Ugh... Cait tried to open her eyes but they felt way too heavy. Her entire body was aching and she was cold. I think I've gotten too old for this.. Lazily, she somehow managed to drag herself off the bathroom tiles. There was a strong pulsating sensation on her temples and her whole head felt like it had the capacity to explode any second now.
When she finaly opened her eyes, she realized that she had been clinging onto the toilet bowl. It took an ultimate bravery test for her to peek inside. I shouldn't have done that. I should NOT have done that, she thought making her best Hagrid impression in her head and she leaned over it to vomit again.
"Are you doing okay in there?", she heard a hoarse voice calling her from outside the bathroom.
She narrowed her eyes and stood up to reach the sink. Hastily she put some water into her mouth and spat it out just as fast.
"Yeah", she replied, then before she knew it she was having a cough fit. Her voice sounded like crap and it was barely audible.
Well that's embarassing.. Way to go me..
She took a peek in the mirror to look at her reflection. The girl that was looking back at her had nothing to do with the girl that she was used to seeing every day.
Dark smudges of mascara were around her eyes and her lipstick was smeared all over her jaw. She took a deep breath before she started to wash her mouth again. Her stomach felt empty and sick.
She was half thankful that he had taken her in for the night but the other half of her wanted nothing to do with him.
He'd spent the night next to her barfing mess, holding her hair back and rubbing her lower waist in comfort.
"It's because of things like this that I can't.. with you", she'd said after a while in her drunken state. The chemicals were still in her blood making her say all the things she avoided to think in her waking life, let alone speak out loud. She had even started to cry.
She shook her head trying to compress the unpleasant memory.
She dreaded the moment that she would have to go out there and talk to him face to face. If only she knew Ekko would be there that night she would have never tagged along sacrificing a perfect chance to make fun of Ezreal in the process.
In the end, she'd decided that she would pretend not to remember a thing. She would simply thank him for helping her out and making sure she wouldn't get alcohol poisoning or something but that was it.
Then she'd pick up her shit and go home. To sleep. On a bed this time. Like a human being.
She heard someone rapping on her door.
"I.. uh.. I've made you something to eat", he started off hesitantly.
Silence.
She could only imagine him staring patiently at the doorknob, waiting for it to turn. And then he would finally see it and take a couple of steps back.
"You didn't have to", Cait said when she got out of the tiny bathroom. "I'll be on my way" she tried to turn the corners of her mouth upwards if only ever slightly.
She'd succeeded in removing all that make up with just water nevertheless she still seemed pale and sickly.
"Bullshit", he gave her a genuine smile flashing his perfectly white teeth. "Come'ere", he gestured over to where the kitchen was.
Well, calling it a "kitchen" was an overstatement, considering how this was an one room appartment.
You have an office, a living room, a bedroom and a kitchen all in one. Pretty convenient for one person actually.
He was wearing a pair of plaid pajama pants and a black T-Shirt while she was still wearing her black mini-skirt and white sweater from last night.
Ekko sat down on the purple couch and pointed to the coffee table. Caitlyn couldn't help but giggle at his proud face as he showed her what he'd made. Ham and cheese in toasted bread with two eggs on top of them. Sunny side up.
"Wow. I didn't know you'd been to a culinary school", she sneered.
"That's the thanks I get?", he huffed a laugh. "Besides.. This is what the French call a 'Croque Madame' you uncultured swine".
She shook her head with a smile but she took a seat across from him on his office chair. She could see his judging glare from across the room but he didn't comment on anything.
"Dig in what are you waiting for?", he tried to encourage her.
"Well.. This does look delicious but I just see it and I think I'm going to be sick again.. Sorry", she explained honestly and tugged her skirt downwards nervously. "Thanks for everything but I think I'd better go now", the girl immediately stood up but Ekko was quick to grab her by the wrist, halting her right away.
"Wait". She turned to see him. For a short moment their faces were dangerously close and she cursed herself internally for looking at his lips for a fraction of a second. "You HAVE to eat something before you go. Please. I just can't let you leave like this".
"No I can't fucking stay Ekko. Don't you see how hard it is for me to even be in the same room as you? So let go of my hand" she thought but she caught herself saying "alright" instead.
