Winter Air (Sequel to Night Air)

Chapter 14

*Alyssa's POV*

When I awoke the next morning, I rubbed my sore and tired eyes with the palms of my hands before opening them. When I finally worked up the courage to let light into them, I opened them up half way. I immediately recognized that I was in Harry's room. Unfortunately that was where I was used to waking up after one of Harry's parties. Harry was always the one looking out for me on Friday and Saturday nights when it was time to go home, but if the party was being hosted by Harry, he'd usually have me sleep on his bed while he slept on his couch by the window. He didn't trust anyone else  to take me home and make sure I got put to bed safely. He was like that older protective brother I always grew up without. Sure, Cole could be protective, too, but Cole rarely came to any parties.  Therefore Harry always took it upon himself to fill the protective brother role. I didn't want to admit it, but I was thankful for that. Even I knew I couldn't handle myself.

Soft snores directed my attention to the couch behind me. I sat up and turned around to see Harry completely passed out on the couch. One of his arms was hanging off the couch and the other was thrown over his face covering his eyes. His mouth was opened just slightly so he could breath through it. Soft snores continued to come out as his chest rose and fell repeatedly.

I softly chuckled and walked over to him to place a blanket on his sleeping body. I looked to the ground by the couch and saw his favorite blue throw laying there. After picking it back up, I threw it over him and closed the blinds to make the room darker.
I then walked over to the nightstand my phone was on and saw a glass of water and two tiny pills. Harry would always set that out for me before he would go to bed. I was thankful for the gesture.
Quietly, I took my pills and drank my water. I wasn't quite ready to leave the room yet so I climbed back in bed and grabbed my phone to scroll through social media. When I clicked the lock button, I had quite a few notifications waiting for me. Five of them were texts from Cole wondering where I was and if I was okay. I sighed and decided I should probably take care of his worrying.

To: Cole

I'm fine. I stayed at Harry's last night. I'll be home later. Promise.

I then watched the little blue bubble inflate and send to my brother. He read it almost instantly, but didn't reply, so I let it go. I noticed a small number 1 in the corner of my screen indicating that I still had another message to read. I wondered to myself who it was and then looked at it. My brows formed into one when I saw it was an unsaved number with a one word message.

Hey..

I slowly moved my thumbs over the screen and typed back a message to the unknown person.

Who's this?

My finger hesitated over the send button for a moment and then I pressed down. I felt something weird in the pit of my stomach when I stared at the message. I almost didn't want to reply, but I thought I might as well. It might be someone important, and if it's not, oh well. I'd just have to move on. No big deal. Right?

Looking at the time on my phone, I saw that it was almost noon. Then, as if the time triggered something in my brain, my stomach angrily grumbled at me. I clutched it tightly and squeezed my eyes shut. Images of me leaning over Harry's toilet spun through my head fast enough to make me dizzy. I leaned forwards with my stomach still being squeezed in my small hands. I remembered every detail of the previous night. I remembered seeing El and Lou and feeling miserable. I remembered taking countless cups that were thrown my way filled to the brim with random types of alcohol. I remembered Harry insisting it was time for bed and dragging me up the stairs. I remembered getting sick from all the alcohol I consumed. I remembered.

It had been a while since I had thrown up, but I remembered exactly how it felt. I remembered the numb feeling it gave me when it was done. It left a horrible taste in my mouth, but at least it made me feel better- on some sort of level, anyways. My old friend never was forgotten and when my old friend returned, it was exactly as it was before: horrible to me, but numbing.