Heartbreak Weather

Arms of a Stranger

The sunlight peeking through the window tickled my face and caused me to slowly wake up. I felt my head pounding heavily and I groaned quietly. This was a sign I was getting older and should stop drinking as much as I had yesterday.

I tried turning around in the bed but I wasn't able to. Something was laying on my right arm and blocking me. More like someone.

Hailee!, my mind screamed and I couldn't help but smile and snuggle closer to the body next to me, nuzzling my head into her neck and hair and tightening my left arm around her waist. I inhaled deeply in order to fill my nose with her intoxicating scent, ready to fall asleep for another hour again.

Frowning my eyebrows, I realized that she smelled differently. I inhaled again. I could make out something fruity and heavy and not at all light and enjoyable to take in. That was most certainly not how Hailee used to smell. Her scent was flowery and light.

As I became more and more aware of my surroundings and the situation, memories of the past night started flooding my mind. It wasn't Hailee laying next to me and sleeping peacefully, it was this girl I had met when Tom had brought her and her friends to our table. I couldn't even remember her name when I opened my eyes carefully and noticed her brown hair spread out on the cushions and my face.

I scooted a bit away from her. I needed to clear my mind because I felt like I was spiralling. Closing my eyes once more, I brought a hand up to my forehead and rubbed it. I wasn't feeling well and now I was also being confronted with a one night stand. How fucking perfect. It somehow reminded me of other times I had had in my life but at that time I had enjoyed the company of random, unknown girls.

I glanced at the ceiling and finally made the decision to search for some advil when the girl turned around and wrapped herself around my torso again. It took everything in me to not wake her up and tell her to leave. I felt like I was suffocating.

Breathe, Niall.

I still recalled from last night that she looked awfully like Hailee and even Henry had noticed the similarities. But right now, I couldn't point out any of them anymore. Her hair was far too light to match Hailee's smooth chocolate one. Her facial features looked sharp and like carved into stone whereas Hailee's were much smoother. She had chubbier cheeks which I absolutely adored about her even though I knew she hated that about her appearance. Her forehead was much higher than Hailee's and her hair in general simply felt differently than Hailee's. I had always used to kiss Hailee on the nose because I found it cute how she always scrunched it up whenever she disliked something. The girl next to me had a nose that was shaped in a whole other way.

I couldn't even remember how I had thought she looked like Hailee's long lost sister yesterday. I mean it was not surprising that Henry hadn't been able to spot the differences but I should have been able to.

Maybe you just didn't want to see the differences and tried to make yourself believe for one last evening that Hailee was by your side, a voice inside my head nagged me and I tried to silence it immediately, but it kept screaming at me that I still wasn't over Hailee. Which was utter bullshit because I wouldn't have slept with another girl that willingly if I hadn't been over Hailee. I mean, I had been really attracted to the girl yesterday and against all the comparisons to Hailee, she was undoubtedly pretty and probably one of the nicest one night stands I have had in my life.

Because you kept thinking she looked like Hailee and behaved exactly like her, the voice came to life again and this time, I involuntarily shook my head, trying to get these thoughts out of it.

I groaned, a bit louder this time, and started to unwrap myself from the woman's grip around my torso. The air in my lungs seemed to get less and less and the suffocating feeling returned. I desperately needed to get away from this girl, right now.