The loud ringing sound and the splitting headache woke me up from my deep slumber. I felt awful. My head weighed a ton, and I felt like I had been hit by a freight train. I blinked a few times to clear my foggy vision, and tried to push myself up on the bed, but fell back, like a lump of wood, unable to muster enough strength to do a very basic task.
" Good morning, sunshine," I heard Mason's gruff voice through the fog but it was ten times louder than usual. I groaned at the pain and rolled on the bed whining. Queasyness was next, when I rolled off the bed onto the floor, falling with a loud thud. I tried to recall the evening at the bonfire but it wasn't there, I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't remember much past the point where Laira and I had gotten dressed.
" Where is Laira?" I meekly asked, and finally managed to push myself off the floor only to find him leaning over me with a stretched hand, wearing a conceited smirk on his lips. Did he enjoy my downfall? I asked myself, staring at his hand.
" At work. Rough night?" He causticly replied wearing a somewhat wicked smile on his lips.
" What do you want ?" I snapped, or at least I tried, ineffectively. Once I mustered enough strength, I pushed myself off the floor, and crawled onto the bed, very ungraciously.
Mason chuckled, " We need to finish our conversation," He casually said as he sauntered into the bathroom, " But first you need a shower and some food," He added, as he appeared back into the bedroom, rolling his sleeves. My gaze met his, and for a brief moment, I hoped he was there out of concern. Pity or sympathy wasn't in his nature, among many other things that any other human was capable of.
" I've said my peace, Mason. I have nothing left to say to you," I defiantly grumbled, disgruntled as the memory of our tiff quickly jump-started my senses, very much like an electric shock. I didn't whether I succeeded or not, but I was happy that I wasn't cowering in his presence any longer. I had tiptoed around him for so long, that the new version of me, didn't feel right anymore.
Mason hummed, " Someone spiked your punch at the bonfire. Fortunately, Laira didn't, since she didn't drink the magic punch," And a fragment of the event came back to me, the moment we got there someone offered us punch, but Laira refused to have any.
Groaning, I plopped myself on the bed, " How did we get home?" I couldn't remember much from the previous night. I just wanted to know what had happened. I was glad Laira was alright.
" It doesn't matter. I'm glad that I didn't have to drag out of the police station," Oh, boy. Wait. What? It was a bonfire party on the beach. Why would the police would even be there???
" Police?" That was enough to make me push up on the bed again and found him sitting on the edge, watching me with an amused expression.
" Drugs. You look awful," He amusedly said, inwardly chuckling, and once again reached his hand for me to take, " A quick shower and breakfast is already waiting on the table," He stood up when I didn't take his hand, closing the distance between us, making curl up on myself against the headboard.
" I can wash myself," I grumbled as he closed the distance even further, wearing the same impish grin.
" I don't understand why are you smiling?" I snapped, swatting his hand away, and climbed out of the bed, storming past him.
I heard him chuckle, as I walked into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind me. When I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I gasped. I looked horrid, my hair was going in seventy different directions, my eyes we puffy, and for some reason my lips were purple and I smelled as if I had fallen in a tank of rotting fish. I hated fish with a passion. I grimaced in disgust at myself and made one last effort to remember what the hell I did the night before.
Shedding every single piece of clothing that I had on, with the intention of setting them on fire once I was done, I confidently stepped into the shower and screamed when the ice-cold water hit my skin.
" Mason," I angrily shouted from the bathroom and heard the bathroom door open.
" You called," Mason amusedly said in a sing-song voice, leaning against the door frame, watching me as I tried to adjust the temperature before I turned into an icicle
" No, now please can I please wash myself in peace," I stiffly ground out, and let out a satisfied groan when I felt the water slowly turn tepid.
" As I said we need to finish our conversation. We can have it now, or later but either way, we are going to talk," He sternly said, and I had forgotten how greatly it affected me when he turned serious.
" Don't you have somewhere to be," I turned away, unable to look at him? He acted as if nothing happened.
" Lily, " He softly called and watched him from the corner of my eye as he closed the distance, with furrowed brows. That didn't last very long, as he turned around, threw his head back and grunted.
" Can we have a civilised conversation," He pleadingly said, as she turned around to look at me.
" Like the one we had yesterday. If I remember correctly, that wasn't very civil. It felt more like a trial," I begrudgingly retorted, and reprised washing my hair. I was being petty, and I wasn't very proud of it.
Mason groaned exasperated, pinching the bridge of his nose, " But it wasn't and you know I hit the mark. That wasn't what we agreed upon, Lily. And you know it's the truth and right now I'm just trying to set things right," He calmly explained, but that didn't make the situation better.
" Your point being," I turned off the shower and stopped in front of him, " What exactly are you trying to achieve? Do you want forgiveness? I'm all out. Try a priest, or maybe god himself. Do you want us, whatever this is to continue? Because if that is the case, you are wasting your time, and the oxygen. As you pointed out, I want more and you cannot give or do not want to, " That wasn't even half of it but it sufficed to get my point across. My fervent speech had finally made a dent in the steel mask he was so habituated to wearing and frowned at me.
" No, I don't know," He blew out a breath, and turned around, strutting his way towards the door.
" I'll let you get dressed," He gravely said before slipping out of the bathroom. I was perplexed and more confused than ever before. If up until that point, I had made my peace with the way things were and clung to hope as if it was my lifeline. I closed my eyes, in an attempt to clear my thoughts. Damn it. Never a dull moment.