EDITED VERSION: Chapter Seven

"Good morning roomie!" a voice greeted loudly, immediately waking me from my deep, drunken sleep.

I bolted upright, seeing a figure at my door but I couldn't make out who as my eyes hadn't fully adjusted from waking up so suddenly. "What the shit?"

"Ah, so she lives," Nathan smirked, leaning against the door frame with a dirt-coloured smoothie in hand.

He extended his hand outwards to give me the drink. "I present to you the bartender's hangover remedy."

"Thanks," I grumbled, taking a long sip from the glass. I started to cough so intensely as the beverage hit my throat. There were so many flavours but none that were good. "Oh my God, this tastes like ass!"

Nathan let out a small laugh. "Obviously, no hangover remedy tastes good," he stood up straight. "Anyway, I need you bright-eyed and bushy tailed."

"Why?" I questioned, staring at my friend's brother curiously.

Nathan gave me a wicked grin, "It's moving day, princess."

"Most of your stuff is here now," I argued. Handing him back the smoothie I refused to finish. "What else do you have left?"

Nathan waved his free hand in dismissal as he took back the smoothie. "Just a bit of bedroom furniture and some knickknacks."

"Alright," I threw my sheets up and dangled my feet over my bed. When I realized Nathan still stood in the entryway, I arched a brow. "Aren't you going to get out? I need to change."

"Do I have to?" he smirked, causing me to throw my pillow at him. He jumped back, dodging the hit as he chuckled. "Message received, princess. Be ready in five."

***

When we got to Nathan's it was already three. I hadn't realized I had slept in so much until Darian, Nathan, and I hopped into the U-Haul Nathan rented and I noticed the time on the digital clock.

I jumped out of the U-Haul and inspected the apartment exterior and part of me cringed inwardly. From the outside, this place was awful. The brick was crumbling, not to mention it was filled with graffiti, and there wasn't even a lock on the front door — anyone could get in. Although I was annoyed with the situation, part of me was glad that he was moving out of this place.

Nathan led us up the front steps and into a dingy elevator that screeched as it ascended. Darian looked at me in alarm, probably having the same fear I was having, that the elevator was going to break down. However, the screeching quickly stopped and we reached the floor of choice. Nathan stepped out first and led us six doors down the hall. When he revealed his apartment to us, I made a mental sigh of relief. It wasn't a complete mess like I had been expecting.

I suppose Nathan's previous roommate had already moved out, seeing there was absolutely no furniture in the living room or the dining room. Darian looked at the kitchen and noticed some packed-up boxes there that were labelled with his brother's name. He pointed to them and said, "I'll start clearing out the boxes in the kitchen and then I'll help you move the bed."

Nathan nodded and Darian began carefully choosing multiple boxes for him to carry down to the truck. Meanwhile, Nathan led me to his bedroom so I could help him move stuff that I could actually carry without breaking my back. When we got inside, I was taken aback by how tidy his room was. Mind you, most of his things were at our apartment, but the things that remained here were meticulously organized. I walked over to his bookshelf and inspected the contents. Most of the books were travelling guides; Australia, Paris, and Spain. But the rest were novels I hadn't expected him to enjoy, smiling, I pulled out one that caught my eye. "Around the World in Eighty Day by Jules Verne?"

Nathan grinned. "It's a good book, princess."

"I know. My mother read it to me a lot when I was a kid," I said with a small smile as I placed it carefully in the box beside the shelf. I began to take the rest books from the shelf and packed them up, so they could be taken to the truck. When I got to the bottom of the shelf, I noticed that it wasn't books that were stacked on the bottom, but rather journals. Although I was intrigued, I didn't want to open them without Nathan's permission. Who knows what could be in there? I put the fourth journal into the box, but when I picked up a fifth, a picture flew out from the bottom. It was Nathan with some guy with raven dark hair and mischievous blue eyes. They may not physically look alike, but their demeanour was one and the same.

