The Morning....After a Pill?
1210 Words
"Why?" Lari hissed, quickly angered that she'd spent the last three years fantasising about this guy.
"Because, like I said, he only wanted to f**k you."
Lari rolled her eyes. "And?" she scoffed.
"He roofies girls when he thinks he'll get away with it. But if you really don't care—" He shrugged as he lit up a cigarette.
"Well, why don’t you stop him then?"
"’Cause I’m not his parent."
"Whatever." Lari went back inside to look for Millie.
She found her in the kitchen mixing a weird concoction.
"I just found out Ezra is a d**k," Lari sighed.
Millie leaned in and gave her a hug. "Aww, they all are, babe." She sighed before handing Lari a cup. "Bottoms up."
They both sculled the drink—if you could call it that—before heading back to the dance floor.
They danced until the lights blurred and their feet ached. But Millie was determined to go on.
"I’m gonna have another breather!" Lari yelled over the music.
Millie nodded as she ground against another dude.
This time, with no one more assertive, the journey to get outside was almost impossible. Lari kept getting shoved until she somehow ended up in a hallway. She opened a door and found an empty room. She stepped inside and flicked the light on.
The room was bigger than her living room. A king bed sat against the wall facing floor-to-ceiling windows. To the side was a solid wood desk with a PC setup, and on the other wall a stupidly large TV.
She sat down on the bed and looked up to see figurines lined across the headboard.
"What’re you doing?"
Lari jumped and stumbled to her feet, wobbling in her high heels. She hadn’t heard the door open.
"Woah." Ezra caught her before she fell.
"I, um, I just needed a break," Lari attempted to explain.
"So, you snuck into my bedroom?"
"Wha? No! I couldn’t get out," Lari pouted as she looked up at Ezra’s beautiful face. "Why is your face so beautiful when you’re such an arse?" She gasped, realising she’d said it aloud.
"I think you’re a bit tipsy." Ezra’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
"I think I should go." Lari tried to leave, only to realise she was encased in Ezra’s arms, and he didn’t seem to be letting her go.
"I’ll scream if you don’t let me go." She looked up at him through lazy-lidded eyes.
"Just have a lie down, and I’ll go find Millie," Ezra offered.
"Mm, fine." Lari reluctantly agreed.
Ezra eased her down onto his bed and watched as she snuggled into the pillow. Her eyes fluttered closed, her bright red hair sprawled across the black silk. Her full, rounded lips parted as she succumbed to sleep.
"Lari!"
She woke with a start at the sound of Millie’s voice.
"Mm?" She looked up to see Millie crouched in front of her while Ezra stood at the door, watching over them.
"Come on, I’m taking you home." Millie sat her up and quickly realised Lari wouldn’t be able to walk to the car.
"I’ll carry her," Ezra grunted.
Lari felt herself shift as he easily picked her up. He carried her through the now mostly empty house.
Outside, an Uber was waiting. Between Millie and Ezra, they managed to get Lari into the car successfully.
"Morning," Lauren greeted the girls with a bright, knowing smile the next day as they trudged down to breakfast at midday.
"Morning," Lari groaned, flopping into a chair.
"Here, this is Mum’s hangover juice." Millie poured Lari a glass of weirdly yellow-green liquid.
"And I have some greasy bacon and egg sandwiches too." Lauren set down the beautifully made food in front of them.
"You have fun, Lari?" Josh laughed as he strode into the room.
"Mostly." Lari sighed as she sipped the strange juice—it actually tasted pretty good.
"What happened, darling?" Lauren asked, settling at the table as a sounding board.
"Ezra’s a d**k," Millie explained for her embarrassed friend.
"Naw, dear. Well, at least you figured it out now."
"I, however, have a date tonight," Millie admitted bashfully.
"Oh." Lari felt a little betrayed—she was meant to spend the weekend with Millie.
"I only said yes at the time because he said Silas was going to ask you out too," Millie explained.
"Well, Ezra scared him off," Lari rolled her eyes.
"I can reschedule," Millie offered.
"No, it’s okay," Lari meant it. She didn’t want her friend to miss out. "Well, I may have asked your dad if you could stay with us till we leave for our holiday, so you’ll still have till this coming Friday to hang out."
"We can hang out?" Lauren offered. "I was going to get my nails done."
"It’s okay, I’ll just hang out here and watch TV or something, if that’s okay." Lari didn’t want them spending money on her.
"Well, I’ll be leaving in an hour. If you change your mind, let me know." Lauren left the table to get ready.
"Let’s watch something while we eat." Millie carried her plate into the lounge.
Lari followed, and as she sat down, a notification popped up on her phone.
She opened i********: to find a message from Ezr4_R.
'U feelin it this morning?' it said.
'No, I’ve been preoccupied wondering why u collect kids’ toys lmfao,' Lari wrote back, and within seconds the little bubbles popped up.
'Mouthy little girl'
'Why are u talking 2 me?'
The bubbles appeared and disappeared three times before no reply came at all.
"Lari?" Millie caught her attention.
"Mm?" Lari looked up from her phone.
"Are you okay? Nothing happened while you were in Ezra’s room, did it?" Millie worried at her friend’s absent look.
"Oh, no." Lari shook her head. "I was just thinking." She sighed.
"Bout Silas?"
"Ezra reckons he roofies girls’ drinks."
Millie’s face dropped. "Oh my God. He didn’t roofie you, did he?"
Lari shrugged. "I’m not sure. I’ve never been drunk before, so I don’t know the difference."
"Do you want to go to the police, or the hospital? They can do a blood test to find out."
Lari had already thought about it. "Nah. I mean, he didn’t rape me and I’m fine now. I just want to be a couch potato for the day."
"Okay, but if you change your mind or feel unwell, let me know."
The girls ended up doing a Hunger Games binge session, napping and snacking their way through the afternoon.
At seven-thirty, a shiny blue Ford picked up a giddy Millie.
"Call me if you need anything," Lari said, always worrying about Millie. Although she seemed ditzy, she was actually sharp and picked up on things quickly.
"I will, but I won’t." Millie blew Lari a kiss as she walked away.
"One day, she’s gonna come back pregnant," Josh sighed half-jokingly.
"In that case, I’d be more worried about the guy, ’cause she wouldn’t be getting an abortion." Lari watched Josh pale at the thought of his little sister becoming a teen mum.
"Jesus, I was just joking!" Lari giggled and went back to the lounge.
Ezra had finally replied:
'Because I worry about mouthy little girls.'
- Writer
