Chapter Fifty One: *Alcohol and vomit Mentions*
Clara
I followed Billie out of the car as we approached the building where Gio's office was. It was a Saturday and that meant that we had to get to the office for a practice or something, really early in the morning.
I groaned as I stretched my muscles on the side of the road. I was still recovering from Harry's birthday surprise and it was over a week later. My muscles ached and there wasn't anything that I could do to ease them. I whined and Niall came up behind me, draping his arm over my shoulders.
"Come on, love. You're being too slow." He said, tugging me along with him. I threw his arm off and scoffed.
"I'm not exactly looking forward to this so please excuse me if I don't show the best enthusiasm." I rolled my eyes and Niall placed his hand on my clothed shoulder.
"None of us want to be here. So I'm sorry but you're going to have to deal with it." His eyes were stern but care swam through them. I sighed and nodded before returning my attention back to where we were walking.
The walk through the building had sadly become very familiar to me. I hadn't seen Gio since I came back from Las Vegas. I suppose that one good thing about Gio is that he gives us a break after we go on a big trip or shipment. He doesn't expect us to jump straight up and dive head first into another game.
We walked through the library and I was trailing at the back with my head hung low as I wished to be anywhere but here. Niall had moved forward to talk with Zayn and Billie so I was on my own. My feet felt like they were dragging behind me but I couldn't run anywhere. My legs wouldn't let me. They continued to guide me towards the corridor that led to Gio's office.
Liam was up ahead and he opened the door without knocking. "Jesus Christ." He said before quickly shutting the door again. His eyes were pinched shut and we all looked at each other concerned.
"Mate, are you okay?" Louis asked, poking Liam in the shoulder. Liam shuddered and opened his eyes.
"You don't want to know what I just witnessed. I don't want to think about what I just witnessed." He shuddered again before knocking on the door. We were all huddled in this really small corridor while Liam waited for an answer.
"Liam, what did you see?" I asked from the back and everyone looked at me like they forgot I was there. "Yep, I'm still here. I haven't run away yet." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. I crossed my arms over my chest, defensively.
"Just Gio receiving head with the door unlocked, you know the usual." Liam had gone as white as a sheet and he pushed the door open where he heard Gio shout from the other side.
We all walked in and a busty blonde woman walked out of the door after us. We all watched her and I couldn't help but snicker when I looked back at Gio. I was huddling behind Niall when Gio turned his attention to us.
"Sorry about that Liam. Anyways, it's good to see you all again." He started and I diverted my eyes to the ground. "Clara, I hope you're happy now that you're back." I looked up to see his smirking face. I rolled my eyes and I looked at the painting on the walls.
"You're a dickhead, you know that right?" Billie piped up and she had a stern look on her face. She was standing up to Gio by challenging his authority. I winced but so did everyone else.
"If I were you I would think about what I was saying." Gio said, leaning forward on his desk.
"Fucking kill me all you like but what you did with Clara was not cool. Anything could have happened to her and all you told was Liam and he couldn't even say anything. You sent Harry spiralling into depression because he didn't know where his girlfriend was!" Billie was raising her voice and gradually stepping closer to Gio. Zayn was right at her side and he had hooked his arm around Billie's waist to keep her from doing anything too drastic.
"It's not my fault that Harry's weak. He couldn't even figure out who his father was let alone where his girlfriend was." Gio was smirking and it was pissing me off. I pushed forward so I was standing next to Zayn.
"Get his name out of your mouth. You don't get to talk about him like he's an idiot." I snapped at Gio and suddenly the tension in the room increased. I winced when I realised how I had spoken to him.
Gio stood up from his seat and I backed down a little. Gio was a tall man and he had intimidating features so the fact that he was standing from his seat and walking towards me ominously was quite terrifying. However, I wouldn't let him see that I was scared because that wasn't who I was. I gritted my teeth as he hovered over me for a few seconds, then he just walked away to stand on the opposite side of the poker table.
My mouth parted because I was confused. I didn't understand what he was trying to do. Did he just file away my protest and leave it for another time? Everyone around me moved around the table like a bunch of robots in command. I followed them, slotting myself in between Niall and Zayn.
Gio took the spot of the dealer, except he wasn't going to be the dealer, he was going to give us pointers. I still didn't really understand the art of poker besides the fact that it's a game of luck and you could cheat or just count the cards as you go. The technique that I liked to go with was seduction because it was the easiest for me.
