Chapter 4: Back At Home

"What do you mean? I can't go back home yet! You haven't answered anything I asked. Nothing is making any sense," yelled Lexi as she shook in her sleep while she was lying in bed. At this point, Lexi's boyfriend had just changed his clothes and snuck into the bed with her.

"Hey, wake up. You're yelling in your sleep," Soren said softly while gently reaching over to shake Lexi's shoulder.

"Huh, hang on... Wh-wait, where am I?" Lexi mumbled after hearing those words; before her eyes widened, she let out a small gasp.

"Pfft, don't be silly, you're at home in bed with me; where else would you be," Soren said before a playful chuckle ended up escaping his lips.

After hearing her boyfriend's words, she sat upright in the bed she was currently lying in while her eyes darted all around the room in a desperate search for an answer from within the darkness as if that would solve the countless thoughts that started to bombard her mind.

"That's Soren's voice; there's no mistaking it. So that must mean I'm back home then? But how the heck did I end up here when I don't even remember leaving the club? The last thing I remember is that I vomited on some guy, but what happened after that?!" Lexi mentally screamed as she tried to sort out her thoughts.

She sat there in deep concentration while squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing her temples, demanding her mind to recall something that would clear things up. But no matter how hard she tried, instead of her mind spitting out the answer she wanted, it only ended up coming up blank.

"This is driving me crazy; that can't be all; come on, mind think, why is it all a blur after that point? What time even is it?" Lexi thought in a confused daze while still holding her head.

Lexi glanced over to the right, and her mind was instantly put at ease when her eyes came in contact with the familiar faint red light illuminating the alarm clock numbers she always kept on a nightstand beside the bed, revealing that it was only 3 a.m. She then let out a small sigh of relief before softly mumbling, "So I really am back at home. Thank goodness, it was all just some wild dream then; it all seemed so real."

Suddenly, something dawned on Lexi, which caused her to narrow her blue eyes and turn to glare at her boyfriend in the dark, who was lying on his side of the bed. "Hey, that reminds me, where have you been? You have a lot of explaining to do." Lexi said in a low and demanding tone while crossing her arms across her chest and raising her right eyebrow.

"Did you just get here because you look like you haven't gone to bed yet? Remember, we were supposed to have our anniversary dinner, and you stood me up!" Lexi said in a sharp tone while furrowing her eyebrows.

"I got here not long ago and I didn't forget about our anniversary dinner! I told you a friend needed help, so I went to help them!" Soren declared, trying to protest his innocence while resting his right hand on his chest as if unconsciously, using his body language to show that he was speaking the truth.

Lexi rolled her eyes and laid back on the bed without saying anything, with her back facing her boyfriend as if to silently tell him that she did not want to hear another word out of his mouth. As Lexi laid there, unease and uncertainty began to eat away at her. She did not want to make assumptions, but Soren seemed to reek of perfume that was not a scent that she wore.

"So, you just got home? What kind of help did they need? Why didn't you  mention to me which friend of yours needed help?" Lexi stated in a skeptical tone.

Soren tried to reassure Lexi by cozying up his body against hers. "Relax, no need to get all worked up. It wasn't anything major; it was just a male co-worker. His name is Jasper, and he had some car trouble, that's all, I swear. It just took longer than expected," Soren said calmly.

"Is the problem fixed now?" Lexi grumbled.

"It is," Soren softly said as he leaned over to kiss Lexi's forehead.

"Now, let's get some sleep because I'm exhausted," Soren replied in a tired-sounding voice before he let out a loud yawn. Soren didn't take long to fall fast asleep as he was cuddled close to Lexi, and she soon followed suit shortly after him.

"Ping, ping."

"Is it time to get up already," Lexi groaned as she reached over to turn off her alarm. Still, the sound didn't stop even after she pressed the off button on her alarm clock, which caused Lexi to sit up slowly, look over to her right at her nightstand, and realize that it was not her alarm but her iPhone. She reached out to grab it and noticed that Brooke, her bestie, had tried to call her.

