Number 15 - Katie McCabe

10

"You woke me up," Katie says, a tinge of annoyance in her voice as she holds the door open. She's still wearing the same outfit from last night, some beige suit pants and a black vest top to match, exposing her toned arms.

"Wow, sorry," I scoff, confused yet amused by her tone of voice. I know she wasn't lying, she had most definitely just woken up. Her blue eyes were droopy and her face was almost lifeless, the redness that normally coats her cheeks has vanished and her long brown hair is messy from the pillow she must have been sleeping on. "I didn't expect you to be here," I add. I see her look gravitate from my face to my neck as I speak and at first I don't get why, until I realise I didn't cover the red and purple marks that Leah left. I feel my face burn up as I look at her expression, wondering how she will react, but she makes no acknowledgment of it and simply lets me in the door.

"Well I guess I could say the same thing," She mumbles, obviously hungover from the night before.

"How much did you drink last night?" I ask as I walk through the hallway, flashes of the night before coming back to memory.

"Too much," Katie groans, gripping her head from what I assume is a headache due to the whiskey she was drinking. "Beth and Viv are asleep if you were wondering," She says, leading me through into the living room.

"Sit down, I'll make us some tea," I sigh, making my way to the kitchen to put a pot of tea on. It's the least I can do, and besides, if Beth and Viv aren't awake yet, it's the best way I can pass time. I pour the water into the kettle and set it down on the stove. While I wait, I examine my neck in the small mirror on the wall beside the kitchen, and it's bad. "Fuck," I mutter to myself, pulling my hair from behind my back in an attempt to cover the obvious marks on me. Luckily I have Leah's hoodie on, which covers some of them, but in all fairness, they're still quite prominent. This is not going to go down well. I get the mugs ready and search the cupboards for any painkillers that may be there and I eventually find them in the bathroom cupboard, grabbing a pack of them to the kitchen where the kettle starts to whistle, signalling that it's ready. I pour the steaming water into the mugs, watching the teabags droop as soon as the hot liquid lands on them. The water immediately turns a shade of amber from the herbs inside, growing darker as I stir it around in the cup. I pour two glasses of water for us as I know we both need it after the night we had, my raging headache still giving me grief. As I walk back to the living room, I notice Katie's closed eyes and head resting against the couch, lips slightly parted. "Katie, wake up," I whisper, shaking her slightly after I rest the mugs and water down on the coffee table. Her eyelids slowly flicker open, revealing her deep blue eyes, shaded exactly like the pacific ocean. I notice that her's are much richer than Leah's. Leah's eyes are quite easy to read, her expression always with obvious intent, but Katie's are much more shielded and have a mystery to them, like I'll never know what she's truly thinking and only on occasion will her real emotions slip through. As she wakes up from her daze, I grab the mug to hand it to her, her finger brushes mine softly as I place it in her hands. "Sorry," I awkwardly mumble, immediately pulling away from the small contact we had when the mug is safely resting in her hands. Her eyes never once leave mine while she brings the cup up to her lips, humming in approval as she takes a sip. For some reason, there's a weird tension between us that I haven't noticed before... It's not the rageful one that we normally have, me hating her for some reason and vice versa, or people having to pull us away from each other when we're about to fight. It's calm and neutral, yet is so confusing at the same time, something I can say that I've never experienced before, and I'm surprised that of all people, it's Katie who I'm sharing it with. But she quickly breaks my thoughts by speaking.

"Thanks," Katie says to me, placing the mug back on the table and grabbing two painkillers along with the water I got her. She groans after swallowing, placing her hand to her forehead once again in pain. "I really shouldn't have drank that much last night," She adds. Maybe I underestimated how hungover she actually is. My headache is painful, but it's not unbearable, compared to how she's acting.