All it was was a pop of the chest or working your fingers in a certain way to distract the other players. Middle aged men were always distracted by the subtle lip bite or the flash of the inner thigh. You couldn't buy a way into winning, you had to use your assets to your advantage. Seduction was my asset. Except whenever I played with the group, I couldn't use seduction to my advantage because they had grown numb to it so I had to actually be good at the game. A good poker face was the key to everything.
I snatched the deck of cards in the middle of the table and I moved my fingers so that they shuffled. The cards flipped over one another and eventually dropped into one pile of shuffled cards. I dealt them out so that everyone had seven cards each. Since nobody in particular was the dealer, we couldn't play blackjack or Texas hold 'em. I dropped the deck of cards into the middle of the table and we had to try and get a full hand.
I let Niall take the first card from the deck as I rearranged my cards. I had a shitty hand so I had no hopes of winning this. I relaxed into my chair and I waited for everyone to either pick up a card or return it back to the new pile. As there were quite a few of us, we got through the deck quite quickly meaning that I had to shuffle it.
It was my turn to pick up a new card and I lowered my cards faced down onto the table as I picked up a card from the top of the pile. It was a six of clubs. I sighed because it was no use. I didn't need it and I wasn't anywhere closer to winning.
"This is useless. I can't win this." I looked up and I was greeted by a grinning Louis. I wanted to smack the smug look off his face because there was nothing to be smug about. He was probably bluffing.
"You could fold and quit the game if you wanted." He said, toying with the poker chips in front of him. I hadn't bet that much when we started because I knew that I wasn't going to win. There was something about the day that I just didn't enjoy.
"No chance in god's green earth am I quitting." I smirked, rearranging my cards once again as Niall picked up a new card. I waited for my turn to come again and I was able to pick up a card that finally fit my hand.
I was rolling with two consecutive cards from the queen's suit and I was able to add another one. As for my four other cards, I had two that matched so I only had to get two more but it was a long shot to win. Whenever you play gin rummy you have to hope that you get dealt a good hand and this was one time that I wasn't dealt well.
We got to the end of the game a few minutes later when Louis did actually win and he acted like he was the best at everything. I was sick of his attitude so I snapped and rolled my eyes, "fucking hell. Shut up before I break your arm." It was quite a violent accusation that I obviously wouldn't follow through with because I didn't want to hurt anyone for the sake of it.
"Okay everybody. Before we start the next game. I wanted to talk about the next shipment that we are getting in." Gio started and we all groaned because we knew what this meant. "Stop your groaning, you know what you signed up for." Yeah well they might have because they didn't tell me.
"Sorry, go ahead." Liam said, hanging his head against his chest. He was a fucking wimp when it came to Gio. I had to force myself to not spit out some insult that I would regret later on.
"As I was saying. It's not that big of a package but there is a high chance that it could go south because the people we have to meet are known for messing with the dispatchers and having set ups." Gio said, using his hands to gesticulate what he was talking about.
"Then why are you dealing with them?" Someone asked.
"Because they're paying a hell of a lot and what's life if there isn't a little bit of risk." He said, smirking but none of us were smiling. "God, live a little."
"This isn't funny, I hope you know that. We're putting our lives on the line for you and what are you going to do? Just sit in the car?" Billie snapped. She was really looking to push Gio's buttons. I looked at her a little alarmed because I didn't know what had come over her. It was like her balls had finally dropped and she was using them to speak against a man that practically killed people for a living.
Gio stared at her for a long minute, the rest of us were tense. "Now, why would I need to do anything when I have all of you to do everything for me?" Billie groaned and that was when I felt like I had something to say.
"I'm not doing it. I refuse. I've just been on multiple shipments and games on my own. I'm not doing this." I said, shaking my head. He couldn't make me.
"You have been so good for this group that I don't think I can let you go. This team needs you." Gio said, acting sentimental but I think that I knew what he was actually trying to do. He liked having control over me, over all of us. He liked being able to mould the way that our days turned out.
"That's bullshit." I whispered under my breath. Gio had said from the first moment that I met him that he liked me. He had taken a liking to me that was starting to become suspicious. I wondered if he had always aimed to have me under his wing and be a part of the drop offs. I just had to be so curious and want to come along, didn't I?
"What was that?" Gio asked but I didn't have the guts to say anything back to him.
I shook my head and said, "nothing. I said nothing important." I sighed as I felt Zayn's hand brush against mine as I gripped the edge of the table so tightly that my fingers were turning white. I let go and shook my hands out under the table. I cleared my throat and there was an awkward silence that rang through the air.
