<b>Chapter Six</b>

 

<i>and it’s a lonely end that you will come to

morning comes and you don’t want to know me anymore</i>

 

“Oh God.  Somebody ran over my head with a Mack truck,” Taegan muttered when she woke up.  “Stop talking, Taegan, that just makes it worse.”  She opened her eyes and groaned.  “Who moved the sun?  Why is it in my hotel room?”

                                                                                                                                                                                          

“It’s not in your hotel room,” said a quiet voice from next to her.

 

Taegan’s eyes went wide.  She screamed and jumped up, and then promptly fell on the floor.  “Oh God, what happened to my head?  And why am I here?  And who are you?”  She glanced at herself and screamed again.  “And why am I naked?  Oh God, what did I do?!”

 

She grabbed a sheet and wrapped it around herself.  Closing her eyes, she hugged her knees and rocked back and forth on the floor in the fetal position.  “Oh God,” she repeated.  “Oh God oh God.”

 

“Here,” said the voice.  She opened one eye and looked up at Michael’s concerned face.  “Aspirin.”

 

“Oh thank you,” she said.  She took the aspirin and stood up, making sure the sheet was wrapped tightly around her.  She sat on the edge of the bed.  “We had sex, didn’t we?”

Michael nodded, then remembered that her eyes were closed.  “Yeah,” he whispered.

 

“Where are my clothes?”  He picked them up and handed them to her.  She tripped her way to the bathroom and somehow managed to put every article of clothing in the correct place.  “Do you have a pair of sunglasses I can borrow?”

 

Michael handed them to her.  She put them on and left without a single word.  Michael put his head in his hands.

 

He really liked her.  He couldn’t stand the fact that now everything had completely gone to shit.  He’d tried to resist her.  He’d tried his damnedest.  But she was so <i>hot</i>.  And he was a guy, after all.

 

“Idiot,” he chided himself before he got up and went to take a shower.

 

*

 

Taegan hopped on a shuttle bus to take her back to her hotel.  She sat down on one of the seats and leaned her head against the window.  Until the bus hit a bump and she decided that wasn’t such a good idea after all.  She couldn’t believe what she’d done.  She remembered bits and pieces, but the majority of what happened she couldn’t recall.  She remembered kissing Michael.  She remembered trying to seduce him.  She remembered the sex they’d had.  Come to think of it, that was the only thing she remembered, but she remembered it in great detail.  When she thought of it, it sent tingles down her whole body.  She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes against it.

 

When the shuttle stopped at the Grand Floridian, Taegan staggered her way into the hotel and to the elevator.  She stumbled down the hall and went to get her key out of her pocket.

 

“Shiiiit!” she cried.  She banged on the door, hoping Adriana was up worrying about her.

 

The door opened, revealing a boxer-clad, messy-haired, tired-looking Aaron.  Taegan’s eyes went wide.  Adriana appeared behind him, wearing an oversize T-shirt that Taegan knew wasn’t hers.

 

“You...  Oh God, you...  And I...”  Taegan turned and began to walk away.  Adriana ran past Aaron and grabbed Taegan’s arm before she could go very far.

 

“Taegan, can we talk, please?”

 

“What do you want to talk about, Adriana?  Hmm?  What?  Could it be the fact that you obviously slept with Aaron Peirsol last night?  Or maybe that I got completely smashed and have the worst hang over in all of human history?  Or maybe, just maybe, could it be the fact that I went to Michael’s hotel room, wasted, and seduced him?  Do you want to talk about that, Adriana?  Would you like to discuss the fact that I had sex with Michael Phelps last night?” Taegan blew up.  A tear rolled down Adriana’s face.  Aaron put an arm around her, but she shook him off.

 

Taegan grabbed her head with both hands and slumped against the wall.  She crumpled to the floor and burst into tears.  Adriana slid to the floor next to her and wrapped her arms around her best friend.  Rocking Taegan back and forth, Adriana looked up at Aaron.

 

“Maybe I should leave,” he mouthed from the doorway to the room.  Adriana nodded.

 

“Let me get her in and I’ll give you back your shirt,” she mouthed back.  “Taegan, honey, can you stand up, or would you like Aaron to carry you inside?  I have to get you out of the hallway, darling,” she said quietly and soothingly.

 

Taegan stood up and walked with Adriana into the room.  Adriana quickly got changed and handed Aaron his T-shirt.  He pulled on his jeans and shrugged on his shirt, kissed Adriana quickly and made himself scarce.  Taegan dropped onto her bed and put her head on the pillow.

