Midsummer's Magic

Chapter 11

"Yeah, what the hell, go for it, but I need a few more drinks inside me. It's been a while," he replied. 

"Ok, so you'll be staying at mine tonight then?" Piran smirked at him as he winked at the girls and gestured for them to join him and Liam. 

They didn't need asking twice, and Piran was quickly getting acquainted with the brunette whose name was Claire. The blonde introduced herself by sidling up to Liam and giving him a peck on the check. "Hi, I'm Beverley," she giggled. 

Liam sighed and decided he needed something stronger than a Bud to be able to go through with their plan. He motioned at the bartender and ordered Jager bombs all round.  

It wasn't too long before the world became a lot fuzzier, and the events of the night became a blur. 

Liam woke up to the sound of hammering and wondered who the hell was doing DIY at this ungodly hour of the morning until he opened one eye and was nearly blinded by a piercing light. "Aaaagh! What the fuck?" 

He then realised that the hammering was in his head, and he had the mother of all hangovers. Groaning, he tried again to open his eyes. First one...not too bad this time, then the other... "Shit, that hurt," he mumbled and turned over to bury his head in the pillow. It was then that he felt a body beside him and froze. 

"What time is it?" the body groaned beside him. 

Opening one eye again, he looked over at the girl lying next to him. Her long blonde hair covered most of her face. Suddenly, he started getting flashbacks to the night before. Copious amounts of alcohol, their stumbling back to Piran's flat arm in arm and then... Nope, he couldn't remember a thing after falling onto the bed. 

The girl, hell, what was her name? She shifted up onto one elbow and stared down at him. 

"Hey, didn't you say you had to be away early this morning?" 

Liam shifted and looked at his watch, groaning as the jack hammers started again in his head. 

He looked at her apologetically, "Yeah, I need to get going before my farm manager beats me to work." 

He sat up slowly as his head began to spin and moved his legs over the side of the bed. He was about to pull the duvet away and then thought it better to check and see where his clothes were. He was surprised to find he was still wearing his boxers and gingerly stood up. Not wanting to face the 'morning after' conversation with Beverley yet, he muttered that he needed a shower and staggered out of the bedroom. 

Leaning against the shower wall, he let the water wash over him and tried to force his mind to remember what had actually happened the night before. 

He got random flashbacks of Beverley clinging to him, her mouth clamped to his as they fell on the bed, then what? He had an uneasy feeling that something happened but his brain wouldn't cooperate. Well, he thought, if something did happen he hoped to hell he had the sense to use a condom, but why was he still wearing his boxers when he woke up? Shaking water out of his eyes and feeling only marginally better, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He dried himself then wrapped the towel around his waist and made his way back to the bedroom. Time to face the music. 

He stepped through the door and looked over at Beverley who was still in bed. She smiled at him with a weird look in her eyes. What was that? 

He bent down to grab his jeans and t-shirt and cleared his throat. 

"Erm, Beverley, about last night....." he started, but she cut him off. 

"Hey, it's ok. Don't worry about it, I understand," she smiled again, still with that look. 

"Wh-what do you mean?" Great, now he was stumbling over his words. He raked his hands through his damp hair, and then sat down on the bed to put his boots on. 

He felt her moving towards him and stiffened, he really didn't want to get into anything with her this morning. He just wanted to get the hell out of there. 

He heard her sharp intake of breath, and her hand touched his shoulder. 

"Look, you obviously weren't that into me and last night was a mistake for both of us. I don't usually do one night stands and we were both very drunk, but nothing happened." 

Liam turned around too quickly, and it took a while for his head to stop spinning. 

"What do you mean nothing happened?" 

She sighed. "We started to kiss. Then you pushed me away and started mumbling something about me not being the one. I tried to ask you what you meant, but you had such a look of pain in your eyes, I didn't push it. I just held you until you fell asleep, that's all that happened." 

Liam stared at her in shock with a slight flush creeping up his cheeks. 

"I'm sorry. I must have had way more to drink than was good for me. As for what I said, it must have been just drunken ramblings. Forget it." Even as he said the words, his brain was screaming 'Liar!' 

"Don't worry about it, I really do understand." She smiled at him again. 

Liam was feeling even more uncomfortable in her presence so he grabbed his jacket, made mutterings about getting back to the farm, and shot out of the door. 

Beverley stared at the door and sighed. She was glad she hadn't told him the whole story. The guy obviously had a lot going on in that shut off mind of his and telling him that he sobbed in her arms until he fell asleep would not have helped. She just hoped the girl that he kept rambling on about could help him more than she could.