My head was aching, my memories were blurry. I felt horrible, dizzy, tired, thirsty, sick.
Hearing my brother fighting with someone in the room next to mine didn't exactly help.
But the moment I realised who he was fighting with and what he was fighting about I sat up straight – not a very good idea for my head that was hurting like hell – and started listening. I walked to the door and opened it a little.
"Come on, Michael, this is not my fault, she's responsible for herself, she's almost 21, she decides what she does, and I can't look after her all the time."
Then it was silent again.
"I didn't tell her to go and get drunk, I thought she would just work longer, she decided that herself, stop blaming me."
He sounded mad, aggressive.
"I don't know. But Michael, please, I didn't drag her to the party and I didn't hand her the alcohol, stop blaming me."
"I'm not her dad. And she lives here without paying anything, this is still my apartment and I have every right to ask her to stay out a little longer, so I can invite my girl- uh, my friend over. She lives here for free, after all."
"No, she's still asleep, I wouldn't want her to hear us either, I'm not that bad of a brother, even though you might think that."
"You have no idea what exactly happened, neither have I, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember herself."
"No, Michael, stop acting like you know her better than I do. I know that she would never do something like that, but you don't know why she did that and I don't know it either, we don't know how she felt or what exactly triggered this. If you say that it's my fault, then it is yours just as much."
I hated that I couldn't hear my boyfriend's words on the other end of the line.
"Wait, you did? What did she say? Do you think that boy..." he trailed off, suddenly sounding calmer, concerned.
"Are you sure she told you everything?"
"Damnit“, he sighed, "That girl caused you so many problems, Mike."
I felt my heart aching. He was right, I didn't know what exactly happened, but I knew that I already caused Mikey tons of problems.
"I know, and I love her and I'm so thankful that she has you, but if I was you I couldn't do that."
"You don't have any time to come here, right?"
"Yeah, I know, I just wanted to ask. It's not a problem. It's just... you have never seen her when you're not around. She said she's getting better and stuff but I don't know... yesterday kinda proved me wrong. She's only better when you're with her. One of the many reasons why I actually don't want her to move out, unless she would move in with you."
I could hear Aiden chuckle softly. "Oh believe me, I don't hold her back from moving in with you. I don't care if she is that far away, I just want her to be happy again and the last few months made me realise that there is no place on earth she will be happier than right beside you."
"I'm just as worried as you are."
"No, I took the day off, I'm gonna look after her and help her get rid the hangover, maybe I can talk with her about this later, maybe she'll tell me what's wrong."
"Sure, I'll tell you when she's awake, you guys should probably talk this out."
He was silent for a while, I thought he already hung up, until he started talking again, it was almost like a whisper.
"Just... please don't give up on her yet, she needs you, Michael."
And then it was quiet another time. I realised that he had hung up and quickly closed the door and walked back to my bed.
I let myself fall down on the mattress and groaned in pain.
I heard footsteps coming to my room and the door was opened quietly.
"You're awake?" Aiden whispered.
He sounded different than normally. His voice was a bit strained, probably from yelling at Michael, he sounded full of concern, he sounded calm, mixed with sadness.
He sounded horrible.
The moment he saw my eyes were open he walked in the room completely, he had a glass of water and another thing I assumed was aspirin in his hand. He gave both to me and I swallowed the medicine quickly, hoping that it would help.
"How do you feel?" He sat down next to my bed.
"Miserable. I have the biggest headache."
"I figured."
"What happened?"
"I think Michael knows that better than I do, call him."
I nodded. "Alright."
"He is very worried about you, so am I."
I sighed, but didn't say anything.
"What do you remember?"
"I know that I somehow ended up at this party. There was this boy and we talked, and he gave me drinks, lots of drinks, I didn't even question what he gave me, I just drank it. Then everything is kind of black."
"Yeah... kinda like that, but talk with Michael. And you have a hickey" he pointed to a place at my neck and my eyes flew wide open in shock. I immediately stood up, tried to ignore the dizzy feeling, and walked to the mirror in my room.
And there I saw the purple-blueish mark on my neck.
The same moment realisation hit me my phone rang.
Mikey❤
And I felt like I was about to throw up.