You know what the downside was of flirting getting you nowhere? Specifically, when flirting got you nowhere when you were in a bar and feeling sorry for yourself. It meant you drank. A lot. Well, more than what was sensible. Which, embarrassingly, wasn't a lot because She really didn't have that much experience with alcohol. But it was also a good thing because she hadn't actually drunk that much. She just couldn't handle the six drinks she had. Whin was a bit embarrassing. The world was all wobbly and wavering though and her thoughts went- oh, her hand was weird, wasn't it? It was weird. It had fingers on it, five of them. And they each had fingernails. Five of those two. Five and five. Heh. What was she talking about? Thinking about? Drinking. Yeah. She had been drinking. Not a lot though. Well, not compared to some Brits. How did they do that? Just keep knocking back drinks like they were water? Wait. She didn't have five fingers on her hand. She had four of them and a thumb. A thumb wasn't a finger. Ha. Thumb fingers. That would be funny, wouldn't it? Or or thumb toes. That would be even better. Thumb toes!
Where was she? What had She been talking about? Where? Actually, she looked around her suspiciously, where was she again?
Oh yes, she was heading home. Not home home but back to the apartment. From the bar. But she was still in the bar, just walking to the door. Yes. That's what she was doing. She shook her head to try and get rid of the fogginess that was in her brain at the minute. And it kind of worked but it also made her stagger around like some sort of lunatic. Like she hadn't made a big fool of herself already. Oh, she cringed as she went over what happened that night.
Flirting. She had been flirting. And it had gotten nowhere. How embarrassing. It was embarrassing
"I am a failure," she announced to a very bored looking bartender.
Was that a different one to the one earlier? He looked the same but different. Maybe the apron? She didn't know. Did it matter? All that mattered was that she had flirted with people, or tried to, and had failed. That was embarrassing. She was an embarrassing failure.
She needed a distraction. Her glass was empty. She needed another drink. They were started to taste better now. Especially the bright pink one. That was very tasty. Sweet, even. Which was far better than the bitter beers. She could drink the pink one all night long. It would probably be a better use of her night at this rate. Seriously, why did people even lime beer? It was disgusting. Yucky. Made you throat and stomach feel funny. Not the pink stuff, the pink stuff made you feel so good.
Oh! There was another one in front of her? Where did that come from? Wait, she knew this. She, she paid for it. Asked for it. It was hers. Yeah! She had good taste.
She downed it and then winced as it left a weird taste in her mouth. This was her drink? It was sweet like it should be and yeah, it burned going down her throat but was it supposed to burn that much? She was going to have to have another one to make sure.
"I think it's time you go home," the bartender said gently as She tried to ask for another one.
The words weren't really coming out right.
"Don't think I can," she mumbled while struggling to her feet (were her knees made of rubber or something?) "Think England's hard to get to from here."
He rolled his eyes so hard that Tonks was impressed that they didn't roll right out of his head.
"Back to your hotel room."
"Oh, yeah. That."
She was on holiday. Staying in a hotel. Because that's where you stayed when you were on holiday. Like she was. Where was her hotel again?
"Two streets down and its on the corner," the barman said.
Oh? Had she said that out loud?
"You did."
This time he helped her to the door. Oh, she was outside now. Outside? She needed to be inside. Inside her hotel. There was her hotel! It was a nice hotel. She had to keep to the walls to keep from falling over though that didn't help much. Her knees hurt.
It took her a few minutes to remember how handles worked and them another few for the person at the front desk tell her what room She was in. They were even nice enough to use her key card to open the door for her.
"Nymphadora, are you drunk?" Her mum hissed as she fell over the doorway.
Hissed. Ha-ha. Like a snake. Which was funny because she was a Slytherin. Snakes.
"Shakes!"
"You're drunk," Andromeda said to herself with a sigh. "Really, Nymphadora?"
"Don' like that name."
"I do not think you get an opinion on your name when you are inebriated, Nymphadora."
Did she have to emphasise her name like that? That was mean. And what did enibbered... embritled...briaded.. whatever that word was mean? She wasn't that word! She was just a bit tipsy, that was all. Nothing dramatic or anything like that.
"I'm fine."
And then the wh9le world tilted sideways and she fell against the wall. Ouch. But it was a nice wall. It was keeping her upright. And that was a good thing. Better than being upside down. She didn't want to be upside down so the wall was very nice. Such a good wall.
Andromeda rolled her eyes. What was with all the eye rolling tonight? Had she missed the memo or something?
"You are obviously not fine," Andromeda tutted.
Which was unfair because she was fine. Perfectly fine. Why could her mum not see that? See jt. Yes, she could show her. She just had to stand upright and prove her point. Which meant getting away from this nice wall. Kt was a very nice wall. Very smooth and pretty and it even tasted nice.
"Did she just lick the wall?" Andromeda asked incredulously.
Ted sighed heavily. "Yes. Yes, she did."
Tonks tried to tell them that it tasted nice and that was why she had licked it but they just gave her blank looks. Like she was speaking a foreign language. Whatever. More wall for her. The wall was good. She liked the wall. She went to lick it again and then She saw something on the floor. Oh! It was her foot. She lifted it up and down. It felt heavy.
She stopped for a moment, her stomach feeling funny. Well, it had felt weird this whole time but this was a different sort of funny. Like everything was pooling together and...
Before she knew it, she had been yanked across the room and shoved at the toilet. Which she promptly threw up in.
"Got her there without her getting any on the floor!" Her dad said far too loudly.
Unfortunately, she couldn't complain about that as her stomach decided to do another flip. And she emptied what felt like all of its contents down the toilet. Gross. Oh, Merlin, that was horrible.
She had thrown up before, stomach bugs and the liked, but it hadn't been like this. This was different. This was horrible. This tasted vile.
She retched again and somehow her stomach produced even more for her to empty into the toilet. Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross.
