I groan as I start to wake up. The sunlight entering into the room causing me to wince as I feel a pounding in my head. I pull the cover over my head to shield my eyes from the blinding light and roll over on my bed to try and get comfortable once again. After a while of tossing and turning, I give up on the hope of going back to sleep.

Still, it takes me a long time to gather my strength and energy to finally get up. I manage to sit up on the bed and my hands immediately shoot up to press against my forehead. 'Shit. Why does it hurt so much?'

I am not looking forward to the day ahead of me anymore. Not when my day starts with an excruciating headache. And what time is it? It doesn't feel like it's early in the morning.

I rest my back against the headboard and remove the cover from my body. I'm still in my dress from last night. Now that I've noticed it, I'm itching to take it off immediately. How did I even fall asleep in this? It must have felt so uncomfortable. And it is one of my expensive dresses.

Another wave of pain washes over me. God, it feels like someone is hammering my skull from the inside. I don't think I've had a headache this bad before. 'What happened at the party last night? Did I drink something?'

Yeah, I think I had a couple of drinks after... After what? I pinch my brows in concentration as I try to answer myself. Shit, why can't I remember what happened last night? It feels like it's hurting my head even more as I try to recall the events from last night's party. I rub my temple to help alleviate the pain but it's not proving to be of any help.

Oh, no, God. It hurts too much. Am I going to die? Is this what it feels like? Why don't I remember getting back home? Did Alex drop me off?

My eyes well with tears as I think I am definitely going to die soon from this pain. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and reach for the water on the bedside table, when my eyes land on a single strip of tablets. Frowning to myself, I pick it up and upon reading the name I realise it's aspirin.

Did I leave them here? But why can't I remember having them on the table? I can't remember a lot of things, it seems. Shrugging to myself, I take two pills and swallow it down with water. I hope it starts kicking in soon.

Is Sarah okay? Everytime I make sure she gets home safe after she gets wasted at some random party. Maybe this time around she did the same for me. I must have gotten pretty drunk if I can't remember much about the party last night. Why did I even drink so much? It didn't even taste good.

All of my thoughts swirling around the events of last night and trying to recall what I did last night comes to a halt when a single question comes to the forefront of my brain.

'Did I reach home before Adrien?'

Shit. What if he got home before I did? Why did I even lie in the first place? What must he be thinking about me? I have never lied to him before.

The realisation that Adrien might have found out about me having lied to him makes me feel extremely guilty. I never intended for him to find out. My plan was to return home before he did, but look how that turned out. I swear I have the worst luck.

Or maybe Sarah dropped me home early and Adrien doesn't even know that I went out last night. Yep, that is totally possible. Why am I stressing over such a trivial thing?

******

It was already noon when I got downstairs. I didn't have an appetite so I just ate a toast. I thought about going to my brother's room and see what he's up to, and if he has anything to say to me. But then I suddenly didn't feel confident enough to visit him and decided that I'll just visit him when I find some courage. Until then, I decided to watch a movie.

I must have fallen asleep on the couch because I was woken up by Sarah.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?" I say, blinking up at her.

Sarah is sitting beside me on the couch while Clueless is playing on the TV. She eyes me angrily as I sit up slowly. Thankfully, my headache has subsided by now.

"Are you kidding me?" She nearly shouts. "I have been trying your phone for the past hour to check up on you and got no reply. So, I came over to see you."

"Can you not shout, please?" I scrunch my face at her in fear that my headache will come rushing back. "And where's my phone?" I say, mostly to myself, as I look around me on the couch and the coffee table in front of me, but no sight of the said device.

"I must have left it in my room, then." I give her a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

Sarah rolls her eyes at me. "Do you know how much you got me worried last night? I had to call your brother to come get you." She presses the back of her hand to my forehead. "Are you okay? Did someone force you to eat or drink something?"

"What? No." I reply in confusion. Why would anyone force me to eat something? "And what do you mean you called Adrien? He came to Noah's place last night?" Now it was my turn to nearly shout in panic.

"Uh, yeah. He was the one who took you home. Don't you remember?" Sarah tilts her head to the side as she eyes me.

Oh. Great. They say ignorance is bliss and now look where that landed me. If Adrien came to the party, then he must have noticed that I was drunk. Maybe he left out the aspirin on the table for me. Then that means he isn't mad, right?

"Is something wrong?" Sarah asks when I don't reply.

I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. "No. I mean... I don't know." I turn off the TV and sigh to myself. "It's just that, um, I didn't exactly tell Adrien that I'd be going to a party. And now you're telling me that he was there last night..." I trail off and look over to Sarah and find her giving me a look that said 'Really?'

"Look, I know it doesn't sound like much, but I didn't want to lie to him, okay?" I rush to say. "He trusts me and knows I'm not one to party and stay out for late."

"And I'm sure he still thinks that way about you. So, it's not a big deal." She brushes off my concern.

I look at her unconvinced and she continues, "Okay, fine." She huffs. "I don't know what he thinks now. But hey, so what? You don't have to justify your actions to him." She pulls me into a hug. "You are your own person. You know that, right? You are allowed to have fun with friends. I mean, you're just a teenager. Why are you stressing yourself over what others think of you?"

