.

   "Oh! Uh...do you want me to drive you..?" Daveed asked, also standing up.

   I thought for a minute. Well, my headache was pretty bad, and I did want to spend a bit more time with Daveed. "Sure..," I said.

   Daveed nodded, looking a bit disappointed that I had wanted him to drive me home. Probably because of the awkward tension between us. He led me out to his fancy car, and we got in. Then Daveed started driving.

***

   A few minutes passed, and an uncomfortable silence had coated the car.

   And I was fine with the silence. I felt that if one of us talked, it would make the car ride even more awkward.

   I leaned my head against the seat, closing my eyes. I felt myself start to doze off, but I snapped out of it when a burning question arose.

   If Daveed loved Jalene...why did he kiss me?

   I felt like I needed an answer to the question, so without hesitation, I said, "Hey, Daveed?"

   "Yeah?" Daveed asked, looking at me as we approached a red light.

   "If you love Jalene, then why did you kiss me?"

   Daveed tensed, and so did his grip on the steering wheel. He didn't anwer me for a while.

   "Daveed?" I prodded.

   Daveed tried to turn the conversation topic to me. "You kissed me first! And you love Luca, so why did you do that?"

   I figured that I couldn't hide my feelings forever. I sighed. "Daveed..," I began, "I do love Luca...but...today I realized that I also love you. I always have loved you; it just took me a while to realize that I did."

   I thought I saw a small smile of...relief...cross Daveed's lips, but it was dark in the car. So I couldn't be sure. He looked back at me, the smile that I thought was on his face gone. "But...what about Luca?"

   "I love him too," I said, looking at the floor. I lifted my head up, and my eyes met Daveed's. "Just not as much as you."

   Daveed looked away from me, and I thought that I saw blush scatter across his face. He stayed silent.

   The light turned green, and Daveed began to drive again.

   I looked down. "What about you..? Why did you pull me in for a kiss after I had kissed you?"

   "Same reasons as you," Daveed said quietly. "Except I had realized that I loved you a while ago. It was when Jalene and I had been dating for about a month. I just didn't get the same rush from her that I got from you. But I still loved her. And since you were with Luca, I figured that I would get more attached fo Jalene the further our relationship went. It didn't work, but I kept trying. I didn't wanna break Jalene's heart by saying I didn't love her as much as you..."

   I was ecstatic. The Daveed Diggs had just told me he loved me! But I was also guilty. How could I have let my feelings for Daveed enable me to act on it? I was taken!
 
   By that time, Daveed had pulled into my driveway.

    My dog, Snowball, immediately started barking. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Daveed. "Thanks for driving me home."

   "No problem..," he mumbled, starting to lean in.

    I kinda wanted to kiss Daveed, but I also didn't wanna make the same mistake twice.

   So, because of my mind's battle with itself, I was frozen. Daveed cupped my face in his hand and leaned in more, and that's when I tried to protest.

   "Uh...um..," I mumbled, hypnotized by Daveed's brown eyes.

   Daveed delicately pressed his lips onto mine, and my protests immediately stopped. I began to kiss back, resulting in a round of cuss words from my brain.

   No! Stop it! I thought. I lifted my hands to push Daveed away, but ended up using them to wrap my arms around his neck.

   Daveed pulled apart first, my face still cupped in his hand. A smile slowly crossed his lips, making me smile also.

   "Well..," I said, "I should be going..."

   Daveed groaned as he reluctantly let go of me. "Okay...so...I'll see you soon..."

   I nodded. "See ya." I opened the car door and stepped into the outside, shutting the door behind me. I then walked up to my house as I heard Daveed's car roll away.

   Damn it! I thought, letting myself into my house with my key. I let him hypnotize me again! I'm such an idiot!

   My husky, Snowball, tried to greet me, but I huffed right past her, disappointed by my actions.

   I wish that everything is just like it always was between Daveed and me, I thought. If it was, I wouldn't have to keep anything from Luca.

   I looked up at the stairs that led to my and Luca's room. I smiled. He deserves better.