The Worst Of Us

the morning after

It was 5am when Kaya busted opened the door to her flat. She'd jumped out of her sleep and had no idea where she was. There was a cute boy rolled on his side, his bare back facing her. Kaya couldn't remember much but the soreness between her legs and the scratches on the guys back were enough to go by. She had decided to bolt quickly, not wanting to deal with the consequences of The Morning After.

She dropped her keys on the table. The sound triggered another head pounding and suddenly, she realised everything hurt: her head, her stomach, her feet, her arms, even her fucking eyes.

Her flatmate and best friend, Lacey (previously used to be known as Fat Lacey, but was now just Lacey) rounded the kitchen island. She was wrapped up in a velvet dressing gown and looked like she'd had an early night, not like she had partied the shit out of yesterday night.

"You bitch!" She seethed. Lacey's bubblegum voice was not the first thing you'd want to hear when you were trying to nurse a hangover.

"You ditched me last night. With freakin' Simon. If I had known he was going, I never would have gone. Like fuck you K, do you honestly think I'm that despo?"

Kaya closed her eyes slowly. "Yes."

Lacey shrugged. "Fairs. So, tell me how was cock? It musta been something by the way you limped in here."

Had she been limping? Shit, she hadn't even noticed.

Lacey leaned forward and placed a tentative hand on Kaya's head. "You look like shit. What did you take and how much did you drink?"

Kaya shook her head I don't know, then nodded her yes oh wait I do know then shrugged, unsure what her viable answer could even be. "Lace...did I...? What happened last night?" Her head was a grey mass of fog with only very small fractions of images breaking through to her. "I didn't bang Lance, did I?"

"You mean . . ." Lacey's brows rose nearly to her hairline. "You don't remember anything at all?"

Kaya shook her head no, but even as she did, things were slowly starting to break through. A flash of a smile. Low taper fade brown hair. Whispered words in her ear. Chills raking up and down her spine. A small pill placed on her tongue. Warm hands trailing up her thigh. A shot or three. Butterflies in her stomach. Lips, wet and urgent on hers. Her back against a bathroom door. Then a bedroom door. Then a bed. Her hands wound in thick hair. Hot breaths. Cool tongues. Digging fingers. Fullness. Pain. Pleasure.

"Oh, God!" Kaya covered her mouth.

"What?" Lacey screeched. "You can't say 'oh, God' and not elaborate! I'm not good at guessing games."

"The sex last night. No—not sex." She met Lacey's eyes. "Crazy hot slam-me-against-doors-barely-made-it-to-the-bed-leaving-me-unable-to-speak-or-even-remember-sex."

Lacey challenged her. "If the sex was that good, you'd remember."

"I don't know! I mean, I've never . . . Come up blank like this before. I'd had a couple drinks before I took the LSD. Then everyone in the rave started to look like Lance but I don't think he . . ." Kaya lowered her voice to a whisper when she realised even talking normally was just too painful . "Ah, shit, I don't know."

Lacey's eyes widened and she reached out and smacked Kaya dead around the face. "You whore! What's our number one rule? Never forget the cock we take, the cock we suck or the cock we fuck. That way us girls can secretly remember good ole' cock number four when we're busy doing cock number nine." She waggled her brows like it was common knowledge.

"What about the guys you plused?" Lacey then asked. "You know, you said they were part of our party so we could get the purple stamp. The one for free shots."