What a wild night. Or at least I think it was. Everything after midnight was a bit of a haze to me that morning. I remembered leaving the apartment and having loads more drinks in the club, including more tequila shots. I remember dancing like an idiot on the dance floor and speaking to loads of different people, some I knew and some I didn't. Anything else that happened remained a blur.

I woke with a start and found that I was on my sofa, having not even made it to my bed. I was still in my jeans from the night before but I did manage to get my shirt off and dump it on the floor. At least that was something.

The clock on the wall told me that it was just after ten AM. Why did I wake up with such a fright? That question was quickly answered when I heard a noise coming from my door, a pounding almost as loud as my head was. Groaning, I got up and sidestepped all of the empty beer bottles that were strewn across the floor. I was not going to enjoy tidying this up today.

"I'm coming!" I shouted in annoyance as my unwanted guest thumped my door again. I was impressed that it was even still standing. I unlocked and opened it to find a bright looking Louise in front of me.

"Morning!" She gleamed, before freezing. I noticed she was staring at my exposed stomach.

"Don't ask" I told her, meaning my bare torso. "Do you know what fucking time it is?" I asked sleepily.

"Just after ten" She didn't even flinch. "How was last night?" She finally dragged her gaze to meet my eyes again.

"It was good. I think. I feel awful today though"

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have the flu or something?" She asked worriedly.

"What? No. It's called a hangover, Louise. You've got all this to look forward to" I sighed.

"Right" She bowed her head.

"What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be reading Twilight or something?"

"Dude, that's so 2008" She laughed. "You said we'd catch up tomorrow, so here we are"

"Did I?"

"Yeah! So is there anything I can do to help with the hangover?" She smiled.

"Do you have any bacon?" I asked hopefully.

"Sadly not" She grimaced. "But I do actually know a pretty decent cafe own the road where we can get some if you want?"

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah! And they do pancakes and coffee and pretty much anything you want"

"Alright alright slow down! It's too early and I can hardly keep up. Give me ten minutes alright?" I just wanted to make her stop talking. It was hurting my head even more.

She agreed to wait in my living room while I quickly freshened up, put some clothes on and fixed my hair. I'd only thrown on an old hoody, a cap on backwards and a pair of those black cotton pants that everyone's started wearing. I used to think they looked stupid but I finally caved and realised that they are unbelievably comfortable. The way I was feeling, I didn't care what I looked like anyway.

Then we went out for breakfast.

At first it felt a little bit weird, hanging out with Louise like this but I quickly got over the strangeness of the situation after I got the three bacon sandwiches and large coffee that I'd ordered. The waitress gave me a funny look as she laid it all on the table, but once again I didn't care. We were sat at a table near the window of the small cafe, letting the morning sun shine through on us, despite all the clouds that were hovering overhead.

"There's no way you can eat all that" Louise giggled before thanking the waitress for bringing her just one sandwich and a glass of orange juice.

"Trust me, when you're hung-over, the stomach becomes something else" I grumbled as I tucked in to my food.

"Why do you drink so much if you know you'll feel like this the next day?"

"Sometimes miracles happen and you feel fine. I don't really think about the morning after anyway. It's all about living in the moment" I smiled.

"How philosophical of you!" She joked.

"I'm full of surprises" I said, finishing the first sandwich and taking a huge mouthful of coffee.

"What is it with you and coffee? I thought that only old people drank it" Asked Louise.

"Coffee is for people who like the taste. It doesn't matter how old you are" I laughed. "Just like orange or cola. If you like it, you drink it. Just because I need coffee to get me through, doesn't mean the next person will. Like, you know Ray? Who was at the party yesterday? He doesn't like coffee at all. So he doesn't drink it"

"You should be a coffee professor" She joked.

"If that was a real job, I'd sign up right now"

"What made you want to be an electrician anyway?" She asked. She'd finished her food and now seemed determined to find out everything there is to know about me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a date!

"It was a job" I shrugged. "I didn't necessarily want it but they were hiring and I figured it would be a good thing to do until I figured out what I really wanted to do. Seven years later and I'm still here. You were right by the way. This food is awesome" I finished my second sandwich.

"Well what else would you like to do? Like, instead" She ignored my compliment.