 

“Taegan?” Adriana asked nervously.  “Sweetie, do you want to talk?”

 

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry, Addy, I didn’t mean to stomp out on you.  And now I’ve gone and ruined my whole life.  What if he never talks to me again?  What if he hates me?”  She sat up, eyes wide.  “What if I’m <i>pregnant</i>?”

 

“Taegan, calm down,” Adriana said, sitting next to her and putting an arm around her.  “Did you take your pill before you went out and got drunk?”  Taegan nodded.  “You’re not pregnant.”

 

“What if he gave me some disease?”

 

“Aaron told me he was a virgin.”

 

“Aaron’s a virgin?”

 

“No, Aaron told me Michael was a virgin.”

 

“I corrupted his innocence!  And what if I gave <i>him</i> some disease?!”

 

“You were a virgin, too.”

 

“Right.”  Taegan paused.  “What if he hates me?”

 

“He won’t hate you.”

 

“How can <i>you</i> not hate me?  I was a horrible bitch.  I’m the worst person in the world.  Addy, I don’t deserve you making me feel better.  How can you still be my friend, after the way I treated you?”

 

“You are my best friend.  You have been my best friend since second grade, and that’s not going to change because you said something you didn’t really mean.”

 

Taegan buried her head in Adriana’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry, Addy.  I’m such an idiot.  I’ve managed to ruin my whole life and piss off two of the most important people in my life all in one night.”

 

“Who’s the second?”

 

“Michael.”

 

“Then who’s the first?”

 

“You.”

 

“Nope.  I can’t speak for Michael, but you didn’t piss me off.  As soon as you left, I realized what was wrong.  You were angry with me for getting the guy again, weren’t you?”

 

Taegan nodded.  “I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be sorry.  I should be the one who’s sorry.  I almost broke up with Aaron last night after I realized.”

 

“Don’t be stupid,” Taegan said.  Adriana smiled, glad to hear her friend being somewhat herself.

 

“Yeah.  Aaron talked me out of it, but I nearly did.  I thought maybe if I wasn’t seeing him you wouldn’t be mad at me anymore.  And then he made me remember that you’d get mad at me.”

 

“Damn right.”

 

“I knew it.  So we didn’t break up.  And then–” Adriana trailed off.  She’d been about to tell Taegan what Aaron had told her, but she didn’t want to make her more upset than she already was.

 

“Then what?”  Taegan picked up her head and looked Adriana in the eye.  “I won’t get upset, whatever it is.  I promise.”

 

Adriana took a deep breath.  “He told me he loves me.”

 

“Oh, Addy!” Taegan threw her arms around the other girl.  “He did?!”  Adriana nodded, a smile on her face.  “I’m so happy for you!”  She gasped.  “And then you guys had sex!” she said, as though it just dawned on her.  “Aww, that’s cute.”  Adriana blushed.  “Did you tell him?”

 

“Tell him what?”

 

“That you love him.  Did you say it back?”

 

Adriana shook her head.  “No.  I may have said it while we were...you know...but I don’t think that counts.”

 

“But you do.”

 

“I do.”

 

“I do too.”

 

“You love Aaron?”

 

“No!  I love <i>Michael</i>.  Addy, the only thing I remember from last night, and in great detail, is Michael.  And kissing him, and – embarrassingly enough – seducing him, and – though I’m sure it was just sex to him – making love to him.  I may have been drunk, but that must have really been something to have such an impact on me!  And even though I was drunk, it still wasn’t just drunken sex.  Ok, it <i>was</i>, but it meant more than that to me, even completely trashed.”

 

“Oh, Taegan.”  Taegan burst into tears again.

 

“Addy, I’m so happy for you, I could burst.  But I can’t help being miserable and ruining everything for everyone.  I’m just such an idiot.  Addy, I want to go home.”

 

“I know you do, sweetie.  I know.  And I’d love to send you home, but I think you need to talk to Michael.”

 

“He hates me.”

 

“Do you know that?  Has he said it?”

 

“Well, no, but–”

 

“If he didn’t specifically say, ‘Taegan I hate you and I never want to see you again,’ then I don’t see why you should run away.”

 

“I’m bloody scared,” Taegan said.

 

“All the more reason to talk to him.”

 

“What?”

 

“Face your fears, Taeg.  And if Michael is one of those fears, face him, too.”

 

“I hate it when you’re smart,” Taegan mumbled.  Adriana grinned.  She knew she’d gotten through to Taegan.  “I’m not doing it today.”

 

“No,” Adriana agreed.  “Tomorrow.”