ilomilo (joshler)

Bad Guy

The light that peered through the curtains felt like flames scorching Josh's eyes, the searing pain lingered even as he screwed them shut and threw a pillow over his head.

Needless to say, he was more than a little hungover from the excursion he had decided to embark on last night.

An excursion that involved bar hopping, getting blackout drunk, and staying out way too late.

It was only when he felt someone shift beside him that his eyes shot open. His heart dropped once he realized he didn't recognize the woman lying next to him.

Like the most unfortunate clockwork, Josh's phone rang. Debby's bright, cheerful smile lit up his phone screen as he jerked his arm towards the nightstand but instead of grabbing it he knocked it off and it tumbled to the floor with a harsh thud.

The stirring of the person beside him caused Josh to freeze momentarily.

"Morning Joshie-"

"Grab your things and get out."

Hurt flashed across her features at his words, but the tired man felt not even a single shred of remorse. If anything the only emotion he felt was an annoyance at the fact that his one-night stand hadn't found her way out the door yet.

In less than 10 minutes she was dressed and out the door without so much as another glance in Josh's direction; the only reminder that she was even ever there was the sound of the door slamming shut that kept reverberating around Josh's aching skull.

He couldn't even remember her name.

The decision to call Debby back was made, and to no surprise, she answered on the first ring.

"Hey babe, are you still up for a coffee date later? I've heard good things about that new cafe on main street."

Josh groaned internally, all he wanted to do was sleep off his hangover. Debby's high-pitched, overly peppy voice didn't exactly do much to soothe a raging headache.

"Actually Debby, I don't know if I'm still up for-"

"Come on Josh! We haven't seen each other in like a week, and I miss you. Don't you miss me?"

"Okay, fine-" Josh scowled as he was interrupted once again.

"Yay! I'll pick you up around 2, love you, babe."

"See you then Deb", he rolled his eyes before ending the call.

Somewhere deep down Josh knew that he should probably feel guilty about cheating on his girlfriend, but this wasn't the first time he had woken up with a stranger lying next to him. He was sure it wouldn't be the last time it happened either.

He stole a quick glance at the clock on his phone before pressing the power button and setting it down on top of the vacant expanse of sheets beside him. Two o'clock was only thirty minutes away.

Unlike earlier, he groaned out loud this time.

---

The obnoxious dinging of the bell above the door was just another thing added to the list of things ticking Josh off at the moment. At the very top of that list, however, was Debby's incessant chatter. He still played the role of a good boyfriend though, no matter how uninterested he was in what she had to say.

He smiled and nodded along as they made their way to the counter where they were greeted by a slender boy whose nametag read "Tyler".

"Hi, what can I get for you two today?"

"I'll just take a plain black coffee" (This was his go-to hangover cure.)

"I'll have a caramel cappuccino."