Spotlight |h.s|

Ninety Five

Harry Styles

My eyes open as I remain still in my seated position on the bathroom floor, my focus shifting downward to make sure that Aubrey is still sound asleep in my lap.

We've been sleeping off and on for hours, waking up every so often due to the alcohol hitting one of us and forcing us to sit up and release our stomach contents into the toilet I'm currently sitting across from.

It all started at about 4:00 am, a few hours into our peaceful sleep in the guest bedroom. My eyes shot open when Aubrey's hand let go of mine, causing me to watch as she clapped her hand over her mouth and made a break for the bathroom across the hall from us.

The sight had me instantly coming to my feet, still half asleep with a spinning mind as I stepped around a sleeping Niall on the floor and hurried to help Aubrey. He surprisingly didn't wake up until a few minutes later.

I saw her hunched over the toilet, one of my hands instantly grabbing onto her hair as the other ran in soothing circles on her back. She threw off her green button-up in a sweat, letting it all out until she lazily fell into me with a tired sigh.

I flushed the toilet and cleaned her face off just to do exactly what she did after fully waking up. The rush of running into the room far too fast hit me, and I felt just as sick as her. She soothed me in the same way that I did her, both of us feeling horrible and in desperate need of both hydration and sleep.

Niall then came in and took care of us for a bit, only stopping when Aubrey and I were practically yelling at him, telling him to go sleep in the guest bed. We made the decision to sleep in here, assuring him that we would be fine and he could stop tending to our every need.

He left us each a water bottle and some ibuprofen for the pain he was sure would spike in our heads at some point, sending us a wave before shutting the door and allowing himself to sleep.

Aubrey and I have been in the same cycle for hours. Throw up, comfort each other, clean up, hydrate, fall asleep, repeat. We're both incredibly worn out by it at this point.

I'm never drinking again.

Thankfully, this is the first time throughout our busy night that my eyes haven't opened to either the need to be sick myself or the sound of Aubrey doing so in front of me. I'm simply awake with a pounding head from my hangover, the sensation almost reminding me of the mind-splitting migraines I had become accustomed to during my drug-using past.

Aubrey remains asleep with her head resting on my thighs, her oversized button-up being draped over her curled-up body by yours truly to act as a blanket. She's turned to nuzzle into me a bit more, her hair in a bit of a jostled mess from the chaos of the past few hours.

I run my hand through her brown locks gently while she sleeps, repeatedly tucking it behind her visible ear in a way I know she likes. I reach over with my free hand to tap the screen of my phone beside me, my eyes being met with the time that reads 9:34 am, meaning we got some genuine sleep for a while.

I try not to move too much as I bring my hand back down after reading the time, not wanting to wake her up just yet. Her face is slightly knit-up in distress even as she sleeps, letting me know that she feels as bad as me, or even worse. I think she had more tequila-filled strawberries than me last night, so my bet is worse.

I decide to stay looking down at her in this somewhat serene moment despite the odd location, her closed eyes and slightly parted lips reeling me in all over again like each feature of hers seems to do every time I look at her.

I always thought falling in love with someone over and over again was a load of movie bullshit, but that was before I met her.

I still feel a bit nauseous and have a pounding headache, not to mention the fact that we've been sleeping on our friends' bathroom floor for the majority of the night, but I can't think of a place I'd rather be. Even though the only conscious interactions I've had with her in hours have involved throwing up and attempting to clean each other's faces, she's here, so I'm happy.