IN my life, admittedly, I could be what some people might call a little melodramatic. Sure, I had moaned about certain death a little more frequently than the average person, and yes, okay, I had written my will probably more than once. And maybe I was what some might call The Girl Who Cried Death.

But this time I was seriously going to die.

My body was now rejecting my soul, or really the poor decision making I had done the night before, and was now expelling me from it in the most terrible and painful means possible.

In fact, I was pretty sure that I was already dead. And this was hell. I had descended into the awful, fiery pits of this painful hell that was my terrible, unrelenting hangover. And now I was dead. And everything was awful.

I groaned, turning over in my bed and away from the offending light that pierced through my blinds and spurred further the pounding headache that had seized my temples. Pulling the thick duvet over my eyes, I hoped that by burying myself deeper into the darkness it would soothe the jackhammer that had unfortunately set up home right in the middle of my forehead, rhythmically beating on my brain matter every second that ticked by.

This just in, it did not. It did not help at all.

Slowly coming to the surface were faint, alcohol-infused memories from the night before, from the almost-moments with Tyler, the strange heart-to-heart with Melissa, and decking Britta in the face. I didn't even want to begin to think about the consequences of that, or of anything really, because that meant doing anything other than the bare minimum of brain activity. And that hurt. Thinking hurt.

Everything hurt.

I was surprised that Reese was able to get my drunken, stumbling self into the cab and into my own bed with as little causalities as possible, although I totally threw up again in my mom's unsuspecting petunias outside as soon as I'd gotten on solid ground. I had been force-fed an entire bottle of Gatorade from Reese in the cab, though, so throwing up on them might've been a good thing.

Gatorade had electrolytes, it was what plants craved.

And just as I was finally surrendering to the peaceful slumber I had been so forcefully praying for, at long last a blissful interruption to my slow death, I heard my door fly open and bring me right back. I jumped involuntarily at the sound, eyes shooting open as all hope of sleep disappeared.

I was so very, unbearably awake.

"Go away," I groaned, pulling the covers tighter over me in an attempt to block out the outside world. "I am dead. Let me die in peace. That is all I ask. Is that too much?"

"I just brought you some comfort snacks," came Reese's familiar voice. I heard him rustle something, but was not curious at all to find out what it was. I was more curious on finding out whether or not sleep was in my near future, or if my own personal wakeful hell would pursue.

When I felt the edge of my bed creak under Reese's weight, it seemed hell was going to win.

"I will bring you a world of pain if you don't leave," I threatened, although it was weak and muffled by pillow, softening the biting edge I was going for.

Caring, though, that was for alive people. People whose entire bodies didn't ache with the burning fire of a thousand suns.

"I brought crackers," he cooed, his voice only further kindling my irritation, "C'mon, they'll make you feel better. They're salted and everything."

Despite myself, I couldn't deny that my interest was piqued when a package of crackers was forcefully wedged into my little blanket cocoon. Now that food was in front of me, and I was beginning to realize I was a person again, I was becoming a little more aware of how terribly empty my stomach was. Not surprising, since I'd done a pretty good job of emptying it on the grass, a little on Reese, and in my mom's flowers.

I wasn't even sure if I still had both my kidneys, and my liver was probably crying if it hadn't made a quick getaway last night.

"Thank you," I mumbled begrudgingly, ripping open the package. "Now leave."

"C'mon, I also brought some Gatorade and some movies. You owe me anyway for throwing up on me. Your punishment is hanging out with me." I could hear the smile in his voice, without even looking at him.

Why he was smiling, well, I had given up trying to explain his stupidity. And whatever, it was mostly on the grass anyway. I owed him nothing.

When I peeked out from my blanket fortress, I was immediately assaulted by the blinding light that poured in through the window, as offending as it was bright. Instinct wanted me to duck back into the comforts of darkness, but I forced myself not to. My eyes squinted, narrowing at the silhouette of Reese that waved at me.

"Good morning sleeping beauty!" he beamed.

I didn't even blink. "I think I'm in hell."

Reese snorted, shaking his head as he met my blank stare. "I've never seen such a sad little Stella before, it's cute," he mused, lifting to his feet and crossing the room with a coy smirk digging into his cheek.

"Wonder how cute I'll be when I cut off all your limbs and force feed them to you through all your orifices."

This only earned a laugh from Reese, who was now toying with my DVD player. I was not pleased, usually my graphic words didn't lose their potency this early on, but Reese was already deflecting them with ease, and this made me bristle. I had a reputation to uphold.

Later, though, when I didn't feel on the brink of death.

