Chapter six - Kim

My head feels like it's in a vice when I wake up. Groaning, I roll onto my side and try to go back to sleep, but my bladder  decides that isn't going to be a possibility so I gingerly sit up bleary eyed and resign myself to what feels like a torturous hike to get to the bathroom.

Except, my whole bedroom looks wrong, the door's on the wrong side of the room for starters and I don't have white wardrobes, I have brown ones.

For some reason, probably the immense pain in my skull, I don't immediately go into panic mode. Instead, ignoring the pressure in my bladder, I sit back on the bed, looking around and trying to remember what happened last night.

There was a little alcohol with my friends to get us to the Cat and Fiddle. Mr Thomas outside and then the unfriendliest barman to ever exist, ah Jake, that's what Mr Thomas called him. I bet that's that Jake Alworthy that Liv was going on about. 

Ok, rude barman then posh boys and I went to the bathroom. 

Did someone come in or did I imagine it?

I wrack my brain, but it's like the memory is just out of reach, hazy images of random things pop into my head. Like a kid's playground and dancing in the rain.

Clearly I'm hungover, the worst hangover I've ever experienced, which is weird because I only remember ordering a coke at the bar. 

Maybe he got the order wrong? Or… didn't the posh boy's convince us to stay for another drink with them? Maybe we did? 

God, maybe I went home with one of them?

I shudder at the thought. I must have been really drunk to do that, but I'm definitely in someone else's room and they're not here. 

Time to go home.

Keeping my head as straight as possible, I stand up and the towel I'm apparently wrapped in, is snagged by the quilt cover, leaving me completely naked in the middle of a stranger's bedroom. 

Any doubt that I may not have had a one night stand with a stranger, is quickly replaced by disappointment.

I'm an idiot!

Slowly scanning the room, I find two piles of clothes next to my phone, but when I pick up mine, the stench of vomit has me throwing them down and dry heaving.

Right, sorry posh boy, I'm stealing your clothes!

The clothes are huge, far too big for me but tying a knot in the side of the shorts has them at least staying around my waist while I figure out how to get home and luckily my phone still has enough battery to call someone. Actually, text, I don't want posh boy to know I'm awake and have to make awkward conversation.

Opening up my messages I see a conversation with Liv from last night.

Liv: Creep who thinks he's cute says he's walking you home. No chance right? His friends wouldn't leave us alone so we're down the road outside Boots. See you in a sec. X

Kim: I kind of like the guy. Is that bad? I'm going to let him get me home, you go on. I'll call you tomorrow. X

Liv: Are you sure? 

Kim: Absolutely. Don't worry. X

Liv: Ok slut! Lol! Ring me first thing and let me know what happened. X

A wave of dread quickly followed by nausea hits me as I stare at the messages on the screen. 

I don't remember sending them. 

I don't remember being attracted to the guy at all. He definitely wasn't my usual type, although apparently he was drunk Kim's type.

What the hell kind of drink did I have? 

There's no sound at all in the house, so I hurriedly stuff my purse in my pocket and bring up the maps app on my phone. I type in my address and it says I'm half an hour walk from home.

Oh God, I really can't face that this morning. I feel like I'm dying.

I tap out a message to all four of my friends and my sister, but none of them reply, so in desperation I try Nathan Graham from next door.

Kim: Are you awake?

Nathan: Yep, why?

Kim: Long story, any chance you can pick me up from Queen Street?

Nathan: Be there in 10, are you ok?

Kim: Yeah, hungover. Thank you so much. X

Grabbing a hoody from the wardrobe, I bundle my sicky clothes inside to minimise the smell and drag my body out of the room, only risking a quick stop in the bathroom because I won't make it home without wetting myself if I don't.

After peeing and then using my hands to drink cold water directly from the tap, I creep down the stairs. Stopping in my tracks when I see the barman from Cat and Fiddle, fast asleep on the sofa.

"Come on, it'll be fun." 

A blurry memory of me dragging him towards a roundabout flashes across my brain, just the two of us. No posh creepy weirdo, which is even more confusing.

There's no way I'm waking him up though, he was grumpy enough at the bar, god knows what he'd be like with very little sleep after whatever happened last night.

I slip past him and open the door like a criminal evading their guards, closing it as quietly as possible behind me and then tiptoeing down the road.

