The Summer We Changed

Chapter 6

I woke up as the sun rays streamed through my windows, falling annoyingly on my face. I searched around for a cooler, darker place and scooted down further inside the duvet. My head was hurting though and it was impossible to go back to sleep now that I was aware of that. So groaning, I sat up and turned my attention to the digital clock on my wall. It was a little after ten and downstairs I could hear my parents bickering about something. I couldn't care less. My headache was killing me and my throat was dry as hay.

Reaching over, I grabbed the glass of water from the side table and started taking slow leisurely sips. I realized I had fallen asleep in my stupid dress only and my hairs were all over the place. I tucked some hairs behind my ear and froze, remembering something.

Oh no... Adrian...Me...The kiss!

The kiss!

I stared at my hands as I tried to recollect the memories of last night. Oh dear, please just make me remember it...I closed my eyes and tried to trace back what happened last night...

"You looked really beautiful tonight, Ellie," He whispered, tucking my stray hairs behind my ears. "The prettiest of all,"

I bit my lip and a stupid blush crept up on my cheeks. Was I dreaming? But he was right here in front of me, so I probably wasn't. Adrian smiled and traced my cheek with his fingers softly. I closed my eyes as weird feelings started to flutter inside me. I so wanted to kiss him but I wasn't brave enough to initiate. When I opened my eyes, Adrian was observing me carefully, his eyes dark and hooded.

"I have an intense urge to kiss you," He said after a pause. "I don't know why,"

"You have the entire night to figure that out," I blabbered and a slow sexy smile crept up his lips in response.

"f**k it," He muttered and inching closer pressed his lips to mine.

I was surprised at first but then as I finally got the hang of his lips on mine, I let go of all my inhibitions and let him kiss me. His lips were warm and soft and he tasted of beer and peppermint. He wrapped his arm around my waist pulling my closer while I clutched at his hairs for support.

When he pulled away, we both were breathless. He stared at me his eyes dark and I squirmed under his hooded gaze. He traced my bare shoulder with his finger nails and I gaped at the contact. But before I could respond, he pressed his lips to mine again....

Oh no...

I stared horrified at the duvet and then glanced around myself. Where was Adrian? I was sure he slept here last night. Where was he?

I grabbed my phone and dialed his number but it was switched off. f**k!

Scrambling down my bed, I quickly stripped out of the bloody dress and pulled on a white t-shirt and shorts. Haphazardly brushing my hairs, I tied them in a knot on the top of my head and scooted downstairs at full speed. My parents were having breakfast and both turned their attention to me as I missed the last step and landed straight on my ass.

"Have you seen Adrian?" I demanded, standing up and vigorously rubbing my  behind.

"He left early in the morning," Mom answered, eyeing me suspiciously.

"s**t!" I grimaced and scooted towards the door.

"Elena!" Mom called but I was already out of the door. Why did he leave without even telling me? 

I grabbed my bike and to my dismay it wasn't charged. Damn! Damn these chargeable bikes. I eyed dad's car and wondered if I should take that instead. But if I went inside to fetch the keys now my parents would bombard me with questions that I didn't want to answer. Not at atleast before talking to Adrian.

Screw it!

Adrian's house was three blocks away so I decided to walk instead, calling him all along the way. A weird kind of anxiety bloomed inside me and I felt both pissed and sad. It was a bit insulting that he ran away like that as if we committed some kind of crime. So we kissed...maybe we shouldn't have but then what's done is done. We were adults and whatever happened we needed to talk it out like grown ups. The more I thought about it, the more pissed I was at him.

Uncle Julian was watching the sprinklers in his garden when I reached and he greeted me with his usual big happy smile.

"Morning, uncle Ju," I muttered walking up to him.

"Morning, Ellie," He smiled. "How was last night? Where's Adrian?"

What??

"What do you mean? Adrian's not home?" I demanded, frowning.

"No, I thought he crashed at your place last night?" He muttered, looking puzzled.

"He did," I nodded, blankly. "But Mom said he left early so I thought he came back home,"

"He didn't,"

I frowned as I stared blankly at the sprinklers going round and round and spraying and cleaning the plants. Where can he go? I rummaged through my head for all our hangout spots and then it hit me. Oh yes! There...

