Chapter Three | For Sunny Days and Hungover Afternoons
Lizzie's vision was refusing to focus when she woke up and the room still seemed to be spinning. Her first thought was that she shouldn't have drunk so much last night. Her second, where the hell am I? She sat up and pulled down her top as it had risen up to her ribs. Her arms were bare and covered in goose bumps and she soon spotted her jacket, which was screwed up on the floor in the corner of the room. Sun was streaming in from a line of floor to ceiling glass windows to Lizzie's right and as she took in her surroundings, she was shocked to find just how many people were sharing the bed with her. She looked to her left and saw Melissa and Brett sleeping beside her and at the foot of the bed, was Jared and the girl he'd brought as his date. Lizzie couldn't remember her name.
She squinted her eyes as she stretched. Her head was pounding and the sun was too bright for her liking. It was November; in England. It wasn't meant to be this sunny. It was meant to be cold and ridiculously dull. She needed water. No, she needed juice. Orange juice always managed to cure a hangover for her. As slowly as possible, she pulled her legs which were stuck under Jared's sleeping form and amazingly managed to slip from the bed without disturbing any of the others sleeping on the bed. There were various other people who were unconscious in little groups on the floor in the room and as she tiptoed out into the main living area of the apartment, she could see at least a dozen other people who'd also decided to crash there after the party and who'd obviously lucked out on getting a bed or bedroom.
Eventually, she managed to find the kitchen, although it wasn't filled with other sleeping people as she expected. There was only one occupant who was hissing to somebody on the phone.
Kerry flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder so she could balance the phone on her shoulder as she buttered a piece of toast. She was scowling to herself and as the person on the other end of the line continued to speak, she continued to butter the toast more and more violently until she slammed the knife down on the granite worktop and began to speak again.
"The fact is that you missed your best friend's birthday party which he had been looking forward to for months for what? Because you couldn't back away from a poker game, which by the way you shouldn't have even attended, to make Brett's night. Did you even win? No don't answer that, I don't want to know. You can be a real dick, you know that Jack? He put on a smile and talked and danced but anyone who knows him we could... If you had been here and you had seen that look on his face, that disappointment in his eyes-" she cut off abruptly and for a moment, Lizzie was scared that Kerry had noticed her but she turned so she had her back to the entrance of the kitchen.
"I know he'll forgive you. We both do," her voice started to lose the harsh edge and she sighed. "Make sure you're here by this evening, the latest to apologise. Make it good. I don't want to see him hurt like that again. Pull your socks up and pull them up fast or I bloody castrate you." She hung up and sighed again before turning to grab her toast. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Lizzie.
"Melissa will kill me if you've found out. How much did you hear?" Kerry said and took a small bite of toast as she waited for Lizzie's answer.
"Found out what? All I heard was you telling off whoever was on the other end about not showing last night," Lizzie said slowly.
"And you're sure that's all you heard," Kerry said and Lizzie nodded. Kerry looked her up and down before her eyes finally met Lizzie's. Lizzie found it difficult to hold Kerry's gaze and soon found herself wanting to look away. Something about the way the other girl was evaluating her made her feel uncomfortable but if she looked away now, it'd seem as if she were lying. As if she was guilty of hearing more than she said she had.
