I licked my parched lips and tried to ignore the burning in my throat. The room was getting chillier but I still felt thirsty. My throat yearned for a glass of water, but my body felt too heavy for me to get up and do something about it.

Yes, I was a lazy ass and I knew it.

Dreaming about the precious drops of liquid, I finally gave up and drifted back to sleep. Water could wait till morning. I shifted a little, and I felt another body pressed up behind me. Sighing at the warmth, I snuggled up with the body. A hand was pressed up against my back, and without thinking I pulled it towards me.

"Shit," someone whispered, but I was too groggy to think much of it. Grabbing the hand between my arms, I used it as a pillow, placing it under my head.

"Shit, shit, shit," I heard a series of muttering again, and I groaned. Trying to get away from the sound, I turned and buried my face in the warmth. Heat enveloped me with silence, and I sighed in contentment.

My consciousness slipped back and out again and again. Too tired, and wanting to stretch, I raised my leg, and plopped it over the body. My hand sneaked around the waist, and held the body tight.

The best position, I sighed as I got even more comfortable, enjoying the warmth and the closeness.

"Fuck it. " I felt the warmth leave and I let out a tortured groan. But almost immediately I felt myself lift up by a pair of arms. The hands kept me close, and I hugged the body, wrapping my arms around the neck. My nose rubbed against the chest, inhaling the intoxicating and manly scent.

Someone gently laid me down on the bed, placing my head on the pillow. A soft sigh escaped my lips at the comfort, and I snuggled deeper into the bed. Suddenly the warmth left me, and I cried out, grasping the warm hand in despair. I pulled it towards me again, and the bed dropped low as the warmth returned.

"You're making it too hard for me..." I heard the whisper, spoken so softly in my ear, almost as if it was not meant to be heard.

My last thought was about the warm hand in my hand when I slowly drifted back to sleep.

I woke up feeling like that a truck had ran over me yesterday night. My head felt like it was a million times heavier and my bladder was about to explode. Running into the bathroom, I sighed in relief. At least the churning in my stomach was not enough to make me puke. Because I hated puking. It always felt like the world was going to end, when I did.

I looked into the mirror and exhaled loudly. My usually clear green eyes looked swollen and dull. Under-eye circles made me look like a panda as if I had not slept for weeks.

The hair band stretched as I took it out, and opened the red mane of my hair. They fell just below my breasts, one feature I was proud of. But today they looked like the bird's nest outside, more than anything.

Just the beauty effects of alcohol, I reprimanded myself.

Turning on the shower, I let the warm water fall on my skin. Even without thinking, I knew this was going to be one tough day.

After dressing up in shorts and a light pink tank top, I looked at the time. My eyes almost bulged out as I saw that it was already after twelve. The first thought that ran through my mind was,

Mom.

I quickly slipped on my slippers and rushed downstairs. They made a slapping noise as I descended, and I winced at the loud sound. My favorite slowed down as I heard noises coming from the drawing-room. I walked towards the room, and the voice got clearer.

"Of course, I know it! My mom always helps me out. I love baking with her... " I heard my own recorded voice coming from the room.

I stopped dead when I saw my younger self receiving a trophy and a bouquet full of chocolates on the TV screen. My ears burned, and I knew I was blushing out of embarrassment. There would never be a time I will get used to seeing myself on screen.

Quickly grabbing the remote to shut down the tape recorder, my hand paused when I saw my father walking towards the stage with my crying mother in tow. All the people around my younger self congratulated him as I stood there grinning from ear to ear.

A lump formed in my throat as I watched this, and I bit the insides of my cheek to stop myself from breaking down.

"Who is that?" Brandon whispered in my ear, his breath tickling me, and I cried out.

"Jesus Christ!" I shrank away from him, successfully shutting the tape recording off.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked me, but I could see the slight amusement in his eyes.

"Yes. Did you put this on?" I asked him, pointing towards the DVD.

"It was already on, sorry if you didn't want me to watch it..." he trailed off, trying to assess my mood with his over observing eyes.

