The Troubleshooter

7- The hangover

Lili POV

Omfg I think I'm dying!

My dry mouth tastes like shit, and what the hell is this light?

I try to open my eyes, squinting as they adjust to the bright light.

Suddenly my eyes fly open. What the fuck!

Lay directly in front of me is the sleeping form of Nico! The sunlight from the window behind him gives him some kind of ethereal glow.

The brightness suddenly makes sense. I'm in Nico's apartment? I'm in Nico's bed? Which is void of the heavy black out shades of my own room.

Why? How did I even get here? And why aren't I in the spare room? I look Nico up and down. The dark circles under their eyes tell me they didn't sleep well. One bare leg is wrapped over the comforter that is tangled around Nico's waist. Their bare torso angled towards me.

I watch the rise and fall of Nico's pectorals and my mouth is suddenly drier. Are they? Is Nico naked? I daren't check under the sheets.

Taking a quick self assessment I find that I am dressed in a t-shirt and sweats. Thank God I'm not naked. I'd know if we did something right? I read online that I'd be a bit sore. I'm sure nothing untoward happened, although I don't remember changing. My eyes flick back to Nico's body, did they see me undressed? My face feels hot at the thought.

"Are you finished checking me out? I gotta piss" Nico chuckles, their eyes still closed in feigned sleep. I quickly tear my eyes away, embarrassed that they caught me looking at them.

I feel the dip of the mattress behind me and the padding of feet leading away. I can't help taking a peek. Oh thank God, Nico is wearing shorts. That's one problem solved.

Wait, I'm in Nico's bed. This is where I saw them with that woman. A wave of nausea not completely unrelated to my hangover washes over me. Luckily I find a bucket beside the bed, apparently Nico was prepared for me to feel sick.

Oh God I hope Nico didn't see me puke. So embarrassing. I think as I pebbledash the inside of the bucket.

"Classy as ever" Nico comments in a muffled voice, as I spit into the bucket. I half turn my head to see them leaning in the bathroom door brushing their teeth.

"Why am I here?" I grunt. Nico raises an eyebrow at me before turning back to the bathroom without answering.

Ignorant shit.

"You were totally shit faced" Nico's voice calls from the bathroom. Well no shit Sherlock. My throbbing head could have told me that.

"And?" I press.

"And, you rang Sophie." Nico explains walking back into the room. "Then Matt called me, because apparently drunk Lili is an international incident" they chuckles.

"Great story. None of which explains why I woke up here" I spit out.

"No keys, You lost your bag" Nico explains

"You have a spare room" I counter.

"So what? I leave you to sleep alone and you choke on your vomit? Then what?" Nico snaps, "besides, the spare room is occupied. I honestly don't know why I bother, you're the one stupid enough to drink that much by yourself. Anything could have happened to you! I stay up half the night to take care of you and I still get treated like the bad guy."

I look at the dark circles under Nico's eyes again and feel a pang of guilt.

"You should call your office." Nico sighs, "go fix some coffee while I get dressed, then I'll give you a ride to get your bag and go home"

I walk out of the room my head hung in shame grabbing the phone in the living room. I quickly call Charlotte to apologise and have my meetings rescheduled. I should have got a Charlotte years ago, I'm not sure how I functioned before her.

After the call I head for the kitchen, to make coffee. I'm taken by surprise when I discover the coffee maker is already on. Scanning the room I spot a tall slim figure in the pantry.

Their black hair in loose waves falling around their bare shoulders.

My heart leaps into my mouth, I think this is the woman I saw in Nico's bed!

How dare Nico bring me here while she's here! And she's obviously made herself comfortable considering she's wandering around topless.

What do I do now? Confront her? Confront Nico? Pretend I didn't see? Or even pretend I'm ok with it?

Before I'm given a chance to decide they seem to have sensed my presence and turn to face me.

"Lili?!"

"Ben!" I gasp "oh my god! What are you doing here? It's been so long!" I exclaim, allowing myself to be pulled into a hug. My face awkwardly pressing against his bare chest.

"Doing some business with a company out here so been flying back and forth. I was gonna stay at a hotel but Nico was good enough to let me stay here again" he explains.

"You grew your hair out." I state stupidly.

"Ah yes, I fell victim to the man bun" he chuckles.

"And you lost weight."

"Ok Lili, you're starting to sound like my mom" he laughs.

I don't have the nerve to tell him I thought he was a woman. Or to ask him if it was actually him in Nico's bed before. Was it a misunderstanding this whole time? No. Why would Nico share with Ben? When there's a spare room.

"Earth to Lili" Ben jokes poking the centre of my forehead, "Coffee?" He says passing me the mug. We both sip our coffee in content silence.

"So you and Nico, eh?" Ben asks, finally breaking the silence.

"She was drunk" Nico announces, walking in and helping himself to coffee. "She just crashed here"

"I thought you were punching above your weight" Ben laughs, "does that mean I can take you out?" Ben asks, with a wink turning back to me.

"What" I splutter spilling coffee down myself, "ah shit!"

"Go change, I'll find you something of mine that will fit," Nico says, leading me back to his room.

"Nico… why am I in your clothes?" I ask quietly.

"Because you barfed all over yours in the Porsche" he replies casually.

"You shouldn't drive so fast then!" I defend myself.

"I like how everything is always my fault," Nico sighs, passing me some skinny jeans and a slouchy t-shirt. "We were parked when you barfed, how about you just apologize?"

I stare at Nico for a moment, it's no wonder they don't like me when I behave like such a spoilt child all the time. I reach out to grab Nico's arm before he walks out of the room.

"I'm sorry"