The Hardest Part of Today is a Hangover.

I sat on the couch in the living room, watching the guys in the reflection of the TV haul all of their crap into the house. I was trying to hide my nerves, but I had nearly unraveled a pillow by the time they had all finished and decided to join me.

“You know he was arrested, right?” Lee laughed, his arm wrapped around me shoulders.

I cocked an eyebrow and turned to him. “For what?”

“Jackin’ off in a movie theatre, mate,” Curtis laughed, scruffing my hair as he passed us to go to the kitchen. He returned with three beers—one for me, one for Lee, and one for himself. “I, personally, liked Pee-Wee Herman as a kid. I thought he was fuckin’ cool shit. That just made me like it more, y’know?” he laughed, taking a drink of his beer.

I shook my head and stood up. “You guys are so fucked in the head,” I mumbled, excusing myself to my bedroom, which was overflowing with Oli’s clothing already. I could already tell that I was going to develop some muscle just from opening my bedroom door.

I rolled my eyes when he appeared from my closet, holding the free hoodie that he had given me the day we met at his show. He was smiling his cocky, heart-warming smile when he looked up at me, his head cocked to the side, the smile leaving traces on his face.

“You still have this.”

It wasn’t supposed to be a statement—I could clearly tell it was supposed to be a question—but she still said it like a statement. Like he was completely baffled that, in my quest to completely forget him, I had kept the one thing that would remind me of him.

I just didn’t want to tell him that I slept in it every night for those three months.

“Yeah. It gets cold at night here,” I mumbled, shuffling over to my bed and sitting down.

He rolled his eyes and joined me on the bed, dropping the hoodie in some random place on the floor. “You know, I stole a t-shirt from you when I left,” he confessed, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck, “It’s around here somewhere if you want it back…”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No. It’s okay.”

“Alright. Cool…” he sighed, trailing off.

We sat there for a few minutes, not saying anything. It was an uncomfortable silence—like the ones you see in the movies with Creed or Audioslave playing in the background. Well, I was waiting and hearing nothing. I got gypped.

“So I-”
“Yo-”

We looked at each other, laughing nervously.

“You can go,” I insisted, smiling.

“Oh…” Oli muttered, biting at his lip. “I was just going to say that this bed doesn’t really look big enough for the both of us to sleep in, so I could always sleep on the floor if…you know…you don’t want me to sleep with you.”

It was obvious that it was hard for him to say the words.

I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder and looking up at him.

“Oli, it’s fine. You can sleep with me,” I mumbled. He looked down at me, his eyes glazed over. I had a feeling that I had the same exact look in them—and when he kissed me I could feel everything rushing back. Everything seemed to fall into place. I felt like I had never fucked up in the first place—like it had never happened.

“Guys!” Caitlin shouted obnoxiously, bursting through my door.

Oli and I tore apart quickly, panting. I had never been so close to suffocating and liking it before—I was nearly thrilled.

“Yes?” I muttered angrily.

“Popcorn?” she asked innocently, holding up a bucket full of popcorn.

I rolled my eyes, grabbing for Oli. “C’mon,” I sighed, pulling him into the living room behind me. Caitlin followed, the smirk never leaving her face.