"Well, after that little tantrum, shall I continue?" Gio said, mocking me and speaking down at me. I scoffed and excused myself.
"I'm going to the bathroom before I say something that'll get myself killed." I said, looking directly into Gio's eyes. I didn't wait for any protests, I just headed back to the library where the bathroom was. I walked as fast as I could and I locked myself in a toilet stall. I braced my hands on either side of the stall and I dropped my head so I could take deep breaths.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5." I wasn't too sure what was happening because I knew that I wasn't having a panic attack but I was feeling overwhelmed and I needed to get my emotions in order. My foot tapped against the floor and I shook my body limbs out.
I reached for my phone in my back pocket and dialled the only person, whose voice I needed to hear. "Hey, baby." Harry said, answering after only a few dials.
I let out a shaky breath and I felt myself just start to get more relaxed. "Hi." I said, finally.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" There was the sound of trains in the background of Harry's phone call because he was going back home to see his mum and sister but mainly to get his car. He had left just before the rest of us left this morning because his train was at exactly 9 AM. He had a long travel to go but luckily his drive back wasn't going to take as long.
"I just need to hear your voice. It's been a weird day so far." I said, thinking back how I acted like a dickhead and spoke back to the wrong person.
"Okay, baby. Do you want to talk about it?" He asked me with shuffling coming from the other side of the phone.
I thought about it but I didn't want to risk anything or put Harry in any danger. "No, can you just talk to me? I'm currently hiding in the toilets so that I can calm down and not say anything that I'll regret later." I told him, closing the toilet lid. I sat down and I pulled my knees up to my chest.
"I can do that." I listened to the smooth curves of his voice. His voice felt like melted butter on a sunny day. "I'm still on my first train. I will be for a while. This one is two hours long. Then I'll need to wait a while so I thought I might get something to eat in the station." I sat quietly listening to him as I heard people come in and out of the bathroom. "I have an hour long train and then another change before a really short train. I could have gotten my mum to pick me up in Crewe but it's the same price to go all the way home so I didn't want to make her come out."
He paused for a second, "are you still there?" He asked me and I chuckled.
"Yes, I am." I hummed and Harry let out a low chuckle. "I was just listening to you and my heartbeat. I was counting my pulse"
"You're so smart, you know that right?" He said.
"Mmh, I do know that. I got into Cambridge after all." I smiled and I could practically hear Harry's smile. "Okay. I think I'm okay. I'm going to miss you a lot though. Will I be able to see you tonight?"
"I don't know. I'll probably be back late and crash as soon as I get in. I can pick you up on my way through if you want." Harry offered and I cleared my throat.
"No, it's okay. I'll just see you tomorrow. Don't worry about it. I have work to do anyway." I told him, unlocking the bathroom stall and I stepped out. There was another woman in there but she didn't take any notice of me.
"Alright, I'll come over tomorrow morning. We can do something if you want." We talked about what we wanted to do and I said goodbye to him before I hung up and washed my hands. I had spent a while in the bathrooms so everyone probably thought I was having a shit.
I walked back into Gio's office and everyone was crowded around the table. "Good, you're back. I wouldn't want you to miss anything important." Gio said as he cleared up the cards that had been spread on the table. "Now, we're going to have to go to a really remote part of the countryside which has been picked out by the buyers. We are catering to their needs because of their rocky reputation. They might engage in certain physical violence but whatever you do, do not engage with it unless it is necessary. Is that clear?"
There was a chorus of agreement before he carried on talking. "This is happening in a week and a half so do whatever you need to to prepare for this. Limber up, stretch, do whatever." Gio stopped talking and that was final. Whenever he stopped speaking it usually signalled the end of a conversation.
I still didn't want to do this but I couldn't bring myself to protest. There was something in me that told me that it would be a bad idea to say something. "Got it. Can we play now?"
"Yes. Oh! I forgot to say that I will talk more about the specifics next weekend when I have talked through with the buyers. They are a scoundrel bunch that need to be treated that way but they like to leave things to the last minute to give the possibility of us fucking everything up." He said, shuffling the cards in his hands effortlessly.
He continued on talking for a while before dealing out the cards. He rambled on about how the buyers deserved everything that they got. It was still confusing to me as to why he was dealing with them if they always cause such problems but apparently the pay was worth it. Everything was about money. Money was worth more than our lives which sucked because I personally valued my life more.
I held my hand of cards between my fingers as I toyed with the charm on my necklace. It wasn't anything special, it was just something that I picked up at a really cheap shop that I wore sometimes. I passed it through my fingers, dragging it up the chain over and over again.