"Hey, are you ok?" Nathan pulls up beside me and I slide into the car seat with a big sigh of relief.

"You are my hero Nathan, I swear I will owe you anything you want. I'll clean your room, do your homework, anything. Not right now though, I'm too busy trying not to die. Maybe tomorrow?" I lean against the headrest and, when he doesn't immediately start the car I open one eye, squinting down at his raised hand. A packet of paracetamol sits on his palm and in his other he's got a bottle of water. "I love you. You are the most wonderful human being to have ever lived. A god amongst lesser men."

"It's only painkillers. You said you were hungover." He chuckles, starting the car when I take the tablets and water. "Whose clothes are you wearing?"

"Some guy's. I don't want to think about it. Do you mind if I pass out in your car?" He laughs again, indicating before pulling out onto the road.

"You're ok though? Yeah?" Even with my eyes closed, I can feel him looking me over with concern. "Nothing bad happened to you?"

"Yeah, don't worry, it was all drunk Kim's bad decision making but if I survive this hangover I'll be fine, thank you again for this." I murmur sleepily, the gentle movement of the car rocking me to sleep and the next thing I know we're outside my house and Nathan's nudging my shoulder.

There's no cars in the driveway, so I thank Nathan and slip upstairs, changing into my own pajamas and climbing into bed.

The stench of vomit is enough to stop me sleeping, so I crawl downstairs, stuff my gross clothes, along with the barman's stolen ones, into the washing machine and set it going, and finally, when I fall into bed again, I pass out into a blissful dreamless sleep.

~*~

"KIMBERLEY WOODSON YOU ABSOLUTE HOE BAG, WAKE THE FUCK UP." I jolt upright, flailing my arms wildly as Liv screams into my ear from beside my bed.

"Shit, Liv, what the hell?" I glare at her as she sits down on the far end of my bed, out of hitting distance, chuckling to herself as I try to calm my entire body from the panic attack it's on the brink of. 

Susie and Ellie plant themselves cross-legged on the floor looking up at me.

"I tried to stop her." Susie gives me an apologetic look. "She's too excited by your most recent one night stand to wait for you to wake up naturally."

"I didn't have a one night stand." They all share a look then lean closer, waiting with rapt attention. "It's all a bit of a muddle in my head, but I woke up in that barman's house."

"Wait… What? Really? How? You said you were walking back with that other guy. The one we were sat with?" Liv scrunches her eyebrows together and I'm just as confused as she is by the whole situation.

"I have no idea what happened. I don't even remember texting you, the last thing I remember was going to the toilet and even that's hazy, then I've got small snippets of memory, but I don't even remember what happened when."

"That doesn't make sense, you didn't drink that much. How did you end up sleeping with the barman?" Liv looks between me and the other two, concern on all of their faces. "Wait, did you use a condom? You don't want to be baby mumma number three."

"What did he say when you woke up?" Susie jabs Olivia to shut her up, before both she and Ellie crawl up onto the end of my bed.

"We didn't have sex. I don't think so anyway. He was on the sofa and I was in his bed when I woke up." I grimace, reaching to my nightstand for the bottle of water Nathan brought me earlier and finishing it off.

"Hang on, you definitely didn't share a bed? Are you sure? What if you don't remember it?" Suddenly all three of them are leaning forwards, looking me over for signs of being assaulted in some way, while Liv bombards me with question after question. "What actually happened? Does he know the posh boy's or something? He didn't look like he liked them last night." 

"No, I don't know. He was out for the count on the sofa when I woke up, so I snuck out without speaking to him." I don't mention that I was naked when I woke up for fear of provoking more questions. "It doesn't feel like anything happened, down there, if you know what I mean."

"You need to talk to him." Ellie says decisively and I shake my head.

"Nuh uh. There's no way I'm going back to his house or to that bar. I don't want to ever see him again, it's too humiliating." I flush red as I remember dragging him to the playground.

"Well you're going to have to see him at school anyway. Would it not be better to do it without an audience? Especially if you're going to ask if you had sex." Susie adds. I shake my head vehemently until her words sink in.

He goes to our school! I'm going to have to see him every day! 

"Urgh… fuck my life " I groan, cradling my head. "Can I do it tomorrow? Or the next day?"

