Apart

Herbal tea

Her phone showed 7:00 when she had decided that she wouldn't get anymore sleep that night anyway. Loose strands of hair had gathered around her face and the hair tie meant to keep it all securely on top of her head had been lost in the gaps between the pillows.

Her bed for the night, the somewhat used couch in the Kollektiv's living room - or epicenter of last night's party judging by the cups and confetti scattered across the floor. Maybe she should feel thankful that there were no other leftover from yesterday - in human form - though she hadn't checked Eskild's room yet so she couldn't even be certain of that.

Sure, compared to some of Eskild's other escapades and pre-games held at their apartment this was tame, but it somehow made her feel out of place. Partying and the lingering smell of beer and sometimes other bodily fluids clouding the air had always made her head ache and her eyes glassy from the cigaret smoke. It simply didn't make sense to her how people could view this as fun, and though she had hoped that maybe with the years she would get the appeal, she hadn't.

A cosy night out with friends or a move night filled with the smell of freshly made popcorn and pizza as a midnight snack seemed so much more appealing in her mind. Maybe it was because she missed her friends, their conversations and the laughs they had shared; or maybe it was because right now she couldn't imagine anything worse than being at a party and forced to watch random high schoolers as well as her friends make out with one hand still latched to a beer bottle. Plus there might be people she knew - or worse, knew her and all the rumors she had collected last spring- she was in no mood to explain her sudden return to people she could barely remember the names of.

She checked her phone for the time again, not pleased that it was still only 7:09. Her roommates, or maybe her former roommates - as she didn't really have a room for herself here anymore - wouldn't be up before noon. That meant that she would have hours to herself, and though the idea of not having to talk to anyone right now seemed well enough, she knew that she would have to face their questions eventually.

With a small sigh she lifted her feet from the couch to the ground and her limbs ached in response. It had already grown quite chilly in their Oslo flat and contrary to the always perfectly tempered apartment in London, Eskild, Linn or Isak obviously hadn't thought it necessary to turn on the heating. The provisional fleece blanked she had wrapped around her torso and legs for the night had evidently been too thin for this time of year.

Digging through her bag for the pair of fluffy socks she always kept on hand when traveling, Noora noticed just how tired she still felt. But there was no use in trying to fall back asleep now and as she was already up and awake, she might as well do something useful with the spare hours.

The remaining paper cups and beer cans were quickly collected into a black waste bag and she contemplated vacuuming the confetti covered floor, but opted for the mop they kept in one of the back closets for her roommates' sake. Waking them at this hours surely wouldn't elicit many happy faces.

Even though she hadn't been at the Kollektiv in months and she hadn't slept in the bed that now wasn't hers any longer, somehow seeing the familiar walls around her and knowing that she might be the only one awake but never alone her made her feel infinitely better. After returning the living room to its usual state of not being perfectly clean but at least tidied enough for her standards, she decided to venture into the kitchen hoping to find something edible to quiet the growl in her stomach.

After adding a few more beer cans to the ones she had already collected, Noora did find a box of chocolate cereal and the last few drops out of an almost empty milk carton. Under normal circumstances she would never have deemed this nutritious or worthy enough to be called breakfast, but she was to exhausted to care.