Waking up the morning after a big night out was always painful. My stomach churned and the pain in my head was unbearable even before I opened my eyes. I willed myself to go back to sleep, even as my mind ticked over, trying to remember how the night had gone.

Unfortunately, my memory stopped after the conversation I had with Tré about koalas... And my sixth tequila shot.

That shit was lethal... Never. Never. Never again would I allow myself to drink tequila. I could only hope that I hadn't done anything embarrassing in front of Billie. Billie Joe... Billie Joe Armstrong... Even through the raging sickness I felt a smile creep onto my face.

At that moment, I felt a movement in the bed beside me. Must be Milly, I presumed. I couldn't even remember how I got home, yet alone stripped my clothes off and got into bed! But I could always count on Milly to help me when I was drunk, just as I would do for her. Too bad she didn't get to go home with Tré though, I knew how much she wanted that...

Milly shuffled over again, and so I regretfully peeled open my eyes and stared blearily into the bright light of day, as my head pounded in protest.

Not Milly.

Shit. It wasn't Milly in my bed with me. It was James, arms thrust above his head, no shirt on and a small, satisfied smile on his sleeping face.

Oh my god, what had I done? I took a little peek under the covers at myself and saw that I had absolutely no clothes on. I was completely naked. And in bed. With James.

I let out a little groan, which in turn woke James up, who turned his head to me and grinned.

"How drunk was I?" I asked, avoiding asking the glaringly obvious.

He laughed and sat up in the bed, looking down at me. I fought the urge to bury my head under my pillow and never surface. James was my friend, how the fuck could I have done this? I didn't see him in any other way, definitely not a sexual way... Oh my god. Never never never again will I touch alcohol.

"Let's put it this way," he replied, "you walked into two walls, and then tried to go to sleep in the bath tub."

I groaned again and closed my eyes tightly. "Shit."

James laughed again and patted my stomach through the blankets. "I'll go and get a hangover cure ready for you shall I? Bacon, eggs and coffee sound good?"

I nodded my head without opening my eyes. I needed more than breakfast to get out of this situation.

I felt the bed shift as James got out and heard some movement as he put clothes on and left the room.

What had happened to Billie? Last I remembered, we were getting along really well, and having fun together. If I was going to sleep with anyone last night, I would have thought it would be him. And yet somehow, here I was, waking up naked next to my best guy mate.

My stomach flipped and I felt bile rise into my throat. I quickly jumped up, threw on a dressing gown and rushed to the bathroom just in time for the contents of my stomach to come tearing out of my mouth.

Some time later, I washed my face with some cold water and looked at my reflection. Oh god, I looked like a corpse.

I found James in the kitchen, plates set on the table with life-saving bacon and eggs, and the heavenly scent of coffee wafting through the air.

"My saviour," I commented as I plonked down and tucked into it. I felt better after lining my stomach with some greasy food, and decided that I had better just face the music and get the awkward stuff out of the way.

"So.." I started, looking down into my half empty coffee mug. "What happened last night?"

"You don't remember?" James asked, sounding slightly hurt.

"Ummm.. I remember the start of the night, helping Billie when he got sick... Then not much else."

I saw a flicker of some emotion cross James' face at the mention of Billies name, but he quickly hid it and then grinned at me.

"Well, my feelings are a bit hurt that you don't remember my heroic efforts in getting your drunk ass home," he said, taking a sip of coffee. "Or my heroic efforts... Elsewhere."

I closed my eyes tight again. "So.. We..? Did we..? You know..?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer, even though it was obvious.

"Ahh.. Yeh, well we..."

Before James could finish his sentence, the front door swung open and Milly came in like a tornado. She looked extremely pleased with herself, so it didn't take a detective to work out she had been with Tré.

"Hey guys!" She said at the top of her voice, making me and my headache cringe. "I had the most UNBELIEVABLE night! I'm pretty sure I'm in looooove!"

"Well, there's a shocker," I answered, though I couldn't help but smile.

Milly threw me a look as she headed for her bedroom. "This is different!" She called out. "I have to get changed, I'm meeting Tré at this little cafe in town, then we are going to the movies."

I traded looks with James. Whenever Milly got with a guy, there was always a space of a few weeks where she spent every waking minute with them and we barely saw her. There was always an inevitable and disastrous break up, where we would have to comfort and nurture her for a week or two, before she met someone else and the cycle started again.

She emerged from her room, having changed into some casual clothes and looked fresh and... Happy. Very happy.

"Did you want to come, Zee?" She asked me, looking me up and down. "I think Billie is going to be there. And Mike and that girl who went home with him last night... If you come it would round out the numbers, like a triple date!" She gave me another look as she took in my dressing gown and birds nest hair. "You'll have to hurry up and get ready though."

I would really have liked to see Billie again, but the thought of facing him after what I had done with James last night was too much. I felt so guilty, even though nothing at all had happened between me and Billie...

"Y'know what?" I said, packing up my dishes and putting them in the sink. "I'm going to pass. I feel like complete dog shit today, I think I just want to hang out at home. Alone."

I hoped James had gotten the point.. I didn't want to spend an awkward day with him, and hoped that if we spent some time away from each other, the whole situation might just blow over and be forgotten, and we could go back to just being good mates.

"Your loss!" Milly said, grabbing her keys as she headed for the door. When she reached it she turned back and looked at me cheekily. "Billies hot as fuck... And I know for a fact that he thought you were awesome..."

My heart jumped into my throat, and another cloud of guilt came over me. There was no way I could face him again after sleeping with James. Stupid, stupid, stupid girl!!

I sent James home soon after Milly left, claiming that I just wanted to go back to sleep. He didn't argue, and we didn't talk anymore about sleeping together, so I held out hope that it would be forgotten.

Then I dumped myself on my bed and let the tears flow.