Page 84 of Lust

I don't know how we got here.

But I don't know the way out, and I hope she doesn't find it either.

Chapter 26

Clarissa

"Ow."

I think I'm the one who says it. I don't know for sure. My eyes aren't open and I never, ever want to open them ever again.

"Matthias?" I say after a while when I don't hear him respond. It sounds like a yell to my ears, but it's probably just a murmur. It's hard to yell through a mouth that won't open without cracking. Somehow, I roll over onto my side, feeling the wooden floor creak underneath me.

Wow, how drunk did we get? And how drunk am I still?

"Matthias?" I say again. But there's still no response.

I'm going to have to open my eyes, aren't I?

Maybe I can just lie here forever.

I can work from here.

They can set up the tables around me, I can wave to guests from here, and now and then, the cleaners can turn me on my side and mop under me.

It's settled.

Here.Forever.

Shit, except... now I need to go to the bathroom.

Now I really need to know where Matthias is. He needs to push me to the bathroom.

"Are you there, Matty, are you there?" I call him by the nickname I only dare to call him when we're both blind drunk.

Still no answer.

Maybe he's dead.

I wouldn't even blame him.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to live through this either.

"Good morning!" I finally hear him say, in a voice that can only come from beyond because there's not a chance that he sounds that chipper after last night.

"Ughhhhh-uhhhh," I groan. Maybe it's better if he doesn't speak.

"I'm going to need to put that through google translate," he jokes.

"I said... 'Shut up. Headache.'"

I feel him move next to me, and put something in my hands.

"Whadis?"

He squeezes my hand around the object. "It's a bottle of water. Drink it. I'm going to get something greasy for us to eat."

"Ughiwannaleepaneverwayup." I don't even know what I was trying to say there. But apparently, he doesn't have the same problem.

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