Girl in a Hoodie: Where the Future Lies

Chapter 65

Riley's POV:

I wake up and groan the next morning. My head was spiralling with a massive pain growing inside, like some sort of hefty boulder had been placed over the top of it. My sight was blurry and I had a major stomach ache from needing to urinate so-extremely badly.

"James, what the hell did you let me do last night 'cause I feel terrible and literally can't remember a thing," I moan to him, laying a hand on his chest whilst I crawled upwards to bury my head in the crook of his neck since he was sat upright. I hear him chuckle before mumbling over the top of my hair,

"You were drunk, babe," making me squirm and cringe. "Really, really drunk. I've set some Advil and water on the table for you, though," he adds. 

I nod and sit up straight, just about to take one of the pills but the moment I reach over for them, I feel the instantaneous need to hurl. So I jump out of the bed and run into the bathroom en suite with an inscrutable cramp in the pit of my stomach before letting everything out into the toilet.

James shortly joins my side and combs my hair back for me for a few moments whilst simultaneously rubbing my back. "Just let it out, Ri. It's normal," he tells me. I gag and allow more excess to fall before grabbing the nearest muslin cloth, which thankfully belonged to me, and use it to wipe the residue off the corners of my lips and mouth.

"I feel horrible," I grumble, flushing the toilet and putting the seat down to sit on it and look up at him properly. He gives me a sympathetic smile.

"You need rest. I don't think you should go to Uni today, so maybe call in sick and spend the rest of the day taking it slow-"

"But Ellie," I interrupt him, only for him to chuckle.

"I can look after her, Ri. Honestly. You need to stop stressing and have a little more faith in me." He reaches forward and kisses my forehead before pulling back. "Now, what do you want for breakfast? If you can get it down you," he asks with an added smirk.

"I don't think I can eat right now. God, this feels like being pregnant all over again," I mumble, though he hears this and ends up stifling a gentle laugh.

"Yeah, God forbid," he says before standing up and helping me to me to my feet. "I'll make you some toast with jam and tea, sound good?" he inquires.

"Yeah, thank you. I love you."

"Mm, what would you do without me, huh?" he responds jokingly. I chuckle before standing up again to wash my hands and brush my teeth after he walks out to head downstairs.

When I sit back down on the bed and cover my legs with the duvet, I look down into Ellie's cradle to find she was still sleeping peacefully, flat on her stomach with her face sideways but looking in my direction, her lips slightly apart. As I looked down at her, I couldn't help but think about how I would do anything to keep her safe. Anything to stop her from suffering from what I've had to. 

But as I do, I can't seem to fight the urge of softening the shielded look on my face and I end up putting the glass of water I had been holding down on the desk in order to reach down and bring her into my arms whilst holding her close. Her soft, slightly chapped lips brush against my chest but I don't mind it, and instead kiss her cheek, never wanting her to leave my side.

Even though she was sleeping, I find myself shushing her by whispering soft and gentle sounds and only a short while later, my phone vibrates with a text message from Alexa:

Alexa: Hey, you working tonight? I've got something important to talk to you about and I need to do it face to face.

My mind scrunches up into a confused ball, beginning to worry about all the possible things she could need to say to me before I type out a response and send it to her: