Crashed Back to Earth

Adeline POV

The pounding in my head woke me up before anything else. It felt like someone had been using a jackhammer inside my skull.

I sat up slowly, immediately regretting the movement as the room spun. Where was I?

I remembered everything little by little ..

The club. The drinks. The most gorgeous man I had ever seen.

The incredible sex.

I looked to my left, expecting to see him, but the bed was empty and also cold. Like it had been empty for hours.

“Hello?” I called out, my voice sounded hoarse from all the shouting I had done yesterday.

Nothing.

I wrapped the bed sheet around myself and stumbled toward the living room, hoping to find him making coffee or taking a phone call. But the suite was silent and totally empty except for me.

I walked back into the room and noticed a note on the nightstand, written on a piece of paper.

I had to leave for business. Last night was amazing. Take care.

There was no name. No number. No “I would love to see you again.”

Just a polite dismissal like I was some kind of service he had paid for.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I whispered, crumpling the paper in my fist.

My phone had started buzzing somewhere in the tangle of clothes on the floor. I found it buried under my dress, the screen showing six missed calls from Jane and a lot of increasingly frantic texts.

Where were you???

Adeline I couldn’t find you anywhere

Please tell me you are okay…don’t die!!!!

I am getting worried

CALL ME

And then the one that made my stomach drop…remember Your flight is in 3 hours time . You better not miss it!

Shit. My flight home to New York. I was supposed to meet my mom’s new husband. Real life was crashing back in after the most incredible and humiliating night of my life.

I gathered my clothes and got dressed as quickly as my hangover allowed. The dress looked wrinkled and cheap in the harsh morning light, and I probably smelled like shit.

The shower in his bathroom was all luxurious, but I didn’t have time to appreciate the luxury. I needed to get to the airport, get home, and pretend the previous night had never happened.

But as the hot water washed over me, I couldn’t stop thinking about his hands on my skin, the way he had whispered against my neck, how perfect we had felt together. For a few hours, I had felt like the kind of woman who could have anything she wanted.

Now I just feel stupid.

The taxi to JFK cost a fortune, but I was too tired and hungover to care. I slumped in the backseat, using my sunglasses to cover my bloodshot eyes, trying not to throw up as we wove through traffic.

Jane called just as I was going through security.

“Thank God you are alive,” she said before I could even say hello. “Where the hell were you? I looked everywhere for you.”

“I made a mistake,” I muttered, shuffling through the security line.

“What kind of mistake?”

“The kind that started with too much alcohol and ended with me being an idiot.”

“Oh no. Please tell me you didn’t—”

“Sleep with a complete stranger? Give my virginity to some random guy who couldn’t even be bothered to say goodbye in person?” I was getting louder, and other passengers were starting to stare. “Yeah, I did exactly that.”

“Adeline…”

“I have to go. I am boarding soon.”

“Wait, are you okay? Do you need me to…”

“I am fine Jane , I have already taken pills. I will call you later.”

I hung up and found my gate, slumping into a plastic chair that felt incredibly uncomfortable. My head was still pounding, my stomach was churning, and I felt like the world’s biggest fool.

We boarded the flight and I shuffled onto the plane like a zombie. I sat in the middle seat between two businessmen who both looked annoyed at having to share space with someone who obviously had spent the night drinking.

As the plane took off, I pressed my face to the small window and watched the city disappear below me.

Somewhere down there was a hotel suite where I had become a completely different person for one night. Someone bold and reckless and alive.

Now I was going back to being a regular Adeline who made safe choices and never took risks.

My phone buzzed with a text from Mom…“i can’t wait to see you honey..Raymond is so excited to finally meet you. He had been asking about you all morning.”

Raymond. Mom’s new husband. The man who had made her happy again after years of being alone.

I closed my eyes and tried to push away thoughts of another man entirely. A stranger who had made me feel things I didn’t even know were possible, then left me like I was nothing.

Time to go home and pretend it had never happened.