Suck It And See

10) The Surprise

10: The Surprise

Light flooded in from the window above the bed. Lolita awoke with a squint. Her eyes burned at the sudden intrusion of whiteness. She let out a groan before pulling the polka dot duvet over her head. Darker, hotter. Better.

She must not have shut the curtains before going to bed. Weird. It was something she typically triple-checked before she slept, ever since childhood, owing to a fear of monsters that loomed in the shadows of midnight. (This fear had been further fuelled by Crimewatch in her teenage years.)
Hand delved beside her pillow to check the time. But there was nothing there, beside or beneath. No phone.
Probably in my bag. Or my coat. At least, she hoped so.

One deep breath before she poked her head out from her stuffy hiding place. Exposed to the light, she stayed still and blinked until her eyes adjusted. Another deep breath to brace herself and she swung her legs out of bed and sprung up, covers regrettably sliding from her body.

Then a shriek escaped her. Just a small one.
It was freezing! Goosebumps almost instantly sprung to attention on her arms. And across her legs... and thighs... which were unusually bare. Now that was odd. Lo didn't normally crack out the shorts until May at the earliest. Never February - she didn't have a death wish. In a desperate attempt at clutching to the last of her vanishing heat, she tried to tug the legs of her shorts further down her thighs.

To her confusion she could only feel skin. Oh, god... Gliding her fingertips underneath her oversized Arctic Monkeys top, she let out a sigh of relief: she was wearing pants. That was something, at least. No wonder she was frozen though; all she was wearing was a t-shirt and bikini briefs.
What had possessed her to think this was great winter bedtime attire?

Silky softness caressed her feet. When she looked down, she saw red - her red dress. Of course she'd worn it last night; that dress never failed to leave an impression. And she'd wanted to impress her date. Date...

... Actually, come to think of it, how
did she get to bed in the first place?
Hadn't she fallen asleep on the couch? Yeah, with...

"Oh, god!"
With a wailing groan, she flopped backwards onto the bed. Flat palms repeatedly bashed her temples. Stupid. Stupid. You total fuckwit. Her hissed mutterings of 'Idiot!' continued as she debated how to live life as a goat farmer in Nepal. Or a nun.

She'd truly messed things up now. Alex would probably never want to see her again. Fuzzy memories caused her to cringe. Drunk, half-cut and throwing herself at him - well, she wouldn't be surprised if he severed all ties. At least she hadn't been sick on him or something. Oh, please say she hadn't been sick...

He would have had to help her out her dress. The Red Dress was always a two-man mission. Emma insisted that's what made it even more perfect for dates. All Lo hoped was that he had not seen, well, anything she hadn't already shown him sober. She knew full well that wearing that dress meant no bra. Although maybe if he had seen something, he'd be more inclined to stick around. Less likely to dump her (even though they weren't technically official or anything)...

No, don't think like that. He should want you, not your body. Wasn't that exactly what's kept you from meaningless flings? Even it is Alex Turner...

After realising the effort and logistics involved in becoming a Tibetan monk would just be too great, she ventured through to the living room. Empty. Coat, clutch bag and kitten heels lay on the centre of the carpet; a cosmopolitan crop circle. Yanking the red bag up, she fumbled with the clasp until it relented to force. As she groped inside it, she couldn't find what she wanted. Her search moved to the tan trench coat she'd discarded the previous night. Fingers dipped into the pockets before encountering something hard in the darkness, rectangular and cold. Relief flooded her veins. There was some good news; at least she hadn't lost her mobile alongside her dignity.