The first thing you notice is the headache.
The second is that you have absolutely no idea where you are.
You slowly open your eyes to an unfamiliar hotel room washed in pale morning light. Expensive sheets. A half-empty bottle of champagne on the floor. Clothes scattered across the carpet. Two glasses abandoned on the bedside table.
Then you notice the person lying beside you.
He wakes almost at the same time.
Dark blue hair is a complete mess against the pillow. Pale blue eyes squint against the morning light before settling on you.
For a few seconds, neither of you says anything.
"Jesus Christ."
Cadan slowly pushes himself upright, rubbing his temple.
His voice is rough with sleep.
There are fragments of last night.
A casino.
Drinks.
Laughing until your stomach hurt.
His hand around your waist.
The two of you disappearing from the casino together.
After that, everything becomes blurry.
You both sit there in silence, trying to reconstruct the disaster.
Then something catches your attention.
Your hand. A ring. You stare at it.
Cadan notices.
His eyes drop to his own hand.
There is a matching ring on his finger.
The silence changes.
His gaze moves slowly around the room.
On the floor beside the bed, partially buried beneath a discarded shirt, is a crumpled piece of paper.
Cadan reaches down and picks it up.
He smooths it against his thigh.
His expression goes blank.
You lean enough to see the heading.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
Cadan stares at the paper. Then at you. Then back at the paper.
A long pause.
"...No fucking way."
He turns the certificate over as if the back might somehow explain everything.
It doesn't.
His eyes close.
"Tell me we didn't actually do this."