Slow Down | ✓

03. HANGOVER

03. HANGOVER

ALIYAH WAKES UP TO the rays of sun shining through open blinds, her head pounding at the sight.

A groan escapes her as her eyes flutter open, her body shifting slightly. With sore legs, she turns to cuddle back into the warm sheets. Her foot brushes against unfamiliar material.

Suddenly, her eyelids shoot open and she's met with the unfamiliar side profile of a man she doesn't remember meeting.

She doesn't bask in the glory of his sleeping face or the freckles splattered across his nose and cheeks or his fresh trim or his long eyelashes.

No, Aliyah Jasmine Pryce freaks out.

"Weh di ━" She cuts off her whisper before flopping on her back, her eyes meeting the ceiling fan above her. Did I really sleep with this man? She asks herself with an internal groan.

Aliyah plans out her escape route in her head before moving to act on it. She removes the silk sheets from her naked chest before scrambling around the foreign room in search of her clothes. Finding her bra and panties in no time, she slides them on and scans the room once again for her skirt and top.

The thought occurs to her that she has to go home and take a quick shower before heading to work. Her head pounds as she runs around the room, the hangover rendering her almost useless. And then she realizes that her braids were probably fuzzy as hell considering she didn't wrap them.

And then she realized that she just had a drunken one night stand with a very beautiful man, so her braids were the least of her worries.

For now.

Finally, she locates her clothes and pulls them on in a rush, hoping to be out of there before the man in bed could get the chance to wake up.

She's shuffling through the room for her shoes and her purse when her toe is stubbed against the frame of the bed. Aliyah hisses a cry of pain, contributing to her already raging headache and now her pounding toe.

Life is just going great.

The man in the sheets shifts, but doesn't wake up so Aliyah takes that as her chance to make a quick getaway. And so, she does.

As quietly as she can, she exits the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Now nervously running a hand through her hair, she slips her shoes on by the front door and leaves, her phone in her hand and an Uber being called.

"UM, ALIYAH, ARE YOU OKAY?" Loren questions as her boss walks into the building, limping and exhausted.

"Huh?" Aliyah's head shoots up quickly, her headache worsening. She'd popped a couple of pills ━ Tylenol ━ when she got home but it did absolutely nothing, "Oh, yeah, I'm great. Amazing. Wonderful, even."

Loren narrows her eyes in confusion, "You're limping."

The woman in question pauses as she steps up to the reception desk, "Yeah, I am."

The woman behind the desk raises a brow, "Uh, you wanna tell me why?"

With folded lips, Aliyah shakes her head, "Nope. I'm gonna go now."

Needless to say, Aliyah was ashamed of herself. The first time she's had sex in ten years and she can't even remember it.

And it must've been good too because her legs were still shaking slightly with every step she takes. If she thinks hard enough she can remember him going down on her and leaving her speaking in tongues.

But that's a different story for a different time.

Now, all she has to do is get through work, meet with a few clients, plan weddings and not think about the man she left this morning.

Maybe I should've left him a letter?

Maybe I should've woken him up?

Maybe I should've left him my number?

Yeah, this is gonna be harder than she thought.

The day goes by quickly and her voice was almost raw from arguing with one of the catering companies who kept fucking up the orders and didn't plan for the right date and now they have to remake the entire wedding menu.

Luckily, Aliyah had gotten it sorted out with no extra expense for the couple.

Three o'clock hits when the phone begins to ring and Aliyah is just waiting for the day to be over. She releases an annoyed huff in order to prepare herself before picking up and greeting whoever is on the other side with her usual professional greeting.

She puts on her peppy voice and holds the phone to her ear, "Aliyah Pryce of Charlotte Events, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Aliyah," The voice coming from the other side receives an internal groan from the planner, "It's Kayla. So, I know it's only been a day since we hired you, but Trevor and I were looking at venues and we're thinking we wanna go outdoors."

Aliyah resists the urge to roll her eyes and instead grabs her pen and binder. She flips to the section with the Robinsons and jots down one simple word.

"Outdoors? Okay," She presses a finger to her temple to try to reduce her headache, "I'll check with some venues and let you know what can fit in your budget."

"Thank you, and, um," Kayla clears her throat as if she's wanting to say something but remains quiet.

Now, Aliyah rolls her eyes, "What?" More silence, "Look, if you're not gonna say anything, I'm hanging up."

Silence.

Aliyah hangs up.

im tryna make this book angsty 😂😂

but i was just staring at pictures and gifs of jesse for a lil bit and dang... WHO GAVE THIS MAN THE R I G H T TO BE SO FINE LIKE LOOK