Not So Bad
She wakes up in an unfamiliar bed with a pounding headache. She isn't really sure how she got here, that would freak any normal person out but this is Rachel Gatina we're talking about here. This isn't really new to her and in fact it's kind of how she starts every Saturday morning but when she rolls over and sees Chris Keller asleep next to her she starts to wonder exactly what she did last night. The clock on his nightstand reads 5:47AM and she decides it's to early to sneak out so instead she rolls over and goes back to sleep.
"What the fuck are you doing, Keller?" she asks when she sees him stapling a piece of paper to the bulletin board in front of the school.
" Putting up info about my show Friday night on the bar on 5th street." Chris replied as Rachel looked over the poster and laughed.
"You're only the opening act."
"Yeah? So?"
"Well I hate to break it to you but Amy is having a big party that night so I doubt anyone will show up to your little show."
Chris rolled his eyes before speaking again, "Whatever, Red. You know you want a piece of the Keller."
"Yeah, that's exactly it." She responded before she walked off to join the rest of the cheerleaders.
Friday rolls around and Keller actually thinks putting it in the schools announcements might make people conceder going to his gig instead of the party of the year. She thinks his hope might be cute if it wasn't so pathetic.
"So I'm thinking about wearing that black v neck with the ripped jeans to Amy's tonight, the one I bought last week at Forever 21." She whispered to Brooke as the teacher went on about how to factor equations.
"Didn't anyone tell you, her rents totally hosed the party they decided not to go to wherever they where going and she had to cancel."
"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" she asked, "I can probably get us into a party at Duke tonight, wanna go?"
"Nah, Peyton's taking me to some sort of art thing. Sorry." The bell rings and Rachel sighs, she can't just sit at home on a Friday night.
She gets dressed up anyway, figuring someone has to know of a party or something happening around town but everyone suddenly decided to be lame, even Bevin ditched her to hang out with her cat. It's 10:40 when she finally caves in and drives to the bar where Chris is playing. He only had two songs left in his set when she walked in but he actually sounded pretty good. She ordered herself a couple beers and is leaning against the wall holding it out to him when he finally jumps off the stage.
"Well, well, well, look who suddenly had a change of heart." Chris smiled as he took the bottle from her hand.
"The party got canceled, you're my only choice so don't be to flattered." She replied as she took a pull from her own.
"I'll take what I can get." He shrugged, "You look hot tonight."
"I always look hot." She replied as she drained the last of the liquid from her bottle, "Buy me a drink, super star."
"Sure thing, red." The next band started to play shortly after they'd gotten a 3rd beer and Chris had to yell over the music when he ordered it.
"Wanna go outside, I can't hear you in here?" Rachel put her hand to her ear with a confused expression on her face and instead of repeating it he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.
"I said I couldn't hear you." He said once the door shut behind them.
"All I said was that you sounded OK, you know, if you're into that kind of thing."
"Is that a compliment?" he asked.
"Well it's as close to one as you're ever gonna get." She replied.
"I'll take it." He said back with a laugh and she shook her head and smiled.
"You have a really pretty smile." He said, almost sounding surprised himself. "I never noticed before."
"How much did you drink before I got here?"
"I mean it, red. You always look hot but I never noticed how gorgeous you are." She realized then that he still had a grip on her hand and she pulled it away.
"Thanks Keller now lets go back there and get super wasted." He just nods and follows her back into the bar.
By the time they walk out again they're both stumbling and falling all over each other. The bartender had called a cab for them so they sat on the curb and waited for it to come. Her head fell onto his shoulder and she laughed when he said something about how bad the other band had been.
"Hey Rach?" He says after it got quiet again. "Wanna sleep over?" She nods and he plants a kiss on the top of her head.
"You missed." She said as she looked up from his shoulder, her eyes meeting his.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you missed." She said again before she reached up to pull him down, his lips meeting hers.
They're still kissing when the taxi pulls up to the curb and honks and they pull apart long enough to stand up and get in the back of the car. Once the door is shut his lips are on hers again.
Chris pays the driver and they both hop out of the car, Rachel skipping off in front of him. She pulls her shirt off right there on his front porch and sure it's late and the odds of anyone seeing her are slim but damn.
"Can't you wait until we get inside." He says as he tries to focus on unlocking the door.
"Seems a lot more fun this way." She responds.
He finally gets the door open and manages to pull her inside, shaking his head before he reattached their lips, "Chris Keller doesn't share." He adds as they head up the stairs.
When she wakes up she feels his hand running up and down her back and she wonders if he's half asleep and doesn't remember who is in the bed next to him but then he leans over, kisses her shoulder, and whispers "Morning beautiful." And yeah, maybe waking up next to Chris Keller isn't such a bad thing after all.