"I don't know. There's nothing I'm really good at, I don't even know how to do anything else"

"I'm sure that's not true. I bet you're a secret genius or something" She said encouragingly, not knowing how silly she sounded.

"I'm afraid not. Trust me. I wish I'd paid more attention to studying in school instead of trying so hard to be some sort of rebel" I couldn't hide my annoyance.

"Ah! So you were a bad boy in school huh?" Louise had grown a wide grin since I confessed to my teenage attitude. I almost felt bad for wiping it off her face.

"No, I was a delinquent. Or more specifically, a piece of shit" I corrected. "I used to be a complete idiot"

"So what changed?" She asked, finally looking serious.

"I grew up. I realised that I wasn't being cool like I thought I was. I was wasting my childhood by being an asshole. People like that might be popular in school but if you act like that in the real world then you'll get eaten alive. Nobody likes a person like that" An eerie silence then fell over us. I hadn't meant to go off on a rant like I had but it was all true. I usually didn't talk about this with anyone. Everyone who already knew about my past antics didn't need reminding and I really never wanted anyone new to know about it. I really wasn't proud of it at all.

"Plus my brother arrested me. Kind of changes your perspective" I said to try and lighten the mood.

"What?" She choked as she laughed.

"It's a long story" I smiled. "So what about you? What's school like? A cool chick like you must have loads of friends?" I asked. She told me about Lily and Mason, her two best friends and their different personalities.

"We each have a couple of other friends but none that we really hang out with" She explained.

"I thought you'd be super popular" I told her.

"Not a chance. I don't suck up to the right people"

"You go girl" I danced a little overenthusiastically before finishing my final sandwich. "You were saying?"

"I thought I knew you" She joked. Like I told her, I am full of surprises.

I paid the bill and we began the short walk home

"Can I ask you something? Why do you like hanging out with me?" I asked, both curious and desperate to drown out the sound of our footsteps. She hesitated but finally answered.

"Because you're cool. You're funny, you make me laugh and you don't care what anybody thinks about you. I admire that"

"It isn't exactly hard" I stared at the ground, as usual not good at being given a compliment.

"Yeah but so many people say that. That they don't care what anybody thinks but how many people can say it and actually mean it? They say it because it makes them sound cool. You seriously don't care if someone catches you singing Justin Bieber or eating three huge bacon sandwiches dressed like a homeless hipster"

"Hey!" I snapped, but couldn't help but laugh. I liked how cheeky she was. I knew plenty of girls but most of them were nowhere near as fun as this one. "So what's it like living with Brandon?" I changed the subject. "Must be pretty cool to have a celebrity in the family?"

"It's ok I guess" She shrugged.

"You don't sound convinced"

"I am really proud of him, obviously. There's more to him than tennis though, and it bugs me that he doesn't seem to realise that. If he doesn't then why would anyone else?"

"I'm sorry to hear that. I feel bad now. I thought he was a bit of a snob" I laughed, hoping she would too.

"Oh he is. To strangers at least. He is a good guy though. He just plays so much that I don't think he feels like he's allowed to think about anything else. He's always on TV and radio. They interview mom and dad a lot too. They usually don't really care what I have to say though" She complained.

"Well I'd say that's their loss"

"Thanks" She smiled up at me. "The amount of reporters we've had in our apartment is seriously scary"

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you guys live here? I mean it isn't the worst place to live but surely you guys would be better with a big house instead of a shitty little apartment?" I'd been wondering this since I'd first met the Lane family but had never really thought it appropriate to ask.

"With a tennis court in the back yard?" She mused.

"I was thinking more in the driveway" I joked.

"We used to have a big house actually. But then my sister Anna moved out and –"

"You have a sister?" I interrupted in surprise.

"Yeah she's the oldest. She's twenty-three and works for some big shot law firm. She got engaged and moved out and so my parents decided to downsize to help save money for the wedding and for all of Brandon's trips. I miss having a back yard but apart from that it's alright. I didn't have to change schools or anything" She finished.

"That's something I guess" I muttered.

"Plus my new neighbour is less of an asshole"

"Yeah and don't you forget it" I smirked as I held the door for her and we entered our building together.