‘What do you do?’
‘I’m a graphic designer.’
‘Why have you had a bad week?’
‘Redundancies. Crap like that. Not me, but my mate. It’s sad, man. Now, come on, one, two, three…’
On three, all three of us threw the tequila down our throats and Zach immediately began refilling our glasses.
‘I’m not sure about this,’ I managed to choke out through a coughing fit. ‘I don’t want to be ill.’
‘You’ll be fine. Come on.’
I don’t know what it was about Zach, but I picked up the glass and swallowed my fourth shot of tequila. It still burned going down, but it was almost pleasant now. I was getting good at these shots. Maybe a fifth might go down even better.
‘Take it easy,’ Daniel warned, placing a large, warm hand on my thigh. Giggling, I covered his hand with mine and leaned against him. This was more like it. I’d definitely get that kiss before I went home tonight. ‘Are you okay?’
‘What do you mean, is she okay? She’s more than okay! She’s great!’ Zach refilled my glass.
I felt warm and relaxed. ‘Mmm, yeah, I’m fine.’ My face felt like it was made of rubber, but that was okay.
‘How about some water?’ Daniel was looking worried.
‘Go and get some water then, Grandpa! Jesus, what kind of fucking party pooper are you? Are we going to a club after this, or what?’
‘What club? They all play shit music. I can’t be arsed paying to get in, then paying over the odds for a beer and then standing around listening to crap.’
‘All right, I’ll go on my own then!’
‘Yeah, right!’ Daniel gave him a knowing look.
‘You bastard!’ Zach said, but without much venom. ‘How about you come back to mine and we just jam for a while?’
‘Nah, I’m knackered. I’m going home to bed.’
‘Jesus, Dan, you’re a right fucking let-down. Where’s your party spirit?’
‘Err… I don’t have one. Sorry.’
‘Gah!’ Zach let out an exasperated snort as Daniel got up to go to the bar again. I watched him. He seemed vaguely fuzzy around the edges, and was he leaning to one side? Or was that the room? I giggled to myself and Zach laughed too. He leaned over and punched the top of my arm lightly.
‘Ouch!’
‘You’re all right, you,’ he said, scrunching his face up in an effort to convey a degree of sincerity. ‘You can come out with us again. Are you going to come and see us play?’
‘Definitely.’ I hiccupped and covered my mouth with my hand, giggling. Zach poured me another tequila, which I immediately swallowed. He collapsed on the table, helpless with laughter.
‘You’re so cool.’
‘Yeahshowareyou,’
‘Have another one.’
‘Hey hey hey!’ Daniel said, arriving back at the table with three bottles of water and catching Zach pouring out more tequilas. He grabbed the bottle out of Zach’s hand and stood it upright on the table.
‘Oh, come on!’ Zach protested. The people on the next table turned to stare.
‘In a minute. Let’s have some water first.’ He collapsed into the seat next to me and handed me a bottle of water. ‘Here. Drink.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, making a big effort not to slur my words. My actions seemed overexaggerated as I tried not to appear drunk. I drank the whole bottle of water in one go and placed it back down on the table. Zach rested his chin on his hand and laughed at me. ‘Worrareyoulaughingat?’ I said, wiping my chin to check for dribbles. Daniel wouldn’t want to kiss me if I was dribbling.
‘You’re a legend,’ he said.
For some reason, this pleased me enormously and I grinned back.
‘Okay. We’ve had our water, let’s play some drinking games.’
‘Nooo,’ Daniel said. ‘No way am I getting as smashed as we did the other week. Don’t you learn, Zach?’
‘You’re such a boring bastard!’
Daniel turned to me. ‘I woke up in my parents’ front garden, soaking wet. My mum went berserk! She thought I was dead.’
Zach laughed so hard he nearly fell off his stool. I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled too.
‘It wasn’t funny,’ Daniel said, sternly. ‘And neither is this. I told Rachel I’d look after you and, less than an hour later, you’re completely wasted. I’ll call us a taxi.’
‘Alright then, Gramps. Let’s just have one for the road.’
Daniel sighed but allowed Zach to pour us another shot each while he phoned for a cab. I downed my shot immediately, and Zach snorted with laughter.
