Glamoured

Chapter Four

When Ash woke up the next morning, she could barely recall the events of last night. Dinner with Sapphire and her family, Willow's house, the boat... It all blurred together in her mind like a dream soon to be forgotten completely.

She couldn't tell if it had been the alcohol, the crystals, or the light show, but the night was fading quickly in her mind like a painting in the sun.

Her bed was warm and comfortable, and she spent the next half hour dozing periodically. Something had made her very tired, and she was grateful it was the weekend so she could stay in bed.

Eventually, she got up and padded down to the breakfast table where Liam had spread out his laptop, papers, textbooks and a coffee mug.

"It's too early for studying," Ash grumbled as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from him. She started flipping through a stack of papers on taxes, then promptly dropped it and looked up at her brother.

"Oh, you high school students. You think a little hangover is enough to keep me away from the books?" He winked, tearing his eyes away from his laptop for a split second.

Ash let her eyes wander to the backyard as she tried to recall exactly what had happened last night. She remembered the scenes in blocks: first dinner, then Willow's, then the boat. The longer she was awake, the more the details jumbled together and started slipping away like a dream. Something disturbing had happened to her, and then something odd but amazing. She couldn't remember any conversations she had been a part of, and she definitely had no idea how they had gotten home.

"Did I... black out last night?" She blurted out, despite her embarrassment.

"I'm not sure, I wasn't really with you," he said without looking up from his computer.

"Right, Sapphire," she said, cradling her head in her hands as she watched a squirrel run up the side of a tree. At least she remembered that much: Liam and Sapphire had been all over each other. "It's just so odd, I didn't even drink that much. It's like my memory has been completely wiped."

Liam had apparently stopped listening to Ash, so she sat in quiet contemplation as his fingers raced across his keyboard. She thought some more about last night, then about the past week. The more she struggled to remember anything that had happened over the past few days, the more it faded, like the dark spots floating in space after a bright camera flash.

She needed to go for a run and clear her head. Although she was tired, she didn't feel hungover at all, which made it all the more strange: if she wasn't hungover, why was she missing so many details?

Without another word, she wandered back upstairs and changed into workout gear, then walked back downstairs as if in a daze, bumping into her mom in the foyer.

"Oh, you're up! You were home early last night, good for you," she smiled as she hauled a laundry basket over her hip.

"I was? I mean, I was," she corrected, not wanting her mom thinking she was still drunk. That would be the last thing she wanted after last year.

"Yeah, that nice boy dropped you off around eleven. He's cute," she said, approval written all over her face.

"Shea?" Ash guessed, based on the few fuzzy memories she had left of the night before. "Yeah, he's really nice."

"I thought you said his name was Graydon... Maybe I'm wrong, though," she said before disappearing into the laundry room off the kitchen.

What?! Ash's mind exploded a little more with each new piece of information. Just when she thought she was piecing the night together, another wrench was thrown into the equation to mess things up.