Of love and lies

Kamara

I wake up to the sound of a large base drum pounding ceaselessly in my head as well as the faint sound of a fire alarm ringing. I shoot up in bed too quickly and feel everything inside of me swish around dizzyingly and once my focus has stopped doing somersaults, I turn to the source of the alarm and pick up my phone.

The screen angrily blares at me that it's 8 in the morning and I have things to do that I'm late for and I fall back into bed with a loud groan. It's like ever since I got to this stupid place all I can do is be late.

I unlock my phone in an attempt to find out what the hell happened last night, and how the hell I got back from the gallery but after all the angry tears and alcohol I honestly can't say I remember a single thing after arriving at the gallery and being completely humiliated by Alec except the lingering image of a few spectacular painting in a dimly lit area, the taste of a really strong aged Whisky on my tongue, and the smell of a strong expensive cologne.

What if a total stranger brought me home? Or that idiot Charlotte tossed me into a cab with a very sketchy looking character and gave him my home address? What if I was kidnapped and I wasn't at home but in the middle of some creep's exact replica of my apartment??

Okay calm down Kamara, I whisper to myself, I was letting my imagination get the best of me. A friend probably dropped me home, you know ignoring the fact that I literally have only made a subtotal of two friends ranging from a girl at my new favourite coffee shop who always got my Americano coffee just right, and Dominic from the art street. Just the thought of his lopsided shy smile and silly compliments made me feel...different, but in an unusually good way.

And then my phone rings and snaps me out of my trance. I know without a doubt it's either Hades incarnate calling me or his little trampy assistant and so immediately I pick up I can't help but snap at whoever it is. This hangover was making me very irritable.

"What!" I shout into my phones poor little microphone and then I hear the person on the other end clear their throat almost fearfully.

"Oh, sorry. Good morning," they wryly reply. "I didn't mean to disturb you, I just wanted to call, make sure this is the right number and everything. It's Dominic by the way, from the art street, with the mural. I took your card remember?" He rambles on and on and I immediately feel like shooting myself.

"Oh my god. I'm so so sorry, I've just been having the worst morning and I thought you were someone else entirely." I begin to apologise and a more confident giggle comes back to me through my phones speaker.

"No worries, mornings do that to people." He jokes and I feel myself instantly relax.

"Especially hungover mornings when your late for your date with the devil at work." I sigh, for some reason I find it easy to talk to him like I was talking to my childhood friend Jordan. Unlike all the other sordid people I've had to endure in this town, he's the only person who seems to not be taking mood altering medication.

"Oh god, it's that bad?"

"I'm over an hour late for work and I've still not found the motivation to get out of bed." I admit and he chuckles.

"Well aren't you a lucky girl. I happen to have the perfect remedy for mid morning hangovers." He proudly announces.

"And what might that be?"

"Brunch, down at this wonderful cafe by the park called Café del sol that makes the best mimosas." He proudly remarks.

"Oh god, no alcohol please." I groan and he still laughs. He was making me seem funnier than I was in my an head, maybe all that alcohol hadn't been washed out of my system yet.

"Fine, I'll have the mimosa and remind them that it's just plain orange juice for you." He confirms and my body goes stiff.

"Oh you meant we should go together?" I say out loud. I really need to work in my flirting skills, I barely noticed.

"Yes, I mean only if you want to, I could just give you the directions if you'd rather go alo—"

"No!" I shout before checking my tone and reducing my volume. "It's okay, I'd love to. I really need to be with someone who doesn't want to burn me at the stake for once." I plead.

"Okay," he happily agrees, I can almost even hear the smile in his voice. "Just meet me at the entrance to the park and I'll lead the way."

"I'll be there in an hour." I say, not underestimating how tired and slow my muscles are, and how long it usually takes me to get ready even on a normal day at normal speed.

"Okay. See you then. Wear something nice." He says. "Not that you don't usually look nice. I mean I've only seen you once but you seem like the type of person who usually dresses well despite the fact that one interaction is barely enough to make any assumptions about you and who you are." He starts to ramble again. God, I thought my verbal diarrhea was bad.

"I'll see you in an hour." I tell him with a hint of a giggle in my voice to shut him up.

"Okay." He breathes.

"Okay." I reply with a giddy little smile.

"Until then." He sighs, trying to make the call last longer than it needs to.

"Goodbye Dominic." I smile, and I hang up before anything can ruin how perfect that entire call was.

And the entire time as I shower, do my hair up and slip into a little baby blue dress, I can't wipe that stupid grin off my face or ignore the sound of my heart pumping loudly in my ears. That is until I'm leaving the house and I grab my phone from the charging port to see 2 missed calls from Alec who's saved as 'Boss' with the angry and eye rolling emoji.

"Not today Satan." I dismiss as I ignore and delete them both before slipping on a coat, locking up my apartment and making my way to one of the only places in this town I've managed to memorise; the park.