Our hero is a girl with a penchant for run-on sentences and use of the word 'and'. Her host for the evening happened to have similar talents, so they drank and they rambled late into the night. And, as awkward as that kiss had been, waking up managed to be even worse.

When Jared stirred awake the first things he noticed was the headache and the dry mouth that usually followed a night of heavy drinking. The second was a faint scent of peaches wafting up from just under his nose. And when his eyes finally adjusted to the light, the third thing that registered was Amy Campbell lying asleep on top of him.

He didn’t know when they’d fallen asleep on the couch, nor did he know how they ended up in the position that they had. She was laying the length of his body with her arm draped around him and her head rested on his shoulder.

Jared tried to shift under her weight, eliciting a small moan from the tiny redhead. He was in it now; there was no way to move without running the risk of waking her.

''Amy?'' he whispered, gently nudging her with his free hand. His left arm had gone numb at some point in the night, wedged between couch and redhead. ''Hey, Amy?'

She came alive with a long inhaling, moving her head gently against his collar and groaning. ''Nngh... Al?''

The massive wince signalled when the hangover had hit her, but it still took Amy a second to realize what she was on top of. ''... Oh, Jesus!'' She whimpered when she rolled away and realized there was nothing short of the floor to have landed on. ''Okay, ow. Ow.''

''You okay?'' He sat up on the couch a little too fast, and suddenly the room was spinning. ''Nope. Too fast. Bad idea,'' he groaned between clenched teeth and pressed eyes. ''Bad idea.''

''I'm not okay,'' She answered. ''I... I'm really sorry. I didn't come here to sleep with you, I promise. I wasn't going to cheat, didn't have it planned out like this...''

Campbell sighed, sitting up after a moment of cracking joints and sorely coming off of the floor. ''And I was so drunk... God, I imagine I was awful. I'm sorry.''

''What? No! You don’t think that… I mean, we didn’t… Aside from the actual sleeping, there wasn’t any… Because, you know, I’d remember if…'' Jared’s jell fell slightly agape and the color drained from his face. Memories of the previous night were starting to wander back into his mind. ''Oh fuck.''

''I don't really... yeah, can't remember what happened after I calmed you down from the kiss and...'' Amy shook her head. ''Wow, I'm a fucking moron. Even if we didn't... y'know... I'm still sorry. And I'm nauseaus. Awesome.''

''No, this is my fault. This is entirely my fault. I don’t even know what I was thinking.'' He tried to stand but his balance hadn’t quite come back, so he quickly fell back into the cushions of the sofa. ''I can’t believe this. This isn’t… I don’t want you to think that I… Son of a bitch.''

Whether she believed it or not, the little redhead shrugged for Jared's sake. ''Relax, it was just a kiss, right? Nothing else happened, so no harm, no foul.'' That shrug ended with a wince, because the hangover was in full effect - sore body and all. ''Where'd I put my stuff?''

''It’s in the kitchen, I think.'' Jared gestured over his shoulder towards the hall. ''I put it on the table around… Shit, I don’t even remember.'' His own head was throbbing, so he tried to press his eyes back into his skull in the hopes it would help. ''Christ, at this rate I should just burn the kitchen down and start again from scratch.''

It took her a minute to find the kitchen - unfamiliar with the surroundings, especially after a night of drinking - and Jared would later wish she hadn't found it at all. It was strange that she was somehow still pretty, even limping about with her hair a matted mess. Campbell tossed her satchel into the livingroom and followed it, crouching to pull a black baggie out.

''Fuckin' headache,'' She growled, ''Wow. Must've been wine. You don't, uh... you don't do much more than drink, do you? I think I'm still a little drunk, holy shit.''

'Depends on the situation, I guess. Why?'

''Just a little headache remedy. Not really something I think you'd be into, I just figured I'd offer in case you were as desperate as I am.'' She shrugged again, groaning as she got to her knees next to the coffee table and half-shielding the mouth of the baggie when she poured a little white powder onto it. Before Jared could process the scene before him, Amy was fishing in her pocket for a little scrap of folded paper - something to organize the granules with. In the blink of an eye, the powder was manipulated into three perfect, thin lines.

It was a little sad that she tried so hard to mask the motion when she dipped her head toward the tabletop, thumb to one side of her nose. After a quick snap of her head as she inhaled, she pinged the other nostril - pressing her eyes shut and shaking her head for a second. ''That'll feel better soon. I, uh... I don't expect you to partake or anything. I know how polarizing this kinda thing can be.''

''Wow,'' was all Jared could say.

Silently, he rose to his feet. Both hands went to his face and rubbed at his eyes, as though this was all an illusion he could easily wipe away. Unfortunately luck was not on his side, and when he pulled his hands away the harsh reality of it all was still very much alive and well in the middle of his living room. A sigh and a slow shake of the head followed. When he spoke again his voice was low.

''I don’t really know if ‘polarizing’ is the word I would use here.'' Jared could feel his headache getting worse by the minute. It was enough that the situation had got out of control once already, but this? It was beyond anything he was prepared for. ''Honestly, Amy, I don’t even know what to say.''

