There are things in this world that simply cannot be explained. Try and try as we might, we still have yet to discover why certain things happen, or why we feel certain ways.

The particular enigma that procured those thoughts within me that morning was how on this good green earth the morning light found a way to peek through the tiniest slit in my curtains and shine directly into my eyeballs. Gah!

Rolling onto my stomach, I stuffed my face flat into my pillow and groaned at the pounding headache that squeezed repetitively at my skull.

Forced to breathe, I lifted my head only to be assaulted by that cursed ray of light again.

I huffed in frustration, rolled out of bed, quite literally fell on the floor, and continued on my quest to find the cure for my epic hangover.

Rubbing the sleep from my face with my hand, I let out a huge yawn and stumbled into my kitchen in nothing but my underwear.

This was a fairly normal routine for me in the morning, aside from the hangover part, so as I opened up my fridge in search of some tomato juice or maybe some tonic water, I made no attempt to be discreet about it.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath as a tub of cottage cheese fell and landed on my foot. Thankfully, it didn't open, but it hurt like hell.

With a sigh, I stooped down to pick it up.

A low groan had me frozen in place, and as I slowly lifted my head above the open fridge door, I was started to see a head of white hair sitting up on my couch.

It took a moment to realize why he was there, but all at once, it came flooding back in.

Oh my God. Dominik kissed me! Don't panic, don't panic. Just act cool.

Standing up fully, I pretended to casually check the expiration date on the V8 bottle. I heard Dom mutter something in Russian under his breath before he looked up tiredly and raised a confused brow at me.

"Are you naked?" His voice was husky and rough from sleep.

"Uh," I blushed and looked down. My waist and below was blocked from his view by the fridge door, but as his eyes lazily roamed over me, I had never felt more exposed. "No. I have underwear on."

"That's good," he muttered, covering his eyes with the heels of his hands and laying back down, disappearing behind the back of the couch. "What color are they?"

My eyes widened and my cheeks caught on fire. I had no idea what to say to something like that!

"Uh..."

"I'm just messing with you," Dom chuckled from beyond my view before groaning at the pressure pounding through his temples. "Fuck. What happened last night?"

I froze from making my tomato drink and glanced in his direction. Did he not remember kissing me?

"What's the last thing you remember?" I asked, taking a swig of the concoction.

"We... made a bet on who could drink a pint of ale the fastest," he mumbled tiredly.

My heart sank. That was long before the kiss. He didn't remember.

"Is that all?" I asked, a receding tone of hope that he might suddenly remember in my voice.

"The rest of the night is a bit... blurry. There's not really any details that jump out," he mumbled.

"Oh. Well, long story short, you drank so much you passed out so I brought you here because I wasn't sure where you lived."

"Mm," he didn't have the energy to respond with words.

Setting my empty glass of tomato juice in the sink, I was about to disappear into my bedroom to shower and get dressed when my phone let out a very shrill ring.

"Fuck," Dominik groaned from the couch as I quickly swiped it off the counter and answered it.

"Hello?" I asked as I entered my bedroom and started to assemble my outfit for the day.

"What the hell, Collin? I've been trying to get ahold of you all day!"

I pulled the phone away from my ear slightly as my manager told me off for being irresponsible. Glancing at my alarm clock, I realized it was already 1:20 in the afternoon. Yikes.

"Get your ass down to Katrina's fashion show, now!" he growled out. "After you've made a public appearance with your girlfriend, you will come to my office so we can review what you are going to tell the press about the story they printed this morning."

"What story?" I asked confusedly.

"The one about Collin King making out with some random girl at a bar last night."

A felt a bit of relief when he said 'girl,' that could've ended up a lot worse.

"She was just a crazy fan. She literally jumped me and I had to dump a beer on her head to get her to detach from me."

Like pouring salt on a leech...

"Well either way, you shouldn't have been in that bar and you need to make a statement."

"You do realize I'm an adult, right? I'm allowed to go to a bar."

"Not when you're the face of this label," he quipped. "Now get to that fashion show before it's over!"

"Yes, Sir," I grumbled before hanging up and dragging my freshly picked pile of clothes into the bathroom.

After a quick shower, I styled my hair and walked back out to where Dominik laid softly snoring on the couch.

I couldn't bring myself to wake him up, so instead I etched out a quick note and dropped it on his chest.

Dom,

Something came up and I had to leave.

Your violin is on the coffee table in the music room and if you call the number below, someone will bring your bike out to the front of the lobby.

Help yourself to anything in the fridge and please don't try to drive until your hangover is at least a little more tolerable.

Can we meet up for another inspiration session in a couple of days? You have my contact information, so just shoot me an email to set up a date and time.

Thanks for everything,
Collin King