My mouth didn't form the words, and Brandon raised his eyes in question.

"Nothing, it's fine. Sorry about before, you just surprised me," I said, but Brandon only remained silent. "He was my father."

"Was?" he asked, frowning.

"H-He died," my voice was hollow as I said it, and I quickly looked away. His mouth formed an 'o' and I gave him a weak smile.

"So when are you going to start practicing again?" I asked him, in a lame way trying to change the subject.

"Hey, sad to hear that." Brandon inched closer to me, turning me towards him.

"It's alright. I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, but if you do--"

"Yeah, sure."

Brandon sighed, removing his hands from my shoulders, and stepping back. He rubbed his neck, looking down. I felt a little guilty for outing him as he balanced on his uninjured foot, rocking back and forth.

"Hey--"

"You--"

We both stopped and looked at each other.

"You can--"

"You can--"

We both started again together, and I giggled. He inclined his head, asking for me to go first and I shook my head at him, smiling.

"I'm sorry, Brandon. It's just a sensitive topic," I said, a sad smile on my lips.

"I am sorry too. All good?" he asked, his dimples showing as he smiled back.

"Yeah." I nodded at him."By the way, do you know where mom is?"

"You don't know?" Brandon bit his lower lip, and I frowned. I felt even more guilty for not helping her out and instead being passed out drunk.

"No?"

"Well.. She's o-out for a while but she'll be back soon," he stammered, avoiding my eyes.

"Okay," I drawled, looking at him suspiciously. My mom never had the habit of carrying her phone, so I couldn't really call her.

They couldn't have murdered her or something, right? Hopefully not.

"Do you want to go somewhere today?" I asked him, trying to ignore the fact that I now had a gnawing suspicion as to where she could be.

"Sure," he replied in an instant, and I looked down at his clothes to see that he was already ready, wearing a shirt as well.

"Cool," I said, already thinking of the places we could go. "Where's everyone by the way?"

"Still passed out. You handled alcohol pretty well... You do remember everything right?"

"Of course. But wait, how did I get back to my room?" Did I walk back? I couldn't remember that part...

"I uh-helped you out," Brandon said, looking a little relieved for some reason. But I simply nodded.

"Anyway thanks! It was fun last night." I smiled at him. "By any chance do you like waffles for breakfast?"

***

"Ty... Are you sure?"

"Yes.... Ah!"

"Shit! God, we could have--"

"Shut up! I can do it!"

"But you'll definitely get hurt at this pace."

"I am fine!" I grunted, and peddled more. Though I had suggested waffles for breakfast, there had been the problem of how we were going to go there.

I didn't own a car, and Brandon could hardly walk. So I had suggested my good old friend: bicycle. To say I regretted the decision was to say the least.

"Are we there yet?" Brandon spoke from behind me, and I looked back at him.

"Almost," I replied as I eyed the slope going downhill. At Least this was going to be easy.

"Hold tight!" I shouted as we shot down the hill. Brandon's arm came around my waist as he held onto me. Even cycling, I felt aware of his hands around me. They had an almost familiar touch, as if I had spent an entire night in them. As if.

"Brakes!" I warned ahead as I pushed on the brakes, and we stopped with a jolt. Brandon's face smashed into my back, and he groaned.

"I warned you," I said in my defense as we both got out.

"Yeah, fine," he said, rubbing his face.

Francis and I used to hang out almost similarly and now I pitied him, thinking about the many days he had cycled me around. Must have been hard.

"Let's go in." I pulled at his hand, helping him out, as we entered the store.

The strong bacon scent hit me, and my mouth watered. Wow, and here I thought, drinking makes you lose your appetite.

"Let's order for all of them?" I looked back at Brandon, who was watching me intently.

"Uh? Yeah, cool," he said, looking away. His mouth turned down as if he was a little disappointed.

"Wait, did you think this was a date?" I looked at him in the eye, and took a step closer.

"What? W-Why would I think that?" Though he said that, his stutter made me suspicious.

I stared at him longer, and he looked away. A warm feeling spread in my stomach at his cuteness. God bless, and I was thinking that he was just incarnated to torture me!

