The Dating Game

TWENTY-SEVEN

I wake up Friday morning to my alarm blaring in my ear from my phone. When I look at it, the battery icon is red and almost empty. I must've left it here when I went over to Chase's last night.

Shit, that's right. I went to Chase's last night. What was I thinking?

I try to recollect my memories from the night before, realizing I can't remember much after sobbing so hard and being so delirious from exhaustion. The last thing I can even remotely recall is when I got to his house. After that, the rest is a complete blur. I think I may have blacked out somehow.

"Michelle," I hear my mother's voice outside my closed bedroom door. It's soft and cautious, just like her knock one second later. "Can I come in, sweetheart?"

I take another second to rub my eyes and double-check that my clothes aren't falling off of my body before sitting up. "Yeah, come in."

My voice comes out groggy and broken as I realize my throat is sore after the night I had. I can feel my stuffy nose as well and I groan when it hits me that all those tears must've made me sick.

"You feeling okay today?" Mom asks after she cracks the door open. She leans against the doorframe with her arms across her chest in a tragically protective manner.

Does she know I left to talk to Chase?

"Uh, yeah," I tell her, "I'm okay. Why?"

"Chase told me you stopped by last night."

"Did he come here?"

She nods. "He dropped you off and made sure to let me know you were safe."

"What did he tell you?"

"Just that you came over to vent and passed out on his chair. He didn't want you to wake up in his room and freak out because you weren't in a familiar environment."

"So how'd he bring me back here?"

"He drove your car back," she tells me matter-of-factly with a big smile on her face. "He even carried you inside and tucked you in; it was really sweet."

I shake my head. "How'd he get home?"

"I'm not sure," she says. "Maybe he drove your car back and plans on getting it back to you today."

I nod as we finish up our conversation and she hurries out of my room. I run a hand through my matted hair, realizing how much time I'll probably have to spend on brushing it out soon. But first, I step into the bathroom and get ready, trying to think of a way to both apologize for ruining Chase's night and thank him for taking me back home.

After I pull on some jeans and a turtleneck, I grab my nearly-dead phone and backpack and then head out the door. As soon as I step outside, I notice my car sitting in the driveway, completely Chase-less. But if it's here, then that means the only possible way he could've gotten home was by walking back. Did he really walk back three miles after driving me all the way over here? Just so that I wouldn't be freaked out by it being gone?

That's actually kind of... sweet.

"Oh, Michelle," I hear Chase's voice as soon as I make it to the school entrance. He pulls me into our typical hug, though for some reason, his hold on me feels anything but typical. Instead, my chest is closer to his, and his arms are tighter around me, and his head is nuzzled closer to my neck. On any other day, I wouldn't even think twice about our hug, but today I can't help but notice every slight difference.

"I'm okay, Chase," I tell him as I pull away. He just gazes at me with sympathetic eyes and a sweet smile and I force myself to look away. "Hey, did you take me home last night?"