AllFreeNovel
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I sort of stumble to the sink, brush my teeth, and then make my way into the bedroom. Curling up in my bed, I pull the blanket all the way up to my chin. The room is spinning a little bit, and I count in my head how many bottles of beer I had.
Unable to figure out an exact number, I decide in my head it was just one too many.
Next thing I know, it’s morning, and I don’t even remember going to bed. My head throbs as I sit up too fast, and there’s a knock at my door. Opening one eye, the room tilts, and I close it again.
“Hey,” Travis slowly enters the room, the door creaking as he opens it, “you’re not allergic to eggs, are you?”
“No,” I groan, wondering about his sanity.
“I made you my classic hangover cure.” He hands me a concoction that looks absolutely disgusting.
“Hold your nose,” he tells me and pushes the glass into my hand. There’s two of him when I look up, but I somehow manage to take it from the right one anyway.
Bringing the glass to my lips, I almost vomit but keep it together just barely. I choke down the disgusting drink and gag several times as it makes its way into my stomach. It’s not the sexiest thing to do in front of someone, but it’s Travis so…
“Thanks.” I barely get the words out as I push past him and go into the bathroom to sit on the shower floor and let the water spray on me for a long time. My head still hurts as I get dressed. Walking out into the kitchen, I find Travis sitting on the floor in what should be the dining room, eating bacon.
“Bacon?” he offers, holding it up to me.
“No, thank you. I’ve got to get to work. I’ll grab a bagel while I’m there. Might soak up all the shame I feel from getting drunk on a weeknight.”
“You weren’t that drunk, plus we had fun,” he says before taking a bite of bacon.
I immediately feel the walls going up around me, and without thinking further, I snap at him, “I can’t be drinking when I have to go to work, it’s irresponsible.”
“Uhh, sorry, I guess. Didn’t think it was a huge deal. It’s not like you were partying or anything.” Annoyance laces his words, and I don’t have the time to stand here and argue with him. With a huff, I grab my stuff and leave the apartment. The whole way down to my car, I feel like a dick for saying that to him. It’s not his fault I gave in to the call of alcohol. I’m a grown woman and can make my own choices.
Looking at the clock, I realize I’m late now. Great.
When I get to work, I walk in and immediately run into Sam. It’s not just that we see each other, no it wouldn’t be that simple. When I say see, I mean, I physically plow into him and almost knock him to the ground. I bounce back into the desk next to the door, and everyone who was talking while waiting to use the Keurig stops to look at me. As a bruise forms on my ass from the corner of the table, I give everyone an awkward smile. Most everyone turns back to whatever they were doing, and the heat in my cheeks lessens.
“Are you okay?” Sam asks, placing a soothing hand on my arm. I look up into his eyes, the warm smile he gives me makes me want to tell him all my secrets.
“Yeah,” I nod, “just a little hungover. My roommate and I drank a little too much last night.”
“Oh, you got a new roommate?” He lifts a questioning brow.
“Yeah, he’s just a guy from my past,” I say, not even thinking about how that sounds. “My brother’s best friend.”
Sam looks hurt or maybe confused for a minute, but before I can latch onto anything, he shakes out of it, “And the furniture?”
“Still working on it.” Suddenly, I realize I took a whole day off work to fix a problem, and I didn’t even fix it.
He leaves me alone the rest of the morning, and I find myself wondering if I’ve blown it. It’s all I can think about as I answer phones and print ten thousand copies of documents. By lunchtime, I’ve made a decision to be bold. If you want something, you have to go out and get it, right? Wandering over to his desk, I stare at the small silver sculpture he has sitting on the edge.
“Do you want to grab some dinner? Like together… you and me?”
“Tonight?” he asks, before I can respond, he continues, “I’m busy tonight, but maybe another time this week?”
“Yes,” I blurt out, a little too loudly. Turning down the volume in my head, I say, “Just text me when you have a chance, or whatever...” I try to play it cool, clearly failing.
“I will,” he answers, giving me a panty-melting smile.
“Cool, cool, cool…” God, shut up, Nina. I force myself to turn around and walk away, wondering why I have to act so dumb sometime.
I spend the rest of the day in a good mood, despite the headache that won’t die. I need to let Travis know his hangover cure did not work. When I get home after the longest day of my entire life, he’s not there. I feel a little sad and then mentally slap myself. Get it together. Remember, he’s the one who hurt you. The one who left. Plus, it’s not like we’re together, I don’t need to know everything he’s doing.
Forcing myself to eat, I make a salad and get a bottle of water out. Thankfully, it’s Friday, and I can sleep all day if I want to tomorrow. Funny, we can’t wait to be adults, but as soon as we get here, we’re like, what do we do now? Eating as much as I can before I toss the rest in the garbage, I walk down the hall and into the bathroom. Taking a quick shower, I change into a pair of sleep shorts and fall face-first down on the bed.
