The six-month housemate

Thirty-Five

THIRTY-FIVE

The sun wakes me up on the first day of a new year. Squinting, I evaluate that it must be around one o'clock in the afternoon, maybe more. I sit up in my bed, trying to get rid of the annoying ray of sunshine tickling my eye. Let me correct this: I try to sit up in my bed. As soon as my head leaves the smooth surface of my pillow, the room starts spinning around me, and I have no choice but to lie down again. Setting my cool hand on my forehead, I look at my room. How did I even get back last night? I really have no idea. I can't even remember the second half of the evening. Did I faint before or after the countdown?...

"What a great start to the year..." I mumble. My voice is way too loud and makes my head pound.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply. When I open my eyes again, I notice that Alex's bed is empty, his sheets thrown appart. My eyes then land on a glass of water on my bedside table, next to which stands an aspirin tube. You've got to love Alex's far-sightedness. After a little effort, I manage to sit up straight, my pillow tucked under my back, and I grab the glass and gobble down the aspirin. I close my eyes, letting it settle in. When I open them again, I finally notice the fact that I'm completely naked.

What. The. Hell.

I pull the bedcovers to cover my bare chest, and encounter a resistance coming from my left side. Alex is sleeping there, his lower body wrapped in the blanket. He's wearing briefs, but his almost nudity and mine freaks me out. What happened last night? I tug at the covers until they're finally set free from Alex's muscular body, which almost sends me off the bed, and run to my cupboard, hiding behind the door and frantically looking for pants and a large t-shirt. I pull them on quickly.

"Anything wrong, honey?" Alex asks sleepily, a startled look on his face, probably from being woken up so abruptly.

"No, nothing at all." I answer sarcastically, before throwing him the blanket. "I just woke up naked next to you without remembering anything that happened last night, everything is as fine as could be!"

"Oh, last night was delightful, love." He sits up, raking a hand through his dishevelled hair, a sly grin on his face.

"Did... Did you and I..." I hear myself stutter, gesturing from him to me.

"Yeah baby." He smirks while yawning, a combination I didn't think was possible until that very moment.

"Well, fuck."

I slide down to the ground, sitting against my wardrobe. What bothered me wasn't the fact that I'd slept with Alex, which, of course, would have consequences, but more the fact that I couldn't remember any of it. Knowing Alex, it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been conscious, which brought a lot of painful philosophy memories: what had I done that was bad enough for it to be sent back to my subconscious?

"I'm really sorry, but I actually don't remember anything." I look at Alex sheepishly.

"Ouch." He answers, bringing a hand to his heart, a pained expression printed on his face.

"I don't understand, though. I'm never that drunk." I press my head against my knees, trying to recall something, anything, from last night.

"There's always a first..." Though I'm not looking at him, I can tell there's a smirk on his face. He's probably winking too.

I could do with more sleep. My eyes, now in darkness, are actually closing.

"Maybe there's a Freudian reason why you can't rememeber last night." Lili enters the room. She's only wearing a long t-shirt, and her tired expression betrayed the fact she'd slept here.

"Wait, you're here too?"

"I must say, your acting skills are flawless, master." She says, ignoring me and bowing towards Alex. "I'm not sure I would've managed to convince her."

"What the fuck is happening? Convince me? What?" I turn to Lili, confused.

"Thank you, young Padawan." He answers as she takes a seat on the bed, next to him.

"I think we should stop torturing her though. It's not really a good way to start the year." She grimaces, ignoring my questions.

"You're probably right." He acquiesced.

"Ok, I realise that I might have been a little drunk last night, but that is not a reason for keeping stuff from me." I pout, folding my arms on my chest.

"A little?" Lili snorts. "You passed out at midnight, girl."

My eyes couldn't have open wider.

"Before you start accusing me of stuff, I'll clear stuff up. This is just a prank. We didn't sleep together." Alex states. His eyes are suddenly indeciffrable. He's serious, but there's something else.

"Thank God." I sigh in relief. "What happened, then?"

"You passed out last night, so we put you on my bed and then around 2am people started leaving to go to bars and clubs, so we decided to bring you back here. Alex wanted to take me back home, but your family wasn't here and we didn't want to leave you alone so I crashed here."

"And you slept on the mattress?" I point towards what had been Alex's bed.

"No, we slept in your bed, but Alex and I woke up before you did and we decided to prank you."

"I really shouldn't have brought you two back together." I shake my head disapprovingly.

"Well at least now you know drinking too much is not an option. You never know what can happen."

"It's not necessarily that bad." I pout.

"Oh yeah?" They both look at me doubtfully.

"I... Okay, no, it is bad."

"Thank you." Lili says. "Now, I can make bacon and eggs. English breakfast, all that jazz?"

"That would be great, thanks." My stomach starts growling. I haven't eaten much, either before or during the party.

"Okay, let's get cracking."

My parents are absent, and one of my sisters is in, but not the other. We make as little noise as possible while preparing the food. Overall, the time spent with my family was pretty close to none this time arround. Isabelle totally dismissed me when I asked her how she was doing, as if I was still ten or less, and Charlotte wasn't actually home much. Dad and Mum, when they weren't with Granny, weren't really home either, and when they were, Mum sulked because her holidays ended early. Dad was his usual self, Alex and I talked a lot with him about London and rugby. Thank God Alex was there, though. And Lili, too.

The rest of the day, I went to see Granny to wish her a happy new year, then started packing to go back to London. The new term started in not too long, and I kind of needed to get back to Uni mode. It was amazing how my home in Paris now seemed tiny: I longed to get back to my room in Charles Street.

I just wanted to go back to my little life, where I wasn't actually asked to adult too much. I still had a month in front of me, no need to rush things along. February would come soon enough, with its load of drama: all in good time. I still had a boyfriend, and I still knew what I was feeling. Or so I thought.   

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, I really haven't been inspired for this chapter :( It's a bit shorter than usual, but it's the best I could do. The fun stuff will arrive later. I don't know if you noticed, but I switched from past tense to present tense: what do you think? Did you prefer past? Let me know in the comments :D

ALSO: One of my friends has suggested that I do a Q&A, and since this story has overtaken the 15k views, I think it's a good time to do it! If you have any questions about me, how I write, where I get the inspiration... anything! just ask me in the comments, and I'll make a special chapter with my answers :)  

Thank you guys so much for reading, voting and commenting! It really gives me motivation to write (blame the slow updates on homework/tests). 

Lots of love, 

the_rugbywoman xxxx