If it weren't for the fact she was using me to make Mason jealous, I would probably be the happiest person alive right now.

I think I still am.

The kiss is nothing like Hollie's. I feel something. I feel everything. Her lips are soft against mine, just how I imagined they'd be. My tongue is entwined in hers and I forget completely about the alcohol taste and focus on her. On the intense feeling she's giving me. I've never felt this way while kissing. Ever.

When we pull apart, I'm left feeling cold; the fire she lit inside of me gone. All we do is look into each other's eyes for a moment. I wonder if she felt anything even close to what I felt.

"He's gone," she says, breaking my gaze.

"You used me," I say in the most pathetic voice I've ever used.

Her eyes meet mine again and she her hand on my lower arm. "I'm sorry." I should walk away and tell her to fuck off. I've let people use me before to piss off their ex's, and I let them because I got sex out of it. But Marnie doing it... it doesn't make me feel fucking happy.

"I should take you home." I make sure she can't see in my eyes how much she hurt me.

"Nooo," she whines. "My mom will be mad." She leans against the counter and takes a drink.

"Then stop drinking."

"No."

I sigh in frustration. She can't stay here and see what i'm about to do. "How about you sleep here?"

She thinks about it for a moment. "Okay."

I lead her through the house and up the stairs, then into one of the guest bedrooms where I usually stay when I'm here. "So, you okay here?"

"Yeah," she watches me from the centre of the room.

"Well, I'll be downstairs."

"Wait," she calls when I'm about to walk out the door. "Please don't leave me."

What the fuck am I going to do now? I could just wait until she falls asleep and then go. "Okay." I close the door and walk over to her. Putting my hands on her arms to lead her to the bed, I say, "Lie down."

She puts her hand on the side of my face, making me freeze. I watch her eyes, wondering what she's doing. My hand finds it's way to her waist, desperate to touch her, and I slowly move it up her body. She bites her lip and closes her eyes, then puts both her arms around my neck, pulling me closer.

"Kiss me," she breathes.

I want to. I want to so fucking bad.

"No."

But I can't. She is not herself right now. If she was sober she wouldn't be anywhere near me the way she is right now.

"Please," her voice is desperate, her eyes still closed.

Fuck. I can't handle it. She's so hot. So fucking irresistible. I lean in and kiss her.

Her hands run through my hair, pulling at the roots. Feels so good. A moan escapes her mouth. Fuck.

I push her down on the bed and hover over her. I want more. My lips go to her neck, kissing and sucking, making her moan in pleasure. I must be dreaming. This can't be real. My kisses trail down her chest, then back up her neck and onto her jawline.

She breathes heavily, her hands pulling harshly at my hair, then move down my body to the bottom of my shirt.

Fuck. What the fuck am I doing? She doesn't want this. She's drunk and upset about Mason. I'm just her rebound.

"Stop," I tell her even though I don't want to.

She doesn't listen, but instead of taking off my shirt, her hands slip under it and scratch at the skin on my back. It's like she fucking knows exactly what I like.

I try to get off of her but she wraps her legs around my torso, holding me down. She kisses me again and I kiss back, unable to resist her.

"Please stop, Marnie," I say against her lips. Because I won't be able to.

She's going to regret this. She'll hate me if I let this go any further. Why can't I just get a grip and stop being so fucking obsessed with her?

Her dress has moved up her body from her position, and my hand runs up her thigh. She whimpers from my touch. "More."

I want more, I do. She's like the strongest drug i've ever taken. And although I don't want to stop, I need to. Because if I don't, all we'll do is hurt each other.

I take her legs off of me and get off, then walk across the room. My hands lean against the wall, supporting my body as I try to catch my breath. What the fuck just happened?

"Sorry," Marnie's small voice says. I turn around. She's sitting on the bed, her legs curled up against her chest.

"Don't apologise. You should sleep." It's too

hot in here. I need out.

"Stay," she says as I head to the door.

"I'll come back."

"Promise?"

"Promise." I walk out of the room and close the door.

I will come back, but first, I have some things to take care of.

+++

I wake up alone in the large unfamiliar room.

Memories from the night before come flooding into my mind. The game of truth or dare. Seeing Zeke and Hollie kissing, making me really mad for some reason. Seeing Mason and that girl together. Kissing Zeke...

Oh God.

I kissed Zeke.

And it felt amazing.

I remember every feeling I got from it. Words can't even describe how incredible it was. And then after that... crap.

We almost... We could have... shit.

And Zeke rejected me... Of course he did. He doesn't like me. How embarrassing of me to think he'd want to do anything like that with someone like me.

As soon as I sit up in the bed, I feel nauseous. Not wanting to take any chances, I get up and run out of the room and down the hall, looking for a bathroom. As soon as I find one I lean over the toilet and puke up everything in my stomach.

Eugh, I hate being sick. The idea of it makes me feel sick. And then when I am puking I can't breathe which makes me panic and I feel like i'm ultimately going to die.

"You okay?" Zeke's voice booms through my head, making me wince and rub my temples as I relax onto the bathroom floor.

