beauty behind the madness | the weeknd

26

Rose

The next day, I wake up, head pounding. I blink a couple of times, trying to adjust my eyes to the light, but it doesn't work. I groan and pull the covers over my head.

"It's one o'clock in the afternoon," someone says. "Aren't you gonna get up?"

I jump out of my skin and quickly sit up. Bad idea. My head starts spinning. I blink a couple of times before realising that Abel is standing near the door. 

"What the hell, Abel?!" I snap. "You scared the shit out of me! How long have you been standing there?"

He shrugs, smiling to himself. "Just a couple of minutes," he answers.

"How'd you get in?" I want to know. "Isn't my mum home?"

Abel shakes his head. "No," he says. "And the front door was open. You know, you shouldn't really keep it open, anyone can walk in."

I roll my eyes and bury my head under the covers again. The sound of his voice is normally soothing, but today, it's just annoying me. Maybe I shouldn't have drunk so much last night. What would Abel say if he found out? I push the thought out of my mind. I don't want to think about that right now.

Suddenly, I feel Abel slip under the covers and wrap his arm around me from behind. He pulls me closer to his body and kisses my neck before quickly pulling back again. I suck in my breath. I'm still wearing my clothes from last night and I remember I spilled a drink on myself. Abel's probably smelled the alcohol.

"Rose?" he asks. My heart starts beating, a little too fast. "Why do you smell like alcohol?" My throat goes dry. I don't answer. "I asked you a question."

I sigh. "I don't want to talk right now, Abel," I say, my voice coming out muffled from the blanket on my face. "Just let me sleep, okay? We can talk later." 

"I wanna talk now," Abel tells me, his breath tickling my ear.

I sigh and turn around to face him. He looks at me with a serious look on his face. I'm gonna have to tell him either way. I take a moment before speaking. "I got drunk last night," I say finally.

Abel sits up, raking a hang through his hair and clenching his jaw. He's angry, I can tell. "How many drinks did you have?" he tries to ask as calmly as possible.

I bite my lip and sit up . "I don't know," I admit. "I kind of lost count."

Anger flashes in his eyes. "Lost count?" he echoes. "Rose, what the hell were you doing drinking in the first place?"

"I don't know," I say. "I just . . . I just wanted to get my mind of things. I kept thinking of what Bella said to you. You wasn't even answering my texts or phone calls!"

"So you decided to go and drink?" Abel retorts and I bite my tongue. 

"I know it was a stupid thing to do," I start to say. "But it's fine! Jeremy took care of me. He even . . ." I trail off, not wanting to tell him about the situation with Tyler.

Abel raises his eyebrows, waiting for me to carry on, but I don't. "He?" he questions. "He what, Rose?"

I shake my head. "Nothing, it's nothing," I say, looking down at my hands. 

He grabs my chin and makes me look at him. "What is it?" he wants to know. "Tell me."

I sigh. "Well, there was this boy that I was kinda with the whole night," I start explaining and Abel's eyes grow wide. "We were just dancing and drinking," I quickly add before he can say anything and jump to conclusions. I clear my throat. "Um, well, he tried to take me upstairs, but Jeremy stopped him and well, they kinda got in a fight." I bite my lip, waiting for Abel's response, but he just sighs heavily. "Please, don't be mad at me," I say quietly, sounding like a child. I hate how pathetic I sound, but I really don't want him to be mad at me.