Song of the chapter: God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton
Emily's POV
I woke up with an insane headache. I just had time to glance at the clock to see that it was six in the morning and glance at Austin's sleeping form before I felt the contents of last night's events coming up. I bolted to the bathroom and practically threw myself at the toilet, barely making it.
This wasn't my first time being hung over, and the previous night at the club wasn't my first time being drunk either; it was my first time being extremely drunk and having a super bad hangover. Usually I just got minor headaches. Austin didn't even have to tell me how drunk I was; I knew because I barely remembered a thing. But cut me some slack, I was celebrating a big moment in my life.
"Ems? You okay?"
I let out a moan. "I feel like my head is being smashed in by a hammer."
"So I'll take that as a no," Austin replied from the other side of the bathroom door.
"Exactly." I proceeded to throw up again, even though I didn't think I had anything left in my stomach.
Austin opened the door and walked in. "Oh god, you don't want to see me like this," I groaned, trying to push him out with the little strength I had. "Ugh, not again!"
"I'm not going to leave you sick in here alone," he said, tying my hair back while I threw up yet again. "Even though it is your fault."
"Don't rub it in," I snapped, leaning against the wall. "At least I had a good time."
"So did I! Until I couldn't find you for the longest time and ended up finding you dancing on a table grinding on random girls."
"I seriously did that?"
Austin nodded. "Oh yeah. Ask Quinn, she babysat you the whole night since she was the only one who could find you. We were all looking for you."
I groaned. "Oh my god. What else did I do?"
"You kept mixing up all our names. You spilled on Quinn's dress, too, and you were just everywhere, to sum it up. Taking shot after shot, drink after drink. I'm surprised you lasted so long."
"What time did we leave?"
"Around one, I think. I had to carry your passed out body to the vehicle."
I grabbed my head. "Never again."
"Oh, I'm sure it'll happen again," Austin chuckled. "You still feel sick?"
I shook my head. "Not right now."
He bent down and put his arms under me. "Let's get you back to bed." He slowly picked me up and carried me out the door.
"Oh, I feel sick again," I said.
"Gross!" Austin shrieked before he dropped me on the bed.
"Asshole!" I exclaimed once I had recovered. I grabbed the bucket that he must have put on the bedside table and threw up again.
"I'm going to call your mom and ask her to keep Lucy for another night," Austin said, grabbing his cell phone. "Since I'll be taking care of you all day."
"You're making me sound like I did something horribly wrong," I cried. "I just had too much to drink, big whoop! It happens to the best of us!"
"No, no, babe, I don't mean it like that," Austin said quickly, rubbing my back with one hand while he dialed my mom's number with the other hand. "Come on, I love you to death, alright?"
I grumbled in response. While he went to phone my mom, I lied down and grabbed my phone. It hurt my head to even look at the screen, so I just threw it back down in frustration. "Austin, grab me an Advil when you come back!"
"Already on it!" he yelled from downstairs.
I closed my eyes and just as I was drifting off, Austin came back into the room with a glass of water and an Advil. "Are you even going to be able to keep this down?" he asked.
"Here's hoping," I replied, holding my hand out. He handed me the water and Advil, and I took them.
"Get under the covers," he ordered, pulling them back so I could crawl in. I realized I was still in my dress from the night before.
"Why am I still dressed from last night?" I asked him.
"Because you were passed out and I didn't want to put you in pajamas. It would be like dressing a dead person; you would flop all over the place."
I rolled my eyes. "Go get me pajamas. Or at least sweats and a t-shirt."
"Even hung over, you still manage to be bossy," my boyfriend grumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
I narrowed my eyes at his back as he rummaged through my dresser in search of comfier clothing for me. He came back with a pair of sweats and one of his shirts.
"Why is my shirt in your dresser?" he asked, handing me the clothes.
"Because your clothes are comfy."
"How many of my shirts are in there?"
"I don't know, like eight," I replied.
"Eight? Well, that explains why I can never find a shirt to wear."
"Awe, babe, don't cry. You can always wear one of my shirts," I teased.
"Ha, no thank you, continue to wear my shirts. Need help?"
"If I do it fast, nope. But I need you to unzip the zipper in the back."
"Okay, turn around."
"I can't turn around in my state! You come behind me," I told him.
He sighed and climbed onto the bed so he could sit behind me and unzip my dress. "Thank you."
"Yep," he said. After much difficulty, I managed to get into the clothes Austin got.
