LILY WHITE

SEVEN

LILLIE

    I'm awake and I have no idea how I got home.

    I'm in last night's clothes and I have the biggest headache I've had in years, it pounds like a drum inside of me. my stomach feels like it's on the verge of imploding.

    My hands come up to my face and I let out a groan, maybe trying to get the nausea out. I'm sitting up in my bed now, the light that comes out my windows makes my eyes hurt.

    I look at my door to see that it's wide open
    And Tommy is standing in my doorway.

    His shoulder rests on the wood of my doorway and he crosses his legs. He's still in a white t-shirt and navy linen pants, white socks. His hair is still messy.

    I barely remember anything from last night, I remember glimpses of it, like the bonfire. I remember talking to Tommy, but I don't remember exactly what I said.

    "It's time for breakfast." He says. He's looking at me now. What he's just said gives me comfort, a sign that I wasn't imagining or hallucinating his sudden change of heart towards me. It makes me smile.

    "You look horrible." Now my smile is gone. I catch a glimpse of my reflection in my vanity mirror and he is right. I look sick, like I've never slept in my life, my hair is a knotted mess.

    Before I can defend myself, Tommy's gone and I assume he's gone downstairs.

I attempt to pull myself together for breakfast. I brush my hair, wash my face, brush my teeth. I change into comfortable clothes, some black loose shorts and a gray t-shirt. I leave my hair down to cover my face.
            -
Downstairs smells like omelets. I'm stepping down the stairs when Karlie jumps on me without notice. I almost gag from the pain that it causes, any sudden movement hurts.

"Hey, Karls." She's raising up her arms, indicating to be picked up. Her eyes say please so strongly that I can't say no and I obey her request.

Karlie is on my side when I walk into the kitchen and witness Tommy helping arrange berries. He's wearing an apron now that's not tied around his waist.

I'm walking over to him when the smell is, without notice, making me sick to my stomach. I close my eyes and stop in my tracks. Tommy seems to notice.
I walk closer to him anyway, per Karlie's want to eat some of the berries that Tommy prepares. He grins and hands Karlie the blueberries in his hands, she takes them gratefully. I just try to concentrate on not throwing up for a second.

"Do you want to skip breakfast and go to the cafe?"

My concentration is broken. I'm not opposed.
"The one by the shops?" It hurts to talk. It hurts a lot. My temples are cracking inside of my head.

"Yeah." I nod my head. Slowly. Brain fluid might leak out of me if I don't nod slowly.

"I left some aspirin for you on your nightstand."
            -
I've taken the aspirin now, it doesn't take any effect until we're at Azul's cafe. We walked very slowly to the shops, my theory is that he didn't feel good either, that's why we're slow and we don't talk on the way there.

Azul's cafe is a safe haven because it only smells of coffee, bread, and pastries and those are smells that my hangover doesn't take offense to. I don't know why Tommy knew that, but he knew.

We sit down at a two person table outside of the cafe and wait for our orders to be taken. My headache is lifting a bit now and I feel a little less nauseous because of the smell of the fresh air mixed with the smell of the cafe.

"How are you feeling?" He asks. Tommy's hands are on his lap and he looks at me with his head slightly tilted to the right, but his face stays expressionless.
"Better now." I smile a small amount and make an effort to move some hair out of my face to speak to him. "How about you?"