Finishing Up

[Aethie White]

Aethie nearly fell over when Padril bolted out of bed without so much as a warning. Her face was on fire. She hurriedly covered her eyes, waiting until she heard the bathroom door slam before taking her hands away from her face. Sounds of retching reached her ears and she grimaced. She hadn't felt sick at all until Padril started in.

"I'll just - make some breakfast," she yelled in the direction of the bathroom door, and then escaped to the kitchen again, where she stared blankly into her fridge. What could she eat that wouldn't make her want to throw up?

[Padril Crennent]

Padril stayed at the toilet for a while, his hands tied firmly around the toilet bowl in anticipation. The toilet bowl was full of his stomach's contents though and made him want to barf again, so he flushed the toilet, before slowing lowering himself down to the ground. Only a few moments to think and he had to think. Had he and Aethie slept together? Probably. But what made it fact? What was indisputable evidence? Nothing! There was still hope their friendship could be...

Fuck.

She was wearing his Hawaiian shirt.

Lying naked on Aethie's floor, starring up at the roof, he decided it wasn't so bad. They could make a good relationship. If not, it was a crazy thing they had done that they could joke about in a couple of years. They just had some awkwardness to cover andFUCK HIS HEAD WAS HURTING!

Using the toilet bowl for support, he stood up, steadying himself. He knew some good hangover remedies, their ingredients at his apartment. And he couldn't leave now. He opened the door slowly, looking over at the bed. His shorts were there, thank whatever god who had decided to do this, and he could see his briefs. Ducking out, he hurried over to the bed and hastily put on his clothes, wondering about what he could say to Aethie. He wasn't good with his on-his-feet thinking and why the hell did the name Gladys keep popping up? Did they use protection? WAS IT CONSENTUAL? Maybe that was she had been acting so strange. Oh god, I wouldn't do that would I? No, but drunk? Ohshitohshit. What if she was pregnant? AHHHHH

But he had to appear to calm and in control, then they could go over this. He spent a second composing himself, then cautiously and tiredly, walked into the kitchen. Shirtless, as he couldn't see any of Aethie's shirts fitting him.

[Aethie White]

Aethie was a gigantic bundle of nerves. When Padril walked into the kitchen, she jumped a foot in the air. It was lucky she had just set her coffee cup down or else Padril would have been covered in it. "Um...coffee?" She asked, gesturing towards the almost-full coffee pot.

"I was thinking about making breakfast, did you...d'you want anything?"

She didn't know how to act, having never been in this situation before. Part of her just wanted to run and hide. She was struggling to act normal, but had a sneaking suspicion that she was failing miserably from the way Padril was watching her. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, and busied herself with sticking bread in the toaster. Her hands were shaking, and she dropped three slices on the floor.

[Padril Crennent]

Slightly scared of Aethie's nerves, Padril moved up to her and gently touched her arm, "It's all right, just sit down. I'll make breakfast." He led her to a chair, then picked up the slices and, unsure of the where the bin was, set them to the side. He poured her a coffee and handed it to her, placed the bread in the toaster, poured himself a coffee, then sat down at the table across from her.

He didn't really understand how the toaster worked, but had got the general idea from the clear little stick figure sticker on the side of the muggle device. He thought he had done pretty well, all things considered.

"So..." He began. Aethie's nerves seemed to calm him down, it was sort of reassuring to know someone was freaking out more than him. "We did it." He said plainly.

[Aethie White]

Aethie allowed herself to be led to a chair, and sat still, following Padril with her eyes as he poured coffee and made toast. Her brain still wasn't working properly; she wasn't able to wrap her mind around the fact that she and Padril....

Me. Padril. PADRIL. ME?! How could I? What's WRONG with me? Did he know? No, of course he didn't know! How could he know? I sure didn't tell him! It's not like it would've made a difference if he had known...but god, what a rotten way to lose it...I don't even remember...

Padril sat down across from Aethie. He was being so calm; how could he be so calm?! Why wasn't he freaking out too? Was this whole scenario a common occurrence for him? Am I just another notch on his belt? Or whatever that old saying is?

"So...we did it."

