Graffiti

Chapter Four:

I groggily sat up, the thin grey blanket that Alex gave me yesterday, slipping off of my body. Without even looking, I could tell that my dark brown hair, that fell just past my shoulders, was as messy as a bird's nest. My head was pounding and I could hear Max snoring on the sofa beside me, he also had a grey blanket.

One of his arms was outstretched and was sprawled on the floor, his face squashed up against the sofa cushion - the part where you sit - so that when he breathed out, or in this case, snored, his shaggy blond hair flew up. I stifled a laugh at the site, clutching my stomach. In soon stopped when my head started to pound louder. We really shouldn't have drank so much last night, I thought to myself.

I heard a thump and then a deep voice cursing. Alex must've got out of bed... and then fallen over. He walked out of his bedroom wearing a thin grey shirt and his usual black jeans, his black hair was worse than mine. As he walked over to the kitchen, presumably to make some coffee, I walked down the hallway to the bathroom. I combed through my hair with my fingers as best as I could and straightened out my chequered shirt. My black jeans had pizza stains from last night when Alex, Max and I decided to have a who-can-eat-the-most-pizza-without-using-your-hands competition.

There was a small bath behind me, but there was no shower which was weird. There was a white toilet and sink, that gleamed in the bright light. The walls were bright blue tiles with little dolphins engraved here and there, behind the sink, on the wall, hung a rather large mirror.

I looked straight into my bright brown eyes and assessed my face. I had a clear complexion, a small nose and cupid bow lips, I wasn't that bad, right? My cheekbones weren't prominent but they were hinted at. I snapped out of my daze when I realised what I was doing... I'd never thought about my appearance before... Was this because of Alex?

I shook my head at my idiotic behavior and walked out of the bathroom. "Would you like some tea?" Alex asked me as soon as I entered his vision, I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Aren't you supposed to make coffee after a hangover?" I asked.

"Just because you're supposed to do something, it doesn't mean you have to," Alex said, looking me straight in the eye. I felt like there was a hidden message in there somewhere, like he was trying to subtly give me some life advice. I chose to ignore it. My life was my own; no one else's.

Alex's gaze flickered over to Max. "Let's chuck some water over him," he said abruptly. I raised my eyebrows. "Why on earth would you want to do that? He's your friend," I pointed out.

"It's a thing we do, after drinking, the last one still asleep gets water thrown over them, and, well, since Max is still asleep..." I had no idea whether I wanted to do this. What if he was like Haymitch, and slept with a knife? "Come on, it'll be fun, and he won't be bothered, he knows the rules," Alex assured me. With that said, I thought, why the hell not?

Ten minutes later, after drinking the tea Alex made from a plain white mug whilst sitting on the black marble tops, we had a bucket - fetched from Alex's room, God knows why he had a bucket in there, but I'd yet to enter his room, so for all I knew there were worse things in there. "I can't believe we're actually doing this," I hissed. Alex was silently, well, as silent as a tap could get, filling up the bucket.

The bucket was large, the size of a sunflower flower pot. It was brown and Alex could hold it by the thin, rusty handle that protruded from the sides. After the bucket was filled up, Alex grabbed it and started to creep up on Max's sleeping figure. He'd stopped snoring by that time. I could see the veins in Alex's skinny arms as he held on to the bucket. I took a deep breath and followed him. I suddenly decided that I didn't want to do it.

"Al-" It was too late. Just as the words were leaving my mouth, Alex had tipped the bucket, making all the cold water inside fall onto Max. He shot up like a snake. "Dude! What the hell!" He screamed. I tried to stifle a laugh as I took in his soaked form. His hair, already messed up from sleep was now wet and hung down past his eyes.

He stared hard at me, like this was all my fault. I looked to Alex, who was smirking. "...Oh my God, this isn't a thing you guys do, is it?" I asked, my voice full of fear. Alex shook his head, whilst Max stormed off towards the bathroom. "I can't believe you did that! He already hates me, and now he's going to kill me or something!" I exclaimed.

Alex started to say something, but I felt woozy so I stopped him. "Just take me back to my hotel, OK?" I asked.

"You're going back because of the whole water thing?" He enquired.

I shook my head. "No, but I need some proper sleep, and I feel like I'm going to be sick at any moment," I explained.

***

Alex and I walked for about half an hour, through a beautiful forest, the sun beat down through the branches and the birds sung brilliant, elaborate songs. We arrived at my hotel just after dinner. "Thanks for bringing me back," I said to him. In this light, his features were even more defined and I could see, in my peripheral vision, some girls stopping to stare at him.

"How long are you staying for?" Alex asked, almost hesitantly.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Until I get bored," I lied. I'd leave as soon as I started to get attached to anyone or anything. Which is why I felt dread creep in with Alex's next words.

"Well, I guess I'll have to make sure you don't get bored then. I'll meet you here at the same time tomorrow," Alex said as he walked off. I didn't even have time to reject the offer. I walked back to room, kind of pissed that Alex was taking control like this.

Once in my room, I jumped on my soft mattress. The satin blue quilt felt pleasing beneath me. Whilst lying there, with my eyes closed, I contemplated life here. Would I stay, given the chance? Spending time with Alex was fun, but I didn't like the drama his life entailed. And, from the greeting I got off Max, his 'gang' didn't seem to like me either.

I didn't even know why I was thinking about staying. I'd only just met Alex, and he didn't seem like the type of guy that mingled with girls in that way. Not that I was looking for anything like that, however it would've been nice to finally settle down in one place. With one person. Without all the bullshit that came from lying, tricking and falling in love.