Song of the chapter - Rebel Yell by Billy Idol

Leaning against the hood of Pete's car, because leaning against my own car was out of the question, I took another long drink of whatever crap beer the guys had on hand. I was still nursing my ego, I guess, after Amber jumped in April's car and drove away. She hardly fucking waited for the bitch to come to a complete stop before grabbing the door handle and wrenching it open.

She had run away from me.

The look on her face when she saw my emotions, the ones I had finally lost control over, told the whole story. I had scared her. I must have looked murderous to cause her to step away from me the way she had. I had asked her what was going on, if she wanted me to go with her, but I could feel it building inside. The anger. I couldn't keep a handle on it, my head screaming that she had promised to stay with me, that she didn't have the right to leave.

When she looked up at me, starting to say something, her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide. That was my first clue that I had lost it. At that point, there was no way for me to pull it in. The monster was back.

Gritting my teeth, practically baring them like fangs, I cursed and said "fine, leave." Then I turned my back on her, not wanting to see how my words affected her. Not wanting her to see any more of how her leaving was affecting me.

But mostly, the reason I turned away was to show the rest of the partiers, the ones whose motions had stopped and whose eyes had turned towards Ambers little display, that I was in control. That I was still strong, despite losing the girl everyone knew I wanted.

So I continued to guzzle the shitty beer, letting its bitterness feed my own. Then I had another. And another. Until the party became fun. Until the darkness in my eyes faded, became blurry. I drank until someone dared to finally ask where Amber had gone. Until I was only able to reply "Amber who?"

***

My pounding headache woke me up. It sat right behind my fucking eyes and beat the shit out of my skull.

Damn cheap ass beer.

The hard stuff never left me feeling this bad. Truth was, though, I don't think I'd ever had as much as I consumed the night before.

Slowly, I brought my hands to my face and rubbed my eyes, my forehead, hoping to stop the pounding. No luck. I opened my eyes, only to have blinding sunlight kick the headache into high gear.

Shit. Bad fucking idea.

I turned over in the bed and bumped something.

Holy fuck! Not something, someone. I had no memory of hooking up. In the split second after realizing there was a person in my bed, I looked around and realized I wasn't in my house. Or even in one I recognized.

I looked back at the girl, thank god it was a girl because apparently I had been pretty fucked up, and the likely suspects ran through my mind. Ambers name popped in first, which caused me to laugh at my own stupidity. She would never allow a drunken hook up. Then I thought of Courtney, which forced an audible groan. I had finally gotten her claws out of my skin, sleeping with her would only start that shit back up.

Then an arm flew across my chest as she shifted in the bed. Delicate, deeply tanned skin greeted me as I finally dared to fully look at her. My gaze followed the arm until it met with a shoulder and dark brown hair spread across a mostly bare back. Still no recognition, but relief that it wasn't Courtney almost stopped the rolling in my stomach. I tried to recall who I had seen at the Lot with brown hair, but I couldn't think of anyone specifically.

Shit.

I squirmed out from under the arm and tried to get out of the bed. Luckily I wasn't completely naked, still wearing my boxers. Unluckily I couldn't find the rest of my clothes. My head turned back to see if they were on the bed, which is when the girl turned over, still sleeping, and I saw her face.

I recognized her. She had been with Jeff. Fuck! Had I hooked up with Jeff's date?

This had never happened before. I must have been completely effing wasted to have ended up with this random girl, mostly undressed, and in her bed. Not that I hadn't hooked up before, but I had always been at least conscious when it happened.

The girl, Jeff's girl, turned again, then she opened her eyes and looked right at me.

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" she said with concern in her voice. That threw me off for a split second. Why would she be concerned?

"Um...good? I guess." I didn't even remember laying in the bed.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" She said, probably reading the confusion on my face. She didn't look surprised, though. Yeah, I must have been totally wasted. I mean, fucking obviously I was.

"Not really."

"What do you remember?"

That was the real question. "I remember drinking, a lot. I remember being asked where Amber had gone. That's about it."

She let out a huge breath, which felt heavy. This must have been bad.

"Hmm...so not much then." She almost smirked.

Fuck. Fuck my life.

"So what is your name? And what should I know?" I emphasized the last question.