Aethie cleared her throat, and took a sip of coffee, still avoiding eye contact with Padril. "Erm...yeah, I guess so." Why doesn't he have a shirt on? Only then did Aethie realize she was wearing his shirt. Goddammit.

[Padril Crennent]

He took a sip of the coffee, wincing from another pain from his forehead. His hand was shaking a bit, but he kept it steady. He had to appear completely in control. "Aethie, I.." he took a breath. "I don''t really know what to say. I don't know whether this was just a drunken night we had together or the start to something bigger, I don't know. I don't know which I would prefer. I don't know."

Those three words drove him crazy, more so than the other three words. "But..." he looked up at Aethie and smiled, a proper reassuring smile. "I'm going to support you no matter what." He was, he supposed. He felt a hell of a lot closer to her now and he didn't feel the usual revulsion that accompanied a one-night stand (that revulsion caused by the realization the girl wasn't nearly as good looking as you remembered and a admittance of her likely shallow personality). He began to see all the things he had missed earlier about her, the shy stance she made and the way her hair just helped to frame her.

[Aethie White]

A tiny smile lit up Aethie's face at Padril's words. Support me no matter what...it sounds like I'm pregnant or something. She frowned as the thought occurred to her. Oh god...did we use protection? I know I didn't have anything here...did Padril bring some? Should I ask?

"Did we..." she stopped, unsure how to phrase her question. Everything about this was completely unfamiliar territory to her. "Did we use...did you have...pro...tection?" Her voice cracked a little on the last syllable and she took a large gulp of coffee. It burned her tongue and she choked on it a little, her eyes watering.

"I'm not crying, I'm not crying!" she said hastily as she wiped her streaming eyes on her - Padril's - sleeve.

[Padril Crennent]

Padril positioned his chair next to her, realizing too late the way the sentence sounded. He put his arm around her supportively, hoping it didn't seem like he wanted to go again or anything. Jesus, imagine that? With his head the way it was, it would just...explode, or something. "I don't remember," he admitted. "But I'm pretty sure even when we're drunk we were sensible enough to use it. " He knew he didn't have any on him when he walked into the Leaky Cauldron but he wasn't going to tell Aethie just yet, he had to calm her down. "And if we didn't, we'll get through it. There's no helping it now."

He sat there patiently with her, keeping his own wild thoughts and emotions bottled up. He felt like a good, long fly/walk. Shit, he needed to talk to Harley. And what if Aethie was pregnant? He couldn't afford to keep himself living well, let alone two others. Life was awfully complicated.

[Aethie White]

Aethie laid her head on Padril's shoulder and closed her eyes. What he'd said made sense; and in any case, if they hadn't...well, there was no use worrying about it now. She could feel herself calming down as they sat there, and a wave of sleepiness came over her. "I just want to go back to bed," she murmured. Then, realizing how that could come across, she froze. "Not that! I mean, I want to sleep."

She didn't want him to leave just yet, though. "Can we just...sleep for a while?" she asked, looking up at him. "I mean, if you have to leave...but well, we've already done the worst, might as well sleep it off...right?"

[Padril Crennent]

"Sleep sounds good," he agreed, glancing at the toaster. "I'm not really hungry," he admitted. This was all advancing rather quickly but he couldn't run now. Not when she clearly needed somebody. He turned off the toaster and led her to the bed. They laid down tiredly, Padril wrapping his arm around her protectively. Sleep was immediate.

***

It was late afternoon when Padril woke up, only a trace of the day's hangover remaining. He stayed in the bed for a while, thinking deeply. He needed to work more, he needed to be able to help Aethie if she needed it. The book would have to be put on hold. They could end up moving in together. Dozens, if not hundreds, of things needed to be prepared for and they all needed money. Gently, he eased himself out bed and put his shorts on. He looked over at Aethie's shape in the bed, still clothed in his shirt, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll see you soon. Keep the shirt." She murmured something incomprehensible and lapsed back into deep sleep. He found a piece of paper and wrote down the message, placing it on the bed-side table. He found his wand on the ground near a randomly dropped guitar and left the apartment, keen to get his broom and to go home.