WEDDING BELL BLUES

The daylight finally made its way through the heavy curtains and slightly lightened up formerly dark room. She grabbed the edge of the blanket that was covering her and in one lazy movement put it over her head. She still wasn't completely awake but she could already tell she wasn't feeling well. She couldn't quite remember when was the last time she felt this sick. But one thing was for sure – one quick movement and she's going to throw up everything that she ate the day before.

Yesterday. What acutally happened yesterday? And where in the world was she right now anyway? Not that this bed wouldn't be comfortable enough. She slowly peeked from under the blanket to look around the room but strong pain that shot right through her head when she opened her eyes quickly placed her safely back under the blanket. At least she was out long enough to register she was back in her hotel room and it was far past noon. She started to remember she's in Prague, right. Official trip. What else?

That still doesn't explain why I have the feeling that my head is going to explode.

Oh, yeah. That meeting with Czech businessmen. At the beginning everything went smoothly and she was sure they were going to come to an agreement which would have been profitable for both concerned sides. She was thrilled. In the times when Rupert was King he never did any business with this country but when her time to reign came she saw a great potential in it. Both countries exported first-class wine and if they cooperated …

Wait … that's it. Suddenly she knew exactly how she felt. Did she really … ? Oh, nonsense … It can't be … Is this hangover?!


Remembering …

Drinking. She had been drinking. That's it. At the end of the meeting when she was almost sure they had a deal she was disturbed by Charlotte who explained she had an urgent call from Genovia. Viscount Mabrey, who else. She couldn't quite remember why but with him she experienced the most heated opinion exchange over the phone in her life. Clarisse was usually level-headed person and was hard to annoy her. Not that someone would try. But after she ended the call with Mabrey she felt enraged. Thinking about it now she already felt her blood boiling in her veins again. Bastard.

Even though Charlotte tried she couldn't stop her from furiously exiting the room. She headed straight to the hotel restaurant. She needed drink. And a strong one. She entered and sit behind the bar. She didn't care about who could saw her there. Her mind was still cursing that dog Mabrey. Oh, how she needed that drink. When bartender approached her she found out they weren't serving alcohol after ten o'clock and if her look had been able to kill he would have been dead man right then and there.

She finally seated herself in a small pub across the street. Thank god there were at least ten pubs on one inhabitant in this country. When bartender approached her her mind was already made up. She ordered one whiskey and made sure he made it double.

When Joseph entered the pub after an hour and two more drinks (or three? Who's counting anyway?) he went directly to her. He couldn't believe how she could be so irresponsible and just disappear without letting him know. It was his job to protect her and for the last hour he didn't even know where she was. Damn it.

„Clarisse. It's me." He purposely used her first name because addressing her „Your Majesty" in some boozer simply didn't seem as a wise thing to do.

„Oh, Joseph. What are you doing here?" He could already tell from the look on her face she was at least tipsy. That irritated him even more. It was just matter of time befor the steam would went out of his ears.

„Joseph, what's the matter? Why are you …" she couldn't even finish her sentence because he interrupted her.

„What's the matter? Are you serious? One moment you are in the meeting and another one you are missing." He was furious. „How am I supposed to secure your safety when you just take off whenever you please." He needed to be harsh on her until he was able to. He knew very well that one look at those sky-blue eyes and his anger would be miles away. How did she do that? And was she even aware of what she did to him? He always loved her and the thought of something happening to her was just too much for him. Unbearable.

His tone of voice brought her back from reverie and one would almost said sobered her up for a moment. How could he be so presumptuous? Today was hell and she had every right to do whatever she wanted. Now she started to feel annoyed too. At him.

„Who are you to dictate me what I can and cannot do?! It seems that you've forgotten who is an employer and who is an employee here." As soon as those words left her mouth she instantly regretted them. How could she insulted him like this. From all the people Joseph was always there for her. She could tell he deeply cared for her always put her needs before his own. And she just rudely insulted him. This was really a horrible day.

He could see the remorse in her eyes and just said: „Well, it's obvious that we are both enraged and if we don't stop talking like this we are going to regret it in the morning. Or at least me." When she faintly but thankfully smiled at him he took the seat next to her. „Me too, Joseph. I am really sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have. I hope you know that I didn't mean it." He looked at her and found her staring right into his eyes …

Hangover … really, I should know better …

Well, at least she knew she had been with Joseph, safe. But that was just about everything she could put together from last night. Drinking with Joseph and than nothing. Nothing else. Black space. She had no idea what happened then or how she got back to her hotel room. Only thing she knew was that she felt sick, her head was killing her and she was awfully tired. That was strange. She felt tired. Even though she had no idea how much she drank or how long did she stay up last night she was almost sure she got at least few hours of sleep. So how did it come she felt so damn tired?

Suddenly she was brought back to reality when she felt something move next to her and then something fell onto her stomach.

Ok – I am aware of the fact that I probably shouldn't start another story when I still haven't finished the other one (I will someday, promise) but this idea hit me recently and I just had to write it down. So enjoy and make my day by reviewing :)