The Upside of Falling Back To You

chapter fifteen | too early for this

SUNLIGHT STREAMS INTO the den, waking me up. I'm on the couch, a blanket draped over me. My head is pounding and my throat feels dry - probably because of last night. When did I even fall asleep?

Bits of the conversation from last night still stuck in my head. Sober me definitely regrets half the things I said, even just bringing the topic up. Oh well, the past is in the past. There's nothing else I could do about it now.

I flip over onto my side, reaching for the closest phone. I'm not sure where exactly I put mine. Tapping the screen, I see that the lock screen is a picture of the Polaroid we took in front of my house - jeez, whoever's phone this was, they were quick to change it.

I checked the time: nine-thirty... way too early to get up. Usually, no one is up until at least ten.

Yet, I could hear talking in the direction of the kitchen. My brain couldn't make out the words, making it sound like a slur of noise. But someone was up and seeing that I was the only one in the living room, I think I know who it is.

Did I want to see what Ronan was up to? Great question.

I find myself rolling off the couch - apparently, the answer was yes.

Yawning, I stumble into the kitchen. There he was, on the kitchen island with his laptop open, airpods in his ears. He looks up when I walk in, giving a small smile before returning his gaze to the screen.

"Yeah, my friends have this yearly tradition where they go up to a cabin for a few days during the winter - it's tons of fun, or so I've heard. So yeah, I'm not actually at home right now..." He pauses for a second. "... No, no, it's honestly not an issue. My friends don't wake up until much later."

I raised an eyebrow. "The hell are you doing?" I asked, but I had a pretty good idea. "An interview? Seriously? You know this is a no-work trip, right?" I wasn't really sure what the people on the video call could hear.

"Well, not all of them, can you give me one second?" He looked back up at me. "Go back to sleep, you got like five or something hours. You need more."

"I've survived on much less." I grabbed a glass of water. "And aren't you running on the same amount?"

"We both know the number of all-nighters I pulled in high school, Asteria. As long as I have my best friend, I can get through any day." He holds up his mug of coffee, taking a sip of it. His eyes glance back down before he takes out one of his airpods: "Robin and Jack were asking if you wanted to join."

I gave him a confused look. "Join you in the interview?"

"Yeah, it's Cozy Corner... you know, a lot of family members and friends join in usually."

I looked down at what I was wearing, not to mention how awful my face looks. "I literally just woke up."

"And you think I did anything to make myself look better? I just woke up, took a mint, and turned my laptop on."

I smelled my own breath, gagging at the smell of alcohol escaping my mouth. The bag of mints was on the counter, so I grabbed one, and also the airpod Ronan passes to me. I give in, taking the chair next to him.

This was a bad idea.

Well, my hair didn't look that bad on camera. If it wasn't braided back, it would probably look a hundred times worse.

"So, uh, this is Asteria Martin, probably one of my closest friends," he introduced me, and I really had to hold my comment back. Closest friend... at one point, yeah, sure. Now? Even friend was a relative term.