To William
One
Now – Christmas Eve 2021
Evie
Evie opened her eyes and squinted upwards.
Pink. She was in a very, very pink room, with a lot of hearts. The ceiling was pink. The wallpaper was pink with padded hearts on it. The cushion on the (pink) chair opposite was pink and heart-shaped.
What room was this? Why was she here? She was definitely awake, not dreaming. This was definitely arealpink room.
She shook her head slightly.
Ow. It was like there was a band clamped across her forehead.
Her neck hurt too. There were a lot of lumps in her pillow.
She turned her head to the right.
Oh no.
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
She was in bed with Dan. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Drink. Sex.
A lot of drink and a lot of sex.
No, no, no.
Although also, yes, yes,yessss, because from what she remembered, the sex had been good,reallygood.Amazing.
But mainly, no. Because Dan was Dan and they’d snogged once, a long time ago, and they flirted a bit, but they didn’t sleep together; they just didn’t do that. Maybe they should have done, though, because the more she remembered the more she knew that last night had beenfantastic.
The memories were flooding back now.
They’d talked about their fallback pact.
Oh God. A wedding chapel. A weddingservice.
Oh no.
Nooooo.
She and Dan had got married. Disaster. Married.Married.
They’d got drunk-married in Vegas. Who actually did that?
Bloody hell.
And now, God, they were obviously going to have to get divorced.Divorced. They’d managed to change their marital status without ever really having been married. Andhowwere they going to get divorced? Would it be expensive? Would it involve a lot of admin?
God.
She turned her head carefully and took another look at Dan. He was still asleep, facing her, his head nestled on his own lumpy, pink, heart-shaped pillow. Funny how someone’s face could look different when they were asleep. Awake, he laughed a lot. In repose, his features looked quite harsh. Still gorgeous, though.