"It's not about what others think of me," I say to her quietly. "He is my brother, after all."

"Holy hell," Sarah says suddenly, pronouncing each word slowly. She lets go of me from her hug and I sit up straight once again, looking at her confused.

I follow her line of vision and find her looking at Theo, who just entered into the kitchen. Ours is an open kitchen which directly looks out to the living room. I don't know if Theo has noticed our presence in the living room, yet. Although, he must have because it's hard not to. But he doesn't acknowledge it in any way and rummages through the cupboards, probably looking for something.

"Holy hell," Sarah says again which draws my attention back to her. "Who is that? And what is he doing here?" Sarah asks and not once does she look away from Theo.

'Is she checking him out?' I frown at my own thought.

"That's, uh, Theo. He's been staying with us for a while." I manage to reply to her, a hint of irritation lacing my tone. 'Wait, why do I care if she is checking him out?'

"Oh, yeah. I remember seeing him coming to the party last night with your brother. And he carried you in his arms after you passed out." Sarah faces me to give me a teasing look. "Total bridal style." She smirks.

I think about this new found information. 'Did that really happen? Theo was there, too? And he carried me in his arms? And Adrien let him??'

"Hey! How come you never told me a hot guy like him is staying with you?" Sarah waves her hand in front of me to catch my attention. "If I knew sooner I would have visited you often."

I can't tell if she is being serious or not. "What's there to tell? Besides, are you forgetting that you have a boyfriend?" I say, not being able to hold back, with a roll of my eyes.

"So what? It's not like I'm cheating on Alex by simply looking at other attractive guys." Sarah shrugs nonchalantly and goes back to looking at Theo.

"Can you keep it down?" I whisper yell at her. "He might hear us."

"Oops, sorry." Sarah giggles unabashedly and then gasps suddenly. "Oh, my gosh. I totally forgot to tell you! Noah is now head over heels for you." She shrieks excitedly. "And I mean that literally because he texted me this morning asking what..."

Sarah was still talking but I stopped listening to her after what she said. From the corner of my eye, I could see Theo stop in his movements. He must have heard what Sarah said and it makes me inhale a breath sharply.

"...and I told him you would love that." Sarah grabs both of my hands to get my undivided attention on her. "I am so excited for your date with Noah. You have to tell me about everything afterwards, 'kay?"

"Wh– date? What the hell are you talking about?"

"What?" Sarah makes a face at me before continuing, "Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"No, I–" I pull my hands away from her hold and stand up quickly. "What do you mean by date?" I shake my head furiously and when I look towards the kitchen, Theo wasn't there anymore. 'When did he leave? Oh, God. Things just keep getting worse.'

"I just told you that Noah is gonna ask you out on a date." Sarah gives me a confused look and pulls on my arm to make me sit back down. When I do so, she continues, "I thought you guys were getting close. Which is why I already told him what you did and didn't like."

"Yeah, as friends, Sarah. I told you I don't feel that way about him." I am starting to get more and more frustrated with each word that comes out of her mouth. "And why would you do something like that without letting me know first?"

"Well, forgive me for trying to help you with your dating life," she replies sarcastically and raises her arms in mock surrender.

"I don't need your help!" I shout, feeling exasperated. "I'm sorry, but seriously, Sarah, you need to stop doing this." I say, calming myself a bit. Although my mind is anything but.

I can't help but wonder why Theo left so suddenly. Was it because of what he heard, if he heard, that is. Would he even care if I were to go on a date with someone?

"Hey, I am sorry if I overstepped." Sarah avoids looking into my eyes and looks around the room vaguely. "Do you want me to ask him to drop his plans or something? I could text him now–"

"No, don't do that." I interrupt her mid-sentence.

I have upset Adrien. Noah thinks I like him back for God knows what reason. And now, Theo. Only God knows what Theo must be thinking right now. I still can't remember much from last night. But I most definitely did not intend on leading Noah on. What did I say to him? Or was it something that I did? Did I kiss him? Oh, no. Did I flirt with him while I was drunk? But I don't even know how to flirt!

"Listen," I say to Sarah. "I'll only go on this date if you come with."

"What? Amy, no." She shakes her head rapidly. "No. I'm not going to be third wheeling you guys."

"You don't have to be a third wheel. You can bring Alex with you. Because I don't think I'll be able to get through it without you being there." At least that way it wouldn't feel like a date anymore. It'll be like all the other times the four of us have hung out.

"Amy, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? It'll be like a double date or whatever," I say, looking at my hands that I kept wringing on my lap. I hate the situation I have found myself in. And I hate myself for going to the party last night. None of this would have happened if I hadn't gone.

"Are you sure about this?"

'Am I?'

It might not be the best idea but I don't want to break his heart on our first date. At least this way it would feel more like a friends gathering and not a date. And I can't tell if that's any better. Probably isn't.

"...yeah."

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A/N: this is my longest chapter so far with over 2.3k words heh. Anyways, don't forget to drop a vote by clicking on the '☆' below. It motivates me to keep writing!