Insomnia

Hangover // Four

Cade looked over the girl in his bed - indeed donned in only a thong and her little diamond necklace. But she was, in fact, unscathed besides a probable headache.

He studied her face, eyebrows furrowed. She wasn't bombshell beautiful, nor sultry and alluring. She was... Girl next door. She was the kind of girl he dabbled in all the time, and the one that would always regret it the morning after. He never failed to get them to take a trip on the wild side and spoil them with the attention that every girl deserves only to leave them in the morning.

He steeples his hands, resting his chin on the precipice.

So, why her?

How have their fates crossed - not once - but twice?

He was already sold as a bargaining chip. He's avoided his father and the wedding long enough.

"Fucking Rosa." He mutters.

After their conversation, he drowned himself in a bottle of liquor as she showered and passed out on the bed. Woke up, found her like that. He investigated the laundry room, finding her dress in the dryer. No clue how that happened. He pulled it out and put it on the bed for her to wear. Her heels were by the bed. Cade takes off and decides to shower, trying to forget the half-naked girl curled up in his sheets.

Cade finishes in the shower, wiping down the mirror to examine his reflection. If he was a fucking little girl, he might've said his heart skipped a beat. For a moment, he stared into the reflection, his head drawing a blank. There was a swelling on his bottom lip, caused by a cut on the inside, and two huge red welts - side by side on his collarbone.

His lip was bitten, and someone spent a long time with their head buried in his chest.

And he doesn't remember any of it.

"That fucking whiskey." He mutters. Cade turns around, looking at his red-striped back. His mind jumps to the girl in his bed, sleeping off her own portion of hard liquor.

His cellphone nearly vibrates itself off the counter, and Cade glances at it, rejecting Rosa's call.

Cade runs his hands through wet hair, letting beads of water collect on his fingertips.

When Cade left the bathroom, she was gone. The dress was removed, and no shoes were by the bed. Evie had left without a goodbye.

*

Evie watches her roommates leave one by one. Thanksgiving break - when everyone goes home for the holidays to gorge on turkey and sweet potato casserole with reckless abandon. They visit family, wear ugly sweaters, and break out the childhood photos.

Everyone but her.

Evie lies in her bed, watching a movie she could barely focus on. Something about tennis and feminism - good movie, but she was distracted. Night descended upon her world. Quiet immersed her relative surroundings.

Her phone suddenly lit up the room, interrupting the calm silence. She answers it, expecting a greeting from Emily the telemarketer or Jared informing her about the benefits to taking out student loans at his particular bank.

"What are you, deaf? Open the fucking door."

Evie pulled away the phone, staring at the caller ID.

Cade.

What the hell was Cade doing at her dorm? She pulled out her headphones and closed the laptop, walking to the front door and unlocking it.

Cade stumbles in, clutching his side. For a solid three seconds she hoped and prayed that someone sprayed chocolate syrup on him. It's what they used for Psycho, right?