Ellen blindly reached out her arm, taking care not to move too quickly, to grasp hold of her pint glass from beside her bed. She nervously opened one eye once she had managed to pick it up only to discover that this was where todays heartbreak would begin. The glass was empty.

It was early in the morning on New Year’s Day, a dead silence encompassed not only the flat, but it also appeared that it had captured the whole world outside. Ellen delicately sat up in bed and allowed her head to spin for a few seconds before opening her eyes. Although the room was dark, she could just about make out a figure beside her. That was when her heart started pounding so hard, she was scared it was going to break through her chest, was it regret? No, she jumped up and rushed to the bathroom, it was vomit.

After she had flushed the toilet, Ellen shook her head and silently punished herself for getting into such a state. That feeling quickly passed as she brushed her teeth and reminded herself that it was not something she did daily, or even monthly for that matter, and that if she couldn’t celebrate on New Year’s Eve, when could she?

She put her toothbrush away and started to make her way back to the mysterious stranger, stopping in the kitchen to get two glasses of ice water. She set a glass down on both of the shelves at her bedside before carefully climbing back into bed. But she wasn’t as delicate as she had planned and it was too late, her bed buddy had been disturbed. Looking up to face him, a smile grew on Ellen’s face as soon as she recognised him. It was her friend Danny.

“Good morning. My word, you look awful” He murmured.

“Oh sweetie. Let me tell you, you aren’t looking so pretty either” she grinned in retaliation before lying back down and cuddling into his lightly toned arms.

Ellen and Danny had been best friends for the last seven years, while this particular arrangement had been going on (and off) for the last year or so. Neither of them had planned for it, but it had happened after they had both been single for about two years. At the time, they had agreed it was in both of their best interests and for the majority of time since. They also found there was no awkwardness between them when Danny found himself a girlfriend, but they found it easy to restart when she was out of the picture again a month later.

Danny pulled her close and gently kissed her neck. “Did you have a good night?”.

“I did thank you. I don’t remember much past 11 though” She sighed “I feel awful now too”.

Ellen cuddled into Danny more and closed her eyes before drifting off to sleep once again, silently pleading that this hangover would be gone when she opened her eyes once more.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Ellen’s sleep was disturbed once again three hours later by the sound of Danny trying (and failing) to find his other sock. She pulled her pillow over her head in the hopes that it would block out the noise that he was making. Her hopes were completely dashed when he pulled off the duvet and exposed her bare legs to the cool air of the bedroom. She let out a squeal.

“Behave and stop being so dramatic! Where’s my other sock?” He demanded.

” I don’t know, nor do I care!” She snapped back.

“You will if you don’t start to help and I start to tickle you” He warned cheekily.

Ellen gave up; she threw the pillow off of her head and stood up far too quickly, almost falling over in the process. Fortunately, Danny caught her before she hit the floor. Once she had regained her balance, she chuckled to herself as she walked across her room to retrieve the rogue sock from over her curtain rail holding it at arm’s length from her face. Danny laughed along before taking it from her and giving her a quick kiss.

“Thank you, you are an angel!” He smiled “Do I get to see you tomorrow?”.

“I can’t tomorrow; I’m going on a date!” She flashed him her best hangover smile.

“If it doesn’t go as planned, you know where I am” He grinned before kissing her once more and walking out of the flat.

Ellen paused and took a look around her bedroom shaking her head at the mess; she knew that she’d regret hosting a house party. There were empty bottles and strangers’ clothes strewn all around. “Who goes home and forgets their top? She questioned herself, astonished at how carefree people really could be after a couple of drinks. Upset with the mess, she pulled her duvet over her head and staggered through her living room to set up her base camp for the day, the sofa.

However, her hopes of finding a quiet spot were quickly dashed when she saw her roommate, and best friend of twenty years, Julia, cleaning. Not just tidying, like most people would struggle to do on the morning after the night before, no. She was completing a deep clean of the flat.

“WHY!?” Ellen cried before instantly regretting raising her voice and making her head pound.

“Good morning sleeping beauty, good night was it?” Julia smirked “It’s always lovely to see Danny so early”.

“Behave! You have known about us for ages now” Ellen fell onto the sofa and wrapped herself in the duvet.

“I know, I just don’t understand why you keep leading him on” She said as she disinfected the coffee table while trying not to disturb her broken friend more than necessary.

“I’m not! We both know where we stand” She muttered through the small gap in her duvet.

“Uh huh, whatever you say” Julia remarked, unconvinced.

“How are you not hungover?” She cried as she remembered that Julia had not held back on her drinks last night either.

“I am, I’m just trying to work through it. We have a lot to do this year and we can’t start in a messy flat” She said before opening the door to Ellen’s bedroom “What has happened in here!?” She cried.

“Don’t! just shut the door, turn around and come and sit down for a bit” she yelled lifting her legs up for Julia to sit down beside her.

“No! I can’t stop! If I do, I won’t want to start again” She groaned and dragged herself through Ellen’s door.

Ellen gently closed her eyes and drifted off into a light sleep where her mind recreated last night’s events in her dream.

