Chapter 9

Slowly, I awoke to the new day. I noticed that the sun was pouring in through the windows as I blinked my eyes open, and the door to the bathroom was closed. Oh my God, he was awake. I quickly sat up in bed and patted my hair, and it felt like a hot mess. I couldn't even imagine what it looked like! I ran my hands over my face as I yawned, and sure enough, I felt a small rough line right next to the side of my mouth. Shit. That would be a dried drool line. I looked to the right of me, and sure enough, the bed was empty. Cory must have seen me like this. Oh my God, he saw me look like a hot pile of mess in my sleep!

As I sat up in bed and wallowed in the terror that I must have looked like, I heard the shower turn on, before two quick swishes of the shower curtain. Okay, I had at least ten minutes to get out of bed, run up to a bathroom upstairs, and fix myself up before I saw him. Quickly, I pulled whatever was left of the covers off of me (apparently, I move around a lot on my sleep, which is why the blankets were practically around my knees). Pajamas looked good enough until after I took a shower, so I just grabbed a elastic band and tied my hair up into a high ponytail. I quickly shuffled out of the bedroom and up the stairs. The house was still eerily quiet – and I realized I had no idea what time it was. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I leaned into the kitchen to check the time on the oven, and it was surprisingly early. 9:43. What the hell was Cory even doing awake that early, and besides, even if he was early to rise, why would he open those curtains to wake me from my sleep? Damn boys.

"What are you doing up?" Heather asked from the dining room table, eating a bowl of cereal. And quite honestly, she scared the hell out of me. I had no idea anyone else was awake.

I gasped as I turned to look at her, and I placed my hand over my thumping heart. "You scared me!" I said with a small laugh as I tried to catch my breath.

"Sorry," she apologized with a smile. "I'm always up early working out, you know this."

"I do," I admitted as I walked over to her. "These are things I should know. What are you eating?"

She chewed her cereal as she pointed to the bowl with her spoon. As soon as she swallowed her mouthful, she looked up at me. "Corn flakes. It was the only cereal that they have, and I didn't feel like making anything else."

"Want me to make pancakes?" I asked, knowing she wasn't a big cereal person. "I don't know if we have chocolate chips, but we have blueberries."

"Oh my God, will you please?" she asked quickly, as she dropped her spoon into the bowl and pushed it away from her. "This is like eating cardboard."

I couldn't help but laugh as I nodded. "Give me a minute, I just want to fix my hair." I walked out of the dining room quickly and I entered the bathroom that was just off the hallway. As soon as I turned on the light and saw my face, I wanted to die. I still had makeup from the day before caked under my eyes and the dried line of drool crusted over white. Immediately, I turned on the water and cleaned off my face. It wasn't easy, and it took a while, but it had to be done. I am so not a cute sleeper, and I'm apparently an even uglier sleeper when I'm away from home. I really had to pull myself together, or just figure out a better way of sleeping. Finally, when I figured I looked good enough, I emerged from the bathroom and made my way back into the kitchen.

Heather was already standing by the counter, gathering the ingredients for our blueberry pancakes. I loved making food from scratch, and my pancake recipe had been passed down to me from my grandmother, the greatest cook that ever lived. Really, look it up. She's amazing. Heather and I prepared the pancake batter over simple conversation. I always loved talking to Heather – she always knows the right things to say and she can make me laugh out loud with just a small, simple joke. I swear, if she was taken completely seriously, she could write an amazing book that would top all of the best-sellers lists. Her stories and anecdotes about life are really original and amusing. Remind me to tell you about some of them one of these days.

"They already smell amazing," Heather remarked as she poured the batter into the buttered frying pan. "Give me a spoon so I can just eat them like this?"

"You better share," I giggled as I reached up and grabbed two plates out of the cabinet. "Can you handle flipping them?"

"Yep," she responded as she watched the pancake batter bubbling in the pan. While she was watching them, I set the table for the two of us. Plates, forks and knives, and mugs for our coffee. I went back into the kitchen to brew a quick pot of coffee, and as Heather flipped the first pancake, I could hear the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"You cooking?" Cory asked, and the two of us turned around to look at him.