"That sounds fun and all," he played along, "But I also brought the first two Fast and Furious movies, so maybe we should do that instead. Not that your ideas aren't great. My ideas are just better. Like usual." When he finally pushed the disc in, Reese turned to face me with a cheeky grin, beaming.

I glared at him while nibbling on my cracker, my eyes and head finally adjusting to the dim light of the afternoon. My body was still protesting being awake and essentially alive, but I loved lemon-lime Gatorade and I was pretty sure the crackers were calling for me with angelic voices, so I didn't throw them at his face.

For now. I made no promises for fully awake Stella.

"Whatever, it was your supposed great ideas that got me here in the first place. Let's go drink a field, he said! It will be fun, he said!" I threw my arms up in the air, a frown twisted on my face. "How are you here, anyway? Who let you in? Why are you in my house?"

I eyed him suspiciously, the weirdness of the situation beginning to dawn on me as regular brain function returned. "Are you proving that this is actually hell and you are actually Satan?"

Reese invited himself onto my bed, falling into the blankets next to me and resting his palms behind his neck with ease. "I admit nothing. But I do kind of feel bad for plastering you with vodka last night, so I thought crackers and car chases might help."

"And that would be your official prescription, Dr. Powers?" I drawled, still nibbling on the crackers.

He cocked a brow at me, a sly grin slipping on his face. "Do you want to play doctor, Sandavol? Because we can play that game."

"Gross!" I pulled a face and haphazardly grabbed for a pillow to throw at him. "Do you want me to throw up on you again?"

When I thumped him with the pillow, he winced slightly, an unintelligable complaint falling from his lips.

I fixed him with a skeptic glare. "And you better not be playing doctor with anyone, or so help me, you will definitely be needing some medical care." When I narrowed my eyes at him, he threw his hands up in innocence.

"No parties, no kissing, I'm a goddamn nun!" he promised. "I promise that mine are the only hands that will be touching this d-"

"I will throw up on you, Reese. And I will not feel bad about it."

Reese laughed, throwing his head back with his amber eyes glistening, a stark opposite to my deadpan look. "All right, all right," he reassured me with an easy grin, "I will keep the rest of our conversation PG-rated."

Just as I was about to respond with something probably doused in sarcasm, I was distracted by the vibrating of my phone against the end table. Moving was still very much a no-go, with my muscles aching in protest every time I breathed, but as it continued to vibrate I felt my options dwindle. Reese was already immersed within the opening credits of the movie, and so I stretched my arm with a frustrated huff, blindly groping against the wood until my fingers made contact with phone.

When I brought it to my ear, I heard Eva's familiar voice chirp through the receiver. "Stella! Bitch, I've been texting you all morning! Answer your phone!"

I winced at her booming voice, which only further reminded me of my pounding headache. "This is me, answering. How can I help you today, Ms.?"

Eva laughed, loud and piercing in my ear. "Savannah and I are at your door. We're coming in, just letting you know. In case you were naked or anything, not that I mind, I thought you might though. So see you in two minutes!"

Before I could get a word of protest in, she had clicked off, and I was left in a stunned silence. Which was quickly dissipated as a sense of urgency crashed over me, and my eyes shot over to Reese.

"You need to get out of my house right now!"

Reese looked taken aback, his brows furrowing. "Wait, what?"

"Leave! You need to be gone! Get out! Shoo!" I echoed, my arms flailing as I tried to push him off the bed. "You cannot be here! Eva and Savannah are here! Which means that you cannot be!"

Reese blinked, the realization dawning across his face. "Shit."

"Stella! We're coming up! If you want anything covered up, now's the time!" I heard Eva's sing-song voice ring through the house from below, and the panic began to bubble up in my bloodstream.

"Powers!" I whispered harshly, my hands shaking as the boy in question was still very much stationary on my bed, and doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be. "Move!"

"Where?" he harsh-whispered back, the alarm saturating his voice, eyes wide.

I paused. "The closet! Get your ass in the closet!" I quickly pointed across the room, shaking my finger with fever as my gaze anxiously darted towards the door, waiting for Eva and Savannah to burst in at any moment.

He nodded dumbly, having no smart remark as he obediently flew across the room and into the closet. I watched with a wildly beating heart as he managed to cram himself in between the sea of monochrome that threatened to burst from within, and our eyes met in mutual hysteria as he finally managed to slide the door closed.

Not a second later, Eva burst in through the door, a flurry of caramel hair, red lips and floral perfume. Savannah was trailing behind her, a soft smile touching the blonde's lips when her crystalline eyes flickered to mine. I smiled weakly back, still feeling a little out of breath from moments before.

