A Hope and a Chance(16)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I collapsed on top of her, while she stroked my back and stared into my eyes, before finally falling asleep. I closed mine shortly after flipping us around, while keeping our bodies tangled together.

8

I woke up wondering where I was, until I noticed Chance’s body strewn across mine. I lay there for a few minutes taking in just how beautiful he was. How could someone like him be single? A smile crossed my face when I felt his strong arms holding me. I kissed his shoulder and sat up. My head was throbbing as I eased my way out of his bed. When I got into the bathroom I closed the door and emptied my bladder. I opened the medicine cabinet and looked for some kind of pain killer, because it felt like I could throw up, and knew it would only get worse if I didn’t find something to relieve it.

When I was unsuccessful, I headed out into the kitchen. As I was walking I heard the front door opening. I ran back into the bathroom and hid behind the shower curtain. If this was my father, I was so dead.

A female voice filled the small pool house. “Chance? Where are you? Wake up sil…oh my God, you’re naked!” Buffy screamed.

“So, get out of here. Damn!” I heard him yell.

“Well, I came to check on you. Why were you sleeping naked? You never sleep naked.”

I heard the bathroom door move and closed my eyes. I don’t know why I thought that if I had them shut I wouldn’t get caught, but I did it anyway. When I heard the toilet seat lift up and a loud strand of pee hitting the water, I knew it was Chance. I kept as quiet as I could. “I guess I passed out when I got out of the shower. I don’t remember,” he confessed.

“Weird, Chance. You are so weird.”

He didn’t remember? How could he not remember? It was so perfect.

“Whatever. Are you done, or can I get a shower without you hounding me?” He asked as he reached in and turned on the faucet. I couldn’t say anything as the frigid water hit my skin. I put my hand over my mouth and held it in.

“I made breakfast. When you’re done getting yet another shower, you should come eat. Who gets that many showers anyway? You need to get laid so you can start acting normal. I don’t even want to know how many times you’re using showers as an excuse to rub one off. Just make sure you continue washing your own clothes. If I touch one cum rag, I’ll freaking kill you,” she announced as she left. I heard the door slam when the water started getting warm. I almost wanted to laugh at what she’d said.

When I started to relax my body, the shower curtain flew open and Chance came climbing in. “Hope? Oh shit.”

I was crouched down in the bottom of the tub, soaking wet and naked, and he was too.

“Sorry, I heard her coming in, and had to hide,” I confessed.

We were both still frozen in place. He didn’t seem to notice that I was naked. I stood up and faced him, but when I reached my hand out to touch him, he backed away. “What’s wrong, Chance?”

“You need to leave. You can’t be here.”

“But last night?”

“Was a big mistake.”

His words crushed me.

Last night had been the best night of my life and those four words destroyed me. I hugged my chest and climbed out of the shower. “Let me just grab some clothes and I’ll call my friend to meet me down the street.” I headed out of the bathroom, trying desperately to hold back my emotions.

Within seconds he was standing behind me in nothing but a towel. “Hope, please understand. We can’t do this. We should have never done anything.”

“I understand perfectly. I’m so sorry that I threw myself at you. I thought we liked each other.” I wanted to be sick. This couldn’t have gone any more differently than I’d imagined. Yet again I’d slept with another guy who clearly couldn’t respect me. It was nauseating.

“I’m sorry.” Was all he said, and it was enough to break my heart.

I threw on clothes I found on the floor and went running out of the back of the pool house. When I made it into the neighbor’s yard behind my father’s, I kept running. I didn’t want anyone to stop me. I pulled the cell phone out of my small clutch purse and started dialing Rylee.

By the time she picked up I was a mess. I couldn’t even get the words out.

“Slow down, Hope. I can’t understand you.”

“I need you… to come… get me.”

“What happened to you last night? Who was that guy?”

“I’ll… explain… everything when… you get here.”

“Where?”

I gave her directions to the entrance of my father’s community while I started walking in that direction. If I ever came back here again, it would be too soon.

I felt like it took forever for Rylee to pick me up. When she did, she couldn’t believe what she saw. I was soaking wet, and in someone else’s clothes, without a bra. I wasn’t as wet as before, but since I hadn’t had time to towel off, things were pretty see through.

She had a million questions, but once I climbed inside the car, all I could do was cry. I had never felt so humiliated before.

I should have never agreed to her stupid plan last night.

“Where did you go, Hope?” She asked when I’d finally calmed down.

I looked at her. “Obviously I ended up going home with someone.”

“Holy crap. Are you serious? I had no idea. Some hot guy came up and said you needed to leave. I told him to tell you to wait in the car if you were unhappy. The next thing I knew the bar was closing and you were nowhere to be found.”

I couldn’t believe she was turning this around on me. “It was around ten. The bar didn’t close for hours. Did you really expect me to wait outside alone that long?”

“I should have just given you my keys. Kyle would have dropped me off later.”

I cringed. “You hooked up with that strange guy?”

“Don’t you dare go preaching to me, Hope. You obviously did just as much as I did last night,” she said as she continued driving.

“He wasn’t a stranger.”

Rylee pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road. “What do you mean he wasn’t a stranger? Who the hell was he?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I mumbled.

“You better spill. I am not moving this car until you do,” she threatened.

I told her all about Chance.

How we met.

How he saved me.

How he took me home.

She didn’t ask for details about what happened once we got there, because the answer was written across my shame-filled face.