"I'll go get you a cold cloth for your forehead," he said as he hurried to the bathroom. He came back shortly after and made me lie down so he could put the cloth on my forehead. "When it's not cold anymore, call me and I'll go run it under cold water again."
I nodded, and he sat beside me on the bed. "My stomach hurts, too."
He gave me a sympathetic look. "Well, you drank a lot of alcohol last night. Different kinds, too. That makes it worse."
"I feel like throwing up again."
He didn't say anything, just handed me the bucket and held my hair with one hand, rubbing my back with the other.
"Oh my god, just shoot me now," I moaned. I gave him the bucket. "Here, I'm done."
"That's disgusting," he said, putting it on the ground.
I crawled back under the covers. "I feel tired, but I'm not tired."
Austin pushed my hair back from my eyes gently, and bent to kiss my forehead before putting the cloth back on it. "Just try and sleep, alright? You might feel a bit better. Need anything else?" Austin asked me.
"You might wanna go empty that bucket for me," I told him, curling under the covers.
"Ew, do I have to?"
"Yes!" I yelled then winced. "Oh my god, that hurts my head. No talking anymore, bye."
He rolled his eyes and grabbed the bucket. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep off the hangover, but it was more than likely that it wasn't going to work that well.
After a while, I woke up because I had to throw up again, so I ran to the bathroom and did my business. Austin wasn't in the room, so I assumed he was downstairs doing something with Pancakes. Or making food for me. God, I hoped he was making food for me.
When I returned to the bedroom, I drank from the glass of water he got me before and climbed back into bed. My headache wasn't as bad anymore, so I decided now would probably be a good time to check my phone quickly, just in case there was anything important on it.
There was a message from Taylor, Quinn, and Jesse.
Taylor sent me, How you feeling, girlfriend? You were a wreck last night.
Quinn said, How's the hangover Emily? I'm assuming Austin told you about my dress, don't even worry about it, just get better.
Jesse said, I feel just as bad as you probably do. Guess taking hangovers hard is common between us haha
I sent them all back, I feel like I got hit by a train, I'll text you when I'm better. Thanks for the concern!
"Emily, get off your phone!" Austin said from the doorway.
I jumped and dropped my phone on my face. "Ow! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I wasn't sneaking up on you; I was walking into the room. That's not going to help your headache, now give it to me."
"No."
"Yes."
"Austin, it's my phone."
"I don't care, hand it over."
I pouted and held it away from him. "But I don't wanna!"
"Emily, I'll count to three. One...two...."
I put it under the covers. "Ha, try and get it now."
He shrugged and climbed onto the bed with me, trying to pull the covers off me. "Austin, it's cold, stop!"
"Then just give me your damn phone, Emily!"
"Ugh, fine!" I pulled it out and handed it to him. "Now let me sleep, please."
"I need to take Pancakes for a walk, she needs to get out. Are you going to be okay here?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm just going to try and sleep," I told him.
He brushed my hair away from my face. "I won't be gone long."
I was already drifting off again when he left the room. When I woke up again, I felt slightly better, but still slightly nauseous, even though there was nothing left in my stomach. You know what I mean?
I glanced around the room and saw that Austin was looking out the window. He heard me groan and turned around. "Hey," he said softly, coming over. "How do you feel?"
"Still pretty shitty," I croaked. "What time is it?"
"Two in the afternoon."
"It's only two?" I moaned. "It feels later than that. I just want this day to be over."
"Do you think you can try eating something? Even if it's just crackers?"
"Go ahead and get me something if you want, but I don't know if I'll keep it down."
"Dry toast usually works. I'll get you another glass of water, too." He grabbed my glass and went back downstairs, coming back up shortly after with another cold cloth as well.
"You're just on the ball," I smiled softly, taking the water and cloth from him.
"Well, I kind of figured the cloth would be warm by now. Here's your toast. Just eat it whenever you can."
I sighed and sipped some water. It was quiet for a few moments before I said, "Hey, Austin?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks," I told him. "For looking after me. You're the best."
He grinned. "Of course, because I'm awesome."
"Okay, don't get too cocky," I told him.
He laughed. "I'm kidding. You're welcome, Ems, anything for you."
"I would kiss you, but you don't want to kiss these lips right now," I said.
"And you have no idea how right about that you are. I'll settle for a kiss on the forehead." He bent over and kissed it. "There." I smiled. He was the best.