Party 'til you pass out / When the party's over

1.5

'You alright, Ali?,' Nicholls asked me. I nodded and walked away towards the parking lot, shrieking when an arm pulled me behind a bus.

'I'm sorry,' Tom said. 'I'm sorry for my reaction. I said I wouldn't judge you, but I did. It's just a shock to hear that my brother actually fucked you up and ruined your life.' I nodded and looked down at my feet. 'You wanna go to the bus and talk there?,' he asked. I nodded again and Tom put his arm around my shoulders while we walked back to the bus. Tom took me to the back lounge and opened the door, letting out a yell and slamming the door shut again, his eyes wide.

'Fuck off!,' Oliver's voice yelled. Tom bit his lip to keep himself from laughing, and pulled me back towards the bunk area.

'I've got an idea,' I said. I climbed up on the bunks and opened the roof hatch. With some effort I pulled myself up, got on the roof of the bus and looked down at Tom.

'You coming up?' He nodded.

Hold on,' he only said, walking out of sight.

'Better make it quick, Sykes,' I yelled after him. I laid myself down and stared at the stars, listening to the soft but steady rumour of the many people hanging around at the parking lot and the lake. Some vague music lingered through the air and I closed my eyes, only to open them again when Tom put his head through the hatch and put a bottle of Jack on the roof before coming up himself. He sat next to me and we stayed silent for a while.

'What did you mean when you said it nearly cost you your sanity and your life?,' he then asked. I sighed and sat up straight, pulling the bottle from his hands and taking a big sip. I needed more alcohol in my system to be able to tell my story.

'Eh... I never really knew I had gonnorhea, actually. I didn't know. Months after the party I got some vague aching in my lower belly, but I shrugged it off as stress as I was taking some exams around that point. But the aching didn't go away, and after another three weeks it got only worse and I was running a bad fever. I couldn't hide it anymore, and Lilian started to notice...' I took another swig of Jack and handed the bottle to Tom when he held out his hand to get it. 'She made me go to a doctor, who thought I was having appendicitis, and he sent me to the hospital. They wanted to operate me the same day, so they did but they didn't find what they were looking for... Instead -' I sighed and closed my eyes, feeling Tom's hand on my knee. I locked my fingers with his and inhaled deeply again, trying to calm my emotions. 'Instead, they found that inflammation in my fallopian tubes. It was so bad that it had spread through my entire tubes and uterus, and they had no other choice than to take the tubes out. If I had waited any longer, I could have died from septic shock.' I could feel Tom stare at me, and we both stayed silent for a long while.

'So... That means you can't get pregnant anymore?,' he asked carefully. I shook my head.

'I can, but not naturally. I still have my uterus and ovaries, but I would have to have IVF,' I said bitterly. Tom whistled softly.

'I'm sorry...,' he said. I shrugged.

'I've learned to live with it. I can't change it anyway. I've been sad about it for a long while, I got depressed afterwards and couldn't focus on anything anymore, but today, I am just happy to be alive...' Tom nodded. 'And it's not that I am blaming Oliver for this to happen to me, I mean, it's just as much my own fault. It's just, he reminds me of it every single day. And I thought I would be okay with it, that I could block it out by having fun and ignoring him as much as I can, but I'm having a hard time coming around.'

'I understand that.' Tom and I looked at each other for a moment, and he pulled me in his arms. 'Thanks for telling me this.' I nodded and hid my face in his shirt. Below us, some faint moans were hearable, and Tom snickered. 'Seems like someone is getting it tonight.'