"So what did you think of my song?", Ekko asked after a good number of failed conversation starters.
"You mean that one you sang at the club with that Qiyana girl?", she asked as she took an awful lot of time to chew on a single bite of food.
"I didn't sing. I rapped" he corrected her.
"Yeah whatever", she shrugged. "You know that's not my style anyway but it was alright I guess"?
"Just 'alright'?" she fought hard the urge not to burst out laughing when he saw his eye twitching. "Listen. What you heard was far from the finished product but we'll get there. I just need a singer for the hook and a good production and I'm sure.. I just know it!", he punched his palm with his other hand. "This track could be my big break"!
"Why don't you ask Ez then? I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing you a favor", she said indifferently but the change in Ekko's stance was more than noticeable.
"You know I can't. And I don't think he'd do it. He doesn't support me anyway remember?", he replied.
"Oh for God's sake just let bygones be bygones. He does support you and you know it. Stop acting like a child", she rolled her eyes too tired to further this argument.
"Anyway, even if he did it.. I need a female singer for this song".
"Ofcourse you do", she scoffed under her breath.
"What was that?", Ekko asked clearly missing what she'd said there.
"Oh nothing! I was just saying you should ask Lux then", she quipped making Ekko clutch his stomach in laughter.
"Yeah I don't think her cover of "Girls just wanna have fun" qualified her for the job", he said wiping some tears from his eyes.
"Oh come on! The poor girl was wasted and you made her go up there!", Cait defended her new friend. "If anything this is all on you".
"So nothing new here..", he said quietly but Caitlyn had heard him loud and clear. She could feel goosebumps on her skin but she chose to pretend everything was okay. "But hey at least Ez liked it"!
"It seems to me that Ez would like it even if this girl straight up spat on his face", she giggled.
"In fact, I think he would encourage it". They bursted out laughing at Ekko's observation.
"But seriously.. what did you think about these two?", Caitlyn asked with genuine curiosity over his opinion.
"I think he has it bad and he doesn't even know it".
Caitlyn hummed in agreement.
"What about Lux? Do you think he has a serious chance with her"?
Ekko took a moment to think over it before he eventually came up with an answer.
"I don't know about "serious", he made air quotes with his fingers, "but I think it's only a matter of time before they "accidentally", he repeated the air quotes, "make out. Like come on! Two twenty-somethings with their blood boiling living together! This is rom-com scenario 101. I give them like two or three weeks to have sex", he shrugged without a care.
"Knowing Lux a little bit better, I bet you that it takes them at least a month before something happens", she said confidently.
"You're so on. It's a wager. Five bucks".
Caitlyn was about to say something back to him when her phone started to ring. She saw Luxanna's name pop up on the homescreen and she knitted her eyebrows intrigued.
"Hello?", she answered the phone.
"Oh hi.. uhm.. Good morning Cait!", she could tell that there was hesitation in the blonde girl's tone.
"How's the hangover going?", she asked convinced that Luxanna's state at the moment couldn't have been that much different from hers. They had basically consumed the same amount of alcohol through the night.
"Not that well.." she admitted with a sigh at the other end of the line. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about", her tone had suddenly shifted to a loud whisper.
"What do you mean? Did anything happen?", she couldn't help but feel like a worried mother.
"It's just.. I wouldn't want to bother you but I really don't know what to do"!
"Hold on, hold on. You're really scaring me right now. Just tell me what happened". She noticed how Ekko was looking at her with narrowed eyes, like he was trying to understand what was happening just from hearing her side of the dialogue.
"Last night.. Me and Ezreal.. We slept together!", she whispered like she was admitting a grave sin.
Caitlyn swallowed hard surprised and blinked a couple of times but she didn't want her to realize how surprised she was.
"Took you guys long enough", she replied sarcastically instead, looking at Ekko over the bridge of her nose.
"What?", Lux asked then carried on without waiting for her to answer. "Can you come? Please?", she pleaded.
Caitlyn thought about it for a minute before she said "Alright. I'm on my way".
She tapped on the red phone symbol on her touch screen and stuffed the device into her purse.
"What was that all about?", Ekko asked confused.
Caitlyn reached for her coat that was draped over a chair and huffed loudly.
"I think I owe you five bucks".