Lost In Purple

Chapter 6: Party Time Epilogue - Aching Away

I can feel the unbearable heaviness of exhaustion press against my eyelids as the wild cheering of drunken monsters finally stops overloading my senses. With every ounce of my being, I try to stay awake because it's obvious some creepy monster is going to walk over to me and mess with me while I sleep. While I am hiding behind one of the many trees the RORs have in their backyard, I still can't be too sure. That's simply a stereotypical normality of college parties that I wish to avoid at all costs.

The peace and quiet is really soothing considering that I just partied for around 5 hours straight which is abnormal for me. Johnny, Javier, Bruiser, and I danced for majority of that time with a couple of breaks in between in order to satiate our hunger. While it was fun, my head throbs slightly due to the assault on my eardrums from the dance music, and the mixture of exhaustion. I'll admit, I don't feel good, and that's embarrassing because I'm not even the slightest bit drunk.

"Feeling alright freshman?" Johnny asks looking down at me with his arms crossed.

"Oh... yeah, I'm fine," I lie. I feel a semi-sharp pain hit the right side of my head and I close my eyes until it goes away. When I do open my eyes, I see Johnny observing me.

He lifts an eyebrow, clearly not buying my bluff and says, "Yet you're out here away from all the fun while rubbing your temples."

I growl because he's right. I don't think I can take anymore of this party, otherwise I'll go completely insane due to lack of sleep. "I think it's about time I head back. I just need to sit down for another minute or two though."

Johnny uncrosses his arms and sits down next to me with the same position he had when we were across the river all those days ago. "I'll just make sure you don't pass out in my backyard then."

I smile when I see him get a little more comfortable by stretching his legs as far as they can go. "My legs are killing me anyways," he says with a groan. He takes a hold of his foot and leans forward which creates a loud crack that seems to come from his knee. I wince once I hear him do the same to the other leg. However this does give me the chance to see how refined his leg muscles are. I can officially conclude that this man is a full blown bodybuilder.

"Seriously though, do you need some water or pain relievers? I won't just send you home in agony," Johnny persists with concern.

I look up at the sky wondering if I really do need something. "Just give me a few minutes. It might get better if I just take a break," I sigh with hopes that'll actually happen. Johnny looks up at the night sky with me to see the many shimmering stars igniting the sky with light, and the moon emitting a blueish aura that lathers the horizon with a hint of color. Back at my parents house, I could never see the amount of stars that are laid out before me here. There must be a concerning amount of light pollution over there.

I lean into Johnny's arm. "Is the sky like this every night?"

I see Johnny look down at me in surprise out of the corner of my eye and immediately look back up at the sky. He tries his best to stay perfectly still and support the light amount of weight I'm exerting onto his arm. "I, uh...maybe. I never really paid too much attention to anything outside the house if I'm being honest."

I don't respond and keep looking at the bewildering view of the cosmos. With every fatigue induced movement my eyes make I find hundreds of new stars I've never seen before. The soothing blue glow in the sky makes my breathing slow and my energy plummet. I feel the warm breeze blow against my scales and hear the muffled, rhythmic beat in the distance. My eye lids grow heavier and I find myself oscillating between reality and dream every few seconds before a sharp pain hits the right side of my head once again causing my reflexes to propel me off of Johnny.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asks feeling startled and gently grabbing my arm. He looks serious and almost concerned for me.

"I...um... I think I'm gonna need that medicine and water," I laugh with the bottom of my hand pressing against my head.

"Ok stay put," Johnny replies.

I watch as Johnny throws himself to his feet and charges for the kitchen. He passes a couple monsters who lay knocked out on some of the lounge chairs surrounding the pool. I'm realize that I'm not too far away from becoming one of them since I almost just fell asleep in a place I'm not supposed to. I take a look at my phone and see that the time is 12:27 AM. I've never been able to stay up this late in my life which is partially because I had a curfew my whole life. I don't think I'll be able to do this again for as long as I live.

"Miss Melanie!" I hear a low yet loud growl shoot from behind me. It's Bruiser dashing towards me while drooling excessively. "Miss Melanie, Miss Melanie, are you alright? Johnny s-says you're feeling bad."

"Yeah it's just a headache. I'll be ok, I promise," I reply looking into his sad, droopy eyes.

"You d-don't need a doctor or anything?" He asks hysterically and having twitches here and there.

I shake my head. "Calm down Bruiser, nothing bad has happened."

His worry doesn't end though. His panting gets heavier and quicker with every second he sees me feeling unwell. "Ok,ok,ok. Johnny's going through their m-medicine cabinet for you, so just hang in there," Bruiser exclaims.

Johnny lunges around Bruiser and hands me a small pill that I can only assume to be the pain reliever. He then sits back down with me, opens a bottle of water with no struggle, and hands it to me.

"Thanks Johnny," I manage to whimper through another semi-sharp pain piercing through my skull.

I lean my head back slightly and lob the pain reliever into my mouth. I drink from the water bottle and swallow the pill, but I can't fight the feeling to quickly chug down the water. Five hours of dancing caused me to completely forget about staying hydrated and the moment I tasted that mineral infused liquid of life, my instincts took over. I also couldn't care less if I spilled the water all over my clothes because it doesn't seem like anyone would care about something so trivial around here.

Johnny grabs the bottom of the bottle and hisses, "Jesus freshman, don't drown!"

"Hey, give that back! I'm thirsty!" I scream giving Johnny a good push and causing him to catch himself before he falls over to the ground.

