Fin
It took a moment for him to realize what was happening. One minute they had been fine. Then she was crying and now … now they were kissing.
You can’t kiss her, she’s drunk!
But she kissed me.
He pulled away, stopping it as quickly and abruptly as it had started, not allowing himself a moment to think about how strangely wonderful the kiss had felt. He held her out in front of him; her eyes were still closed and her lips slightly parted.
‘Eleanor, I’m sorry, I jus—’ But before he had a chance to finish, she pushed him aside and threw up violently on the ground next to him.
‘Christ, Elles.’ He pulled her hair back, trying to capture every one of her loose curls.
‘Eurgh,’ she moaned between retches. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Fin held her up, supporting her weight as she emptied her stomach on to the grass, much to the disgust and horror of passing guests. It took a good few minutes before she had finished.
‘How are we doing down there? I mean, who knows if there’s anything left to throw up at this point.’ He bent over and placed a cool hand on her forehead.
Eleanor stood up slowly. ‘I’m good. I think I’m good.’ She groaned. ‘Please can we go?’
‘Sure.’ Fin wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began to walk them both towards the car park. He was trying as hard as he could to focus on keeping her upright, his body taking the full weight of hers, but his mind was still reeling from their tight embrace.
Did that really just happen?
Fin shook the thoughts from his mind, forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He gently lowered Eleanor on to a little wall outside the front of the venue.
‘I’m going to get a cab sorted – just wait here for a second?’ he asked, praying that she would manage to stay upright for at least a few moments.
‘Mhm.’ She nodded, her face shockingly pale against the smears of make-up streaked across her skin.
Fin looked around helplessly. It was getting cold and he wanted to get Eleanor back to her room and cleaned up as soon as possible. Did they even have Uber out here?
Of course they don’t – you’re in the middle of bloody nowhere.
‘Coach,’ Eleanor croaked from behind. Fin waved her away dismissively as he began to google local taxi numbers.
‘Thecoach,’ Eleanor shouted.
‘What about the coach? I’m trying to find us a taxi here.’
She looked up at him, her eyes rolling in different directions before settling on his face. ‘The coach runs every half-hour back to the hotel. Check the time, there might be one soon.’
Fin looked at his phone. Ten minutes. They only had to wait ten more minutes! He rushed over to where Eleanor was perched precariously and threw his suit jacket over her frozen shoulders. ‘How is it that even when you’re absolutely wasted you still manage to be better at organizing things than me?’
She smiled and snuggled in close to him, a waft of vomit hitting his nostrils. ‘Because I’m Eleanor Levy. And you are Finley Taylor. The two best friends that ever there were,’ she sang sleepily.
‘You’re not wrong there, Elles.’ He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tightly.
‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled.
‘It’s fine, everyone gets sick. God knows you’ve cleaned me up enough times.’
‘No.’ She raised her head. Her dark eyes were large and pleading. ‘I mean … I’m sorry for kissing you.’
‘Oh, that.’ His stomach jolted. ‘Don’t worry about that. We all do stupid things when we’re drunk.’
‘Yeah.’ She let her head fall heavily on to his shoulder once again. ‘Yeah, we do.’