Her eyebrows went up. "Well, first of all," she started to get up, wearing a skimpy tank top and those shorts that had half her ass hanging out. If I wasn't so confused and hungover, I would've been turned on. "I'm Hannah, Jeff's cousin. He invited me to the Lot last night."

Shit! At least she wasn't his girlfriend, or his sister. But, he might just kill me anyway for hooking up with his cousin.

"Did we..." I wasn't sure I wanted to know so I didn't specifically state what it was we might have done.

"No" she smirked, "you were really drunk so you couldn't exactly...you know."

Oh God. I wasn't sure if that made it better...or worse.

"Okay, what else?" By that point I had sunk back onto the bed, unable to keep my balance. I thought I might puke, too.

"Well, you were chugging a beer when you saw me standing a few feet away. You pointed at me and smirked, mumbling something I couldn't understand."

Hannah laughed, "you were so plastered! You walked over to me, or stumbled really, and threw an arm around my shoulder. Then you shouted in my ear, but I think you were trying to whisper, 'You're fucking hot. Take me to your place.' And then you threw up on Pete's car."

Okay, that last part gave me a laugh, but the rest sounded fucking pathetic. I leaned over, putting my elbows on my knees and my hands covering my face. Then I just groaned.

"Hey," Hannah sat next to me and put her hand on my shoulder, "it wasn't that bad. I mean, who wouldn't have been messed up by the way she just left. I get it. You're into her, and she brushed you off"

That didn't make me feel better. At all.

"But, you're too hot to worry about it this much. Someone will fill that spot soon. Hey, if you hadn't have been so drunk, it could have been me last night." She laughed again.

I just looked over at her and wondered. What had I ever seen in that type of girl? I mean, I knew what I had seen, a good time. But then what? I had no response for what she said.

"Whoa." She put her hands up at the look I had given her, "I was totally kidding on that last part. Note to self, don't use sarcasm when the dude is hungover..."

Shit. I hadn't caught that at all. She was just messing with me.

"Damn" was all I said.

"Sorry. I shouldn't kick a guy when he's down." Hannah replied.

"Listen," she started again, " I could tell you were on the road to destruction. Jeff had gone off with some cheer floozy and Pete was too pissed about his car. I didn't want you to do something you'd regret so I brought you here. Oh, by the way, your car is so fun to drive!"

What the hell?! She had driven my car!

She looked at me, hard in the eyes, "well it was either leave it at the Lot, or I drive it here. Which was worse?"

I couldn't argue with that, "you've got a point"

"You bet I do! So, anyway, you tried to kiss me but I pushed you onto the bed because you couldn't stand up straight. Then you basically passed out. So I took off your clothes and washed them to get the puke out."

This just kept getting worse.

"And that's it. Good morning."

I finally laughed a little. Hannah certainly wasn't trying hard to get on my good side like most girls. Looking over at her again, I sighed, the kind of sigh you have after going through a bunch of bullshit.

"You know, I kind of have a reputation." I told her, "anyone who saw us leave together is going to assume things. And that rumor will spread." I figured she would need to know.

"And what are you going to do about that?" She asked, sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what kind of guy are you? The kind who defends a girls honor, or the kind that needs the fist pumps and we're not worthy's?"

What the fuck? Who was this girl?

She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Well?"

"I guess you're about to find out." I said, "Now where the hell are my clothes so I can get out of here." I was done with the lecture.

"Yup. You are kind of a dick. Good luck with all that." She huffed and stormed out of the room.

Hannah stomped back in the room a few minutes later with my clothes and threw them at me. " While you're driving home, alive and in one piece, in your unscathed car, without having contracted some sexually transmitted disease, just remember the reason why. ME!" She yelled and then turned and left again.

I was so fucked.

^^^^^^

Okay I have a confession: I have no idea where Hannah came from. Honestly, she was not in the plan. A different more sleazy girl was, but then she showed up. So we will see where, if anywhere, all that goes. Smh, characters...

Part 9 has come to a close. And I'm not telling what order the next part is in because I'm still debating a few things so, I guess we shall see! We reached 5.5k as well, so tomorrow I will have a Day One from Matt's POV.

Rebel Yell was supposed to be an angry semi-drunken hook up. Turned into a wallowing non-hookup, tell-it-like-it-is random cousin of Jeff. Gotta love writing...

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]