A Portrait Of Love

Chapter 8 - Elephant on LSD

My mouth was burning with a terrible taste and I flushed the toilet as I heard a knock on the door.

"Hey Abigail, are you alright?" Eric's muffled voice was heard from the other side.

"Yeah, I'll be right out!" I shouted back and rinsed my mouth with some water, taking a sip from the bottle of, what I wrongfully assumed was mouthwash on the sink, grimacing after the liquor left a burning feeling in my throat that almost made me gag again.

Who the hell leaves vodka on the sink?!

After another round of rinsing with water, I dried my mouth and hands and headed out.

I felt awful and my hands were shaking because of everything that happened, from dancing with Alex to throwing up to this last unintentional shot. The whole night was a bit overwhelming and I was fighting to hold back tears.

Collecting myself and taking a deep breath, I opened the door and looked up at Eric's dorky face: "Oliver send me to check on you as the 'responsible sober person'." he said sarcastically.

"I don't think that sword of yours could do much and I don't need help anyway, I'm fine" I replied, suppressing the cry with anger

"Okay, okay, you're a strong independent woman and I'm just here because I didn't want to argue with your brother, especially after seeing the cross punch he delivers," said Eric, lifting up his arms in surrender.

His comment made me smile, but I still rolled my eyes to show him he wasn't that funny, as I walked past him down the hallway, feeling a bit dizzy.

"May I inform the independent woman that she has a bit of a stain on her shirt?" he asked after catching up with me.

I looked down at, what I hoped was a water stain on my black top and crossed my arms trying to cover it up.

We were heading back towards the sofas when someone unexpectedly stepped out of the kitchen right in front of us.

I quickly stopped, trying not to crash into the person, which resulted in Erick bumping into me from behind.

"Well well well, meet again stray cat" a known voice spoke up, and I knew by the tone of it, that a smug grin will be waiting for me as I looked up.

Jep, I wasn't wrong.

In front of us stood Mark, still holding the beer from before, his sheet now tossed over his shoulders.

"Hi Mark," I greeted him, not seeing his face completely clearly.

"Hey, what up dude" Eric spoke up like they were old friends.

"I see you've met my neighbor," replied Mark as they manly shook their hands and bumped shoulders.

"Yeah, altho I might have liked her better if she was sober" he joked around and I rolled my eyes again.

Mark took a closer look at me: "You don't look too good Gally".

I scrunched my nose: "Well thanks for pointing that...", I didn't finish my sentence as a loud hiccup interrupted me.

"Wow, how much has she had to drink", he asked Eric, despite the fact I was right in front of him. But to be honest, I wasn't really in a state to answer questions.

So I stood there, dozing off from that unintentional shot of pure alcohol, watching them talk, catching a few words from time to time.

"...I think it would be best to take her home..., you came with a car right?... by the look of it, Oliver isn't much soberer..." after hearing my brothers name I looked up and across the dancefloor, catching a glimpse of him singing karaoke with some girl, stumbling around like an elephant on LSD.