"That's Hayden," Nathan said from behind me, causing me to jump and quickly put the picture back in the journal. "We were in Australia when that was taken."

I turned to look at him, a guilty look on my face. "I wasn't snooping or anything, it fell out and I was just curious and I-"

"Princess," Nathan said, raising a hand near my face, causing me to flinch. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion as he looked from me to his hand and then he dropped it. "Audrey, what did you think I was trying to do just now?"

"N-Nothing," I stuttered, taking a step back and dropping the journal in the box. I tried my best to feign a light-hearted laugh. "I just got spooked."

"Right," Nathan responded slowly, his eyes narrowed. He turned back to the bed and continued to take the frame apart, but I could see the longer he did so, the more distraught he got. Eventually, he put down the screwdriver and sighed. "Did Kieran hi-"

At that moment, Darian burst into the bedroom. "Sorry I took so long; I dropped your microwave."

I let out a small sigh of relief at the same time Nathan glared at his brother. "Dude! Seriously?"

"Relax," Darian responded as he crouched down to help Nathan with the bed. "We have a microwave at our apartment. When you move out, I'll buy you a new one."

***

By the time we were done packing up the remainder of Nathan's things and dropping them off at our apartment, none of us were in the mood to cook dinner. Now, we sat at the same booth we had dinner with Nathan nearly two weeks ago. Nathan sipped his beer and Darian munched on some fries, looking incredibly tired. Meanwhile, I took tiny sips from the cherry milkshake I convinced Ed into making me despite it not being on the menu. Occasionally, Darian and his brother would exchange brief conversations while I sat there, silently chewing on the straw of my drink thinking about the question Nathan was about to ask when Darian thankfully interrupted.

I don't know why I flinched. I knew he was only raising his hand in an effort to get me to stop rambling, but yet, I freaked out. Now, I dreaded the moment Nathan would get me alone to finish the question I know he won't easily forget.

"What are you thinking about, Audrey?" Darian asked, touching my wrist gently.

I shook my head as I waved off his question. "Nothing, just tired. Between getting ineffably drunk and moving Nathan's things, I could go for a solid twelve hours of sleep."

Darian nodded his head in understanding but Nathan looked like he didn't buy it as he took a sip of his beer. Ignoring his brother, Darian continued the conversation. "Whatever happened to you last night? Samara said she saw you go to the kitchen but didn't see you leave."

"She almost fell into a bush," Nathan said, placing his glass on the table, sounding bored.

I fought back a blush as I vaguely remembered the incidents of last night. The only thing I remembered was taking Nathan's bottle of Jack Daniels and nearly drinking the whole bottle, a phone call, and falling asleep in my bed. Everything in between was just darkness.

Darian paid no mind to my expression because he erupted with laughter. "You fell in a bush?"

"Almost, apparently," I corrected, letting go of my straw and leaning back into the booth. I cocked an eyebrow at Nathan. "How did you know?"

"You seriously don't remember?" he asked his expression a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. When I shook my head, he rolled his eyes. "You took my bottle of Jack and when you were done basically devouring it, you went on about pizza until you got a phone call from your lovely ex-boyfriend, I then found you yelling at him outside so I hung up the call, and then you almost fell into a bush so I took you home."

My heart raced at the thought of me yelling at Kieran on the phone. What had I said? Oh, this is bad. I don't remember a thing, but whatever I said must have not been good. Kieran was definitely going to be angry... however, I looked around the bar and realized my surroundings. I was a whole province away from Kieran, no matter how angry he is, he can't do much aside from leaving me an angry text or phone call. Luckily, my anxiety washed away as quickly as it came over me. Everything was going to be okay.

"Well, thank you," I said, not meeting Nathan's gaze. Aside from the fight with Kieran, I felt incredibly embarrassed Nathan saw me like that. I didn't drink often so my ability to handle copious amounts of alcohol was very little.

Nathan offered me a small smile. "No problem."