In Another Life

146

I woke the next morning with my head pounding. "Ohhh," I groaned out, holding my hand to my head while I sat up slowly. Where the fuck was I? I glanced around the unfamiliar room, taking in the pale green carpet and furniture with the white walls, and green trim. A memory flashed through my mind, as I kept looking around, my eyes squinted against the harsh sunlight coming in through the blinds. Justin's. I was at Justin's. I had only been to his place one other time. I wasn't sure why I hadn't been here more. We just always seemed to hang at my place or go out somewhere. How did I even get here? I remembered being at the park, swinging on the swing set, while I chugged a bottle of vodka like it was water. No wonder I had a headache. "Morning Sleeping Beauty," a dark voice behind me said. I turned my head slowly, and met Justin's gaze. He had a grin on his face, while he held out some aspirin and a bottle of water to me. I took them from him and popped the pills in my mouth, chugging the water like I was stuck in the desert. "Where's my car?" I asked, once I had the pills down. "It's still at the park. I called a taxi to get us, since we had both been drinking," he replied, shrugging. I stood slowly, holding onto the arm of the couch for support. I stumbled as I got to my full height, and fell. Justin caught me, his arms going around my waist to steady me. "Thanks," I mumbled, standing straight and finger combing my hair. "I feel like shit. I must look it too," I grumbled, looking down the hall to where I knew the bathroom would be. Justin didn't say a word, just stepped back and held his arm out, indicating where the room was. I stepped past him and headed to the bathroom. Once inside, I locked the door, and stared at myself in the mirror. "Oh my God," I whispered. My face was tear streaked, my makeup running so badly that I looked worse than a raccoon. Black lines trailed down my cheeks, my lipstick was smeared. and my eyes had liner and mascara smudged all around them. My hair was sticking up and matted in a few places. I looked worse than I thought I did. I groaned and grabbed the face wash that was sitting on the counter. After my face was clean, and free of makeup, I took Justin's brush and started ripping it through my hair. Once done, I straightened my clothes, trying to rid as many of the wrinkles as I could, before leaving the bathroom. "So, um, what happened last night?" I asked hesitantly. I could only remember bits and pieces of the night. I knew that I was a wreck because of Colby...Colby. I hadn't thought of him since I had woken up, but his mere name sent a savage pain through my chest, ripping into my soul. I remembered sitting on that couch, letting Justin comfort me, as I leaned into his body, while I cried so hard that I couldn't breathe. "Nothing much. We drank and played around at the park for a little while. Then you didn't want to go home because you said that Denise would make you talk, and you didn't want to talk. So I brought you here. Um.." he scratched the back of his head. "You got upset...like, really upset. So I let you talk about it, and you cried. Then you fell asleep in my arms, so I laid you down on the couch and covered you up. That's it." He was so sweet. I knew that he liked me, but he didn't even try anything when I was drunk and probably would have let him. Just to try and soothe this ache that was in chest. I missed Colby, damn it. He hadn't texted me, or called, or anything! But I guess that's what we had agreed on. A clean break, with no interactions. I let out a breath and found my purse, searching for my phone. "Where's my phone?" I asked, after pulling literally everything out trying to find it. Justin was in the open kitchen fixing coffee. "I've got it," he replied, pulling it out of his pocket. I stood and walked over to him, holding out my hand for him to place my phone in it. "Why do you have my phone?" I asked, closing my fingers around it. "Um, because you were trying to call Colby but you had made me promise at the beginning of the night to not let you do that. So I took your phone when you weren't looking, because you ended up texting me, but you were trying to text him." I slapped my hand to my forehead, ignoring the painful jolt that it caused. "At least it didn't go through with him I guess." I muttered, swiping open my phone so I could see the embarrassing things that I almost said to Colby. "I miss you. I can't stop thinking about you. I need you. I will drop everything and move to be with you, if you'll only have me." Oh my God. I was pathetic...and very thankful that it didn't go through. As much as I missed him, I knew that I wouldn't let him move me out there and take care of me. There was no way. I wouldn't be dependant on him or anyone. Besides, what if we didn't' work out, and I was just stuck there, with no job, no friends. I just couldn't. "I hate this," I moaned, walking back over to Justin's couch and falling onto it, hiding my face. He sat next to me and started rubbing my back comfortingly. "I know it hurts T, but you'll survive. You will get through this. I'm here for you," he said softly. "What did I do to deserve a friend like you?" I asked, my voice muffled because my face was hidden in my arms. "You're just you. You deserve for someone to love you, and care for you like you're a queen. Not just drop you, like you don't mean anything." His voice got angry, but his words made me a little angry. "That's not what happened."