ELISA

I am in deep shit.

No... Scratch that.

I'm in deep deep deep bottomless shit.

To understand what I am feeling right now, let's go back to about an hour and a half ago...

The constant ringing of my phone woke me up.  Without looking for it, I just blindly reached out for that noisy and annoying phone.  As if this straight out of hell hangover wasn't enough, my phone just had to be a menace as well.  Being unable to find my phone near me with my hand, as a next attempt I tried reaching out to the other side, suddenly bumping my hand into something.

It wasn't my phone.

It wasn't something.

It was someone.

I reached out for someone.

Someone's hand

A big and warm hand

I quickly sat up straight and looked at my left.  My phone started ringing again.  It was loud.  But my screaming was hella a lot louder.  I screamed like I saw a ghost but it was not a ghost.  It was...

He was...

"Are you finally awake? You'll probably have a nasty hangover since you were so dead drunk last night."
Patrick
Patrick Alvarez was lying in the same bed with me.   Even worse,  he was completely naked!  But this is the worst part: I was completely naked too.  I held the blanket tightly to cover myself up.  This is not the kind of morning I want to wake up to.  Especially with this horrible hangover, Oh God… It feels like thousands of boulders keep hitting my head continuously.
“What the? Why are YOU naked? Why AM I naked?” I still asked but the answer was so painfully obvious.  It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
Patrick propped his chin in the palm of  his right hand while holding my phone that kept ringing non-stop with his left.  I quickly took my phone away from him so I could see who was calling me this early in the morning.  It felt like time stopped for a moment when I read the caller ID.
Penelope
Penelope Alvarez was calling me.  What impeccable timing.  Without a moment to lose, I declined the call and texted her to call me later then I turned off my phone.  Dealing with Patrick comes first, his sister will have to wait.
Patrick yawned, he was clearly tired but for some reason, he seemed refreshed.
I just stared at him, waiting for his answer to my pointless question.  Like asking if a zebra has stripes,  there’s no other explanation for this ‘unusual’ predicament.
“It’s a long story but the short version is that Drunk You seduced me so we ended up slee-”

I couldn’t let him finish his sentence so I quickly covered his mouth with my hands, entirely letting go of the blanket I once held to cover up myself.  Then, the blanket fell swiftly, revealing my chest to my best friend’s younger brother. 

There was an awkward pause.   Patrick immediately looked away from the ‘view’ while I wrapped myself again.  We need to talk this through before all hell will break loose.  By hell, I meant Penelope Alvarez.

“Your sister is going to kill me if she finds out I ‘seduced’ her precious little brother.  I’m so sorry.  How could I let this happen?” 

Hundreds of thoughts raced through my mind despite my head aching.  Thoughts of how Penelope will react to this, thoughts of how she will murder me, heck! She might just bury me alive for all I know.  That’s just how Penelope is.  Patrick’s only big sister and only remaining family.  So, I understand how Penelope can be a bit overprotective towards her brother.

“Because I let it happen.”

Those words that came out of Patrick’s lips echoed through my mind.

As if I’m still processing his words, I only looked at him in disbelief.  He continued:

“So don’t say sorry.  Don’t be.  It’s not your fault.”

I can’t believe this is happening.  I searched for my clothes that were scattered on the floor.  Oh God… did Patrick rip my dress off of me? Or did I rip it myself? So, I found a shirt and put it on and realized it was Patrick’s.  The only reply I could muster up was:

“How is this not my fault?  Enlighten me.”

Patrick rose out of bed and put on his pants, only his bare well toned chest was exposed.

Is this the same little Patrick I’ve known for ages?

His voice snapped me back from my thinking.

“I let myself be seduced by you so it’s not your fault.”

What?

“Uhh…Why would you?”

No…

It can’t be…

Patrick let out a toothy grin.  His dimple was showing on his right cheek.

“Why else?  It’s because my long-time crush finally looks at me and that’s you.  I like you, El.”

This can’t be…

“You have to be kidding me.”

It must be a joke but Patrick’s gaze on me told me otherwise.

“Nope.  I’m 100 percent serious.”

***

“Elisa! Are you listening?” 
Penelope’s touch let me come back to reality.  We’re at our second hangout place which is The Sweet Books.  The first one was that place, The Nightingale.  The place before that happened.

The Sweet Books is a cafe on the first floor and it’s an open library on the second floor.  Penelope told me to get my grown-ass over here unless I want her right out of my doorstep.  Without a second to lose, I immediately hurried over to The Sweet Books since I don’t want Penelope to see any more traces that her younger brother left at my home.

Now…What should I tell her?

‘Hey Penny!  Guess what?  I had a one-night stand with your Oh-so-precious brother and apparently, he has been crushing on me for years.’

Yeah, right.  Unless I want to be decapitated by her, it’s best to keep my mouth shut.

“What happened?” 

Both of us managed to speak up.  “What do you mean ‘what happened’?  Were you so drunk that you don’t remember? Did Patrick take you home like I asked him to?”

Penelope raised her eyebrow.  Her face was filled with worry with a mix of suspicion.  Those evergreen orbs of eyes were fixed on me,  waiting for an explanation.
 
“Why would you ask your brother when you could do it yourself?”  I wish I could take back my words…What the heck did I blurt out?

“Don’t give me that tone!  Work suddenly came up and you were unusually very drunk last night.  My boss needed me to take care of it and I couldn’t leave you alone.  I asked Ricky to take you home instead.”

Penelope spat out her words so quickly as if she was in a rap battle.  Among those many words she said, only his name made my whole body flinch.

‘Ricky’

Ricky is Patrick’s nickname.  I was the one who came up with it.  Pat seemed so overused.  When I called him ‘Ricky’ one time, he liked the nickname ever since.

Did he already have a crush on me that time?

I could never tell.