But now I had this feeling that maybe I could just flip this situation around.

"Strawberry or Vanilla?" I asked him as he stared at the two options in front of him.

"Str-, no, vanilla. No wait! Make it Strawberry." I stared at him as he fretted over the flavor of his milkshake.

Our order was already packed, and we both pooled our money to pay for it. Though he had insisted on paying for everything, I was dead against it. I had money to spare, so in the end, we had just argued about it.

"How are we going to go back?" Brandon asked me, worried. My hands were full of food and he was holding the milkshakes in his hands as well.

I stared at the long road going uphill and had trouble imagining cycling all the way up there with Brandon in tow.

"Let's just eat and lighten the load?" I suggested, and Brandon shrugged.

I helped him down to the beach, and we both settled on the sand. He handed me my chocolate milkshake and began slurping on his strawberry one.

"Don't tell me we are going to have a heart to heart conversation right now." Brandon chuckled, his eyes mocking me.

"Nah, I just wanna pig out," I answered, grabbing d the hot waffle and shoving it in my mouth.

"That's my girl!" He laughed, clapping his hand on my back. I blushed at his statement, though my inner feminist scowled.

"Yeah, yeah." I giggled and caught his milkshake from his hand. Before he could even blink, I had taken a long slurp from it. His mouth hung open, and I stuck my tongue out to tease him.

"Hey!" He took his revenge and snatched my milkshake from my hand. He sucked in on the straw, and almost finished it in one gulp.

"We just shared an indirect kiss, you know?" I whispered, and Brandon almost choked on the milkshake. He coughed a few times, and punched his chest lightly. His ears were turning red, and he was purposely looking away from me.

Is he embarrassed just thinking about a kiss?

"Oh shit, I think I have got a new hobby." I clutched my stomach as laughter erupted from me. I couldn't believe that beneath all the flirty exterior was a cute schoolboy Brandon.

"What? It just went into the wrong pipe," he said and looked even more embarrassed.

"You should have--" I paused and Brandon tapped my shoulder, waiting for me to continue.

"Brandon! Look!" I stood up immediately, pointing towards a small figure in the middle of the sea.

"Whoever it is, he's not coming back up anymore!" I shouted, panicked. The figure's hands flailed around and then disappeared altogether.

A lot of people turned to look at me, and Brandon swore beside me.

"No lifeguard on duty," he muttered, kicking off his slippers, and throwing away his wallet and phone on the sand.

Brandon sprinted towards the water and dived in. I had just blinked twice and Brandon was already inside the sea. People gathered around, and I quickly packed everything up and sprinted to the shore myself.

"Brandon!" I shouted as no figure came up for a while. Panic shot through me as I realized that Brandon was still injured. I looked around helplessly to see that no one was moving to help up.

About to dive in myself when I heard a collective gasp, and saw two heads bobbing up from the water. Brandon swam towards the shore, a female body in tow behind him. Just as he pulled her out, a whistle went through the crowd and I saw the lifeguard rushing up to the scene.

"Move!" he shouted, and pushed people away, and immediately started checking the vitals of the girl. He shouted for someone to call 911.

My attention went to Brandon as he collapsed on the sand, and I ran towards him in panic.

"Brandon! Brandon! Are you okay? Open your eyes, dammit!" I shouted, and he opened his eyes.

"Fuck... " he groaned out and covered his eyes with his hands.

"You stupid jerk!" I hissed at him, almost on the verge of crying as he gingerly sat up and looked at me.

"Hey, I just saved a life!" he said, blocking out the punches I was throwing at him. I looked back to see that the girl was spouting up water and was thankfully moving again.

"Next time, think before you act!" I scolded him, and he chuckled. I crushed myself upon him, hugging him, glad that he was otherwise unharmed.

"Woah!" He lost his balance and fell back on the sand, with me on top of him. He gave a short laugh before wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me close.

"If this is what I get for every time I save a life, then I want to be the fucking superman," he whispered in my ear and I blushed.

*****