''I'm... I'm planning to get away from it.'' She couldn't - wouldn't - look up at him. ''But every time, I get so sick... and it's worse now that I had a couple of years away from it. Please don't act so surprised, I'm sure you'd heard the rumors the same as everybody else did. It's just cocaine, not heroin or anything too mise--I shouldn't defend it,'' Amy finally sighed. ''I'm sorry. I feel that disappointment and it eats at me.''

''Yeah, I heard, but I figured that’s all it was. Figured it was just rumors.'' He was pacing, though there was no set path. Jared went wherever his feet took him, like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted back in the room, to head for the kitchen, or to bolt out the front door.

''I figured ‘hey, she’s better than that’. What was it Jon said to me? ‘Too high of a pedestal’, or something.'' His voice went quiet. ''Wonder if that applies here, too.''

Amy's head was still down, her voice soft as she came to her feet and started to stagger to the doorway, disregarding the things she'd left. ''You didn't believe me when I said I'd be a disappointment.

Unfortunately, getting to the door meant getting past the pacing mess that currently occupied the hallway, and he wasn’t about to move.

''Wait!'' Jared sidestepped his way into her path, putting his hands up in the hope that she’d stop. ''Wait, just… I’m sorry. That was… that was harsh. I was way out of line. I don’t think you’re a disappointment. I really don’t. I mean, I’m disappointed, but they’re not the same thing.''

''Bet you're really regretting that kiss now.''

It had been one of the worst attempts at humor she'd made in days, but Amy would have to be forgiven due to exhaustion. ''Seriously, though... I'm just gonna sleep this buzz off and get out of your face, okay? I don't mean to be a burden.''

''Amy, c’mon. Don’t.'' Jared took a step forward and let his hands fall to his sides, unsure of exactly how to feel. ''You’re not a burden. I just… I just didn’t know how to react. I mean, okay, I’ll be honest. I care about what happens to you, and this just fucked me up.''

Again he shook his head, and again he rubbed at his eyes. The insides of his skull felt like they were trying to explode outward. The hangover was bad enough without worrying about the destructive habits of a close friend.

Jared’s nod was quick and in the direction of the living room. ''You know why there’s a fuckin’ graveyard of bottles out here? You see the marks on the rug? They’re from a self-destructive spree that put me in the hospital for a few days. Do you think I want the same thing for you? Not a fuckin’ chance.''

''Don't worry,'' Amy smirked sadly, ''I don't do sprees - I'm more of a slow burn type of girl.''

''Right,'' he sighed, leaning against the wall. ''Because that was fuckin’ funny.''

''It's the norm for me, Jared. It's not gonna kill me today, I promise.''

''Okay, so then by your logic you’d just casually watch someone you know self-destruct? Wouldn’t say anything or so anything to try and change their mind as long as it was ‘their norm’, or whatever?''

''I didn't say that.'' As if it were her own home, Campbell had started to retreat up the stairs slowly - towards where she assumed there would be a guest bedroom. ''I just don't want you to worry about seeing me do a line like I'm gonna overdose. I told you that I'm trying to get away from it, just... the hangover's gonna make me sick enough, okay? I won't do any more.''

''It’s not just a line.'' Unfortunately for Amy her host was unrelenting. ''It’s the whole ‘at all’ thing.'' When she was halfway up the stairs he started to follow. ''And by the way, there’s nothing up here except my room, the room where I keep the computer, and a shitton of empty space. Just sayin’.''

''Then where can I lay down until the little buzz passes and I fall asleep?''

Jared halted his ascent at the fourth step. ''Fine. Okay. Whatever. I’m tired of fighting with people in this hallway. You need to sleep? Take my bed if you’re not all weirded out by it.'' He turned, taking the first step back towards the main floor. ''And don’t worry about waking up to a lecture. I don’t have it in me right now.''

''Me being weirded out depends on how many times you've gone to bed with an image of Alex and a kleenex.''

''That’d be exactly zero, thanks,'' he said back over his shoulder. Whether it was the hangover, the headache, or the latest development in a twenty-four stretch of failure that caused it Jared did little to hide the frustration he’d been trying to conceal. ''But if you wanna count the nightmares feel fucking free.''

''More of a Jenna Jameson type, then? I never got that impression.'' Amy's smile had turned against the headache, clearly amused with herself. ''I mean, I'm a Ryan Reynolds girl, myself- against all evidence to the contrary. Boobs are great and all, but they're not really my preferred hand-warmer.''

At the base of the stairs the Black Sheep spun. ''Okay, first of all, no. The porn star look does nothing for me. Second, do you really think I’d be all ‘hey, use my room, it’s cool’ if there was something I didn’t want you to find? Third? Awesome. Glad to know it.'' The words came quick. Under normal circumstances Jared might have stopped to worry whether the standard disconnect between his mouth and brain was still in effect, but not today. ''And fourth, didn’t you just say you were going to sleep off a buzz?''

''True, I'm still juuust drunk enough that I'm not sick yet. Can you wake me up at like... two? I'm pretty sure my phone's still down there, I don't feel like that fuckin' noisy alarm rattling my brain back to life.'' Amy shivered, ''And don't put things in my ass while I'm sleeping.''

''Wouldn’t dream of it,” he fired back.

When she disappeared upstairs, Jared finally sighed. He cursed under his breath, but he'd later find himself to be lucky, because the only punishment recieved for making the bold move on his friend would be a kick in the junk in an elevator.