We were playing poker with Gio being the dealer. He had one card face up, the same as the rest of us. We all sat in silence waiting for Gio to make the next move. He then dealt all of us another card face up but his card was face down. This is because we have to get as close to 21 as possible and closer than the dealer.
I had been dealt two 5s. A 5 of clubs and a 5 of spades. I looked around at everyone else's cards and three people had a value of 12. Niall was the closest to 21 so far but he was also at the awkward number that meant he would have to be really lucky to get another.
I need to hit, purely for the fact that I was 11 away from 21 and I would have lost otherwise. Gio went around everyone, asking if they wanted to stand or to hit and it was only Niall and Billie that went bust. Niall ended up with 23 and Billie ended up with 22. I got dealt a king, which was the equivalent of a 10. I was sitting at a solid 20 and it would be stupid to need a different card.
Gio turned over his second card and he was sitting at 14, meaning that he had to take another card because dealers had to take another card if theirs added up to 16 or less. 17 and above they didn't have to. He picked up an 8 of diamonds meaning that he went bust. Over 21.
I let out a spluttered laugh because I had won and I hadn't even won anything. I got to rub it in Gio's face but that was about it. The thing with blackjack was that there wasn't a whole lot of skill involved, it was mainly luck and possibly card counting.
"Well done. You guys are really good at this. I am afraid that we won't be going to any games for a while but in a few months we will be going down to London for a few nights and spending as much money in the casinos as we possibly can so that we can try and get as much money as possible out of it." Liam just had to ask why, which meant that Gio continued talking for a while. He was like that one teacher everybody has in high school that didn't stop talking for like half the lesson so by the time that you moved onto the work, they gave you no time to do it. Then they would get all shitty at you because you hadn't finished the work and it was always like hang on, you're the one that rattled on for thirty minutes about something funny your kids did. Those people irked me.
I listened to Gio ramble on and when he finished, I felt like I could fall asleep. He explained that it was something to do with scheduling and budgeting issues. Budgeting issues my arse. He had money crawling out of his arse.
"Oh my god. Thank god for that." I said under my breath.
"What was that? Do I bore you?" Gio said, dropping the pack of playing cards onto the middle of the table. He crossed his arms over his chest and then he settled back into his chair.
"I'm sorry but you don't half ramble on." I said half sarcastically and half seriously. "There was definitely a way to be around the bush for that whole ten minute long speech."
"You really are being a little shit today." Gio said and if I had a drink in my mouth I would have spat it everywhere. Everyone went quiet before I choked out a laugh. I didn't know what to do. This was one of the very few moments in my life that I didn't have a comeback. I didn't know what to do. "You need to get your act together. You're in this group for a reason so stop acting like a spoiled child and act like an adult."
I felt like I was being reprimanded and I was so embarrassed. I had nothing to say. I waited a long moment to stare at Gio before I spoke. I had my bottom lip tucked between my teeth. "Can we go now?" I asked, not bothering to think of something witty or put me in any more trouble.
"Yes, you can leave." Gio said and soon as he did, I left. I headed straight out of the door and I walked through the building without caring if I was quiet. I pushed my way through the front doors and I took in a sharp breath of fresh air.
"Fuck." I said as I rested my back against the wall and I cupped my head in my hands. I brushed my hair off my face so that I could feel how cold the air was. "What are you doing, Clara?" I asked myself. I was way over my head. I didn't know what I was trying to do. I could feel myself slipping to an unhealthy pattern of talking back to people that I didn't want to talk back to.
"Hey." I heard footsteps next to me, followed by Liam's voice. "Are you okay?" He was on his own. I wasn't quite sure why it was Liam that came out, probably because he was the most sensible and Billie would probably try to convince me to just kill someone.
"Absolutely brilliant." I said, standing up the rest of the way. "Why wouldn't I be?" I looked at him and I could tell that my face was bitter. "Sorry but I just don't know how all of you have done it for so long. I can't do it anymore but I know that I've joined something where the only way out of it is death." I turned away from him and whispered under my breath, "as morbid as that sounds."
"Don't worry. We all feel the same way at times but just give him a chance. There's a lot riding on this next drop. I'm sure that once this is over and everyone is safe that he'll lay off you." Liam said and it was quite sad how naïve he was. The poor boy had some serious faith in Gio and it was disappointing.
"Sure." I shrugged him off and I cleared my head. "Where is everyone?"
"They're just coming. Someone wanted to take out a book." He winked at me and I couldn't help but laugh. "No, I just wanted to speak to you alone before everyone else comes out."
