four

piper

I. Am. An. Idiot.

I groan as I wake up, the light way too harsh on my eyes. I look down at my white pillow, and see smudges of black all over it. Fucking makeup, I probably have pink eye or some sort of STD, oh my god thinking hurts my brain.

My door opens softly, and I look up to see my mom and Jerry at the door.

"Hey, sweetheart." My mom coos, moving to sit at the side of my bed.

"Karen, don't baby her. She blatantly disobeyed me." Jerry snaps, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Jerry, give me a minute." She whispers, shooing him away with the wave of her hand.

Once the door closes behind him, she stands from my bed, walking to my bathroom. I hear the sound of running water, and she comes out with two pills and a glass of water.

I take them from her, getting up slowly as to slow the pounding behind my eyes. I swallow the pills, chasing them down with the blissful taste of water. My mouth feels like its been through a desert and back.

"I'm sorry, mom." I say, my voice hoarse.

"Oh, I know you are. But I understand why you wanted to go to a party, I did some stupid things when I was your age too. And so I know, that the hang over will be punishment enough." She reaches behind me, fluffing my pillow.

I groan, and lower myself on the pillow slowly.

"Get some more sleep, and make sure to thank Nolan for making sure you got home safe." She says before she shuts the door.

"Yeah, Nolan..." I open my eyes wide.

Oh, crap. Nolan. My memories of last night are very fuzzy, but I remember being in the room with Nolan, and how we almost...

Nolan is my best friend, just my friend. He's the boy who used to pants me in elementary school, and the one who broke my first training bra. He's my...the boy next door. That's just how it is.

I reach over to the bed side table and grab my phone, sliding it open. I have about a million texts from Quinn.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" One reads.

"ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

I press call on her contact, and wince at the sound of the ringing phone. Way too loud.

"PIPER ELIZABETH REYNOLDS." She shouts into the phone

"Jesus! Too loud, Quinn." I grumble, and she humphs.

"I thought you were dead!" She whisper-yells, and I sigh.

"I'm fine, some douche was trying to hit it, and then Nolan saved me, and then we were talking in this room, and we almost kissed, but then the cops came-"

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Oh my god, Quinn. Inside voices."

"How am I supposed to use my inside voice for that? You almost kissed Nolan?!"

"Almost, being the operative word here. We were both drunk and he had just broken up with Melissa, it was just a moment."

A really intense moment that I found myself replaying over and over inside my head.

"That is insane, Piper. Thank god nothing happened! You would have had so much drama to deal with!"

"Quinn, this is whisper time, and if you yell one more time, I will make it my life mission to murder you."

"Alright, calm down Arnold Schwarzenegger. But seriously, that would have ruined your friendship."

"Yeah, it would have." I whisper into the phone, my mind trailing away from me. "Piper, I got to go, but please text me later."

"Bye, Quinn."

I turn off my phone and check my missed calls, looking for his name. Nothing.

I open my contacts, my finger hovering over his name. I almost don't want to press it, scared of what will appear on the other end of the call. Just do it, Piper. Come on.

I press down, gnawing on the inside of my cheek as I listen to the ring.

"Come on, Nolan. Pick up." I plead to the empty dial tone.

Shit.

I try calling again, sitting up and walking over to my window, pulling the shade back. My eyes are assaulted by the bright light, and I squint, slipping my glasses over my eyes.

Once the light stops blinding me, I blink towards his window. I don't see anything for a moment, then I see a form sit up on his bed, raking their hands through their hair. I hit redial, and wait.

He picks up his phone, rubbing his eyes. He waits a few moments, before throwing his phone onto a chair.

I slowly lower the phone, frozen.

What have I done?

I am too lost in my thoughts, that I forget that I am standing at the window, still dressed in my party dress and fucked-up makeup. I stumble over to my closet, pulling out the first sweater I find. I pull it on and am assaulted by the smell of Nolan, like aftershave and grass. I look down and see I am wearing his old football sweatshirt, worn and with holes in the sleeves. I can't bring myself to take it off.

I wash my face, scrubbing at the black streaks on my skin. Is this stuff freaking bulletproof?

After a massive battle with my hair, I look like the person I was yesterday. Hopefully I can get my Nolan back.

I go back to my window seat, settling down with a blanket. He's at his computer now, still not wearing a shirt. Slut.

I swipe open my phone, and begin typing an email to him. We stopped texting after he had to lie why he was texting Piper Reynolds.

"She's just helping me with homework." Had been his response.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Answer your phone you idiot.

Nolan, call me back when you get this. Jerry is driving me insane, and I feel like there is a devil gnome inside my head, hitting my brain with a hammer.

I click send, and look towards his window. He sits back in his chair after clicking something on his computer. He scans the screen for a few moments before rubbing his eyes. He gets up and moves to sit at the chair next to his window, picking up his phone. He looks up at me, and I smile, holding up my phone.

He nods, and I hear my phone ringing. Nolan's face pops up on the screen, along with his name.

"Hey." I say as I pick up.

"Hey."

There's quiet for a few moments.

"I have never been hung over before, why they hell do people drink if this is all they have to look forward to?" I groan, and I watch him smile and chuckle softly.

"You were kinda crazy last night, I almost had to kill Ryan to save you."

"It was Ryan?" I ask, realizing I had never bothered to look at who was dancing on me. Wow, am I a hoe now?

"You don't remember?" He asks, confused.

And I have an idea. It's probably a dumb idea, the most stupid thing I will do, but it might also be the smartest.

"No, I don't remember much from last night, ya know, alcohol and stuff."

He pauses for a moment.

Please believe me. Nolan always knows when I'm lying, says I bite my lip whenever I do, so I turn away from the window for a moment, waiting.

"Yeah, you were pretty wasted." He mutters, and I exhale deeply.

"First time for everything. Now I can check it off my bucket list." I joke, and he smiles.

"Thanks for helping me out, Nolan. My own super hero." I whisper.

"I'll always be there to save you, Piper. No matter what stupid shit you get up to, I got you."

"I know." I whisper, smiling to myself.

"You don't remember anything from last night?" He asks, and I can see him scratching his stubble.

"Nope, nothing after you punching out Ryan." I say, pretending to be reaching for a glass of water, praying he doesn't hear the lie in my voice.

"What did happen after that?" I ask, picking at the chipped blue polish on my nails.

"I-I'm not sure." He replies, clearing his throat. "I had a lot to drink, was pretty tipsy."

"Yeah, we both did some stupid stuff."

"Yeah, totally stupid." He mutters.

Awkward silence.

"I got to go, Piper." He whispers.

I sigh, nodding. "Okay, call me later, okay?" I whisper back.

"Of course."

And I am left with the dial tone at my ear.

"Shit." I whisper into the empty noise, and I turn off my phone.

I hear the text tone of my phone, and I flip it over to see a text from Quinn.

"Did you talk to Golden Boy?"

I read it three times before typing a response.

"Yeah, it's all good. It was a stupid slip. Nothing to worry about."

I put down my phone, looking over to his room, and he's gone, and I'm just staring at an empty room.

I've been mass updating these chapters, because I kind of want to finish this story quickly, and I love writing these longer chapters. 

Please let me know what you think!!

VOTE/COMMENT/READ/FOLLOW/SHARE/ENJOY