Sweet Swell

Chapter 9

I woke up to a soft ocean breeze stroking my bare back ever so lightly. I started opening my eyes slowly, a dull pain throbbing in the back of my head. As I opened my eyes, I was met with a fantastic view of the harbour straight ahead of me through billowing white drapes. I was in a large bedroom with walls covered in mint green wallpaper, creating a soft, calming effect. I was lying in a heavenly soft queen-sized bed with a soft white down duvet bundled at my naked feet like a fluffy cloud. My head was resting on several pillows and I didn’t particularly feel like getting up despite the fact that I had no idea where I was. As I turned over on my back I realised that I was only wearing my beige strapless wonderbra and bright pink panties with monkeys on them. 

My eyes widened. What happened last night? I thought as I frantically did a retake of the previous night’s party. After the rain had started falling I remembered jumping around like a loon in the downpour, doing several shots of Finnish mint vodka with Liam, hotdogs with Liam and his friends, recovering Tristan and Vera, both in a drunkenly happy stupor, more dancing…a bunch of us jumping in the pool with our clothes on. All in all…wild night. So this must mean…I was still at Liam’s house! Half naked and hung over in the house of the guy I was madly crushing on. All alone as well, not to mention, and in one of his beds. I fell back against the pillows moaning in embarrassment. Tristan and I must have been so drunk last night that Liam offered for us to spend the night. Thank God Liam and I didn’t have sex in our drunken craze, I thought as I started pulling myself up from the cloudy bed. I was slightly annoyed at the fact that we hadn’t gotten a moment to kiss the previous night, but on the other hand, I was relieved we hadn’t. I didn’t want our first kiss to be a sloppy drunken one. My clothes were thrown over a plush chair in the corner of the room  by a white orchid on a whitewashed end table. My clutch was lying on the table as well, I noticed in relief. I was sure I would have lost it after such a crazy night. I checked my phone, but the battery was dead. 

I made my way into the en-suite bathroom that was mercifully at my disposal. Leaving the room was going to be so embarrassing looking the way I did, so I took a shower and rummaged around my clutch for my compact. As I was applying concealer over my dark circles I heard a soft knock at the door. 

“Come in!” I called apprehensively. I was still in a towel, with another towel around my head. I looked like a worn out sheep. A sweet-faced woman in a maid’s outfit made her way to the bathroom door I’d left open and smiled at me, “Hello miss, I just needed to tell you breakfast is being served under the gazebo in a few moments, if you’re interested.”

I felt like I’d landed on a mountain of gold just by being at Liam’s house. Being invited to a terrace breakfast after a wild party by his maid was a bit too much, but I was done being surprised by the lengths of their riches by now. “Thanks! I’ll be right there,” I smiled back awkwardly, not knowing how to act around her. She turned around and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her, leaving me in solitude once again. 

I sighed miserably at the sight of my tired face, blotting away with my concealer until I looked halfway presentable, then lined my eyes and put on mascara, finishing off with a coat of lipgloss. My hair was going to have to air-dry. Thankfully I had a pack of spearmint gum to make up for the no-toothbrush situation, and I started chewing three pieces after I’d rinsed out my mouth a few times. “Good enough,” I said to my reflection in the mirror before trudging barefoot out of the room in my dress from the previous night. This feels like a walk of shame, I thought to myself in horror. I realised I didn’t have a clue where I was going as I walked down a long hallway, past room after room. Eventually I made my way down the floating staircase to the foyer and headed towards where the party had been. 

Everything was spotlessly clean, not what you’d expect a place to look like after a wild party at all. I could see some cleaners busying themselves with random objects that had landed in the pool, but other than that, the place looked as pristine as the rest of the Brits household. Ahead of the pool, at the very edge of the property, was a sweet wooden gazebo covered in ivy and roses climbing up the white eaves. It looked just like the gazebo from Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. I could see Liam and Tristan sitting around a round table. Liam was scouring the morning paper with a cup of coffee beside him and Tristan was texting. As I made my way up the steps towards them, Liam put down his paper, that almost naughty-looking half-smile of his growing on his mouth. “Môre, môre, sleeping beauty,” he greeted cheerfully. Tristan looked up and nodded at me, “Morning lil miss thang.”