Johnny furrows his brows as Bruiser laughs at him, and leans down to look me in the eye with a smile that shows he finds this whole ordeal kind of funny. "I don't care! I'm not done messing with you yet, so I'm keeping you alive. A stomach ache also isn't worth it when you have a headache," Johnny argues.

We both look at each other angrily. I stick my tongue out at him while he bares his teeth and gives me a growl that allows me to feel some of his personally generated vibrations within my chest.

"Miss Melanie, I think you should go to bed," Bruiser says intervening between us, "I know th-this is going to sound mean, but you're getting a little...uh, moody which isn't normal."

I let out another lengthy sigh and attempt to stand up. I feel a little dizzy, but that's usually what happens when I'm exceptionally drowsy. "Yeah, I think that's for the best."

"I'll walk you home. Can't have you fainting or picking fights with people," Johnny says with a smirk. He then stands up and directs Bruiser back to the party. "Trust me Bruiser, I'll make sure she arrives at her dorm in one piece."

Bruiser just nods with a grin that comes out of nowhere and waddles away saying, "Ok, ok, ok." Now I get it, he was drunk. With every step he takes back towards the house, he loses his balance a small bit and never seems to move in a straight line.

Johnny suddenly leans down, grabs my legs, and lifts me up in order to carry me. "Come on freshman let's get you home."

I start punching his chest and kicking aggressively trying to loosen his hold. I scream at him and try telling him to put me down but he won't listen. I'm not some sort of helpless damsel in distress. "I told you before, I can take care of myself!"

Johnny smirks and looks at me as he walks around the side of the ROR house to the street. "I disagree freshman. You would be sleeping on my lawn right now if I weren't here for you. Not to mention I took you to lunch, kept you away from campus security, and I just helped you temporarily relieve that heada- you know what, no, I'm starting to th-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" I kick and scream.

Johnny laughs uncontrollably as I struggle to keep my anger and embarrassment hidden. "S-stop making fun of meeee!" I whine once more sounding like a little monster who's being harassed by one of their siblings.

"I'm just messing with you Melanie, calm down," Johnny hushes while giving me an sympathetic look. He puts me down right at the center of the street and wraps his arm around my shoulder like he usually does. "I will admit, you are fun to mess with though."

I turn my head away from him and cross my arms in embarrassment. I already know my ears are lowered and my tail is in between my legs because I feel like somebody saw that and is going to use that against me somehow. "N-nobody saw that...did they?"

"I don't think so, if anyone did they were most likely drunk so I wouldn't worry about it. And if not I can always make sure they don't" Johnny says putting his hands on his hips and assembling another cocky smile for me to hate.

I start walking and leave Johnny to eat my dust. "Ok, hate me all you want freshman but I'm still walking you back to the dorms."

"Whatever..." I sigh with even more exhaustion.

Johnny and I remain relatively quiet the whole way back. I know he understands I'm tired and I can appreciate that he's trying to lighten the mood after a crummy end to my night, but tonight has been a little much for me to digest. I end up grabbing onto my tail on the way back and keep it close to my chest as we pass the silent amphitheater. Johnny stays close to my side the whole way and seems to keep a look out for anything or anyone out there who has nefarious intentions. I guess this is why he wanted to walk me back, because I sure do feel uncomfortable walking around campus at this hour.

We finally go in between the University Hall and the Dormitory to find ourselves at the steps of the dorm entrance. I walk all the way up while he stays at the bottom with one foot on the first step.

"I'm sorry if I made you mad freshman, I just wanted to have some last minute fun with you before I leave you alone for a couple weeks," Johnny mentions.

I stop and think about what he just said for a couple seconds. "I won't see you for a while?"

Johnny nods his head with a bitter look on his face which makes it obvious that he's upset about this. "Unfortunately, I have to focus on my studies as well as the RORs. It'll take up a lot of my time so I can't say I'll be around very much."

"Oh... there won't be anymore parties or anything?" I ask feeling saddened by his explanation.

"There might be some here and there, but they're nothing like the Rush Week parties nor the one we had tonight. I personally wouldn't recommend going to them since they really only end up being parties for those in fraternities or sororities," Johnny replies.

"...Ok. That's fine. Maybe I'll see you around," I sigh.

"I hope so freshman, I hope so," Johnny smiles.

We stare at each other for a couple extra seconds until I wave goodbye. I turn around to open the dormitory entrance only to look back and see that Johnny has once again proved why he's one of the best scarers on campus. He's gone, with no trace left behind. With nothing or nobody left to look at, I walk up to the floor my dorm located on, find my key, and enter to find it lathered in darkness. A sharp pain hits the side of my head again, and it makes me just want to skip my before bed routines. I decide against that though because it would feel wrong and uncomfortable.

I slowly get undressed and briefly look over the new clothes I've received as a gift from the amazing girls on Frat Row. I hop into my bathroom to take a shower, brush my teeth, and change into comfortable black sleepwear for the night... or morning since it's almost 1 AM. I slip myself into bed and think wistfully about Johnny. Even though we've only just met, I feel really happy being around him. He can be a little annoying and unbearable at times, but he's really taught me about the fun things college provides and I couldn't be more grateful. It hurts knowing that I probably won't see him for a while because he I really did enjoy the random adventures we've gotten into so far, but I understand that that's just life. People come and go, and there's nothing you can really do about it.

I feel a lingering throbbing start to develop in my skull and press my head against my pillow harder. I take my phone and look through my messages. I click on my Mom's name and text her.

"Hey mom, do you have or know of any headache medicine?"