I couldn't help but smile and nod my head. "Yeah, blueberry pancakes. You want any?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he walked into the kitchen and looked into the pan. "Are they poisoned?"

Heather shot a quick look my way. "Shit, he's onto us. Want to make a fresh batch?"

I nodded my head and gave her a disappointed look. "Yeah, toss them out."

And in a note of comedic genius, Heather took the pan off of the flame and walked over to the garbage pail. She opened it and held the pan over the bag. "I'll take the risk!" Cory pleaded as he lunged over to Heather and took the pan from her hands, saving the pancakes from a dark and smelly final resting place.

We all laughed as Cory returned the pan to the flame on the stove. "They look amazing," he remarked as he walked away from the stove and got a plate out of the cabinet. "I assume you'll both be cooking lunch and dinner as well? Are you taking orders? Because if you are, I'd like a turkey dinner with all the fixings, homemade ice cream, and apple pie."

"We'll get right on that," Heather nodded as she took the pancakes out of the pan and put it on a large serving plate. We made several more batches of pancakes while Cory poured the coffee into the mugs and doctored them up with soy milk and raw sugar.

Once we finished preparing our breakfast, the three of us sat down at the dining room table and ate our pancakes. Cory wolfed them down in a hungry fury while Heather and I ate ours at a normal human pace. The house was still eerily quiet as everyone else slept, and I was surprised that the smell of our pancakes and coffee didn't wake people.

Heather finished eating first, as she claimed that she was full after two pancakes and half a cup of coffee. She cleared her setting and went off to shower while Cory and I finished eating.

"How did you sleep?" I asked before taking a sip of my coffee.

"Like a baby," he smirked as he took a bite of his breakfast. "I don't even remember falling asleep."

I shook my head. "Me either," I agreed. "It was super comfortable."

"I could tell you were," Cory laughed. "When I woke up, your hand was over my stomach and your leg was hanging off the bed. Clearly you felt you needed to stretch out."

I could feel my face instantly burn up. I put my mug down and covered my eyes. I was beyond embarrassed. "I'm so sorry," I apologized. "I didn't know."

"It's okay," he smiled. "It was kind of cute. You looked like a baby panda."

I moved my hands away from my eyes and squinted at him. I wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing or not. "I hope that's not an insult."

He laughed as he had another forkful of pancakes. "No, no, it was cute, I'm telling you. Kind of like I wanted to put you in a zoo so other people could see how cute it was."

"God, you have a way with words," I laughed as I took another sip of coffee. I was embarrassed, but at least he knew how to make me feel better about it.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked me as he took his last bite of pancakes. His plate was clean, and his coffee mug was nearly empty.

I looked at him quizzically. Why was he asking me this when we had a house full of our friends? Instead of overanalyzing it, I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. There was a pile of laundry I wanted to do quick, but other than that, I didn't have any other plans. Why, what are you thinking?"

Cory paused as he looked around the empty dining room, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear what he was about to say. "I have to run a few errands. Go food shopping, hit up the liquor store, and maybe sightsee a little bit. Basically, the way I see it, the pool, the hot tub, the alcohol, and the people will be here the entire week. I've never been to La Jolla before, so I want to check it all out. Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes," I blurted out, really without thinking. I probably even said that too quickly. Can you blame me? I was excited.

"Okay," he answered with a smile. "Maybe you want to head out of here around eleven? I have a feeling a lot of these guys will still be asleep, so we'll be getting back just when all the action is starting."

I looked back at the clock, and it was now a quarter after ten. Shit, I had to get ready quick. "I'll be ready to go," I lied. "Do you mind cleaning up while I head into the shower?"

He shook his head. "No problem. Go get started, I'll be around."

I must have been beaming at this point. "You're the best," I squealed as I got up from the table and left the dining room as calmly as I could. "I'll be ready in a few," I told him as I left the room. As soon as I reached the staircase, I bolted down the stairs and into the bedroom. I was sure smoke was coming off of my heels. I might have only have been awake for a half hour, but I had a feeling that today was going to be a great day.