‘…Five minutes? Yep, that’s great.’ Daniel finished his call before shaking his head at us. ‘Zach, you’re a nightmare.’
‘Just drink it down,’ Zach said, pushing the shot glass closer. Daniel snatched it up and swallowed it.
‘Happy now? Right, let’s wait outside. They said there’s a cab on its way.’ He got up and tried to chivvy us along. Zach snatched up the tequila while I fumbled for my bag, trying not to tip sideways as I stood up. The room was revolving like I was on a fairground ride.
‘You okay?’ Daniel was watching me as I tried to navigate my way around three bar stools, ricocheting off a table in the process.
‘Yeshfine.’
Zach was already outside by the time I managed to get to the door. I went outside and the cool night air hit me like a wrecking ball. The trees and the sky and the car park and the building across the road were all spinning, spinning, spinning. My legs were rubbery and my mouth filled with water. ‘Oh no…’ Staggering to the side of the car park, I threw up into a patch of nettles.
‘Hey!’
Daniel came up behind me and scooped my hair back out of my face while I deposited Zach’s tequila into the earth.
‘Sorry,’ I said, when I’d stopped heaving.
‘It’s okay.’ Daniel handed me a clean tissue and rubbed my back. I felt weak and wobbly.
‘I think I need to go home,’ I whimpered. Damn it, I wasn’t even going to get that kiss.
‘Yeah, we’ll get you home, don’t worry. The taxi should be here in a minute. Here, sit down while we wait.’ He led me to a bench by the front door of the pub. I sat on the hard wooden slats and rested my head in my hands. I just needed a moment to pull myself together and then I’d be fine. I was dimly aware of Daniel’s voice, Zach’s laughter, footsteps, a car’s engine.
Chapter Eight
I awoke to bright sunshine streaming in through the window and a sensation like someone hammering nails into my forehead. I groaned and shifted slightly. My tongue felt too big for my mouth. Where was the water? Groggily, with my eyes still closed, I fumbled for my glass on the bedside table, panicking when I couldn’t find anything familiar. At last, my fingers closed around a plastic bottle and I pulled it towards me, grunting with effort as I unscrewed the cap and glugged down the cool sweet water inside. Only then did I open my eyes properly, blinking around at my surroundings and realising they weren’t my own. The pine wardrobe with clothes escaping from the doors, the Stephen King book on the bedside table, the navy curtains fluttering in the draft of an open window, the dark grey duvet cover I was gripping between my fingers. With mounting dread, I supported my weight on my elbow and looked back over my shoulder. The bed was empty.
Letting myself drop back down onto the mattress, I covered my face with my hands. At least I was still fully dressed. But what had happened last night? I couldn’t remember a thing after the pub. Why hadn’t I gone home? Had we gone somewhere else? I hoped I hadn’t made a fool of myself.
The door opened. Peeking through my fingers, I saw Daniel come in holding two steaming mugs.
‘Good morning!’ he said as soon as I moved my hand. ‘I’ve brought you some coffee. I don’t know how you like it so I just put a bit of milk in it.’
‘Thanks.’ I sat up and the room swam. Was I still drunk? Unpleasant memori
es of tequila surfaced and I fought the urge to retch. ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened last night.’
‘You were way out of it. I couldn’t get an address out of you, so I just thought it was easier to bring you here. Especially if you’re now living with your parents.’
‘I take it we didn’t…’ I looked at him meaningfully and Daniel’s eyes grew wide with horror.
‘No!’ he said. ‘What do you take me for? Besides, I was completely wrecked too. Jesus! Zach and his bloody tequ—’
‘Don’t say it!’ I held up a hand to stop him. ‘Don’t say the word. I don’t want to think about… al… al… drink.’ I sat up as my stomach turned over, trying to reject the coffee I was forcing into it.
Daniel stiffened. ‘Toilet’s in there,’ he said, pointing at a doorway on the opposite side of the room.’
Gratefully, I scrambled out of his bed and ran to the door, making it to the toilet just in time as the coffee made a reappearance. Staring into the bowl, I had a weird sense of déjà vu, as though I’d been sick in this toilet before. Maybe I’d thrown up before bed? Oh, lovely.
