Harper
Sunlight peeked through a small opening in my blinds. It was bright as it shown down on my forehead causing me to squint and groan in frustration. I glanced at my bedside table and stared at the envelope that was filled with the cash from last night. I picked it up, glancing inside and was amazed again at what I saw; a stack full of one hundred dollar bills. I had to pinch myself every time I looked at the fat envelope the night before, making sure I wasn’t dreaming. My heart skipped a beat as I stared at the wad of paper in my hand. Just in time to pay the bills. I slid the money back into the envelope and dropped it into the nightstand drawer.
The vibrating phone startled me, breaking the silence of the room and I reached for it, trying to stop the annoying buzz. Even the slightest noise seemed to trigger the pounding in my head even more. I flipped on the screen and rolled my eyes. Several text message notifications, all of them from Jake. I groaned as I opened them seeing the words.
“I’m sorry,” Ok, fair enough. He was sorry but that meant nothing to me now. I clicked on the small green envelope to see the next message. “I’m really sorry. Please call me.” I grunted with disgust as I flicked through the rest of the messages, all of them having the same tone; they grew more pleading with every message. Eventually I deleted them all, trying to erase him from my memory. Men were idiots. I assumed that the old saying was right; you don't know what you have until its gone. . There was no way I was ever going back to him. Why do I attract such jerks? I thought to myself as I remembered the way Jake had said his ex-girlfriend’s name to me.
Avery stumbled into the room and groaned as she entered, throwing herself down on the free side of the bed. She shoved her face into the pillow. “I think I drank too much last night.” Her voice sounded pained and I could only guess it was from the extra drinks we both had last night. After the drama at the mansion, I had begged Avery to take me to the nearest bar so that I could drown my sorrows without the stupid two drink only rule that had been enforced at the ridiculous mixer. “Are we going to talk about last night?” Avery asked as she turned over and propped herself up on her elbow.
“I guess so,” I shrugged my shoulders, “But I don’t know how much there is to say about it.”
“Well all I can say is I got this!” Avery managed a slight yell of excitement and immediately regretted it, sending both of heads ringing with pain. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. I stared at it, and shook my head.
“Did you get this at the mixer?” I asked as I handed it back to her. Avery nodded with a sheepish look on her face. I frowned at her and groaned. “You know that was against the rules, right? No talking to the opposite sex, no exchanging numbers.”
Avery simply shrugged her shoulders and giggled. “All I know is I've gotta date.” She winked at me as though she couldn’t care less about any rules.
“Tonight?” I asked as I rubbed my temples, attempting to massage the pain from my head.
Avery nodded her head and sat up. She looked at her fingertips and began to play with her perfectly manicured nails. “No, not tonight. We’re going back to the mansion tonight remember?” She grinned at me as though she knew I was going to say yes. Her eyes begged me to agree.
“Oh hell no!” I yelled back at her as I drew my hands into fists. My fingers curled around the sheets as I gripped them tightly. I glared at her. “There's no way I'm going back there. Not now and not ever!”
“Oh come on.” She frowned at me as she whined, giving me those big green puppy dog eyes that almost always won me over. “You have to admit there were some damn hot guys there.”
“I don’t care!” I frowned at her with a snap in my tone. I tried to reflect my anger at her through my eyes, shooting sparks towards her. “We weren’t allowed to talk to them anyway so what would it matter?”
“Well, I didn’t seem to have a problem with that last night.” Avery laughed as she rolled herself off the bed. She smiled at me and looked as though she had already won. “Well I'm going. I wish you would go with me and give it another chance but I understand if you don't want to.”
“I think I’ll pass.” I turned over in bed, making it impossible for Avery to argue with me as I wrapped the pillow around my head. I could hear her muffled footsteps as she left the room and I felt myself began to relax. I closed my eyes and tried will the pounding in my head to disappear.
Mason
I pressed the microphone button and scanned the display for any sign of Natalie in the house. “Natalie, can you get in here now, please?” I was polite, but I didn’t hide the anger from my voice. Natalie bustled into the room almost before I had finished my sentence.