Heartache Hotline (Connected #1) | ✔

THE MORNING AFTER || The Birthday Shenanigans (final part)

Thick fog clouds my mind as the sun beams through the curtains. Not ready to open my eyes and face the day, I snuggle back into Jay.

Wait, what? Jay and I aren't together anymore... so it can't be him. 

Hoping my thoughts are right, I hesitantly open my eyes and glance behind me.

I'm greeted with Ollie's sleeping, perfect face.

My mind races, as I think back to last night in confusion. After Jay and Bianca left, Ollie and I had a moment before getting interrupted by our best friends. Ellie had wanted to dance with me so she dragged me away from Ollie, leaving him with Theo. We were giggling and gossiping until the boys joined us. We became inebriated and had a good time but other than that, I don't remember leaving or better yet; I don't remember leaving with Ollie.

My hand grips blanket as I lift it up and duck my head. Phew, my clothes are still on. 

Sort of at least.

Face scrunching up into a cringe, I assess my lingerie-clad body. Making everything more awkward, Ollie's arm lays across my abdomen, anchoring me to the soft mattress. My eyes flit across the unfamiliar room, taking in everything I can see from my position but more importantly - looking for an exit. The first thing I see is a set of black drawers near us that has comics in a few piles on top of them with multiple figurines on display next to them. I struggle to hold on my laughter. 

Cute.

"What's so funny?" The deep, gravelly voice makes me jump and hold my breath as he chuckles. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." When his thumb strokes my side where his hand is, I let out a shaky breath at the contact.

"Good morning," I mumble, "What happened last night? Why am I here with... you?" I try to twist my body so I could face him but he holds me tighter in embrace, sighing. 

"You don't remember?"

"Um, no? Sorry." Placing my hand of his, I hold it as I feel the need to comfort him. Did we do something and I just forgot?

All of a sudden, the heat of his body is gone and he's out of the bed, "Nothing happened. You vomited and got some on your clothes - that's why you're half naked, your clothes are in the washing machine." He says all of this while facing away, pulling his jeans onto his legs. 

I can't help but check him out, noticing how nice his tanned back is and the slightly muscular body type he has. 

"Why didn't you just take me home? Why am I at your place?"

He laughs under his breath, covering his torso with a shirt before finally facing me with an amused smile, "You refused to give me your address, in case I'm a stalker."

Here comes another cringe, "Sorry."

Shaking his head, he laughs again and I decide it's an amazing sound, "Don't worry about it. We did only technically meet last night." 

"Feels like I've known you forever." I admit quietly, looking away for a moment. When I look back at him, he's in front of me with an emotion in his eyes that I can't decipher. A minute passes as we keep eye contact until he reaches out a hand, placing it against my cheek. My eyes flutter closed, enjoying the warmth. 

A buzzing comes from the bedside table, disrupting the moment we were sharing. I glance towards the sound, finding it to be coming from my phone. I quickly pick it up when I see the name flashing on the screen.

"Buenos dias chica! What happened to you last night? You okay? Last thing I heard was that you felt sick and Ollie took you to his place. I was pretty drunk but I should have made sure you were okay before I went to bed! Ay dios mio! I'm the worst best-"

"Ellie, calm down!" I giggle, watching Ollie leave the room. "I'm better than okay."

There's a pause on the other end. 

"Does that mean you and Ollie..." She trails off and my eyes widen.

"No! Nothing happened. Anyway," I clear my throat as Ollie re-enters the room with a laundry basket, "Are you alright? Did you get home okay?"

"Um, yup! I'm alright! Good as can be. So, I gotta go but I just wanted to make sure you were safe first."

My eyebrows furrow at her behaviour, "You sure?"

"Of course. Te quiero, adios!"

"I love you too." I say to my phone screen that indicates she already hung up. My dress being thrown gently onto my lap breaks my concerned thoughts.

"My flatmate must have put them in the dryer when he got up." Ollie explains, scratching the back of his head, black hair disheveled from sleep. "I'll go get you some water and pain meds while you get dressed." He says with a half smile that shows he's not completely happy for some reason.

"Thank you," I smile, hoping to lift his mood.

A few minutes later, I'm dressed and looking through my Instagram feed when Ollie walks back into the room, passing me a bottle of water and two advils. Only realising now that my throat is dry and my head is pounding, I quickly consume both the water and the pills.

Twisting the cap back onto the empty bottle, I hand it back to Ollie who seems completely unaffected by the alcohol he drank last night. "Do you not get hungover?" I ask in disbelief - and maybe slight envy.

Chuckling, he shakes his head and gives me my purse, "Nope, never had one."

"Lucky." 

"Come on, I'll drive you home."

♡♡♡

AN: Sooooo... Hi! 🤗 I know, I know, it's been a while haha sorry about that! I took a break because life has been crazy busy! I've been moving and trying to keep up with uni. On top of that, I've had other things in my personal life to deal with. I'm truly sorry for leaving you guys hanging 😅

I reeeeaaally hope you guys liked this chapter! ❤️ I'm giving you a warning now that I have no idea when I'll next update. 

Although, the next part is an announcement and will be posted within the next week (maybe even days) so stay tuned for that! ❤️ And then after that, we go back to normal chapters! (dialogue style) but there will be moments that aren't dialogue. We have a flashback coming up and the epilogue isn't just dialogue either and maybe another part. 

Thank you so much for helping this book reach over 5k reads while I was gone! 😍 I think it was at 2k when I left so that's crazy, thank you SO SO SO much, I love you guys 😭

- Chloe x

P.S. It's my birthday today (Thursday, 9th May) and I'm now 20 🎉🎉 I've officially entered the next decade of my life - let's hope it's better than the last! 😂