"Thank you, Liam. I know how much you care." There was obviously the interesting question as to whether he cared about me more than Gio but I chose not to question it because I didn't want to deal with all of that.
Everyone started to come out of the building, sending me cautious and caring looks. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes because I was seen as a fragile person. Just because I might have been having a moment where I decided I was going to have an attitude, it didn't mean that I was losing it. I didn't need their pity or the looks on their faces.
"Guys, I'm fine, seriously I just need to have a drink." I said, looking at all of them. Billie was the first to step forward, being my best friend. She swung her arm around my shoulders and told me that she understood because she had been the same when she realised who Gio really was.
"Let's go get drunk." She told me and I could help but laugh. I shook my head and told her that I needed to do it on my own. She understood but she made me promise that I would call her if I needed a way to get home. I hadn't even decided where I was going to get drunk.
"It's okay. I just need to stop somewhere and get a bottle of something, then I'll get drunk in the garden." I told her as we walked towards the car. "Don't worry. I know my limit."
"I know you do. Well then, that's the first order of business to stop at a crappy corner shop for some crappy alcohol." She said, raising her hand up in the air. Billie and I reached the car first so we waited for everyone else. She immediately told Niall to stop at the corner shop that he saw so I could buy stuff.
When we pulled into the layby outside of the shop, I rushed out and headed inside. I had my phone and purse gripped in my hand. I stepped inside and was greeted by the cashier. I headed straight to the alcohol and I looked at the wine bottles. I wanted some cheap red wine that would give me a horrendous hangover. I wanted to pay for what I was drinking when I knew deep down that I should have been drinking.
I picked at a random bottle and I went to the cashier. I picked up a packet of random crisps on the and chucked them down onto the desk. "Difficult day?" The cashier asked me. I looked up at him as I retrieved my card and nodded.
"You have no idea." I said, paying for my items and thanking the cashier as I walked out. I had no idea what the time of day was but I was planning on drinking for the rest of it.
I got back into the car and the entire drive back to the house was a blur. I didn't really focus on anything. I was thinking about Harry and how disappointed he would be of me when he found out that I was about to drink an entire bottle of wine on my own.
"Hey, we're home." Billie said, bracing a hand on my forearm. "Do you want to eat before you drink that?" I shook my head and held up my bag of crisps. Salt and Vinegar flavour. Billie looked a bit unsure of my very very filling dinner but she left it, knowing that I wasn't going to eat anything.
I headed inside and I walked straight upstairs to put on some warmer clothing. I put on a thick jumper and a pair of joggers. I went back downstairs, snatching the wine and crisps before heading outside. The patio heater was already sitting on the deck so all I had to do was light it.
I did so without any help. The first time I tried to do it, I was fully incapable of finding anything that got the wood burning but when someone showed me the inside of the shed, I knew where everything was. I brushed off the cobwebs that were on one of the seats and sat on it with my legs up on the chair opposite.
I popped open the bottle of cheap wine and I took a swig. I cursed when I tasted it. "Jesus, this is fucking awful." I mean, what did I expect? I paid something ridiculous like a tenner for it. It was never going to be exquisite wine. I took another sip.
I watched a log of wood get engulfed by the flames and it reminded me of how my heart felt when I met Harry. My heart was engulfed by the flames of Harry's love and deep down I instantly knew that he was the person that I was going to marry one day and that I was eventually going to bear his children.
The next gulp of wine I took burnt my throat as I swallowed. I was lonely but I wasn't bothering to talk to anyone. I just watched the flames wave at me. Rustling came from next to me and I looked up to see Niall coming to sit next to me. He gestured for me to move my legs.
I moved them so he could sit but as I was going to put them on the ground, he captured them in his hands and he placed them in his lap. "They're okay on my lap." His hands rested on my ankles.
"Thanks." I mumbled, looking back at the flames. Niall chucked the blanket that was tucked under his arms to me. He noticed that I was looking intently at the flames.
"It's like hope. Still a flicker of hope that he first gave to me. Gio promised me that I wouldn't be there for very long. But now I've been in it for three years and counting and I'm still studying to be a lawyer but yet, I'm still doing something very illegal." Niall said, taking a drink from the beer that I hadn't realised that he'd brought out with him.
"Will you get out of it once you finish university?" I asked him, my voice quiet. I took a drink from my wine bottle and winced as I swallowed.
