The Thing about Falling ✓

Twenty Nine • The First Time

Owen

Everything seems to spin as soon as I shot my eyes open. Even waking up is a pain in the ass, more so, when I looked around only to see myself in an unfamiliar bedroom, cold as ice. I didn't even have a shirt on. I shivered as I crept under the covers a bit more until it reached my chin. I stayed awake for a short while, taking in my strange whereabouts.

"What the fuck?" I  muttered gravelly as soon as I roused myself awake from the painful morning light. I squinted and groaned as I let my eyes gather the details of the unfamiliar bedroom and it occurred to me that I must have not reached my dorm yet. 

I was insanely tired. I was not quite sure what happened previously that made me this exhausted; made me want to go back to bed and sleep. The only thing that was stopping me was this unbearable headache I have and escalated sensations of nausea, I was sure I was close to vomiting.

"What's the matter?" a sleepy, feminine voice said all of the sudden, shaking me to my core. I jolted a bit as I looked over to my side and I immediately sat down in bed. I swept my dark messy hair back so I can see better and I felt myself go numb as soon as I realized who the person was. I immediately felt more nauseous than before.

"Maya." I said as soon as she turned in bed under the covers, her purple bra strap slightly dangling down her shoulder. I didn't want to expect the worst that might have happened which could possibly explain why we were in the same room, in the same bed. And I didn't have a shirt on.

"Yes Owen? What is it?" she said in a silvery tone, her enunciation unusually clear and light. 

"What-- what happened last night?" I asked her. I felt sweat bead up around the crane of my neck and forehead. I wiped them with the back of my hand which weirdly and thankfully, still had my gloves on them. I wouldn't know what I would do without them.

"I don't know. We drank?" Maya answered as she yawned, stretching her arms up as she pulled up her bra strap and crept under the covers again, turning her back against me this time.

"Oh yeah? Then how did I--, we, end up here? And where is my shirt?" I asked as I slowly looked around the bed. I didn't want to look what was under the covers just yet because I fear I would see something I would rather erase from my mind permanently than not.

"Look under the bed, it's probably there." she answered breathily, obviously going back to sleep again.

I groaned as I slowly moved and pivoted my body downwards to check where my shirt was and  immediately, found it all crumpled along with my socks and shoes. I quickly wore it again, putting it over my head as I clumsily squeezed my way through.  

"Maya." I said after patting down my shirt, looking at her silhouette. 

"What?" she answered in an annoyed tone without turning to face me.

My head was in extreme agony at this point and I felt even more agonized by the way Maya seemed to be a completely different person. My headache seemed to have worsened because of her and my brows were pushed together in shear annoyance.

"What happened last night?" I asked. 

I was straight to the point this time. There was no need for any detours because from the looks of it, I would be better off preparing myself for the worst.

Without a second to spare, Maya turned to me with her face glowing with satisfaction, a small smile on her face as she gently rubbed her eyes and looked at me with an expression I can't quite explain.

"We had sex. It was a one-night stand kind of thing, I don't know. Don't think about it too much. Things like those happen all the time." she said nonchalantly as she slowly sat herself up on bed, her body close to me. I moved a little farther away from her, eyes wide from the realization of probably the biggest mistake I have ever made so far.