chapter 6 - ana

I opened my eyes to a blinding light coming through the windows of my room. Wait no, this isn’t my room. This place is unfamiliar. This place is somewhere I have never been before. Oh my god, where am I? I started looking around and taking in my surroundings trying to figure out where the hell I was and how I had ended up here. Okay Ana think, what happened last night? You went to the pier with Josh, Kevin, and Isaiah. You argued with Isaiah and then you all made up and went to the restaurant, grabbed dinner, and then went drinking. I continued to look around to see if I could recognize anything. Nothing caught my eye, and I started to panic. I doubt that the guys would let me go home with some random stranger, but I have been known to run off when drunk and I dreaded the idea of being in some random guy’s bed.

It was then that I realized that I could hear a shower running in the bathroom that was attached to the room that I was in. In the middle of my panic mode, I realized that I was not wearing the same clothes that I had left wearing the night before. I was in a band tee that I had never seen before. After my realization, my ear heard the shower turn off and I started to prepare myself for whoever was about to come out that door. I shut my eyes and waited for my fate to present itself. I opened my eyes to a sight I hadn’t seen since high school and I wanted to run and hide because there was Isaiah Hayes, a towel wrapped around his waist, and a towel in his hand drying his hair. “Oh, good you’re awake. After your little bender last night, I was worrying that the first time I reached out to your brother after 4 years would’ve been to tell him that you were in the middle of LA with alcohol poisoning,” he chuckled. I smiled to myself, but it didn’t last long as the pounding in my head finally came into focus. I winced and grabbed my head before looking at Zay who was grabbing something off the bedside table. “Here, you look like hell.” I gave him a sarcastic smirk, “Thanks, Captain Obvious.” He sat down on the bed a minute later with a glass of water and handed it to me with a small smile. It was just like when we were in high school after his graduation party. I smiled to myself thinking back to the morning after that eventful night and he sat across from me and looked at me with a questioning expression, “What are you so smiley about Winters?” I laughed and let him reminisce with me. We both laughed at the memories before I gathered up the courage to ask, “What the hell happened last night? How did I end up in your apartment and where are my clothes?” he looked at me a bit dumbfounded, “You don’t remember anything?” I shook my head with a concerned look, “We didn’t, you know?” trailing off, assuming I didn’t have to finish for him to understand what I was hinting at. “No! God no, I would never do that, especially not with how drunk you were.” I smiled to myself, reassured that it was Isaiah’s bed that I had woken up in rather than some random guy I had met at whatever club we had ended up at last night. “So, what happened last night?” Zay then spent the next 20 minutes explaining everything that happened the night before and mentally I was slapping myself because of course my first night in LA had resulted in me getting so wasted that I couldn’t even remember past the Uber ride to the pier, presumably the worst part of the night. Zay and I continued talking about just random things like how things were back home, he asked about my dad and Henry, and he asked about Sadie and how things were going for the two of them in New York. He also asked how the hell I had ended up with an interview with his record label team. I explained the contest the label had posted and that I had come in the top three and was offered an interview. Suddenly something from the night before came crashing into my memory like a semi-truck.

 “Ana I think it’s time we get you back to your room!” Zay shouted at me as he approached Josh and me on the dance floor. I pouted, “But I’m having fun Zayyy! Please just give me another hour!” He shook his head and gave me a look that told me he wasn’t in the mood to mess around. “I’ve got her man. If you’re ready to call it a night go ahead! We’re going to the same place anyways.” Josh shouted back to him. “No, I would rather make sure she makes it back safe. I’ll wait.” Josh looked at him with anger in his face, “I can keep her safe. I’ll make sure she gets back to the hotel and back in her room.” “My concern isn’t back you keeping her safe, my concern is whether or not you would leave her alone once you got back to the room.” Josh took a step back from me and slapped Zay across the face with so much force that he stumbled back into the crowd and almost fell until Kevin came up behind him and caught him before he hit the ground. Zay steadied himself and turned back to Josh before grabbing him by his shirt, “Leave now, before I have you arrested.” Josh looked at me, “Do you want me to leave by myself or are you coming with me?” I looked between Josh and Isaiah, who was giving me the look he always gave me when we were around the football team in High School. At that moment I trusted that the Zay that I knew and loved was in there deep down and had my best interest in mind like he had since we had met. I backed away from Josh towards Isaiah and that seemed to be Josh’s last straw as he stormed out the door with Kevin on his heel. Zay looked at me, “Let’s go,” before turning on his heel and walking out the door. I followed him and once we had made it outside, I grabbed his arm, so he had to look at me. “What was that? Why did you freak out on him like that?” I slurred. He looked at me with a mix of emotions fighting in his eyes and said, “Don’t worry about it, let’s just get you home.” I wanted to protest and demand to know what the fight they had just started was about but at that moment the world started to spin, and I decided it was a better idea to let it go until I could think without worrying about my balance. I followed Zay into the Uber he had ordered and the last thing I remember is the city zooming past us as we drove.

I looked at him and fought the urge to tell him what I remembered. I wanted to know what he had fought with Josh about, but it didn’t seem like the time. He looked at me and with that boyish grin and said, “I’m taking you to breakfast. Get up, and I’ll take you to your room so you can get dressed. You need to eat before your liver starts eating itself.” He tossed me a pair of sweats to wear so my lower half wasn’t all but exposed and we headed out the door of his apartment building to catch the Uber he had ordered. He opened the back door and gestured for me to hop in, “Milady.” I laughed and hopped in with him following and we rode back to the hotel in silence as I watched the city in the daylight.

…

When we got back to the hotel Isaiah followed me inside and up to my room. It was only then that I realized I had no idea where my phone had ended up and started to frantically search in my bag in the elevator on the way up. In the middle of my search, Zay takes something out of his back pocket and says, “looking for something?” I snatch my phone from his grasp and stick my tongue out at him which he returns and then turn my attention back to my phone, which had been fully charged. I smiled to myself because even after having to drag my drunk butt back to his apartment he was thoughtful enough to plug my phone in for me. I clicked it on to see about 10 missed calls from my dad, 8 from Henry, and even a couple of texts from Sadie. I texted Sadie and Henry to tell them I was fine and that I had made it back fine but fell asleep before I could text them to tell them as much, and then I called my father who I’m sure was ready to call the cops and report me kidnapped. My frantic father picked up on the first ring and immediately bombarded me with question after question. “Dad, woah, calm down. I’m fine!” He asked why I hadn’t texted him that I was back safe, and I explained that I had fallen asleep before I had the chance to do so. After confirming that I was alive and telling him that I was perfectly fine about 17 more times on the 3-minute elevator ride I told him I had to go, told him I loved him, and hung up the phone before he could ask if I was okay again. 

“Same old John, him and his precious little ladybug.” He said and even though it was a way of mocking me, in his way it was admiring and endearing. “You remember what he used to call me?” he smiled, “How could I not? You used to be obsessed with the creepy little insects like they were the newest discovery in nature.” I smacked him lightly on his arm for the mockery but smiled as we rode the rest of the way to my floor. We were laughing about all the trouble and mischief that he and Henry had gotten into over the years as we arrived on my floor. The door opened and there on the other side stood Josh, looking like he hadn’t changed or slept since last night when he saw the two of us stepping off the elevator, me wearing Isaiah’s clothes that were about two sizes too big, his expression turned from one of concern to absolute anger and I just looked between the two boys and my stomach sank.