The Monster Under the Bed || Kickthestickz

The Hangover

My hands grip against something soft, fingers tensing to pull it closer. No light seeps through to my eyes yet behind them aches as I'm staring at the sun. Peeling my lids open, pain shoots through my head as the furious light of Pj's alarm clock rips through my skull. I slam the back of my hands to my eyes and twist myself over in the bed. A small groan leaves my mouth and my brain thuds hard against my skull. "Shit," I mutter. Metal tastes on my tongue as it moves to form words in my mouth.

"Tell me about it," a voice replies. Although everything in my body tells me not to I push myself up into a sitting position and lean against the headboard. I look over, through squinted eyes, at the mass of curly floppy hair, ruffled and sitting beside me. Pj is holding a little glass of water and two small white pills in the palm of the opposite hand. "Feel rough, huh?" he asks. The ibuprofens clank gently together whilst he transfers them from his soft hands to mine. I raise my eyebrows in response and take what has to be the most refreshing sip of water in my life.

A phenomenal bang comes striking across our bedroom door but before either of us can so much as move a finger in response it comes flying open and Calum and Ruben slump through. Taking one look at them, you can tell they feel the same. "Hungover as fuck, yeah?" Calum says slightly too loudly. The four of us wince as his voice booms into our heads. The other boys drag themselves onto my unused bed across the other wall.

"I don't think I've ever felt worse," I whisper and thread Pj's fingers through my own. "Not even when I had the measles as a kid and I'm telling you that was horrific."

"I'm going to the dinner hall, get some breakfast," Calum moans squinting his eyes as he looks at Ruben lying in a heap next to him on my bed. "Coming, Roo? We'll bring you both something back," Ruben groans but rolls himself slowly onto the ground. He walks over and takes the glass of water from my hands, downing the glass in a couple of gulps. "Sure, Ruben, you can have some water." I yawn, my attempt at sarcasm failing to a flop.

"Thanks, means the world to me," the blond winks. His Austrian accent extremely pronounced as the words fell from his mouth. Either he couldn't be bothered to try and hide it or his accent was just more pronounced in situations like this.

Once the door had shut behind them and their voices has trailed to nothingness down the hall Pj turned to me, "Do you wanna get up?"

"No, I wanna lie in bed and sleep all day," I murmur.

"Good, because me too."  Pj stretches his long legs down the bed and pulls the pillows flat. He turns to face me, lying towards to the centre of the mattress and pulls the cotton duvet tight against his face. Before lying down myself, I force my legs out of bed and, ignoring the violent screams of protest throughout my head and the rest of my body, trudge to the bathroom and fill up the empty glass in my hand. I glug down the water draining the cup to the bottom and hold it under the tap once more. Screwing the faucet closed as hard as possible to stop any leaks I make my way back to bed taking sips of liquid along the way.

"Feel any better yet?" Pj asks as I slide down next to him in the sheet. His hand comes instantly to rest on my waist, finger running chills along the bare skin between my t-shirt and my boxer shorts.

"No, stupid. Do you?"

"Now you're in this bed I do."

I launch my hand out as fast as possible smacking Pj's muscled arm. "Stop being an idiot."

"What? It's the truth."

We lay in silence for almost twenty minutes, both staring hopelessly to the ceiling and wallowing in our own self-pity. Drinking alcohol is like borrowing all the fun from the next day. I hear Pj grumble something behind me before leaping out of bed and dashing to the bathroom. With the headache pounding in my brain, surprise floods me at the speed he manages to move without crying out in pain. All too soon I hear the toilet lid slammed upwards and the hideous, gagging of Pj retching into the toilet bowl. I groan to myself feeling slightly nauseated as the sound of sick falling into the water at the bottom of the loo splashes round the room. Once Pj has stopped heaving up the feeble contents of his stomach the toilet flushes and he rushes his toothbrush around his mouth.