"Nope, get showered and dressed, we'll stop in on the way to the beach." Liv stands up, pulling the quilt back and holding her hand out to tell me to get a move on. 

"I hate you so much." I grumble, dragging my exhausted body from the bed. 

"You'll love me again when I give you chocolate." She shouts, laughing when I stick up my middle finger.

"Oh, I stole some of his clothes, shorts, t-shirt and a hoody in the washing machine. Can you stick them in the tumbler dryer for me? Might as well give them back if I'm facing the man-beast again." 

The shower perks me up a little and when I walk back into my room to find not only the promised chocolate, but also cheese toasties and coke with ice cubes, I'm overwhelmed with love for my friends.

"I love you all so much, thank you." I gush, swallowing a couple more painkillers and sliding a comfy dress over my bikini.

"I know it hurts, but I love hungover Kim, you flip from grumpy to happy quicker than anything I've ever seen." Liv throws her arms around me and I pout at her, about to say something rude, but then she holds up the chocolate and I'm hugging her. 

Proving her right I guess.

~*~

"So, you'll come with me, yeah?" I confirm, as we approach the house I stayed at last night.

I suddenly feel nervous. How do you thank a complete stranger for saving your idiotic self from having drunken sex with a creep, while then also planning to ask if you had drunken sex with them instead?

"What if I just thank him, and then I go take the morning after pill and get an STD check too?" I say hopefully, but they're all invested in an actual conversation with the guy they were gossiping about earlier in the week.

"It's just a question and reasonable when you say you don't remember anything that happened." Ellie giggles, probably thinking that she wouldn't have the guts to ask if it were her.

"Ok, shit, shit, shit. I can do this. It's just a question. It's just a question." I repeat, shaking my hands out like I'm preparing for a race. The house comes into view, so I grab the carrier bag with his clothes in and point towards the drive. "It's that one right there."

Before I lose my nerve, I stride up to the house, my friends following closely and hovering behind me when I knock on the door.

Instead of the tall, tattooed man-beast, a younger version with bright blue eyes appears, a wide grin on his face as he leans against the doorframe and makes a show of looking at us all.

"Well hello there. What can I do for you lovely ladies?" The guy says and I'm thrown, not expecting to have to speak to anyone other than Jake.

"Is Jake in?" Ellie asks from behind me and the guy's grin somehow widens, his eyes glittering with amusement.

"If the girl across the road sent you, he won't be interested. Sorry." The guy steps back and goes to close the door when I find my voice.

"Sally? No. I just need to speak to Jake, I need to return his hoody." The guy stops and turns back, renewed interest on his face.

"Jake gave you his hoody? Big guy, tattoos, frown permanently etched on his face?" He laughs, looking down at the bag of clothes in my hand. Instead of nodding, I frown at him, wondering what he's getting at, so he leans back into the house and shouts. "Lloyd."

An almost identical looking boy appears and the first one grabs his shoulder.

"Is this him?" The first guy asks, looking directly at me.

"Am I who? Who are the girls?" The guy called Lloyd asks.

"What are you playing at?" I ask when the first one doesn't respond. The weirdness has at least chased my nerves away.

"Fucking hell, I would have put money on it being you pretending to be him rather than actually Jake." The first guy laughs again, looking at his brother while pointing at me and I don't understand the joke. "Jake gave this girl his hoody."

"No he didn't." The guy called Lloyd whips his head at me, spotting the bag in my hand and then they're both laughing. "How did you get him to do that? He doesn't like people. How did you get him to even speak to you?"

"Uh… I kind of stole the hoody from his room." As soon as the words are out of my mouth, the guys start almost hyperventilating with laughter. 

Before they can ask any more questions, Jake is there, looming over them and staring at me in confusion.

"I borrowed your clothes to get home, so I brought them back. I washed them first, obviously." I say, not wanting to mention the whole vomit stench stuffed in his hoody situation. He takes the carrier as soon as I thrust it at him. "Thank you for last night."

The giggle twins are apparently mesmerised by the conversation because they're barely moving as they stare at us.

Jake on the other hand, just grunts something unintelligible and stands there, as though he doesn't understand what I'm still doing here.

"Right, ok, good chat. See ya." I spin on my heel, slamming right into a human barrier made of my friends.

