"the black haired girl"

v

william sat up in his bed, and he began to feel terrible. not mentally, but physically. his body ached. he had terrible head pains. he rubbed his eyes, before holding his head. "oh, christ..." he groaned to himself.

"well, look who finally decided to wake up," henry chuckled over at his desk. "good afternoon, sleeping beauty." william was confused as ever, and even more so after henry had mentioned the time being the afternoon.

"god..." he had a horrid taste in his mouth as well. "what time is it?" he asked first.

"it's three pm," henry told him.

"what? really?" he looked over to henry with a perplexed expression. william had never slept that late, even if he went to bed at four or five am. "why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"well, after what happened last night, i wasn't going to touch you until you woke by yourself," henry said in honesty. "i didn't know if it was the right thing to do."

william tried to remember the previous night. he remembered the black haired girl. he remembered how well things went. he remembered drinking a little bit with her. he also remembered following her outside of town. he also remembered... not remembering? but, if he had woken up from those events... how many of them had actually happened?

"what happened last night, then?" william asked, unsure of what to expect. henry hadn't come into play for any of these events, and he still didn't know how he'd arrived home in his bed.

"well," henry stood from his desk. he turned off his lamp, and he walked over to his bed, continuing. "it was like... two am? i was up finishing a book, when finally there was a knock at the door. i thought it was you, but when i got up to answer the door, it was you and two other people," he began explaining as he sat down on the side of his bed.

"two other people? who were they?" william recalled only talking to the black haired girl that night.

"it was a girl with black hair, short, white sweater, and her friend, who was named angel i think?" henry answered. william thought that angel must've angelina, the black haired girl's friend who had spotted him friday night. "anyways, you and that black haired girl were drunk out of your minds." at the end of his sentence, he extended his left arm for extra effect.

william thought through what he was hearing. "oh god, that... that explains a lot, actually." he connected that the "little bit" he thought they had was too much for either of them to handle. the part of the night he "remembered" where the two of them ran off from the bar, it was all a dream. he was upset to think about that, but at least the two of them had gotten on prior to that. gotten on enough to get drunk together.

that also explained his bodily pains. he was hungover.

"yeah. after angel left with her friend, i tried... communicating, with you, and that didn't go too well," henry chuckled a bit more. "you could barely stand up, and you laughed in the middle of every, slurred sentence you were trying to formulate."

"was i really that drunk?" william was in disbelief with himself. he couldn't believe he couldn't remember any of what happened after a certain point, the whole feeling was so new to him.

"oh yeah. if you can't even remember this, you must've been in some kind of blackout last night," henry pointed out. "i was about to help you into bed when you actually said something intelligible, which was that you felt like you were going to throw up. so, i had to help you to the bathroom." william felt a bit embarrassed, hearing about all henry had to do to help his helpless self.

"i'm sorry, man," he apologized, "i didn't realize..." he trailed off. "i, didn't realize i had so much."

"it's alright. that was like, your first spin with alcohol so i guess i understand," henry said. william nodded. despite henry seeming okay with it, william still felt bad.

"oh, hey," henry spoke up again, "are you feeling okay? you're probably hungover aren't you, do you want some water?"

"water would be nice," william said. henry nodded and he stood up, walking over to the bathroom.

william looked down at himself, and he realized there were some stains on his shirt. he didn't know if they were alcohol or vomit stains, and he wasn't particularly curious as to the answer. instead, he just pulled the shirt off over his head, and tossed it into the corner of the room, starting that week's laundry pile.

he then pushed the covers of the bed further off of him, to see if his jeans had suffered a similar fate. he didn't see anything, to his relief. he did, however, feel his wallet still inside his back pocket. he pulled it out, a bit curious as to how much cash he had left. he unfolded the small, brown, leather wallet, and he opened the cash pocket.

william's expression drew foul as he realized he blew almost 10 dollars on shots for the black haired girl. thinking about how much that must've been in shots, he wasn't surprised that he and her were blackout drunk by two am.

but, in between the cash that remained, there was a small, white piece of paper. william pulled it out, and there was writing on it.

"thought you might want this. she really likes you, i can tell. - angel"

turning over the note, william's eyes got wide.

angel had written down the black haired girl's phone number.

henry walked over to william with a plastic cup filled with tap water, and upon seeing william's growingly gleeful expression, he was confused.

"what are you so happy about all the sudden?" he asked. smiling, william looked up at him.

"angel, she gave me her phone number!" there was a ton of joy in his voice.

"angel gave you her number?" henry was still perplexed.

"well, not her number, but the other girl she was with. that's the girl i told you about, that's her!"

"oh! you mean that black haired chick was the one you were daydreaming about yesterday?"

william nodded.

"oh..." henry connected the rest of the dots. "so that's why you two were drunk, you actually talked to her? and things went well?"

"yeah!" william was quite excited. "holy shit, i, i can't believe this!" getting so giddy started to make his head hurt, so after a moment he took that water henry got him.

william hadn't even thought about having asked for a phone number, or a time to meet her again before they started drinking. but, he was elated to discover that angel was there to do the thinking he was too intoxicated to do. he read over what angel had written on the note.

"she really likes you, i can tell."

he felt his heart skip a beat at the thought of the black haired girl returning his growing feelings.

as william took another sip of his water, he scooted back on his bed. he set the paper on his bedside table, as well as his cup.

he was thinking about calling her, the black haired girl. but, when? and what if someone else picked up the phone? who would he ask for?

that was when the phone in their dorm rang. william wanted to get up to get it, but he felt that his legs were sore. he wondered, from what? there was a lot of the night before he couldn't remember. maybe he was dancing more.

either way, henry went to pick it up. "hello?" he paused while the other end answered. "oh yeah, will's here," he responded to the other end, looking over to william. henry walked the phone over as far as the cord would go, causing william to have to move to the foot of his bed. he grabbed the phone from henry.

"hello?" he held it to his ear, wondering who it was.

"william? is that you?" it was a girl.

"yeah. who is this?"

"it's me, from last night. angel, i think, looked in your wallet to see where you lived and found your college id, along with your room extension. so, hi!"

william smiled, extremely happy. he really owed angel for this.

"hey!" he responded. the first of so many over-the-college-phone conversations to come had just begun.