In The End

Radioactive

I lay on the sofa shivering and nursing the world's worst hangover. Thankfully Eden had snuck out first thing and brought us coffee and breakfast, so we spent most of the morning cuddle up on the sofa, rehashing last nights events and I told her all about my encounter with Axel on the balcony. After a good 15 minute offloading about how much of a wanker she thought he was, Eden finally settled down and I dozed off with an increased throbbing head. When I awoke Eden was busy going through the pictures from last night. I lay there watching her for a while, partly because I didn't want to interrupt her flow, but mostly because I'd woken up feeling even worse with the pain now sitting tensely behind my eyes. She'd taken over the whole of the dinning table, moving methodically through her tasks with ease and precision, her dark tightly curled hair was piled up on top of her head with her beloved university bandanna and the light blue dungarees she thrown on without a T-shirt or vest meant that the twitching muscles in her toned olive arms flexed as she reached back and forth between the multiple devices and equipment. I lay there a little longer until the tiniest adjustment of my head caused me to dash up and make it to the bathroom just in time to be reacquainted with the contents of last night. I reemerged several minutes later, Eden was waiting with a vitamin tablet and a large glass of water.

"Fuck Liv, you look like absolute shit. How much did you actually drink last night?" She eyed me whilst I accepted the water and threw the tiny pill to the back of my throat.

"I don't know." I croaked, feeling the bile rising again. I threw myself back under my weighted fleece blanket, shivering as I pulled it right up to my chin. Eden appeared and placed a vomit bowl next to me. It was a disgusting concept when you thought about it, having a specially designated bowl to throw up into, but having to clean vomit up from floors, walls and wherever else it may splash as you didn't make the bathroom in time, was far more disgusting in my opinion.

"Make sure you sip that water." Eden firmly instructed as she brushed a strand of greasy hair from my forehead. "Champagne is officially on your list of alcohol no no's." She added with a warm smile then went back over to the table to retrieve her laptop. "The pictures have come out even better than I expected. Look." She sat on the floor with her back to me and rested against the sofa. Balancing her laptop on her knees she flicked through the catalog she had created to share with Sullivan and I slid my head forward just a fraction so I could peer over her shoulder to better see her work.

"Wow, Eden these are phenomenal." I praised as she continued to click through. Each shot was sharp and vivid with colour, capturing the magnitude and intensity of the event. There was a mixture of candid and posed photos, each as decadent as the other.

"God, you two make a beautiful couple." Eden lingered at the picture she had included of me and Cody on the red carpet.

"You know we're not together right." I regretfully snapped as my temples pulsed.

"I know you're not officially together, but that doesn't mean I can't compliment on how absurdly beautiful you both look. Besides it's a good job you're not together anyway."

"Oh yeah, why's that?" I bit.

"Because you'd have to have ugly babies to balance it out."

I flicked the back of her head and her shoulders instantly bobbed from her chuckle. I spent the next half an hour helping her vet the pictures she wanted to send as samples, making sure that there was nothing picked up in any of the backgrounds that could have caused even the tiniest amount of controversy. When finally happy with the choices she headed back over to the table to prep them to be sent across to Sullivan. I continued my lazy afternoon of recovery, finally feeling a little more human after another nap and a hot shower. Edens celebrated her success by cooking us her favourite spaghetti bolognaise and homemade garlic flatbread. She cancelled her plans to go for a drink with some guy she'd met in the gallery and braided my hair as we watched cheesy romcoms and opted for an early night.