"I got to go," I muttered to Uncle Julian. "Don't worry, I know where he is,"

"Ellie!" He called when I was halfway out of their gate. I halted and turned to face him. Please don't ask anything!

"Yeah?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Is everything alright?" He demanded and I nodded in response.

I really hoped so...

Our favourite hang-out spot was a place we discovered while strolling with our books one summer evening a few years back. It was this pretty little place in a little deeper part of the Potter Fields Park. The place was surrounded with soft cushiony heather and gave a perfect view of the London Bridge. Over the years that came, it turned out to be our comfort zone. Whenever something went wrong we would go there to calm down. And which meant that I was a more often visitor there than Adrian because things went wrong most of the time with me only.

I scrambled through the long heather bushes, huffing with all the empty-stomach walking early in the morning. My head was also a mess and I made a promise never to drink like that ever again in my life. If Adrian wasn't here I was going back home for sure. But as it happened, he was there. Sitting with his legs crossed and aimlessly tearing at the poor harmless grass.

"Adrian," I called and he turned to face me, looking surprised. After a beat, he resumed his job of plucking the grass.

What the hell!

"What in heaven's name are you doing?" I demanded, folding my arms across my chest. "Mom said you left early in the morning,"

"Yeah, I woke up," He answered, still not looking at me.

"Why didn't you wake me up then?" I inquired.

"I didn't want to disturb you..."

"Or maybe you silently wanted to run away?"I retorted flatly. "Oh wait...you did,"

"I didn't run away," He muttered, scowling at me.

"Then why didn't you go home?" I asked. "Why come here?"

"Because I needed to clear my head," He answered silently. "What happened last night..."

"What did happen last night, Adrian?" I inquired, getting pissed with every minute.

"You know what happened last night!" He snapped.

"We kissed. That's all happened,"

"And that's what exactly shouldn't have happened," He retorted back, looking at me in dismay. "It was wrong, Elena. I was supposed to take care of you. Not take advantage of you when you were indisposed,"

"Indisposed?" I spat. "I think I kissed you back, Adrian,"

"Don't talk about it," He groaned, running his hand through his hair.

"Why? We are not kids anymore, Adrian," I snapped at him. "So we kissed. We were drunk like hell and fueled by that we kissed. It's not like we had s*x or something. It happens. Why are you making a mountain out of a mole hill?"

"Well it shouldn't have!" He snapped back. "It's wrong, Ellie. We are best friends...this ...this shouldn't have happened. And it was my fault! I initiated it. And I feel bad about it. I can't even look at you,"

"You feel bad that you kissed me when we were drunk or just because it was me?" I demanded silently. He stared at me long and hard and then sighed.

"A little of both," He whispered at last.

Wow...

I stared at him and felt like crying. Why was kissing me so repulsive to him? It was frankly very very insulting. Especially coming from him.

"Fine, then regret it," I replied flatly. "But let me tell you something, I don't regret what happened last night. Because it happened with you, the man I trust above everyone else. If it would have been someone else instead of you than I would have definitely felt the way you do. But you are my best friend and I atleast expected that we can move past it without making it such a huge deal. But apparently for you kissing your best friend is more repulsive than kissing a stranger,"

Adrian stared wide-eyed at me and I held his stare impassively. I was so mad at him but above all hurt. This was definitely not the way I thought he would react.

"This was not what I meant, Elena," Adrian muttered slowly.

"No, I get it, Adrian," I said. "I am sorry for what happened. If I could change it, trust me I would,"

With that said, I turned on my heels and started walking away hoping he would catch up. But he didn't and all I hear was f**k.

But the thing was, I was too mad and hurt at him to give a f**k about his f**k.  

Mom was staring at her laptop when I walked in. I said nothing and headed straight for my room before she could start her interrogation, even though I could feel her eyes on me.

I really didn't have the energy to answer her questions. Fumbling through the medicine cabinet, I found some medicine for hangover and popped it in my mouth, ideally wondering what it was doing there in the first place. I have never gotten drunk before. To distract myself from the mortification that I just received from my best friend, I put on some music and started cleaning about my room.

