✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

21. The Morning After

Despite only drinking a single glass of wine as she got to know her cousin's girlfriend, Tess had gone to bed worried that she was going to feel terrible in the morning. Perhaps that had been because she'd never known wine could be so strong before, but she felt a huge wave of relief when she woke up without a hangover. Her energy levels were what she might have expected after a good night's sleep. Her head wasn't hurting. Her body didn't feel lethargic. The feeling when she thought about breakfast was hunger, rather than nausea.

But her sheets weren't dry. It just wasn't fair. She'd been here nearly a week now, and she had woken up to a wet bed as often as not. And even worse, those wet mornings had been the only time she felt like she had slept properly. If she had to choose between waking up in a puddle of her own pee, and waking up feeling like she'd barely slept a wink, she didn't think she would be able to handle that.

But she did her best. She gathered up her clothes, and loaded them into the washing machine, listening at her door first to confirm that nobody else was awake. Then she had done her best to tidy up the kitchen, which was in a much worse state than she had ever seen it in before. It was hard to know, but she wondered if the presence of her girlfriend put allthoughts of tidiness to the back of Gabby's mind. In any case, she was feeling more alive than ever, and so she saw it as her duty to tidy up. She was surprised to find that the figurine she had given Gabby had been moved to the centre of the TV stand, so it would obscure just enough of the screen to interfere with anyone trying to read subtitles. She was slightly less surprised, in the circumstances, to find three different bottles of wine in the lounge. Or, to be more accurate, three empty wine bottles. The one she'd declined had been the first one that Ffrances brought into the lounge; so those two must have finished three whole bottles after Tess had already gone to bed.

When the TV's motion sensor noticed her movement and woke the screen from sleep mode, she realised that whatever they had been watching was still playing. Tess glanced at the screen for long enough to realise that it wasn't more Captain Kairo, and then decided that she had no interest in knowing what that trash actually was. She pressed 'home' on the remote for the livestick, and turned the TV off again.

"Laundry day, baby?" Gabby's voice startled Tess as she was finishing the cleanup of the kitchen. Most times, she would probably have let that slide. One word insults might just be some attempt at a joke, like Gabby didn't have another funny nickname for her. But when she had spent the best part of ten minutes clearing up after someone who was supposedly more responsible, she really wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"I'm not a– Holy crap!" Tess had been ready to unleash a tirade, but the words died in her mouth as she turned and saw how Tess actually looked. Clinging on to the banister to support herself, with streaked makeup that she had apparently forgotten to take off before bed, she looked like hell. She looked like Tess imagined she would have felt at the start of the week, had she not been so preoccupied with her other problems.

When she saw someone clearly struggling not to throw up, she immediately wanted to help. She didn't care that this fate was self-inflicted, and she didn't care enough to point out that it was only her maturity that had allowed her to escape a similar fate. She just wanted Gabby to feel better. However, the older cousin still insisted that she wanted to make her own breakfast, mumbling a half-garbled version of the advice that Spike had already passed on from his father about how to avoid the worst parts of a hangover. Tess helped out while Gabby was still under the weather, and before long they had breakfast ready.

Tess hoped that her cousin would feel better soon; she didn't like to see her like that. But what she hadn't expected was the conversation segueing back to her wet sheets in the middle of the meal. Gabby didn't mention it directly, but it was clear enough what she meant by a 'little problem'.

Gabby suggested anxiety as a cause, but Tess was quick to point out that the few times this had happened were the only thing she was worrying about. She countered that she was sure it was just some minor illness or something, and she could deal with it herself. Gabby had an answer for that too, suggesting that she should have to see a doctor, in case there was anything they could do to help. To Tess, that was a worrying thought. She didn't want to discuss this with anyone, and she certainly didn't want a doctor's probing questions over something she was sure would sort itself out.

"Maybe I'm too tired?" she suggested, wondering if her lack of good sleep was somehow making her body weaker. But that was weird, because this morning – like a couple of times before – she'd woken feeling completely refreshed. Still, Gabby had more suggestions, and one that could actually have been helpful this time. Gabby had studied psychology at university, and could think of several realistic-sounding reasons that Tess's recent problems could have been triggered by psychological problems she wasn't fully aware of. However, she was keen to point out that she only had knowledge of the theoretical side of the human mind. Ffrances, on the other hand, was the expert in helping people to discover and resolve their hidden hangups.

"If you've never seen Ffrances rant about unofficial therapy," Gabby explained. Ffrances didn't like the kind of people who would do something approaching therapy without a proper doctor-patient relationship. "It can be an education. But for me, I'm sure she'd do whatever she can."

"I don't know," Tess answered, her interest waning. She didn't want to sound too dismissive, but... "I don't think talking to somebody is going to help. Not if I don't know what's upsetting me. I can't tell her what I don't know, you know? I just need to find a happy medium between waking up in the middle of the night, and sleeping so deeply that I don't wake up when I need to."

"Well, I might not be up to speed with the specifics, but I'm pretty sure there's techniques that can help with that. Not going into actual therapy, and not trying to hide your problems. Just letting you put your negative emotions to one side so you can get a good night sleep, and then try to dig into any problems at your leisure."

"That sounds like some kind of magic. Like, I thought they can only talk about what's bothering you. How do you turn off worries without having to work out what they are first?"

"Sorry, I thought I was being clear enough there. She doesn't like to use the word, because it seems tacky, and people get the wrong idea. But my girlfriend is pretty damn good at hypnosis, and I think that could give you a chance to tackle these problems on your own."

Tess didn't answer. She didn't give some automatic response about how that wasn't real, or how she didn't think it could work like it did in the movies. She didn't give an instinctive response because she didn't allow herself to answer too quickly. Even if she seemed to be floating on a continuum somewhere between drunk and hung over, it felt like she could trust Gabby in that moment. And if there was anything hypnosis was surely good for, it would be helping her to sleep.

"Okay, fine," she said, after a little pause. "Maybe that might be a good idea. But I really think I can get over this by myself. I'm not a baby, and I don't need anybody else's help. I'm telling you now, I don't have a problem. It was just a fluke. And if it doesn't happen again this week, you have to stop calling me 'baby'. Okay? Only if I can't get over it myself, then I'll ask you, and then you can tell her that I'm having trouble sleeping, and ask her to help a little. You don't need to tell her I'm having any other problems, because I'm not. Right? But if I can't start sleeping better in a few weeks, I'll ask, and we can see if this hypnosis thing will help."

"And I'll do all I can to make sure she says yes," Gabby nodded, and then turned her attention back to her breakfast. It was the best outcome that Tess could have hoped for.