It's all a blur. As I struggled to regain consciousness, broken images from last night flashed behind my still closed eyelids. I could tell it was bright out, which only made my eyes want to remain sternly closed.

What happened last night? As if to answer my question, I felt movement next to me, followed by something heavy and warm slap against my back. My eyes shot open.

Oh fuck.

My body froze in an all too familiar way. Many a morning have I woken to a stranger in my bed from the night before. This feeling, though it was familiar, was not comforting. I mean, this was what I wanted. Right? The whole point of going out last night was to get laid, so why did I feel sick? Not hangover sick, however that was definitely there too, but… guilty-sick? My stomach twisted as I lay there, eyes finally wide open.

Oh fuck! This isn't even my place! This was so unlike me. I never go to the girl's place, I always bring them back to mine. What. The fuck. Happened last night. I stayed perfectly still, listening for any sign of deep sleep from the stranger next to me. The sound of long, even breaths gave me the assurance I needed to readjust and evaluate my surroundings. I twisted from my side to face up towards the ceiling. Ever-so-slowly, I moved my head to the left. Next to me, sprawled like a starfish on her stomach, was a girl I could not recognize. Her face was buried in her pillow and her dark hair fanned out around her head. She was out cold. I glanced around the room looking for the nearest exit. It must have been a gift from heaven that this girl lived in a tiny studio apartment, so the door to leave her room was the door to my escape. I slowly raised myself from the bed which felt much like how I imagine raising from the dead would feel. I silently thanked my drunken self for throwing my clothes into the same pile on the floor. Under that pile was my phone with a glorious twenty percent battery life remaining. I dressed as quickly and quietly as I could. With my head pounding, I tiptoed to the door. As it closed behind me, I released the breath I was holding in.

"Thank fucking God," I sighed to myself. I looked around, trying to get a sense of where I was. Thankfully I wasn't far from home. I decided to save the battery life on my phone by not ordering a ride home. I knew it would only be about a fifteen minute walk from here and most importantly, I needed coffee. Even more importantly, I needed water and an aspirin. The crisp city air felt good on my whole body as I made my way to the nearest corner shop. I got myself a bottle of pills with some water and headed straight to the coffee shop next-door. It was a small, local coffee joint. Not one I've even been to but it would have to do the trick. I made it to the counter, ordered and moved to the pickup area. I leaned on the counter as I broke open the bottle of aspirin and popped two pills in my mouth. I washed them down with my water and took a moment to look around me. As my coffee order was called out with my name, I saw her. Ana was there. Sitting alone at a small round table, typing rigorously on her laptop. I froze in my place, suddenly too aware of how much of a mess I must look right now. I prayed to myself hoping she hadn't seen me and won't at all. Just as I turned back around to take my coffee and run, the barista called out my name again. Louder this time. I cringed as I thanked him, threw a dollar in the tip jar, and started to walk away.

My chin was connected to my neck as I tried to duck passed where Ana was sitting. I had almost made it past her when I heard her voice say my name.

"Christian?" Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I spun around to meet her gaze.

"Ana!? What are you doing here? I thought you were in L.A." In my panic I realized I was leaning towards her for a… hug? Dear God.

You know those awkward half-hugs one must occasionally endure? The ones where neither party knows where to put their head, face or hands? This was one of those hugs. The hesitation that happened once I realized what I was doing only made it worse, I'm sure.

"I was, but I got back early this morning. I'm here catching up on some work before tomorrow," She answered as I pulled away, putting as much distance between us as possible. She looked perfect, of course. Not at all like she had been on a plane all morning.

"Oh, well I hope you had a nice trip. Did you get your cat?"

"Yes," she chuckled, "He is at my apartment, acquainting himself."

"That's great. Well I won't keep you. We'll see plenty of each other in the office tomorrow and I uh, I have to meet someone for brunch," I lied through my teeth.

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow, Christian" she said, ever so politely, but I could tell from the smile on her lips that she could see right through me.

I began to turn towards the door when she added, "By the way, I like that perfume you're wearing. It's quite floral. A little feminine, I suppose, but it suits you". She winked as she spoke. I looked back at her in horror, feeling the heat rise in my face. I had no time to think of a good response.

"That's funny." I responded with a curt tone and left the all-too-small coffee shop.

I'm not proud of this, but once I had made it home, I had a small breakdown. I ordered a dozen doughnuts from a bakery close to my apartment and proceeded to wallow in self-pity while I ate every last one.

Why does this keep happening to me? Why can't I just keep my cool around that woman? And what the fuck happened last night?

I needed to pull myself together. I needed to make sure I never embarrassed myself around Ana again. She seemed to get some kind of pleasure from my discomfort and I wasn't gonna give her that pleasure anymore. I remembered her mentioning that she was catching up on work before tomorrow. She probably is the type to never really stop working. If I wanted to keep up with her I needed to do the same. Maybe just focusing on work is what I need to get my head back on straight. I grabbed my work bag and headed to my home office. I pulled out some material and got to work. Every twenty or so minutes I refreshed my coffee, which reminded me why putting a Keurig in my office was such a genius idea. I was going through my emails and responding to a couple so I wouldn't have much of that to do once I was in the office tomorrow when my phone lit up. A text had come through from an unknown number. I opened the massage and my heart stopped beating for a second.

Hey Christian its Ana, from last night. I had a good time with you! Give me a call sometime so we can do it again. ;)

Thankfully my brain caught up with me as I realized this was not the Ana I had thought it was. Or hoped it was?

I shook my head and let some recovered memories come through.

I had met a girl last night. Obviously. But I met a girl while at one of the bars. Her name was… Claire. That's right. Claire and I were dancing and flirting and about to go home together. But what happened? I didn't go home with her.

I shook my head again.

She had a friend. I didn't talk much to her friend until we both went up to the bar for last call. Little by little, images from the night before returned to me. I had been ordering myself a drink next to Claire's friend. Was her friend Ana? Am I that much of a sleaze that I would get between friends like that? Just as the guilt started to rise in my gut, it hit me. Another girl came up to the bar too.

"I'll take a beer and close out my check please!" she yelled over the music.

"What's he name on the card?" the bartender yelled back.

"Ana!" she called out and my attention was locked on her.

"Your name's Ana?" I slurred.

"Yeah, hi, I'm Ana," she giggled, "What's your name?"

"I'm Christian. Will you come home with me? Please?"

And the rest was history.

I sat there for a moment, considering everything I had just remembered.

I begged a woman named Ana to come home with me. Didn't know her. Just her name.

Ana.

A/N: Hey guys! Remember me? If not, that's ok, but hopefully you remember my story! I know it's been FOREVER since I added a chapter here and I'm really sorry. I got all caught up in life and writer's block is a huge bitch. I won't promise regular uploads because as of right now I'm in my last few semesters of college so free time is extra limited, but I do promise to keep updating, whenever I can, until this story is done. That is, if anyone still even cares to read it. Anyway, this chapter isn't much and I'm sorry about that too, but I just wanted to get something up for anyone still reading. I'll be working on the next chapter today before class, while I'm at work. It feels good to be back! Hope no one hates me too much! See ya'll in the next chapter! Until then, stay kinky friends. XOXO