The music thumped and Ellen continued to laugh and dance, her legs had become tired an hour ago and her rib cage was in pain from all of the laughing that she just couldn’t stop, but none of that was going to slow her down. Not tonight.

She spun around and caught a glimpse of Danny’s messy blonde hair stood behind the breakfast bar in the kitchen area of the open plan living area. She smiled brightly at him while her eyes twinkled all on their own. She moved closer and he quickly leant over the breakfast bar, grabbed her hips and pulled her against it before firmly kissing her lips.

She broke away momentarily before she realised that she didn’t want that. the alcohol was making her confused, they had not had any public displays of affection before and the only person who knew about them was Julia and Danny’s brother Pete. Yet here they were, kissing in the middle of a crowded part with dozens of their close friends around them.

Danny pulled her hips again and kissed her intensely, it was at this point that Ellen backed away again. Danny now looked hurt by her reaction. She winked at him and nodded towards her bedroom, at which point his smile returned to its rightful position as they both walked to her room. She opened her door to see a couple in a deep embrace on her bed.

“OUT!” She yelled and Danny chuckled behind her back.

The couple jumped back out of fright before decomposing themselves and leaving her bedroom with their heads down. Ellen pulled Danny and shut the door softly and pulling him to her bed. Their passionate kissing resumed only briefly paused by Danny pulling away and whispering “I love you”.

This was enough to wake Ellen from her sleep with a jump. Julia squealed because of the sudden movement.

“Sorry!” Ellen squeaked.

“Bad dream was it?” Julia responded calmly as she walked to sit beside her friend.

“Something like that…” Ellen trailed off “I need to shower”

“What happened to your hangover day?”

“I have given up on that. Like you said, we have a lot to do this year” Ellen tried to say convincingly.

“Great! I’ll put the kettle on for when you get out”

“Thanks” she called as she walked into the bathroom, turned on the shower and shut the door.

Ellen looked at herself in the mirror and held onto the sink as she mentally fought with her own mind.

“It was just a dream, it didn’t really happen. Oh! I really hope that wasn’t a flashback” She cried to herself.

She reached for her mobile phone and started to write a message to Danny.

“Hey, how are you? Hope the hangover isn’t too bad! Xxx”

She wasn’t sure what she was trying to achieve but she sent it anyway before taking her clothes off and throwing them into a messy pile and standing under the steaming shower. She let the water run over her hair and body until she tilted her head back to let the water rain onto her face.

Julia finally sat down on the plump grey sofa and admired the results of her morning of hard work. The main room of their flat was tidy, all surfaces were free of bottles, cups, plates and waste food. Every inch of the room had also been scrubbed with a cocktail of cleaning products. However, her hard work (and the alcohol she had consumed the night before) had caused her clothes and hair to stick to her due to the excessive sweating. She glanced at her watch and smiled smugly to herself when she saw it was only 11am.

It was in that brief moment of peace that Ellen emerges from the bathroom with both her head and body wrapped in towels quickly followed by steam that had built up from her hot shower. Julia sighed, the quiet had been nice while it lasted.

“Feel better?” Julia stifled a laugh when she realised that her friend, who is normally the picture of beauty with not so much as a hair out of place, had mascara all down her face looking as though she was attempting to resemble a panda.

“Not really. Can I ask you something? She responded hesitantly.

“Okay, but first will you go and look in the mirror?” She smiled back.

Ellen turned and tutted when she saw herself. She quickly washed and dried and walked back over to sit on the sofa.

“What happened with me and Danny last night?” Ellen questioned nervously.

“I don’t know. One minute you were dancing alone, the next you dragged him to your room and were shouting at Paul and Maria to get out. I didn’t see you for the rest of the night after that” Julia turned and looked directly into her friends’ eyes “Why?”

“I was scared of that. I think Danny told me that he loves me, but I don’t remember. My dream said that he had, but that was just a dream, right?”

“Oh sweetie!” Julia pulled her friend close and hugged her “I did warn you that this would happen, why do you think he broke up with Emily? He has always loved you. The whole friends with benefits thing never works, one person always ends up falling for the other”.

Ellen let out a small cry “If he did tell me, it would have only been the drink talking, right?

“I don’t know” Julia looked apprehensive “Maybe you should talk to him?”

“I have tried sending him a text but he hasn’t replied yet”

“Why don’t you call him?”

“I can’t! I don’t want to face the reality of the situation just yet!” Ellen scrunched up her face as she spoke.

“Okay. Go and get dressed then, we are going for a walk” Julia smiled and lifted herself up.

Both women went in opposite directions, Julia to the shower and Ellen to her bedroom to make herself look (and feel) more human.

An hour later Ellen was dressed in an effortlessly stylish dark blue skinny jeans and oversized kitted jumper combination finished with a pair of small heeled ankle boots, her blonde hair in a messy bun and a full face of makeup. Meanwhile Julia emerged from her room in a simpler outfit of black leggings, a long black jumper and black ballet pumps, her brown hair was tied in a side plait and she had applied a light layer of foundation and some mascara. The two smiled at each other before stepping out of their front door together.