hobbledehoy

Hangover

I woke up with a pounding headache. Not the kind I get when I'm about to have an attack, this one was quite normal; if that makes any sense.

I was lay on my couch, in my dorm room, I recognized the smell of old books and lemons. Laying on my stomach, I suddenly realized that was laying in my underwear; and only a light blanket was covering me.

My vision was blurry, so I searched the coffee table for my glasses, but I felt so weak--my  movement was sloppy.

"Looking for these?" asks Merlynn, who had apparently been standing over me the entire time.

I quickly sit up, remember that I'm naked, and pulled the blanket up to my naked chest.

"Mer? What are you doing here?" I ask weakly as I take my glasses from her and put them on.

"Well someone had to take care of you," She says a bit sarcastically, "Especially after you passed out on Ali, puked in bathtub, and swore like nothing I've ever heard."

"Is Ali okay?" I ask quickly.

"Yep, she's the one that called me to come pick you up," Merlynn explains, "Then Roland and I dragged you up here. He would have stayed, but you made him uncomfortable when you stripped naked."

"I did what?" I gaped, looking down at myself then back up at her.

"Yeah... It was a bit awkward for all of us. I managed to put your, er, boxers, back on--but the rest of the clothing... Well you're a lot heavier than me, and--"

"No I get it, thanks, and..." I let my face drop into my hands, "I am so sorry..."

"No don't be," Merlynn laughs a little, "You obviously had fun, um, with Ali."

Right... I hug the blanket and search the room for something to look at. For some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to look at her.

But naturally, that didn't last long. I mean, she's beautiful, what can I say.

"So... Where have you been? You didn't answer any of my messages, I was worried."

Great. Way to sounds clingy, Hyrum. Chicks dig that...

"Right... I was just out for the day, turned off my phone." She replies a little too quickly, and tosses me a clean sweater.

She turns around for me, which is obviously a but silly. She's pretty much seen me buck-naked, but she knows how easily I'm embarrassed.

"Alright, I'm good." I get up and walk to my room, where I knew I'd find some clean pants.

"Right, so, I need to ask you a question." Merlynn yells from the other room.

"Ask away! I always have the answer." I continue my search for some comfortable jeans.

"I just want to know what your thoughts are... So, a couple days ago Wes asked me out."

I froze. With one leg in my pair of jeans and the other one in mid air.

Screw the pants.

I wiggle out of them and run out to my living room, where Merlynn was pacing back and forth.

"You guys, um, are going out?" I try to ask calmly.

"Well no, he just asked if I wanted to!" She clarifies, "I know you are his biggest fan, so if you don't feel comfortable with me doing it--"

"What? No, no! I don't care." I say without meaning too.

Both of Merlynn's eyebrows raise in surprise, like she was taken aback.

"Yeah, Wes is a good guy, awesome really--we're basically buds now," I continue to lie, "You guys should definitely go out."

What the heck are you saying, man!

Just go with it, the voice in my head said, she's not going to like you as much as you like her. Besides, you don't do relationships, you'll just get hurt.

"Really?" She acts like she expects me to say something more.

"Yeah, I really don't care at all, go for it." I shrug, and turn around, about to head to the kitchen, "And if its alright with you, I'll probably go out with Ali."

I look over my shoulder and see that she returns my shrug, though her expression is  blank, I decide to just ignore it.

"Great. I'll be going then. I have classes and stuff."

I watched her leave, this time no goodbyes were exchanged.

My headache was still killing me though, so I tried to just forget what had happened and went to find some aspirin.

"Well that was beyond stupid of you..." I scold myself.

I should have just told her the truth, lying was ridiculous. And why did I bring Ali into all of it?

Aspirin. Right. I'll think better when my head doesn't feel like someone is hitting it with a sledge hammer.

I swallow two small pills, and take sips of water as well.

Gazing into the mirror that hung on my bathroom wall, I was a bit disgusted with what I saw. I was a complete mess, and that made a knot in my stomach develop, and the banging in my head worse.

My breath smelt terrible, my hair was matted, and there was a streak of pink under my left eye.

As much as I wanted to, I was to hungover to clean myself up. So I locked all the doors and windows, checked them a couple times, then crawled into my bed.

I could afford to miss a couple classes. If I sleep it off, I'll be strong enough to go to rehearsals tonight.

At least, I thought sleeping would help. But I wasn't tired, not really. I just felt a little empty inside, not in bad way so to say, just in a disappointed way.

And that's not even fair. To either of us. I shouldn't expect Merlynn not to like anyone simply because I... Because I like her. That's not fair. And because of that, I'll be backing off.

No matter how much it hurts.

Beside, Wes never sticks with one girl for long. And I hate to say it, but he won't stay interested in Merlynn for long, because he's an idiot. And I'll be there to comfort her when it happens.

So I don't mind the hurt, it'll only last a while.