Seth
“Oh, my god! Oh, my god!”
The ear-piercing shrill was not how I wanted to wake up this morning.
“Seth! Seth! Wake up! Look! Oh, my fucking God!”
The screeching wasn’t going to stop. When she shook my shoulder, jolting my body making me want to roll over and hurl, I cracked open my eyes, and after blinking away the dancing black spots, I saw a beaming Claire. Thank God the heavy block out blinds were drawn, I doubted I could handle her bright cheeriness this morning as well as the harsh sun.
“I’m awake. I’m awake,” I grumbled, rubbing my eyes and regretting the last round of shots. I don’t know who thought Sambuca shots at two o’clock was a good idea, but I hoped they were in pain wherever they passed out. I know I was.
“Look! Look!” a very excited Claire instructed, shoving her phone in my face.
Ignoring the drilling in my head and the gurgle of my stomach, I forced myself to sit up and lean against the headboard. “Okay, what am I looking at?”
“Elise and Luca’s wedding is the top story on the news headlines!”
Seriously, Claire, for the love of all that’s holy, turn it down a few hundred decibels. Please.
Looking down at her phone, sure enough on one of the gossip sites was a photo of Luca and Elise dancing. Someone had obviously snapped the picture, it wasn’t the greatest, but nevertheless, there it was. Their wedding photo was tabloid fodder. If I wasn’t so used to it with Bryce and his mates, I would’ve rolled my eyes. Now though, I was too cynical to even react.
“That’s great,” I offered not really understanding what all the excitement was about.
“You don’t get it, do you?” The way Claire asked had me wondering what I was missing.
“Honestly, no. It’s way too early, and I’m way too hungover…” I started to defend.
“My hairstyle. The hair I did is on the front page of the paper! Look.” She pointed at the screen with a chipped fingernail. “I did that. Sure, it looked better about three hours earlier before the photos and the dancing, but still…I did that.”
Ah! Now I got it.
“Yeah, you did.” I smiled genuinely, pulling her against me and kissing the top of her head.
“Yeah, I did.”
“You really love it, don’t you?”
“Love what?”
“Hairdressing.”
She paused for a minute, and I got the feeling she was weighing up her words. “Yeah, I do. I really do. I mean, I don’t love the hours or the fact I’m on my feet all day, but this here,” she poked the screen again, “and seeing Elise’s face when she saw what I’d done…that’s what I love.”
“Well then, we need to get you back in the salon,” I suggested, loving the way her face lit up. “But first…”
“Yes…” she replied warily.
“First, I need a few more hours sleep. My head’s killing me,” I admitted only to receive a giggle in return.
My phone woke us a couple of hours later, and even though I was feeling a million times better, I was craving a juicy, greasy burger with fries and an icy cold coke. Something to settle my stomach. Ignoring the phone, we took our time getting out of bed and showering before checking out and heading back to my place, but not before hitting up a drive-through on the way.
“Can I borrow your laptop?” Claire asked, bouncing up off the couch.
Right now, I hated her. I wanted to pick up her overly energised arse and toss her over the balcony so I could take a nap right here on the couch. How the hell did she not have a hangover? Every time I saw her, which was pretty much all night since I didn’t take my eyes off her from the moment she appeared in a slinky black dress that was pretty much backless and showed off her incredible assets, she had a glass of champagne in her hand. Yet she was bouncing around like a three-year-old riding the sugar high of their life, while I was praying to whoever would listen to just end this now and put me out of my misery. I blamed Hunter and Sambuca.
“Go for it,” I answered, grabbing the remote and pulling the blanket over me.
I must’ve drifted off because when I woke again, there was notepaper balled up and scattered everywhere. Claire was sitting cross-legged at the coffee table, pen tangled in her hair, chewing on her lip, and staring intensely at the screen.
