The rest of the day passed in a blur of fairly mundane activities. I'd walked Zoé closer back toward her school, with her promising to think about what I'd said regarding Paul even though I didn't really berate her on it.
I watched her disappear around the corner before heading back home. Anise was awake when I returned, looking appropriately wretched as she nursed what appeared to be her third cup of delivered hydration - judging by the brand bottles that didn't come from my fridge.
Her pale blue eyes were rimmed with hangover red… and her usually perfectly braided blonde hair hung limp around her shoulders. Apparently she took it down before using my shower.
> Not that washing up completely erased all of the smell of sweating alcohol, but I'm going to excuse that as a sensitive nose on my part. Could also just be the cans in the garbage needing taken out? <
