Piritta groaned, waking slowly from what felt like a very heavy sleep. Not heavy in the way of deep and refreshing. Heavy like a weight leadened her body and sleep caused it all. She rolled, pushing wild strawberry colored curls out of her face even before she opened her eyes. Wherever she lay felt soft and refreshing, but bright. Like, ungodly and painful bright. Just what happened and where was she? Absolutely nothing came to her groggy mind at first.

Cracking open an eye, she looked out at an unfamiliar room. For almost a minute, she just gazed at it with the early morning light causing mild stabs of pain to her head. Shouldn't she at least remember where she was supposed to be? And with that thought, memories came rushing in. "Oh!" she exclaimed as she shot up in the bed, then reeled back, realizing that she was most decidedly hungover. Which didn't make sense at all.

Last night, she went to Tristian's launch and at the party--Piritta turned her head--she met this man. Cyril. The name still echoed in her head, the name feeling lush against her lips even when she didn't speak. The darker skinned man lay next to her, his sleeping face mere inches from her own. Piritta's heart slammed again, half in horror and half in this sort of painful interest. Like she might do all over again whatever already happened. Did she have more than a few sips from his glass of champagne? At nineteen, she shouldn't know this feeling at all, but here she was, waking up in the bed of some strange man, feeling messed up in the head with her dress disheveled, one strap all the way off her shoulder.

Shame burned in her face as she stumbled backwards off the bed, her eyes growing watery. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, unable to keep quiet whether the man slept or not. She wasn't sure now anyway, didn't stop to inspect. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen at all!" The tears burned harder in her eyes so she pressed a hand over them to stop the flow. She might remember the events of last night if she let herself, but right now, she didn't want to try. She was afraid of what she might find there.