Water Under the Bridge ›› n.h. mature

Twenty-Nine

Niall Horan

I have a pounding headache. It's too early, I can already tell I'm not going to be able to fall back asleep, and my head feels like someone is stomping on it.

Fucking great. What a miserable day of nursing a hangover I'm in for. Thank god the show isn't until tomorrow. This is why we never get to go out the night before a show.

My fight with Kate came flooding back. Why did we do that? Why do I jump to anger and push her away the second everything doesn't fall perfectly into place?

I'm not sure exactly how we left things, I just know it was bad.

I rolled over, away from the light of the digital clock, and my eyes fell on a pretty head of brown hair spread across the other pillow. It took me a second to register what I was looking at in the dim room. My brain wasn't quite firing yet.

We slept together last night? How did she end up in my bed?

Except something wasn't right. The bare shoulder I was looking at seemed off. The hair color wasn't the exact right shade.

Fuck. I brought Vera home with me last night.

No, no, no, fuck!

I was searching my brain, desperately trying to piece together the night. When did we meet up? Did we have sex? Did Kate and I talk again all night or was our fight the last time we saw each other?

Vera is naked in my bed. Kate is mad at me. I was drunker than ever last night. This is bad.

I didn't even think, I just reached out and shook her shoulder. I had to get her out of here.

"Ver, wake up. You've got to go."

She took her sweet time, slowly rolling towards me while I continued to frantically shake her awake.

"Morning," she said. She sat up, reaching up in a big stretch, her bare breasts out carelessly.

"I'm sorry but you really have to go."

"I know, I know the drill. They'll take me out the back and all that. I remember."

"What happened last night?"

"Well I got to the bar late. I had already been out drinking with some friends before. You were already drunk. And I think we just didn't stop there. Kept on ordering round after round. I need a painkiller."

"I know this is horrible I have to ask. But did we have sex?"

"God it's so foggy with the alcohol. I think we maybe tried to start but we were just too drunk to finish? You weren't exactly up for it, pun intended."

"Oh god." I felt a little relief that we didn't but not much. She's still naked in my bed and I don't know how much we did do before passing out drunk. It would all be the same to Kate anyway. I've got to sneak Vera out of here.

"What's the rush?" Vera asked. "The guys have always known our arrangement, right? You never seemed to care before."

"I'm kind of seeing someone."

"You're dating?"

"No! Well not exactly. I don't know what we are."

"Why the fuck did you invite me out then?" She said it with a laugh, no anger at all, just as if to say that it was my problem to deal with.

"We got in this huge fight last night. Plus as you saw I was already absolutely pissed. Haven't drank that much in a while. I fucked up."

Vera and I had texted some the days leading up to us getting to Vienna. We're just good friends and have been for a couple years now. A chance meeting the first time the band was in Vienna lead to us hooking up. It was definitely not my first time like the guys think, but it was my first time doing the hook-up-with-a-random-girl-after-the-show thing. That concept had always made me so nervous! What if they talk? What if that secret can't be kept? But then the next morning Vera was so cool. We've kept in touch and always meet up when we're in the same city.