Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter XXXI

The next morning, Alfred was woken up by the loud ringing of his mobile phone coming all the way from the desk, which meant he had no choice but to drowsily climb down and walk over to the device and answer it, since it could have been an important call. In fact, he was awaiting a call from Emilia Steilsson, he just didn't expect it to be so early in the morning.

Arthur wasn't very happy to have his sleep interrupted, but he only showed his annoyance by groaning, turning around and covering his head with the blanket. There was no way anyone was getting him out of bed for three days after that party last night and all the life draining drama that happened later. And, he felt betrayed in a way, as well. By Sara, who he trusted like a friend, despite what Alfred was telling him. The Brit would never admit it in a million years, but there was some guilt hiding inside of him that chased him like a wild animal to apologize to Alfred and convince him he was trustworthy. But again, he didn't want to say sorry. It was conflicting, and just made it harder for him to fall asleep once he was woken up by the sound. It was the first thought to pop into his head this morning.

Almost falling onto the floor from the dizziness and the sudden getting up, Alfred managed to pick up the phone. Thank goodness, it was Emilia.

Since he had no intentions of making Arthur mad once again, he silently left the room and whispered a 'hello', and once the door was closed behind him and he was safely in the hallway, he could talk.

Phone conversations started to get difficult, and he almost forgot how hard it would be to hear the other person when he barely heard his own mind over the jumbled up speech of the voices. It was much easier talking in person, where he could read body language, expressions and somehow intuitively guess what the person would say next. But with phones, it was nearly impossible. And he didn't quite expect that.

"Hey, hope I didn't wake you up or anything... I had twenty missed calls from you last night, is everything okay?" Emilia's soft voice made its way to Alfred, and it took him a couple of seconds to collect the words so he could answer.

"Yeah, yeah, it was just... Well, I'd love to talk about it in person, if it's possible in any way." He said nervously, his hands getting fidgety from the sudden wave of anxiety that the phone call was causing him.

"I'm about to get to work, but I guess I have some time to discuss things. Meet me around the corner from the hospital in front of that Dunkin' Donuts place in fifteen minutes."

Alfred looked up to the ceiling in confusion, almost if he was looking for her words written on it. It wouldn't be surprising to him if he saw them there, anyway. Once he understood them and connected where she wanted them to meet, he agreed without hesitation and soon the two of them ended the conversation. Thankfully for Alfred, since phones seemed to get harder than rocket science.

He wondered how come she wasn't at work yet, but when he checked the time and saw it was only nearing six AM, it seemed pretty understandable.

"Alright, what do I usually do in the morning?" Standing a bit spaced out, head in the clouds for a good minute as he tried to figure out what to do next. Sometimes he had these weird flashes that reminded him slightly of derealization - not being able to open his eyes wide enough to see the world around him, everything felt unrealistic and the space around him was blurry - except that's not what it was. It was the fact he was most probably never going to be fully healthy again, and the medication couldn't make him magically heal. It just kept him a bit on the sane side, what they would call. "Oh, I know. I take my meds, I get dressed, I go to the bathroom, and I get coffee. That sounds reasonable."

So that's exactly what he did, despite his mind not being fully there. He was going to meet Emilia soon, and everything would be better.

Going back to the room, he went over to the desk drawers and took out a medium sized box of antipsychotics, and after quickly gulping down a small white pill with some water, he headed towards the wardrobe to put something random on just so he wasn't in pyjamas. Wearing grey sweatpants and a black Sleeping at Last t-shirt with lyrics on it - 'How rare and beautiful it is to even exist', the words he used to live by, he hurried down the stairs of the dormitory and was outside in a couple of minutes, skipping the coffee part of his morning routine.