Only Fools - Chapter 13: Chapter 13

As my eyes flutter open, I can't help but immediately notice the steady breath of the person next to me who must've kindly let me use their shoulder as a pillow all night. As I lift my head up, Margot's eyes flutter open and she sends me a soft smile.
Her hair is all disheveled from sleeping with her back to the foot of the bed and yet she somehow makes it look good with her curls taking on a messier approach that still maintains a strange beauty. Whereas, my hair is probably lacking any and all grace or sophistication as it sticks out in every direction.
"Good morning," I say with a small laugh, trying to ignore the pounding in my head.
"Morning," Margot says as she lets out a yawn.
"I guess we just fell asleep?" I note, feeling slightly awkward with the situation.
"The conversation must've gotten really boring," Margot jokes, and I just roll my eyes at her before my eyes widen at the realization that Margot isn't the friend I came here with. Yanking my phone out of my pocket, I swiftly turn it on to find dozens of missed texts and calls from various friends. I check Tori's first.
Tori: where the fuck did you go?
Tori: OMG dude
Tori: are you getting laid?
Tori: shit sorry
Tori: tell me about it later I guess ;)
I let out a sigh, both unsure of how to respond and also simply not wanting to. So I move onto Naomi's messages.
Naomi: hey aspen. where did you go?
Naomi: seriously, dude. i'm getting kind of worried.
Naomi: i'm just going to assume you're fine and not checking your phone.
Two minutes later.
Naomi: ok. i don't want to assume that anymore. i'm worried. please respond.
Naomi: ivy and tori seem to think that you're fine so i'll stop texting you, but please respond as soon as you can.
Naomi: shoot i've gotta drive tori home.
Naomi: i assume ivy's got you covered.
Naomi: please still respond when you can.
As soon as I finish reading her messages, waves of guilt hit me given that I know Naomi well enough to realize she probably overthought the situation and the last thing I ever wanted was to put her through that.
Me: I'm so so sorry. I'm fine. I fell asleep upstairs.
Last, but most certainly not least, I check my messages with Ivy, and it pains me in a way that the guilt from Naomi's messages couldn't begin to.
Ivy: Hey I'm not sure where you are but I thought I'd let you know that I'm going to drive Jax home. I'm sorry I have to do this but it's kind of an emergency.
Ivy: I hope you're all good, birdie.
I'm not exactly sure what hurts most about the message, but I quickly shut my phone off and put it back in my pocket anyways. Maybe it's the fact that it just feels like she didn't even try to look for me. Maybe it's the fact that she quite literally chose Jax over me. And I realize that she did say that it was all due to an emergency, and those thoughts are at the forefront of my brain. It's just the annoying ones in the back, whispering in my ear that I wasn't her first choice and I won't be anymore. No matter how much I want to be. No matter the amount of time she's been mine.
"Are you ok?" Margot asks me, almost immediately grimacing at the sound of her voice afterwards, seemingly just as hungover as I am. I blink my eyes rapidly for a moment, trying to make sure that any emotions I had previous felt stay inside.
"Yeah I am, but I may or may not have a ride home," I say with a laugh that I have to force out.
"Oh, well that's a problem we could solve," Margot says with a smile as she pulls her keys out of her pocket.
————
If I wasn't awake before I got in Margot's car, the music that almost instantly blares out of her speakers surely does the trick. Pain shoots through my head and I have to actively try not to empty my guts out by the side of the road.
"Sorry," she grimaces as she turns the music down, trying to pretend the volume didn't have the exact same effect on her.
"So.... we were going to study tonight," Margot says as we sit in the parked car. I groan loudly at her words.
"Do we have to?" I whine, not wanting to deal with calculus while my head's already pounding.
"I did say I would tutor you...." Margot trails off, seemingly not wanting to do calculus either.
"You also said that you would take a shot off of Orlando Bloom's stomach if you could last night, so I'm not exactly sure that you always make the best decisions,"
"One, I was drunk. Two, I thought you agreed to not bring that up!"
"One, drunk words are sober thoughts. Two, I was also drunk. I don't remember what I said and didn't say.... but I do remember you saying that the same deal went for me," I say with a joking wink.
"Oh. I still stand by that," Margot says too seriously for my liking even though I know her well enough to tell that she's joking. It's then, however, that her expression changes as she hastily pulls her phone out of her back pocket.
