The Necklace

6: The Next Morning

I wake up with a slight ringing in my ears. Last night I got home and was bombarded with hugs by a very drunk Sienne and Kelly. I was feeling pretty tired after everything that happened and basically fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed.

I sit up to close the blinds, it's too damn bright in here. My head is killing me and I feel like I'm going to throw up everything I've ever eaten. I don't remember drinking that much last night, but I haven't drank in a while so maybe I've just become a lightweight who gets hangovers? Whatever, nothing a breakfast sammy and Gatorade can't cure.

I start to get out of bed and reach for my phone on my nightstand, but my attention is caught by something else. Sitting on my nightstand, is the necklace. It looks like it's back to its silver color from before. Fucking Jesse probably put it there to wrap up his stupid prank while I slept.I go downstairs to find Sienne passed out on the couch. She stirs a little and starts to wake up.

"Good morning Ellie" she says with a yawn.

"Morning sleepyhead" I reply.

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night?"

"Yeah, once I get some food in me. I'm starving."

Sienne and I make our way to the kitchen and I tell her about everything. The walk with Jesse, the cave, Calvin, my cell phone, the bar, the necklace, the "marriage", everything. Sienne begins to laugh as I reach the end of the story.

"Jesus El how drunk were you?" She says chuckling.

"I wasn't even drunk! I didn't even have anything to drink until we got to the bar" I say.

"Maybe the drinks you had at the bar were stronger than you thought? But I guess that doesn't explain the cave. I agree, I think it's Jesse pranking you. But that's elaborate as fuck, what'd you do to piss him off?"

"Nothing I can think of!"

"Now that I'm thinking about it, Jesse did look really out of it when he came home last night"

"He came home? When? Is he here now?"

"Last night he did. But he packed up all his stuff and left. We were all pretty trashed at that point so I don't remember the reason he gave. You should just text him."

I sigh and start to worry about why Jesse left the house. She's right, I should probably just text him.

Elina: Hey Jess, Idk what's going on or what kind of prank you tried to pull last night. But could you just let me know you're okay?

Read at 9:47am.

"Oh my god, he left me on read... What an ass." I say, annoyed.

"I'd just drop it then. We all know he's in love with you and will come crawling back eventually" Sienne says.

"He's not in love with me!"

"See that's your problem El, you just don't know how cute you are" She says pinching my cheek and laughing.

I roll my eyes at Sienne's nonsense and tell her I'm going upstairs to shower. I probably look just as bad as I feel right now, and need to rinse last night off me.

I go into our room and see that the necklace is still on my nightstand. The thing that I don't understand is I threw that necklace in the ocean after Jesse ran away from the bar. If Jesse went directly back to the beach house to leave, then how did he retrieve the necklace? Did he follow me to the beach and wait for me to leave so he could get it? That time line doesn't make sense though, I would have beat him back to the house if that was the case. He must not have retrieved it. He probably bought more than one when he was planning the prank. Jesse may be an asshole for this, but it's kind of well thought out.

I enter the bathroom in our room and look at myself in the mirror. My skin looks pale and I can see dark circles under my eyes, I turn on the shower to get it warmed up but suddenly feel the pull of nausea leading me to the toilet. I try to throw up, but just end up dry heaving. Gotta love hangovers.

I step into the shower and feel the water cover me in a familiar blanket of warmth. Much better. My hair is an absolute mess right now so I decide to wash it, but as I wash the lather out of my hair and watch it go down the drain, I also see my hair. A lot of my hair. I run my fingers through it and pull out a small chunk. No resistance, pain or anything. Just a chunk of my hair casually falling out like it's nothing.