"Seriously, it's 11:00 a.m. already! I better get up," Lexi said in a hurry before gently nudging Soren to roll over to his side since he was all over her side of the bed rather than his own. Lexi then got up from the bed to chat with Brook and find out what she wanted to talk with her about so badly.

"What's up?" Lexi texted Brooke, waiting for a response, but since there was nothing, she decided to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she finished, she grabbed her iPhone and looked down at it to see Brook had finally responded.

Brook's text read, "Hey girl, so how did last night go?"

"Well, Soren stood me up for our anniversary dinner because some co-worker friend named Jasper needed some car help," Lexi texted back, her eyes downcast.

"So what happened? What did you do?" Brooke swiftly texted back, making it clear she was eager to hear more.

"Trust me, I have a lot to tell you," Lexi typed back, barely able to contain herself from spilling everything she wanted to talk to Brooke about.

A small smile danced across Lexi's lips when she read Brooke's newest message: "Do tell! Don't make me wait until we're both at work!"

"Ok, but I was about to jump in the shower," Lexi texted Brook back as she let out a small giggle.

"I can come get you in about an hour and a half," Brooke texted back.

"Sounds great! See you then," Lexi typed back and smiled from ear to ear while thinking to herself just how lucky she was to have a best friend like Brooke, who was always there for her.

"Who were you texting," Soren asked in a curious tone.

"Hey, you're finally awake. Oh, just Brooke. I'm going to take a shower so we can meet up and chat for a while," Lexi replied nonchalantly.

"Is there room for one more?" Soren asked in a sultry tone as a mischievous smile crossed his lips.

Lexi sighed before shaking her head and firmly turned down his request, "No, there'll be none of that since Brooke will be here in less than an hour and a half, so I have to be ready before then."

"Where are you two planning on going?" Soren curiously asked as he raised his right eyebrow at her.

"Hmm, I'm not sure yet. But, if I had to guess, it would probably be that place called the Tea House," Lexi mentioned as she looked over at Soren.

"So, you can't be distracting me; otherwise, I'll end up being late," Lexi playfully said while giggling softly.

"Ok, Babe. Maybe next time," Soren sweetly said while winking at her before blowing a kiss in Lexi's direction, which caused her to grin and playfully shake her head.

After that, Lexi hurried into the bathroom and closed the door behind her so that she could get ready. Right when Lexi turned the knob of the shower, a stream of warm water splashed against her skin, causing her muscles to relax instantly. For some reason, she suddenly recalled a fragment of her dream from last night. She didn't remember too much; the only thing she could make out from the dream was a man with blonde hair whose icy blue eyes, which she couldn't forget, had stared into her own.

"He seemed so real," Lexi quietly thought to herself, completely lost in her thoughts.

"Hey, you better hurry up in there, slowpoke, or you're gonna be late," Soren yelled through the bathroom door after knocking on it so Lexi could hear him over the shower.

"Thanks for letting me know; I'm gonna be out in a few minutes," Lexi shouted back. Lexi finished up and turned off the water before she opened the shower curtain and reached for her bubblegum pink towel. She was still in deep thought even as she dried off.

"Hmm, who was that guy in my dream again?" Lexi pondered to herself. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he seemed familiar like she had seen him before or even greeted him somewhere.

"Eh, if I can't remember it, it probably was nothing important anyway," Lexi thought, shrugging it off before putting on her skinny blue jeans, a classy blue off-the-shoulder blouse to match her jeans, and gold loop earrings.

"Now for my makeup," Lexi said to herself while looking into the bathroom mirror and pulling out a drawer to grab some makeup that would complement her outfit choice.

She looked into the mirror and applied a soft shade of navy blue eyeshadow on her eyelids. She couldn't help but think that it was such a beautiful color. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't figure out why that was. She then added some black liner along the base of her eyelids before adding a touch of black mascara. She finished off her look with a wine lip liner and filled her lips with dark red lipstick.

When Lexi was done, she took the clip off her hair, causing her beautiful blonde straight hair to fall gracefully downward before brushing it. Lexi never had to do much with her hair since she had a beautiful and natural model look. To complete the look, Lexi exited the bathroom to retrieve her black heels, perfect for today's occasion.