Outside

8

The early morning sun blinds me, even through the thick black fabric of my curtains, and I rub my tired eyes aggressively to adjust them to the stinging light. Forgetting that I'd spent hours the previous night downing shot after shot, pint after pint, I sit up quickly and feel my head throb like never before. Thankfully I already had a pack of pain killers in the nightstand beside me, although I don't have any water. At this point though, I'll take them with anything as long as it eases the pain I feel throbbing behind my skull.

Letting out a groan full of fatigue, I slowly turn my body to grab the tablets from the little wooden table, "shit" I mutter under my breath as they slip from my fingers and land on the floor. Maybe a few more hours in bed sleeping off my hangover will work instead. I couldn't do that though, my parents would freak if they knew I'd been asleep all day.

As I slide back down under the warmth, cocooning myself in the thick cover, I hear a light tap on my door and I groan lightly to let whoever it is know that I'm up, only seconds later my mother, cladded perfectly in a dress that screams 'top of the food chain', walks in with a glass of water and another packet of tablets in her hand. Pushing the door open wider with her hip, she makes her way over to me and sits on the edge of my bed, handing me the drink and the pain killers.

"Thanks" I quietly murmur, she just smiles in response and waits for me to finish the water. The cold touch of the liquid on my tongue shocks me a little, but it's extremely refreshing and I devour the whole lot within seconds.

Taking the cold, empty glass from my hands, my mum lets out a sigh before she opens her mouth to speak, "there's pancakes downstairs if you want any" she says in that soft accent of hers, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"I'll be down soon" I reply dryly, plopping my head back against the pillow with a light thud. After she leaves it doesn't take long for me to sink back into a deep slumber.

•••

"You kidding me? That was fuckin shite!" Lois screams at the boys in kits running around the field on TV, she gets far too engulfed in football sometimes, the screams and yells she's been letting out all day quickly brought back the head ache I'd only just rid myself of.

She came round to my house a few hours back when my parents left for work, and we've been sat staring this bright screen since she arrived, flicking through the boring channels until Lois found football. I didn't object to it like I usually would when my dad wants to watch it, because I know Lois would answer the endless amount of questions I throw at her, she explains to me the things I always fail to understand.

I laugh halfheartedly at her, pushing back the loose strands of hair that had fallen from the bird's nest on the top of my head, "you wanna cup of tea?" I ask, hoping she'll say yes so I have an excuse to stop staring at the screen in front of me.

Thankfully Lois has always been a little bit obsessed with tea, so it's not surprising when she nods enthusiastically. I make my way into the kitchen to slowly bring two cups of tea into existence without burning myself or spilling it everywhere like I usually do. As I'm about to pour the scolding water into the mug, my phone vibrates on the counter top beside me and I almost throw the whole kettle out of the window from shock, as I have no idea who could be texting me.

I put the kettle back down and pick up my phone instead, seeing Van's name lit up with a little bubble of text, I probably should've expected it to be him. 'Sleep well?' The random text reads and I smile to myself, not really knowing what the feeling in my stomach was, but for some reason enjoying it, 'not really, last night was worth the lack of sleep though' I reply back and I could only hope that I didn't sound desperate. I didn't need to worry about that though because Van wasn't bothered whether I sounded desperate or not because he wasn't interested.