"Since when have you been so hard to get a hold of?" Eva complained as she collapsed into the comforts of my bed, where Reese had been only moments before, her warm brows eyes looking up at me. "I've been texting you all last night and this morning."

"Yeah, even Chris didn't know where you were," Savannah added as she sat at the edge of my bed, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.

I shrugged, pulling the duvet closer to my body and hoping my nonchalance was convincing enough. "Chris wouldn't know where is own dick was if it wasn't attached to him, and I think I just had some bad sushi from the grocery store. I've been throwing up for the past twenty-four hours."

Savannah's eyes immediately softened as she frowned, rubbing a comforting hand over the covers against my shin. "Oh no, how are you feeling now?"

"Are you watching Fast and Furious?" Eva interjected, her thick brows knitting as she turned to the television. "When did you get those DVDs?"

I swallowed. "They're Chris'," I lied, a little disturbed at how smoothly it left my lips.

It felt off, and it was less about the hangover and more about the fact that I never kept anything from them. From first drinks to first periods to first heartbreaks and that one time I peed my pants a little from laughing too hard at school. And now Reese Powers was squished between my sweats and sweaters in my closet, as I was nursing a hangover from the night before, and they were sitting on my bed without a clue.

"I'm still not feeling too great, though, so I'm thinking I might get some sleep? I'm sure I'll be fine for school tomorrow," I reassured them with a weak smile, sheepishly scratching the back of my head.

Savannah gave a nod of her head, giving me a consoling pat on the legs. "You got it, feel better!"

Eva paused, her eyes flickering from my face to the crackers and Gatorade next to me, but then nodded her head too. "All right, yeah, feel better. I just wanted to pick up my sweater from the other day that you borrowed."

A twinge of relief poured over me as I saw Savannah move towards the door, which only intensified the guilt, but really, finding Reese in my closet was not the way I eventually wanted to tell them about this. I wanted them kind of drunk, filled with food and in a forgiving mood.

At the thought of booze, though, I cringed.

The vodka-infused apology would have to wait.

"Sure, sure," I mumbled, reaching for another cracker, eyes falling to the television screen. "I'm sure it's here somewhere."

Eva crossed the room, tapping her cherry lips as her eyes travelled along the hurricane catasrophe that was my room, remnants of Reese picking through my wardrobe the day before which I was in no mood to clean up. That definitely seemed more like a Reese job.

"In the closet?" I heard Eva mumble, and my back instantly stiffened.

"No!" I shouted, and was met with confused stares from both Eva and Savannah, and immediately I shrank away. "I just mean, I think I saw it somewhere around here, not in the closet." I swallowed again, my throat feeling parched and the throbbing of my head intensifying as I felt their questioning eyes size me up.

"Oh," Eva murmured with a pause, migrating her gaze away from the closet door. There was a beat of silence, and then she perked up. "Thanks, yeah, here it is."

I watched with bated breath as she reached over to pick up her sweater from my chair and turn back to Savannah. "So, we go?" she proposed.

Savannah nodded, giving me a small wave. "I hope you feel better, drink lots of water! Stay hydrated!"

I cast her a smile in return, lifting up my Gatorade. "Got it covered!"

"We'll leave you to get hot and heavy with your Fast and Furious," Eva shot over her shoulder with a  grin, gently pushing Savannah through the doorway.

I nodded and waved, watching my friends disappear down the staircase and patiently listening for the  thump of the door as it shut behind them. When they were finally gone and out of ear-shot, I released a pent up sigh, the anxiety that was simmering in my bloodstream slowly dissipating.

"All right, you can come out now," I called to the boy in my closet, who had been surprisingly quiet the entire time. I wondered for a moment if he was dead, since I was pretty sure that was the longest I'd  ever seen him go without talking.

I heard some soft rummaging, and then the closet door was pushed open to reveal a dishevelled Reese, his light brown hair in a disarray and his thick brows furrowed.

"Okay we're rewinding the movie, the opening scene is the best. And I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from getting any sort of hot or heavy while watching."

"Oh, shut up," I groaned, throwing a pillow at him with a roll of my eyes.

His gaze sparkled, a grin lighting up his face. "Make me."

***

???

Why do I keep writing these long-ass chapters? What is wrong with me? I am a menace. I need to be stopped. (Please do this by feeding me cake until I am incapacitated, that should work, because it would only take little convincing)

ANYWAY, I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE. Also can we just a hooplah for TWENTY CHAPTERS. 2.0.

I seriously did not think I'd get past 5 so we need to celebrate. Someone please bring over the flavoured wine beverage, we're living large tonight.

(seriously though you guys are like? the best? 15K reads? I cry every time?)