"Shit," she mutters quietly to herself.
"What?"
"Heaven's wrath will reign down upon me if I go home right now. Mind me coming over? I could just claim to be tutoring you," Margot simply asks me.
"Claim to be? I thought you were the one who didn't want to go against their word or something?" I tease her.
"Dude. My head is pounding. Yes or no?"
"You're lucky I decide to be nice to you,"
Margot just rolls her eyes as she shifts the car into gear and begins driving.
"You know, this is kind of like a teen romance book cliche right here where they intend on having a whole tutoring session but...." I trail off when voicing my thoughts out loud.
"What books have you been reading?"
"Good ones obviously," I say with an eye roll.
"And why didn't you finish? But what, Aspen?"
"But the romance begins," I say, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Oh, then we have nothing to worry about,"
"Hey!"
Margot just shrugs and focuses back on driving.
"We missed the turn to go to my house," I say after a few minutes.
"Well, yeah. I'm obviously kidnapping you," Margot jokes.
"I understand that you're joking.... but you would,"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm desirable. I don't blame you,"
Margot scoffs, but ignores me other than that.
"Well, now this feels like a lifetime movie cliche, but not the Christmas ones where everyone suddenly gets happy. The average mystery and horror ones,"
Margot stays silent and I take that as an invitation to explain my thoughts, though her questioning side glance leads me to believe that she's now questioning my taste in movies rather than books.
"You know, because in lifetime movies the unassuming girl always gets kidnapped and murdered. Or well, there's a murder attempt but the mother usually comes through to save her,"
I go quiet for a minute before continuing, "You weren't planning on murdering me, were you Margot?"
"I mean, it was originally an accident that I missed the turn but if you keep talking so much when my head is pounding like this then that accident may be given a purpose," Margot says, her eyes not leaving the road once. My eyes widen at her words before I quickly turn my head and look out the window the rest of the way.
"Does a movie sound good?" I ask as we enter my house. Margot just shrugs in response before nodding.
"As long as it isn't that lifetime shit you were just talking about,"
"Oh, I don't watch those. Tori just has a strange fixation with them," I explain.
Margot just nods slowly in response as if choosing whether she actually wants to believe me.
"Does SpiderMan sound ok?" I ask her as my eyes fall upon that movie as it sits towards the top of my coveted stack of DVDs. Margot yet again nods in response before plopping down onto the couch.
"You seriously don't drink often, do you?" I ask her with a small smile as I place the disc in the DVD player.
"Is it that obvious?" Margot asks with a laugh.
"A little bit," I tell her. Once I get to the movie's main menu, I turn back to look at my friend.
"Did you want any popcorn? I'm pretty sure we have my top three favorites right now so I hope you're fine with one of those-"
"Your top three favorites?" Margot echoes me.
"Yeah. Top three favorites, having earned their spot by the overall tastiness of the brand and the best butter degree,"
"Butter degree?"
"Stop repeating me!" I exclaim.
"Sorry," Margot says sarcastically, "I've just never met anyone else that genuinely ranks their popcorn like that."
"So you're saying you don't have strong opinions on microwave popcorn brands?"
"Who does?"
"Who doesn't?"
"We already went over this. I don't,"
I roll my eyes at the girl and try my hardest to not show the smile that's threatening to spill out onto my face.
"Whatever. Just this once I will allow you to have a bag of my very favorite popcorn so that you may experience what having taste is like. But remember this is a one time thing because I can't be wasting my supply on you too much,"
"Wow. I'm honored," Margot says sarcastically.
"You better be," I say as I walk into the kitchen and begin to microwave the popcorn. Once they're both done, I rush back over to sit on the couch beside Margot and start the movie after handing her a bag.
"Wow, this is absolutely scrumptious, oh popcorn expert," Margot says sarcastically as she takes her first couple handfuls.
"Keep up that attitude and your popcorn privileges will be revoked completely," I warn her which causes for her to smile but shut up nonetheless.
Rolling my eyes at the girl beside me, I turn my attention back to the movie.
"I don't get this movie," Margot suddenly says.
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"Peter Parker is a literal teenager and it's supposed to be believable that he can save an entire city?"
"Well, he is technically superhuman,"
"No. It's not about that. A teenager is simply not mature enough. We're teenagers, and can you imagine us or anyone we know being able to save a city?"