"Ask him." Liv hisses in my ear as she turns me to face the brothers. It's loud enough to alert the brothers and suddenly the first guy comes to life again.

"Ask him what?" He asks, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Nothing." I stare wide eyed at Jake who's frown deepens at my words.

"Do you want to ask him out? He'll go out with you, right Jakey?" Lloyd shoves his brother towards me and I'm momentarily impressed he managed to move him, before I realise what he asked me and start shaking my head and backing up against Liv.

"No, no, no, sorry… no. I mean… that wasn't…" My cheeks must resemble a tomato and the giggle twins look like two Cheshire cats either side of their grumpy Hulk of a brother. 

"Did you two have sex?" Susie blurts out for me and a stunned silence falls over the entire group.

Jake's eyes find mind and even though his expression hasn't changed, I can somehow see the hurt in his eyes.

"I don't think we did. I just. I wanted to make sure because I had no memory of last night." I can feel myself rambling, wishing I could take back my question and erase the hurt from his gaze. "Well fuzzy bits, but they don't make sense. I don't think you're a creep or anything, I'm pretty sure I've got you to thank for not being taken advantage of or anything, but…" 

"No, we didn't." He pretty much growls, turning on his heel and storming indoors. His deep voice returns only to call his brothers. "Lloyd. Mason." 

I'm left feeling worse than I did this morning.

"He'll be ok. He's heard worse." Mason says, shaking his head sadly.

"My brother's a good guy. Those fucking rumours are shit." Lloyd adds, his friendly appearance gone and now he's looking at me like I'm the enemy.

The turn to go and I feel sick, like I'm actually going to throw up, but instead, I find myself running over and grabbing hold of the brother called Mason.

"I'm so sorry. What can I do?" I look up at him.

"Leave him alone." Lloyd answers for him, narrowing his eyes at me.

"No. This is my fault. He saved me last night, I know he did. I was stupid for asking, he makes me nervous." I shake my head. "That's no excuse. I want to make it up to him. We're going to the beach now. Tombstoning. You should come."

"You're doing what?" Mason's lips twitch and I get a flash of a memory of Jake's doing the same last night, distracting me enough that Mason has to repeat his question.

"Tombstoning." They look at each other and shrug before looking at me. "Oh, sorry, yeah, um… jumping from the cliffs into the sea. It's stupid, dangerous but pretty fun. You should come along and bring Jake and your other brother. There's another one isn't there? A younger one."

"Kian, yeah." Mason looks at Lloyd and it's as though they're having a silent conversation. Then he turns and looks at the four of us. "It sounds cool, we'll see what we can do."

"Great, we'll be on the far right of the car park, the cliffs past the surf school, you can't miss them. See you soon." Bouncing down the steps, I pass my friends and head straight for the car, feeling lighter now I've got a plan to hopefully make it up to him.

"Uh… explain." Liv demands as soon as we're inside her car.

"Did you see how hurt he was that we thought he took advantage of me?" I  exclaim, gesturing at the house as though he's still standing there.

"No." Liv cries. "Nor could you, he only has one expression. It's just your own guilt and now we're going to hang out with them. My mum's going to have a heart attack."

"He really didn't look like he cared, Kim." Susie pats Liv's shoulder from the back seat.

"I kind of see it. He's got sad eyes. Like a big sad puppy." Ellie agreeing with me has me nodding emphatically.

"Right. Exactly. Sad puppy and I plan to befriend him and cheer him up." I clap my hands together, getting more and more excited by my plan. "I'm going to make him happy. I don't know how yet but somehow, I'm going to make him smile, or die trying."

"Great choice of words when we're about to jump off a cliff." Susie grins from the back seat.

"You're really going to do this?" Liv still hasn't started the car and she's looking at me like I've gone mad.

"Yes, come on, let's go." She sighs, shaking her head and starting the car.

As she drives away, I look back at the house, there's no sign of any or the brother's, but I'm hopeful they'll turn up. If not I'll have to find another way to get to Jake, maybe trying the Cat 'n' Fiddle again but not drinking anything, just conversation. I could just sit there and talk at him until he gives in and responds. 

I can be annoyingly persistent, some might see it as a fault, but not me. Jake Alworthy is a nut that's going to crack, it's only a matter of time.