Love in Theory and Practice

Aftermath

Saying it was a long night was a bit of an understatement.

Ville vomitted most of what I can only assume was alcohol. My hand grabbed the nearest thing, which unfortunately was his coat, to catch the shower. I even held his pretty hair back. Thankfully, I had a lot of practice with Erin, the party girl of the physics world, and I managed not to throw up with him. He passed out after almost dehydrating himself for an hour. I almost pitied the man but then I remembered he drank himself to oblivion and possibly deserved his current predicament.

I wanted to pat myself in the back for my good samaritan deed but any self congratulatory feelings I may have had gone out of the window when I studied the sorry state of his apartment. Beer cans, assorted bottles of liquor, what seemed to be hundreds of  papers crumpled and otherwise, piled clothes in the corner, probably years worth of garbage strewn across the room - and is that a half eaten burger lying on the floor? Seriously, how could I sleep with this vortex of chaos only a few steps away from my apartment?

Careful not to sit on anything unwanted or alive, I  settled myself beside the cot where Ville was passed out and grabbed his pack of cigarettes from where it fell off the floor. I lit one, surely he won't mind as I essentially saved his life. I decided to just wait it out until I could confirm this man won't come to any more harm, or possibly, die. He triggered my anxiety and oh boy, I won'tbe able to rest until I know he would live another day. Dramatic, yes. But I already played different scenarios in my head on how this night will end. Like: one, he'll suffer aneurysm and die; two, he'll start choking up again in his sleep anf die; three, he'll roll over and land unto something hard, break his neck and die... well, not on my watch. Not that I know that somehow his parents got something to do with me being on the same apartment as him.

So I stayed. Burned through half his cigarette pack and managed to stay awake without coffee. I busied myself going to my safe place in my head and worked on how this universe was born with 3 spatial dimensions from 10-dimensional superstring theory in which spacetime has 9 spatial directions and 1 temporal...

Beep beep beep

I woke up with a start, my neck sore and head aching. Disoriented, I glanced at my watch with its fluttering alarm still going on. Seven in the morning. Hopefully not evening as I could not see the light emanating from the windows - wait, I didn't cover my windows with garbage bags did I? Why did my bed sheets smell like bile and why did I sleep on the side of the bed, sitting up?

Remembering the movie-like sequence of last nights merry events, I turned to check on Ville. I heard my back making small popping noises as I turned and I found myself staring at a pair of confused green eyes. He blinked several times and before I could even say "hey", he abruptly sat up in bed, looking alarmed.

"Who- what..urgh", he groaned as he cradled his head on one of his hands.

"Well...you shouldn't try to move so suddenly- "

He shot me a sideways dark look, still wincing from what I can only assume was a massive headache.

" - or at least try to hydrate yourself first", I mumbled.

He ignored the last comment and continued cradling his head. He seemed to have fallen asleep again, if not for the groans I could here from behind his hands.

I was contemplating on slipping away unnoticed, while he was still indisposed as to avoid any Q&A which would undoubtedly follow. Do I stand? Do I crawl? Do I run?

All that was in vain though when he emerged from behind his hands and eyed me warily. "Well?", he asked again. I saw him do a quick survey of his room, eyes landing on the pile of his used-to-be coat nearby.