I flushed the chain and then washed my face in the sink. A quick glance in the mirror told me I looked dreadful. Pale, mottled skin. Panda eyes. Lipstick smudged. I used hand soap and managed to get it in my eye. The pain was excruciating and I wheeled about in search of a towel, knocking over cans of body spray and a toothbrush holder in the process.
‘Are you all right in there?’ Daniel called.
‘Yeah,’ I hissed through my teeth as I finally located something that felt like a towel and buried my face in it. Gradually, the stinging in my eyes subsided and I was able to open them again, only to find it was a pair of Daniel’s boxer shorts. Dropping them in horror (please let them be clean, please let them be clean), I grabbed the real towel and scrubbed my face on it, only to feel bile rising in my throat again.
Oh no, I was never going to drink again.
Eventually, I unlocked the bathroom door and padded back out into the bedroom. Daniel was lying on his side on the bed, wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt. He opened his eyes when the door opened and gave me a weak smile. ‘You look how I feel,’ he said.
‘I know.’ I walked slowly around to the other side of the bed and climbed back in. I felt weak and pathetic, my head throbbing, stomach muscles aching. ‘Have you been sick?’ I muttered into the pillow.
‘No. I’m hardly ever sick. Sometimes I wish I could be, just to get rid of it.’
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I made a muffled noise and we just lay, side by side in the same bed, both feeling awful, until eventually I fell back to sleep.
It didn’t occur to me that I should ring my parents until the second time I woke up that morning. I felt a bit better then. My headache, though still there, had eased a little and I felt a bit stronger. Daniel was snoring softly beside me. I reached for the coffee I’d abandoned earlier and took a few tentative sips before looking at my phone. I had a missed call and a worried-sounding message from my mum. I felt bad for making her worry. I phoned her, and she answered straight away.
‘Hi, Mum, I’m fine, I’m sorry I worried you.’
‘Oh, thank goodness. I know you’re an adult now, but I do worry about you still, you know. If you’re going to stay out all night, can you please let me know?’
‘Of course, I’m sorry.’
‘Where are you? Not with Alex I take it?’
‘No.’ I cast around for something to tell her. I didn’t want her thinking I’d had a one-night stand. ‘I’m with a friend. I had a bit too much to drink so I decided to stay over.’
‘Oh really? What friend? I thought Rachel was meeting her boyfriend.’
‘She was. It’s a different friend.’
I imagined my mum’s lips pursing on the other end of the line and winced at how bad that sounded. Most of my other close female friends had moved away since university, or rarely came out because they had children, so she’d know it was unlikely to be one of them. ‘I’ll be coming home soon. Don’t worry.’
‘Okay, love. Just as long as you’re all right?
‘I’m fine. See you soon.’
‘Bye, love.’
Daniel stirred and rubbed his eye with his fist.
‘Are you feeling any better?’ he asked, raising his head and blinking at me.
‘A bit.’
‘Do you want something to eat?’
‘I ought to go home really.’
He breathed in and scratched his head. ‘I’ll take you, but I need to eat first.’
‘I can get a taxi.’
‘No, it’s fine. I feel all right now, but I need to eat.’ He sat up and stretched, his T-shirt stretching tight across his broad shoulders. Then he turned to me and said, ‘Do you really have a box of stuff you collected from me at college?’
‘What?’ I sat up in horror and stared at him.
He blinked at me and scratched his stubbled jaw. ‘Yeah, when we got in last night, you were laughing and telling me all this stuff about how you used to collect bits and bobs I left behind in class. Then you said you’d have to steal something and store it in your “Daniel box”.’
‘Oh my God!’ I covered my mouth as the crushing realisation of what I’d done dawned on me. Why would I tell him that? I wanted to deny it, but deep down I knew I’d given the game away with my horrified reaction. Collapsing back onto the bed, I pulled the pillow over my head and groaned. ‘I’m so sorry.’
I heard him laugh and felt his arm go over me. ‘Don’t be sorry. It was funny. A bit surreal, mind.’