"Don't come in."

He's standing at the door, and it's then I notice that he's only wearing boxers. And he has a black eye. And he's holding my bra.

I gasp, "What happened?"

He comes over and sits on the ground beside me. "Got your bra back from Jordan," he hands it to me.

"How'd you get that?" I point to his right eye that has the purple and black bruising around it.

"Also from Jordan," he smiles.

"Shit, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"You swore," he laughs, ignoring everything else I said.

"Yeah, I feel like i've been doing that a lot lately, thanks to you and your dirty mouth." My eyes unintentionally trail down his shirtless body, and at the waistband of his boxers I notice something on his skin sticking out.

"What's that?"

He pulls down the waistband of his boxers and I blush at his V-line, feeling my body heat up, but then notice the thing on his skin is a tattoo. Of a penguin.

He laughs. "I was out with the guys one night. We were drunk and there was this hot chick," he pauses. "Cole said that if I went over to her and straight up said, let's fuck, and she agreed, then he'd get any tattoo of my choice. If I fail then I have to get a tattoo of his choice."

"So you lost, but what happened?"

"She slapped me and threw a drink in my face."

I laugh. "And why'd Cole choose a penguin?"

He shrugs. "The dude has this secret addiction to penguins. And he wanted it in this place so that every time a girl was about to blow me, she'd see this."

"You see, that cocky attitude of yours can get you in trouble. You're not as much of a catch as you think you are."

"I was enough of a catch for you last night when you were all over me," he teases.

I feel embarrassed again. I'm such an idiot. I wish I could go back and undo that, even though I loved it and I didn't want him to stop. It was a mistake.

"About last night, that shouldn't have happened."

"Don't worry about it-"

"No, really. You're my friend and it was... weird," I say even though everything coming out of my mouth is lies. I don't want to seem pathetic to him. "I was drunk and upset about Mason. It was wrong to use you like that. I guess i'm just not over him."

He nods and stands up, then walks to the door.

"Zeke, I really am sorry," my voice is more sincere this time.

"Whatever," his tone is harsh. "I'll get Zoey to take you home." Then he walks out. He must be mad about me using him.

I put my bra back on and try to sort my appearance, using the tap water to wipe off the makeup smudged under my eyes, and running my fingers through my messy hair to make it look better.

When I check my phone, I realise there are no missed calls from my mom. I told her i'd be home last night, wouldn't she be worried that I didn't come back?

I call her number and place the phone to my ear. I hope everything's okay. It's really out of character for my mom not to be worrying about me.

"Hello?" She says.

"Mom, I'm sorry I didn't come home-"

"It's fine, Marnie," her voice is cheerful. "Zeke called last night and told me you fell asleep and that you're safe."

"Really?" I clear my throat. "I mean, um. So you're not mad?"

"Of course not. I trust that Zeke was looking after you. He really cares for you, Marnie."

I wrap up the conversation and end the call, feeling a little too happy that Zeke took my mom into consideration like that.

I head downstairs and into Cole's living room. He must have cleaned up because there isn't much garbage lying around. Zoey and Cole are on one of the couches having a thumb war, and Zeke is on the other, looking at his phone. He's dressed now in the clothes he was wearing last night.

"Good morning," Zoey says when she sees me standing there. "How was your first time drinking?"

"Absolutely terrible."

"Seems like it was a lot of fun considering Zeke's back is covered in claw marks," Cole smiles.

Oh God.

Zeke flips Cole off without looking up from his phone screen. Looking at his hands, I notice they're bruised. I guess he got Jordan back from the black eye he gave him.

"Tell me, Marn, is Zeke as good as everyone says he is?"

Zoey nudges him in the stomach, shutting him up.

"I'm leaving," Zeke announces and stands up, taking his car keys out of his pocket.

"Me too," Zoey says. "You ready, Marnie?"

"Yeah," I move out of the way so Zeke can walk past me.

"Nooo, everyone's leaving me," Cole pouts.

"I'll come back later," Zoey assures him and kisses him.

"Okay, and make sure you get all the goss about Marnie and Zeke's sex so you can fill me in." He winks at me.

"We didn't have sex," I roll my eyes.

"I have already told him that two-hundred fucking times," Zeke shouts, followed by the sound of the front door slamming.

Cole sighs, smiling. "I'm gonna hold this against him for a loooong time. I took photos of his back when he came down here half naked. Wanna see? I made a group chat with Isaac and we're gonna annoy him with them. Do you want me to add you?"

"No thanks." My cheeks heat up. The last thing I want is this to keep being brought up.

"Don't worry, I'll make him delete the photos," Zoey says as we leave the house.

As Zoey's driving me home, I feel my phone buz and check the notification on my screen.

I sigh and go onto the messages.

fuck you

you mean, fuck MARNIE

*

*

*

This is gonna go on for a while.

shut the fuck up im trying to sleep

*

Oh God.

+++

poor Cole :(😂

please vote and comment your thoughts ❥

teaser: Marnie walks in on something very disturbing, then meets a new friend who stirs up a little trouble between her and Zeke.

ly

-e