Before I Forget

What is love?

Sky felt like shit.

Her head ached like someone was stabbing her in the eyeball, the world was spinning and she had to fight nausea that brought the horrible taste of bile into her mouth. Not that the taste in her mouth hadn't been horrible before that. Actually, 'horrible' was an understatement. Her mouth tasted like someone had used it as a toilet.

Tequila. That will do it.

Crap, will I never learn?

With a groan, Sky opened her eyes, trying to make sense of her surroundings.

She was in her bed, which was good. She was also still wearing her dress, and her underwear, which was even better. Not that Sky particularly enjoyed sleeping in a bra, but it sure as Hell beat the worst-case scenario of not even knowing where that bra was.

But in the bed by her side–

He's in my bed. How the fuck did we get here?

Sky's heartbeat quickened, and she double-checked her clothing - the dress, the bra, and the panties were all where they were supposed to be, she wasn't lacking anything and she didn't feel like she'd had sex, but–

But still, she had a feeling that something had happened.

Hawk was asleep, and apparently fully clothed too. He was curled up on his side, under a sheet, but Sky saw his shoulder, and he had at least a T-shirt on. Glancing downwards, she noticed the sleeve of his sweatpants and a foot in sock sticking out from under the sheet, and relief washed through her system.

It wasn't that she didn't want him.

She did, a lot, and it had been difficult for her too to postpone their first time this long - but that didn't mean she wanted for it to happen when she was so drunk she wouldn't remember any of it.

She wanted it to be beautiful.

She wanted it to be something she'd remember for the rest of her life. Not some drunken mistake, and certainly not like the times she'd done it with Matt–

She pushed away that memory, flinched away from it as if it caused her physical pain.

For some time she just lay there, breathing in and out through her horrible hangover, wishing for the world to stop spinning, and just watching how Hawk slept there by her side.

He was so beautiful, and Sky took this silent, stolen moment of time just to study his face, every little detail of him.

His high cheekbones were a work of art, the line of his jaw fucking flawless. The scar on his upper lip was dark red against his pale skin, and Sky loved it. She had loved it for a long time now, even if she knew that he still didn't, that he still thought it was hideous, a monstrosity. His face that was usually so angular, so sharp was relaxed now, no tension in the muscles of his jaw or his neck, and it made him look somehow softer - more like Eli than Hawk, and that sight crawled into Sky's heart, making everything soft, warm, fluttery.

She loved him, loved all of him, and she was so proud of all the things he had accomplished - but sometimes she still missed the shy, quiet boy she had first gotten to know when moving in here.

Hawk.

That was who he was now, not Eli. And he had the hair to prove that.

Sky glanced at his mohawk and suppressed a laugh. His hair was a total mess - he had slept with the mohawk, and now it was all crumpled, part of it still sticking up but parts were like glued to his scalp, and that sight made Sky grin.

"Hey," she said silently, and instantly Hawk stirred, drawing in a sharp breath. He woke up with a start, his eyes opened.

"Shit–!" he gasped. "I was trying to stay awake–"