"I have no fucking clue. He might let us go but probably not me. I'm doing a degree in law. There is no way that he would let me go without any sort of repercussions. Don't worry about me. I'm more worried about you." He said, looking at me. I averted my eyes and I took in a sharp breath. My head was starting to feel fuzzy from the alcohol.
"I was fine to start with. I was naïve and I found it exciting. I used to live for the thrill. But since going on my own after Christmas, it's been really difficult to see Gio the same way. He threatened to kill Billie and my dad if I didn't do my job properly. He didn't threaten Harry but only because his fucking father was there." I told him, taking large gulps of my drink between each of my sentences. I could feel my blood starting to boil and my skin was itching. Each of my nerve endings felt like the fire in front of me.
"He is a really fucked up man, that's for sure. You have every right to refuse to go but in the end, you know that Gio is going to make you go. You just have to make sure that Gio doesn't find out that you told Harry about everything." Niall said, looking at me seriously. I sighed because he was right but I knew that Harry wasn't going to say anything. He knew that there was too much at stake.
I ran my hand over my face. "God, I know but Harry won't. After everything with knowing what his father is now involved with, he's not going to say anything. I haven't exactly told him about Gio threatening everyone I love beside him because I know that he would freak out and try to do something about it. I can't let that happen." I told Niall, drinking the last bits of my wine.
I was getting very drunk and it wasn't numbing anything. I didn't know what I was trying to do with drinking. I was waiting for the alcohol to seep into my bloodstream. It was still light out and I picked up the poker stick beside me and I relight the fire.
I didn't say anything else to Niall and I didn't do anything. I stayed staring at the fire as various people came and went outside to check on me but Niall stayed with me. He didn't leave me and he didn't speak to me. Having him beside me was nice. I knew that Harry would have been on his way back and probably getting closer to Cambridge than his hometown.
I placed the empty wine bottle down next to me and I cracked open the bag of crisps. It was the early evening and I wanted to sober up before I went to sleep. I ate a load and almost immediately felt sick.
I felt the bile rising up my throat so I straightened my back as I tried to swallow it back down. I took my feet off Niall and I hung my head between my legs. "Fuck." I groaned as I rested my hands on my head. I had my fingers tangled in my hair. I had drunk so much in such a short time and then stuffed my face with a load of crappy food so soon after that I felt violently ill.
"You good Clara?" Niall asked me, resting his hand on my upper back. I nodded groaning and then I felt the bile rising up in my throat and I wasn't able to swallow it this time.
I jolted up and I rushed over to the edge of the patio, next to the grass where I emptied the contents of my stomach. I gagged as I threw up all over the edge of the grass and the patio. Niall rushed up behind me and gathered my hair in his hand.
Tears burned in my eyes and I spat out the rest of my saliva. I hadn't had too much to eat earlier in the day so it was mainly gagging and the slight burn from stomach acid. I was trying to rid my mouth of the taste of my vomit but it was no use. I needed to brush my teeth and chug a lot of water.
"Shit." I said as I straightened my back and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "That was god awful." I cursed and I looked up at Niall, who still had my hair in his hand. "Not the first time you've done this, eh?" I laughed and gestured to my hair wrapped around his fist.
He looked confused before he connected the dots and immediately dropped my hair. "No, it's not. I help a lot of girls with their hair." He smirked at me and I tsked. "Seriously, are you okay?"
"As good as I can be when drunk and having just spread my stomach contents across our garden." I told him, walking towards the fire. "Are you okay to put this out because I need to sort myself out." I needed to chug like a litre of water and have paracetamol before going to bed.
"I'm fine. Just go and sleep this off." Niall said, pushing me gently towards the house. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. I winced as I swallowed, feeling the burning sensation in my throat.
"Clara!" Billie exclaimed when she saw me. She rushed over to me and held me by my shoulders. She was way too loud. I walked up to her and placed my finger on her mouth, shushing her.
"Too loud." I whispered before looking around at everyone else sitting around the living room. "We may need to wash the patio tomorrow because there might be vomit over it."
"That's okay. Do you need anything?" Zayn asked me and I shook my head.
"I just need pain killers and water to take to bed and to brush my teeth." I said, covering my mouth when I mentioned brushing my teeth because I became acutely aware that I probably had death breath. "God, don't come any closer. I'll probably kill you with my sick breath."
"Okay, get away from me." Billie said, releasing my shoulders and took a step backwards. I chuckled and headed towards the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and went to the kitchen to fetch pain killer and water to chug but they were already laid out on the kitchen table. I thanked whoever did it when I walked past and went upstairs to drink my water and I immediately fell asleep.