Exams were only a week away and I have heard that a healthy environment promotes better concentration. So I started my work with arranging all my books even though e-books and digital modules were basically used for studies these days. But I was old school and I liked the feel of scribbling and highlighting on the clean pages while studying. It was also a great distraction technique. Turning out the sheets, I stowed them into the washing machine and put on a fresh white sheet with big flowers printed on them. 

As I was shuffling under the bed, I found Adrian's tie ideally lying there. I stared at it and then landed it straight into the waste bin in one graceful throw. There, suits him well!

Halfway through my cleaning marathon, Mom knocked at the door and then eventually came in, carrying a tray with her. I inwardly rolled my eyes. Why knock if you are going to come in anyway? 

"What are you doing?" She demanded, looking so surprised as if I have grown two heads. 

Samba... I wanted to say but controlled my tongue. Adults were really weird half of the time to be honest so even bickering with them was pointless. 

"Cleaning," I muttered, shuffling through my wardrobe. The sweeping machine tugged at my feet making me jump. I rolled my eyes and pressed the power button to shut it down. I peered down at the little monitor attached to it and pursed my lips. 

Heavy garbage

"I think there's something wrong with the machine," I muttered hurriedly and mom smirked at me. 

"The machine's just fine," She laughed. "You haven't clean your room in ages. Why on earth is it so hard for you? All you need to do is turn on the machine and it will do all the cleaning itself. Simple," 

"I was busy," I retorted, making a face. 

"Doing what?" Mom demanded, folding her arms across her chest. 

Fantasizing about my best friend....

"Studying, obviously," I answered and rolled my eyes at her. Lying with such confidence and conviction  was an art in itself and I, Elena Ella Parker was absolutely well-versed in it. 

"What do you want, mom?" I demanded, raising a brow. My mother and father were extremely busy people, so when they suddenly show up and try to chit-chat...it screams DANGER! 

"I brought you lunch, what else?" She answered, placing the tray of food on my bed. "And coffee since you were too preoccupied through out the morning," 

Oh... sarcasm at its peak!

"Gee, thanks mom," I muttered, starting on my fish and chips with mushy peas on the side. My mother literally made the best fish and chips in the world! 

"So, Ellia..." She began cautiously and I halted. 

See? DANGER...

"Mom what is it?" I demanded, coming straight to the point. "I know you want to ask something. Just fire away," 

"I er..." She started a bit hesitant. "Did something happen between you and Adrian last night?"

Ohhh nooo....

"Nope, no," I replied calmly as I took a sip of my frothy coffee. Mom stared at me, her dark eyes trying to look straight past me. She was actually pretty good at that and it was usually hard for my poor father or my sister to hide stuff from her but me? I was a pro. 

"Then why did you rushed out like that?" She pointed. "And why did he left in such a hurry?" 

"We fought last night," I answered, impassively. "That's why. Plus we accidentally got a bit drunk too. So I guess he got all flustered after seeing you," 

"Oh," She murmured, not at all convinced. "Well are you sure nothing happened?" 

"Obviously," I rolled my eyes. Rolling eyes usually portrayed confidence so I always made sure I rolled my eyes a lot while lying. 

"Well, if you say," She said with a smile. "But er even if something did happen...I er...I hope you guys are being careful, you know?" 

Here goes The Talk, the painful, embarrassing and immensely mortifying I-hope-you-are-using-protection lecture that every teenager has to go to no matter how modernized the world has become. 

"Mom, Adrian and I are best friends and we are not ever sleeping together," I said firmly. "And even if I do I will let you know beforehand so that you can stack me up,cool?" 

"Its not funny," Mom retorted, going red. "Finish your food and start studying," 

Jeez! Who started the conversation in the first place? 

After I was done eating, I dragged my lazy ass to my study table and started going through the packed and horrifying study schedule Adrian had prepare for me. I glanced at my phone and realised that all through the day I was hoping of some sort of message or text from him. But there was nothing. No sorry. No let's sort it out, Ellie. No nothing. 

I sighed as I stared at my laptop and felt tears prickled at the corner of my eyes. As I stared at my wallpaper which was a picture of our entire family during our vacation to the countryside last summer, I wondered...

Was I expecting too much from him?

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A/N: Hello guys!b Here's the next update! Waiting for your opinions! Whose reaction do you think was justified? Elena's or Adrian's?