She flipped the visor down, blocking the rising sun from blinding her. There was little chance of an accident; there were almost no cars on the road this time on Sunday morning, but the rising summer sun in a cloudless sky shone directly into her windshield. Knowing that this stretch was pretty straight and almost all directly eastbound, she scrambled a hand through the center console for a pair of sunglasses, but came up empty. She'd have to live with the glare for the remaining forty minutes of her drive home, and was grateful that she wasn't hung over this time.
Yes, this time. This time she hadn't had a lot to drink. This time she hadn't overindulged, so her head wasn't splitting open now, and she didn't need to vomit. If she was stopped she would sail through a sobriety test. This time she had stayed sober.
But this time she couldn't blame the liquor; she had to live with her decision. This time she had gone out, not gotten hammered blind drunk, and didn't have to piece the fragments of memory together. No, this time, she remembered everything. This time she was straight and sober; had gone with the intent, and willingly.
She had tried to resist. Hell, it had been nearly two months since the last drunken debacle. She had held out, avoided the booze; found other things to occupy her mind, keeping her thoughts busy. But the memories had wormed in, the desire had crept back, and the last few weeks had been a constant visceral resistance to the temptation. She didn't want to want it. But want it she did, and eventually her desires wore her down, and she had gone.
She brushed her loose hair back behind her ear, feeling the crust lumping them together. She rubbed her face, feeling the residue that had dried there. The last time she had gotten sick on the way home and had been forced to pull off the highway until she vomited, spewing liquor and bile and semen as her stomach emptied. She'd been sick for two days, unable to eat, and that had helped her hold off for so long, swearing to herself, never again, never again. Same as every other time, but this time she'd held out longer. But still she had gone back for more.