Chapter 5
Ember
I feel like death warmed up.
What the fuck was I thinkinggetting that drunk last night? Well, I guess I wasn’t thinking at all, seeing as I don’t remember anything from last night. I’m not even kidding, the last thing I remember is arriving at the SU, (and that’s fuzzy at that), putting on ‘Come on Eileen’ on my phone, and then it’s like that moment in a film right before the credits roll, it fades to black. I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if someone had knocked me out and I’d gone into a temporary coma. I might as well have been by the limited amount I can remember. Someone could have kidnapped me, and I would have been none the wiser, I could have made out with some weirdo and not known…or worse.
Please don’t say I’ve had a drunken one-night stand!
Someone taps on my bedroom door, but to my muzzy head, it sounds more like someone’s using baseball bats to bash the door down.
“Come in,” I groan.
Poppy, with a full face of makeup and her mocha-coloured hair twisted in a pair of beautiful Dutch braids, appears in the room bearing a massive cup of coffee, two slices of buttered toast, and a pack of ibuprofen.
Good to know I had my door unlocked all night, 10 points for safety Ember.
Either way, she looks way too peppy for someone who was 100% just as pissed as me last night.
“How are you even alive right now?,” I ask, snatching two pills from her hands and swallowing them dry.
“I drank about a gallon of water before bed, see, always one step ahead,” she says smugly, pointing to her forehead.
“Alright smartass, I would have done the same if I could remember anything,” I squeal. “Please tell me you have a blurry memory of last night too? I’m starting to worry I’ve been snatched from my timeline by aliens and time jumped into an alternate reality or something.”
Poppy belly laughs now, “Ember if aliens were real and they abducted you, do you think they’d put you into thisalternate reality? A grotty Uni accommodation? Plus, I can assure you that you weren’t abducted last night because I remember everything, and trust me, aliens are the least of your concerns.”
I interrupt, “Oh that’s just gre-wait, you don’t believe in aliens? There’s no way we’re alone in the universe!”
Her face turns more serious now. “Ember do you really not remember anything from last night at all?”
I pause and think as hard as I can.
Cancan dancing with the girls…alcohol…Black.
“Nope, nothing,” I sigh.
Amy peeks her head around my door now, also looking not too bad for wear.
Is there a hangover party I’m not aware of, except I’m the only one with a hangover?
“How are you feeling on this sunny morning little miss vom-over-man?,” she asks with a huge smirk on her face.
I feel the blood drain from my face. “What- what do you mean little miss ‘vom-over-man’?”
Poppy nudges Amy on the shoulder and glares at her with knowing eyes.
“Poppy? What do you both know that I don’t? What does she mean by that? Tell me now!” I grow louder, my head instantly shunning me with a dull ache as soon as I try to pry myself up from my pillows.
Amy and Poppy share an awkward stare and both exhale before Poppy takes one for the team, “Well…last night you got really drunk and ended up accidentally shoving into this guy. You made him drop his phone, but don’t worry, it didn’t break or anything luckily. But you were overly apologetic and wouldn’t leave him alone and you kind of- well- you…ended up vomiting all over him.”
I pause and try and take in what I’ve just been told. “So, I was sick on someone?”
“Yes, but you did apologise!,” Poppy chirps.
I’m suddenly hit with a tsunami of nausea right now and I can’t tell whether it’s the hangover or the fact that I WAS SICK OVER SOMEONE.
“Right. Brilliant. What happened after that?!,” I ask in rage.
Poppy goes as white as a sheep now, “Well…he sort of ran off into the toilets.”
Fuck. My. Life.
“He ran off?! Was he okay? Bloody hell can it get any worse than this,” I say, covering my eyes with my hand.
“He was hot too,” Amy pipes up unhelpfully.
Turns out it can.
“Honestly, Ember, it’s all good. He was fine, we saw him leave with his friend, and let’s be real, you likely won’t see him again anyway,” Poppy tries to reassure me.
“Oh well that’s fine then, that makes it A-Okay! It’s not like this Uni has under 20,000 students and I could bump into him on campus at any time!”, I say, my voice laced with sarcasm.
“You wouldn’t even recognise him, and to be honest, I doubt he’d want to get near you after that. Chill. You were drunk, you made a mistake. Just own it,” Amy adds.
I doubt he’d want to get near you after that. Charming, just what every girl wanted to hear.
“Ughh- I just wish I’d never played that stupid Roxanne drinking game! I should know I can’t handle my drink!,” I cry.
“Right. It’s done now. Shove some toast down you, and I expect to see that whole bottle of water gone in the next 10 minutes,” Poppy nags assertively.
“Yes Mum,” I salute and take a generous swig of water from the bottle on my bedside.
As they both leave the room and I attempt to stand up to go to the toilet, I’m met with the world’s most throbbing headache, one that feels as if I’m sailing on the stormiest of seas. It’s then that I quickly plummet back down onto the bed and I realise…
Little Miss vom-over-man, you messed up big time.