Amidst The Shadows(A ShadowLand Novel-Vol.1)

Troublesome Mouth

I wake up in bed groaning at the twinge of pain that races across my brow and jack hammers at my temples. I began to berate myself for having more than one drink at the bar and even more berating for actually acting out of character. I didn't drink. I didn't converse. I didn't dance. But last night, with Jonas, I did all of those things. I really did release my inhibitions with him. it was strange.

Not once did my conscious scream 'STRANGER DANGER' at me. Not even when Jonas' took my hand and helped me back to our complex, not even when I stepped onto the elevator with him, and not when he leaned in too close as we stood outside my door. I guessed the buzz of alcohol reduced my ability to think rationally, therefore pushing me into doing something I wouldn't have done otherwise.

My left hand lifts, my fingertips coming to rest on my lips. I had kissed him. I remember it clearly, yet I didn't feel like myself when I'd done it. It was like an impulse, something yelling 'KISS HIM, KISS HIM, KISS HIM' until I acted on the impulse.

However the moment my lips touched his I felt a sense of revulsion. Not at him, but at myself. I had backed out, my elbows butting against my door and no doubt he'd seen the surprised horror on my face at having been uninhibited.

"Goodnight, Ava." He'd said lightly before turning to his own apartment and disappearing behind the door. More than horror stricken, I was shamed.

I didn't think I could face him today, maybe not even tomorrow. I didn't want to give him the wrong idea, but I had last night.

The ache in my temples strengthens making me wince. I hoped I'd have the courage to confront him about that kiss and explain that it was the alcohol forcing my hand. it may have sounded cliche to say it, but it was the truth. He had to know that.

After a shower and breakfast I climb back into bed having nothing to do on a Saturday. I'm recalling the previous night when the cordless chimes.

I pull my head from beneath my pillow and clear my throat before answering.

"Ava, honey, you sound..." aunt June pauses before continuing with her diagnosis. "Sick. Are you sure you aren't coming down with something. it's been over a week, but sometimes it takes longer for things to appear."

"I'm fine aunt June. I just got up."

"Midday and you're just now getting out of bed. you are sick. Take your temperature while I'm on the phone."

I can't help but snicker. "I'm fine. nothing a few aspirin didn't cure."

"So you've taken medicine. For what?"

"A headache."

Aunt June gasps. "How bad?"

"It wasn't a migraine." I voice quickly before she can go into a diagnosis again. My mother had suffered from migraines, come to find out it was a tumor on her temperal lobe that wasn't caught until it was too late. I don't remember that being that I was too young when she passed and the state took over my care placing me in an orphanage at four years old, until Aunt June came along a few years later. "I had a hangover."

Another gasp. "Hangover?" I snicker into the following silence. "You got drunk alone?"

"No." I instantly cringe.

"You were with someone. Please tell me it was Harry or at least his son."

"No, it was Jonas." I cringe again. Could I not tell her a lie to save face? I growl at myself.

"Oh." Aunt June breathes and then there's a long silence again. "Well, just because Ronda says he's a good man doesn't mean I like the thought of you getting drunk with him when you hardly know the man."