DAWNING POINT (AgeTabooRomance)

Chapter 5

The next morning when I awoke, I wanted to die.

I would say I was happy that I didn't throw up after all – Kall had assured me of this – but maybe I should have, because it possibly would've alleviated myself from feeling the sickest I had ever felt in my life. And it was all self-inflicted.

Kill me now.

It was late morning, made obvious by the sun's glow; staler than that of the crisper early light of day. My eyes had shuttered in reflex to the brightness before I'd hurriedly closed the curtains, thankful they were the block-out ones, and spent forty minutes waking up in the darkened room.

Kallum had left me Panadol and a sport drink on the desk, and I'd taken them gladly; anything to stop the unbearable heartbeat in my head and sensitivity to the noise of the television he'd left on for me before he'd walked downstairs to make us food.

That was a little while ago.

I laid on the bed, having showered, dressed and changed the sheets already. On the positive side, I felt marginally better now than when I'd gotten up a little over an hour ago. On the negative, I was still feeling self-conscious about how I'd slept last night.

Clearly I was too drunk to care last night, but that didn't spare me the embarrassment when Kallum realised my underwear through the almost see-through white shirt.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't look so bad; I wore the only sexy underwear I owned and just happened to forget pyjamas. I might as well have worn a sign that said I was begging for attention. Kallum brushed it off no worries, only before whistling and winking at me, and then he'd left the room.

I searched my brain now but had very little memory of last night, besides seeing Jett and meeting Kieran and Margot. I smiled at the thought of having potentially made two new friends, grateful they weren't from Dawning Point, therefore hopefully having no preconceived ideas about me or my "reputation".

They'd made the idea of studying and living on campus sound like so much fun, although I still didn't know what I wanted to study. There were many things I could be good at, but wasn't sure what I really wanted. After all, wasn't that the most important part? Doing what made one happy?

Or maybe that was a dream we fed ourselves so we would look forward to the future rather than run from it.

When Kallum walked back into the room with a tray of scrambled eggs and crispy bacon, I almost worshipped at his feet. He placed the tray on my lap and sat down beside me on the bed, looking like he did nothing more than have an early night in last night; he looked happy and healthy, and here I was feeling like the scum that grew under boats.

"Thank you," I praised, then quickly continued. "Kall look, again, I am so sorry about last night. I was a mess. I shouldn't have been that bad. I'm so embarrassed–"

"Please," he hushed me. "Lala you never let loose and enjoy yourself. I am just so happy you had fun, despite the fact that you regret it this morning." He took his plate off the tray and shovelled the egg like it was his last meal. Or like he was like every other young male on the planet. "Besides. Once the hangover has passed, you'll remember the night a lot more fondly than you do right now. We had fun. No regrets."

I'd have to agree with him. Right now I wasn't too fond of the vague memories, considering they'd led me to this. That being said, I wasn't used to this feeling. Truth be told, having fun and making mistakes were not my areas of expertise.

Once we'd eaten we lay back and watched one of those survival movies – The Day After Tomorrow I think it was called? – and then Kall drove me home.