"I don't know. I think maybe some people could probably pull it off if they had those powers," I say with a shrug.
"Yeah? Like who?"
I go silent for a moment, debating whether or not I want to voice my thoughts.
"I mean, I feel like Ivy would probably be a good candidate," I say rather quietly.
"You're just biased because she's your best friend," Margot tells me.
"I don't think so. Tori and Naomi are also my best friends but I don't think they could do it. Ivy just always wants what's best for everyone and will quite literally do whatever she can to make sure that others are happy. I think that's kind of like SpiderMan,"
Margot shrugs at my response before eating another handful of popcorn.
"And I'm not sure that you could be Peter Parker, but you have potential as Harry Osborn,"
"The villain? Thanks," Margot says with a small smile.
"Harry is not the villain," I defend the character.
"Then what is he?"
"Misunderstood," I state. Margot scoffs before shaking her head.
"So I'm misunderstood?" she asks me.
"Well, as I know you right now, you're 'beginning of the movie' Harry. You're attractive, kind of an enigma, smart-"
"I'm attractive?"
"Objectively, yes. Is that the only thing you caught on to?"
"Of course. It's not every day the popcorn expert Aspen Grayson calls you attractive," Margot says with a smirk.
"Whatever. This conversation is over. Just try to stop bashing my favorite superhero," I say as I look away to hide my blushing cheeks.
"I wouldn't bash them if you picked a better one, like Captain America or Iron Man," Margot says, but I just opt to ignore her as I focus back on the movie in front of me.
"I'm an enigma?" Margot asks me quietly after a few minutes. I look over at her confused for a second as to where the question came from before the realization hits me.
"Yeah," I simply state.
"Why?" Margot asks me.
"I barely know you right now. I mean, I know a lot of things about you but we really haven't been friends for that long in the grand scheme of things," I explain to her. I watch as she just nods her head, still seemingly captured by her own thoughts.
"I hope I won't be one anymore someday,"
I nod silently in response.
————
As I look over at the sleeping girl sat beside me, I can't help but smile.
Her bag of popcorn is loosely clutched underneath her arm as she rests her head on the arm of the couch. Her cheek is smashed up against the couch and her hair is splayed in various spots ranging from draping over the side of the couch to being pressed against the side of her face to being statically stuck to the back of the couch.
She looks so peacefully as her chest rises and falls at a steady rate, but almost as if she could sense my eyes on her, Margot's eyes flutter open and she glances at the TV before turning her focus back to me and sending me a sleepy smile.
"Is the movie over?" she asks as she yawns and sits up, careful to not spill her popcorn all over the place. I just nod in response.
"So you were just watching me sleep then? Creep,"
"The movie literally just ended, dude," I try to defend myself.
"That's what they all say," Margot says as she stretches her arms up into the air.
"Who's 'they'?"
"Wow. She calls me attractive, watches me sleep, and then starts getting jealous over me. I may have a proper stalker on my hands," Margot jokes.
"Oh yeah? At least I didn't attempt to kidnap you earlier tonight," I shoot back.
"Why. Were you thinking about it?" Margot asks me, feigning concern.
"More like you were," I retort.
"Yes. Because kidnappers always bring their victims back to the victim's own house," Margot says sarcastically.
I just narrow my eyes at her which causes for her to chuckle softly before she quickly pulls out her phone.
"Shit. I really better get home," Margot tells me with a slight wince. I nod, not exactly sure what to say in the moment, so I just get up from my spot on the couch and walk her over to the door without any words.
"I'm going to have to get yelled at some time. But thanks for being my excuse," Margot says looking up from her phone as she stops right in front of the front door of my house and turns around to face me.
"Yeah, hopefully they take into account that it was for a good cause,"
"I mean...." Margot trails off.
"Hey," I say, pretending to be offended by her disagreeing. But she just smiles in response before glancing down at her hands as she twiddles her thumbs.
"Are you feeling any better at least?" I ask her.
"Yeah. I think the nap helped. Thank you, Aspen,"
"No problem, Harry,"
"Harry?"
"Harry Osborn,"
"You never did finish explaining that to me,"
"It's alright. It makes sense in my own mind,"
"Whatever. I'll see you later, Grayson," Margot says as she walks out the front door.
"See ya," I say quietly as I close the door behind her and turn around and lean against it to let out a sigh as I sink down to the ground. Because for some reason I already miss the girl that I still barely even know.