In My Dreams It's Me And You

Nathalie’s POV

When consciousness finally came back to me I couldn’t help but shiver as something cold brushed against my bare arms, my teeth even chattering as I curled into a ball to try and preserve my body heat. This didn’t work too well so I shifted how I was laying, rolling onto my side only to bump into whatever was next to me. My eyelids were still heavy from the drowsiness so I didn’t bother to see what the thing was, just appreciating that it was giving off warmth that I could steal for myself.

After a few minutes I felt a bit better- even though I was still shivering- and I opened my eyes a fraction to see what variation of hot water bottle I was leaning against.

“So you’re awake now?” Brian murmured. He pulled me closer as he wrapped his arms around me, soon humming a light tune that made me want to sleep longer.

I rested my chin on his chest as I looked up at him, smiling sleepily. “Good morning.”

He chuckled in reply. “Afternoon. You missed morning.”

It took a few moments for that to sink in but once it did I quickly fought my way out of Brian’s embrace and got on my feet, the alcohol from last night messing with my balance as I almost fell back onto him. Morning was definitely over as I looked up at the sky, the sun warming my skin as I stepped into the light despite the cold breeze that had picked up.

Once my body had finally woken up it seemed that I wasn’t lucky enough to escape a hangover, my head suddenly feeling like it had been used as someone’s punch bag. I groaned as I leant against the fence surrounding the porch, the world in front of me seeming to blend into one blurred mess whenever I tried to focus on one thing.

The door to my left opened as someone walked out, followed shortly by two others. “Did we drink too much last night?” I guessed that the one speaking was Jimmy considering how tall they seemed to be, but I couldn’t be sure. After last night I was surprised that I could even remember his name, let alone what he looked like.

“Didn’t you?” I asked while trying to take a few steps closer to figure exactly who was talking to me, only to stumble over myself and fall into them instead. Luckily they seemed to anticipate that I was going to fall and caught me easily, holding me upright for a few seconds until Brian could resume his usual role behind me.

“Of course I did.”

My vision slowly cleared to reveal that my first guess of the person being Jimmy was right, with the other two being Matt and Johnny. The latter didn’t seem to be faring better than I was; swallowing a couple of pills that I guessed would be for his own hangover. I couldn’t help but wish for some myself since my own head was killing me.

“But I, unlike you-” Jimmy paused to flick me on the forehead. “-I can handle my drink.”

I slapped his hand away, scowling. “Shut up Jimmy. Not all of us can be trained in the art of the alcoholic like you.”

That came out harsher than I intended but I decided to apologise about it later after I had tracked down some Tylenol, dragging Brian behind me as I walked back into the kitchen. The next few minutes were spent in a rather carefree attitude, not really caring for the fact I was in someone else’s house or that I was rifling through all their cupboards and drawers without actually asking.

When I had finished searching through the last drawer and didn’t find the beloved medication I so sorely needed I walked dismally over to where Brian now sat- since he had decided against helping me and just sat down near the bar- and wrapped my arms around his neck from behind, my head slumping onto his shoulder.

“What’s the time?” I asked.

He glanced up at the clock to my left. “Just gone 3. Why?”

I sighed. “Wondered.” Really it was just something meaningless to ask in order to take my mind off the pain raging through my left temple, since the Let’s-Find-Tylenol route did work out too well.

“Has Chloe left already?”

At that point Matt, Jimmy and Johnny walked in behind us while Val arrived from the hall, a glass of water in her hand and a couple of pills in the other. She handed me both with the instruction to take them before leaning across the bar.

“Had a good night?” She said, watching over me as I drained the glass after chucking down the Tylenol she had given me.

I smiled weakly. “From what I can remember it was good.” I turned back to Brian, frowning as I remembered exactly where I had woken up. “Why were we sleeping outside?”

Instead of Brian answering I received a reply from a pissed Jimmy, obviously annoyed from the comment from before. “Because someone was so fucking drunk that she decided to drink everything then pass out outside.”

The comment stung a little and I'm pretty sure I felt Brian’s muscles tense as he said it but I didn’t turn and say anything back, in fact, I didn’t say anything at all. Instead I turned back and suddenly hugged him, startling him as I buried my face in his chest. He patted me awkwardly on the back, not really knowing how to react.

“You know I didn’t mean it Nat...” Jimmy trailed off, his voice far from its usual loud volume.

I pulled back from him slightly so that I could look at him. “No, I'm sorry Jimmy. I shouldn’t have said anything. You just enjoy a drink-”

“-Like you do.” Jimmy quickly added with a smirk, obviously not wanting to let me off too lightly.

“Like I do,” I repeated slowly, smiling as Brian reached over and pulled me back to him.

“You okay?” He asked softly, wrapping his arms loosely around my waist. I couldn’t help but grimace slightly; since I was still in my outfit from the night before (apart from my heels which I must have taken off at some point) it meant that I had also been in my corset all night, and I was just beginning to pay the price for it.

“Ugh. Me, corsets and a full day don’t go well together,” I groaned, running my fingers behind the edge of the boned fabric to try and ease it away from my sore skin.

“Don’t you have anything to change into?”

Like I carry round clothes with me just for an instance like this.

I shook my head.

Brian sighed dramatically and placed his hands on his hips, acting the stereotypical parent to the most troublesome child on the planet. He unzipped his hoodie to reveal the plain black top underneath before tossing it at me without warning, the clothes making me squeal as I fumbled trying to catch it. A number of eyebrows rose in that room as I just stood there with the hoodie in my hands, an absent look on my face as I just stared at Brian.

“Well... are you going to go change?”

Truthfully the reason why I hadn’t yet moved was from the fact I actually couldn’t change without help, since the corset I was currently in needed help to get into and also out of.

“Erm... well...” I stammered, not really sure what to say. It wasn’t like I could ask him to help me strip. That’s just plain weird. “Do you know where Chloe is?”

Brian frowned at the mention of my friend a second time. “I feel so unwanted.”

“Do you?”

“Last time I heard-” He emphasised the heard. “-she was enjoying Zacky’s company.”

Matt’s expression darkened instantly at his words, obviously putting two and two together. “That fucker better not be in my bedroom.”

“He’s not.”

He relaxed at that.

“He’s in the guest bedroom.”

“WHAT?!” He released his arms from around Val and stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, all the meanwhile yelling, “Vengeance you better get the FUCK out here now!”

I recoiled instinctively at the sound of his voice, the loud volume reminding me of the headache from earlier. “Isn’t Zacky meant to be your friend?”

“Yeah, ‘course he is,” Brian replied automatically, a smirk playing at his lips as he finished speaking. “Doesn’t mean I can’t mess with him though.”