Right Now

35. Doubts are running round her head

Abby rolled over in bed and clutched her head. "Ohmygodohmygod, I'm dying," she wailed.

"No, you're not," I told her, pulling the duvet off her. "Come on, you need to get up."

"I can't Em, I'm so ill. I think it's Ebola."

I sighed. She really was trying my patience.

"Abs, you're hungover. And you need to just tough it out because you've got just under an hour to get to the station to catch the train to Edinburgh. You're having lunch with Ewan and his parents, remember?"

"Oh no," she groaned, trying to grab the duvet and pull it back over her. "I can't do that, my head hurts sooooo much. And I might need to be sick."

"You threw up so much last night I think you might be done with vomiting," I reminded her. "Don't you remember?"

She sat up, still clutching her head. "No," she groaned. Then she said, "Ohh... did I throw up in the bathroom?"

"Yep." I pulled a pair of jeans, a bra, some clean knickers and a T-shirt out of her bag and thrust them towards her.

"I think I remember," she said, taking her clothes from me. "I remember suddenly feeling sick and barging in there. Oh no, was I sick on the floor?"

I nodded. "Yep."

Then her eyes widened. "Oh my God... I didn't... did I... did I throw up on Harry?"

"Yep," I told her.

"Oh no, it's all coming back now. Oh my God! I vomited on Harry Styles." Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if saying it quietly meant it was less likely to be true.

"You certainly did."

Abby looked like she was going to cry, and I felt sorry for her.

"He must hate me," she croaked.

"I don't think so, he was very gracious about it, considering."

"I feel terrible. I vomited on Harry Styles."

"Yeah, you might not want to go around saying that too much Abs, it's not exactly something to be proud of. In fact it is probably a good idea not to say anything at all about him coming back here, or even that we went to the karaoke party in Niall's room."

As I spoke, I removed the towel that was wrapped around my head and let my hair, still wet from the shower, tumble down to my shoulders. "Now would you hurry up and get in that shower? Or you'll miss your train to Edinburgh."

She shuffled off the bed, still clutching her clothes. As she did, she looked over to my bed, and frowned when she noticed it had been slept in.

"Em, what happened with you and Harry? Did you go to his room and, uh, you know...?"

"No I didn't," I told her. "I slept here."

"What? You stayed here?" She sounded horrified. "You didn't have sex with Harry? Why the fuck not Emma?"

"Because you wouldn't sleep on your side and I was worried about you," I told her. "You know, Aidan Pritchard and all."

She got it immediately. "Oh Em. You stayed here and missed out on sex with Harry because of me?"

"I'd have never forgiven myself if I'd left you here and you'd vomited again and choked. But Abs, if you don't hurry up and get in the shower, I might just choke you now myself."

Abby didn't seem to hear that last bit. Her eyes filled up with tears. "Oh my God Emma, you are such an amazing friend. You stayed with me instead of shagging Harry Styles. You missed out on sex with the Harry Styles because of me."