I didn’t know what to say, so I kept myself hidden beneath the pillow, my eyes squeezed shut.
‘So it’s true then?’ he said after a moment.
Oh no, please don’t press me for details. I’m too weak to resist.
‘I’ve got a box of stuff from sixth form in general,’ I said, my voice muffled by the pillow. ‘There might be a couple of things relating to you.’
‘Like what?’ He sounded genuinely curious.
‘Oh, err, a newspaper cutting. For the band.’
‘Oh, okay. What else?’
Shit, I couldn’t think of anything but the fingernail and chewed-up pen lids. I couldn’t say tell him about those; he’d call the police. Leaf from his drive? Nope. Hair? Nope. ‘College photo,’ I said, at last.
Daniel wrenched the pillow off my head and looked down at me, supporting himself on one elbow. ‘Everyone’s got a college photo. What was that poem about?’
‘That what?’ I looked up at him, wide-eyed with horror.
‘That thing you read out on the phone the other night.’
My whole body cringed. ‘I told you, that was nothing. Just something silly. It was just silly.’
He stared at me for a moment and then rolled away. ‘All right,’ he said, getting up off the bed. ‘Have it your own way. Do you want breakfast?’
‘No. I think I’ll just stay here until you’re ready.’
Daniel put his hands on his hips and stared at me. ‘I may as well make you some eggs and bacon. You don’t have to eat it if you really don’t want it, but you’ll feel better if you try. Stay here and I’ll call you when it’s ready.’
He went out of his bedroom and I stayed lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and feeling awful. On the plus side, he seemed more curious than freaked out by the knowledge I’d stalked him at college, but I was pretty certain he wouldn’t want to see me again after such a bizarre confession. Not to mention the fact I’d been paralytic last night. He probably thought I was a nightmare.
Unable to lie there any longer, I got up off the bed and opened the door to see where Daniel had gone. His bedroom was on the ground floor and I followed the sound of sizzling bacon along a picture-clad hallway and into a massive kitchen. I gazed around in awe at the shiny black granite worktops and oak fittings. An Aga stood against the back wall. Da
niel looked up and smiled.
‘Wow! This is gorgeous.’ I said.
‘Yeah, it’s my mum’s pride and joy. It’s pretty new still.’
‘My mum would kill for one like this. I’d kill for one like this.’ I gazed around as I sat down at the breakfast bar.
‘Do you think you’ll be able to stomach this eggs and bacon then? Or is that still too much?’
‘Erm…’ My stomach let out a loud rumble and Daniel smiled. ‘I think I could have a go.’
Daniel plated up the food and I sat, swinging my legs from the high bar stool and looking around at the photos on the walls. They were mostly arty, black and white shots of Daniel at various ages. As far as I could tell, he’d been gorgeous at every stage of his life. I wanted to say something but didn’t want to sound like even more of a fangirl than I’d already revealed myself to be.
‘Those photos are embarrassing,’ he said, catching me looking. ‘I keep telling my mum to take them away but she refuses.’
‘I think they’re lovely,’ I said. ‘You’re obviously very loved.’
‘Hmm, but who wants to see me naked in the bath while they’re eating?’
I opened my mouth to say ‘me’ then changed my mind. ‘You’re only a baby,’ I said, looking up at the picture of a baby Daniel laughing happily in the bath with bubbles on his head. ‘Although I think your mum could have cropped out your willy.’
Daniel rolled his eyes. ‘I know, it pisses me off. Everyone who comes round looks at it.’
‘I should imagine it’s changed a bit since then,’ I said.
‘Yeah, it’s a lot bigger now.’ He winked and I went bright red. He laughed, obviously delighted that he’d embarrassed me, and passed me the plate of food along with a knife and fork.
‘Thank you. Did I say anything else last night?’ I asked at last, dreading the answer but needing to know.
‘You were just talking and talking and talking, to be honest. And you were pretty slurred so it was hard to tell half of it.’ Daniel licked his finger and sat down opposite me. He picked up his cutlery and started to eat. ‘Besides, like I said, I was really drunk too.’
‘I’m so sorry you had to bring me back here though,’ I said, cutting off a small square of bacon.
Stuck With You Page 9
