“She lives,” she cynically mocked. “You do realize how scared you made me just ghosting like that? How nervous I was?” She had the tone of a disapproving mother.
“I shouldn’t have just left, but I did text you.”
She snorted.
“I’m sorry.”
“What in the hell happened? You got that intoxicated off one drink?” Before I could answer, she was talking again. “You know what, don’t answer that. I know your tolerance and I should’ve known better.”
“Yeah, that one drink really messed with my head. And I didn’t eat so it made things ten times worse.”
“You’re feeling okay now?”
I grumbled and she laughed. “That answer your question?”
She laughed again. “Yeah, those Long Islands are potent. Sorry about that.”
I lifted my hand up and stroked the side of my head, my eyes still closed, my head still hammering. The aspirin had helped a little bit, but what I truly wanted was to sleep. “Listen, I’m gonna try and get rid of this hangover, but do you want to do dinner tonight at my place? Maybe a movie and pizza?”
She was quiet for a minute as if she were thinking it over. “You got ice cream?”
I chuckled, which only made my head feel worse, but I couldn’t resist smiling. “Yup. You can pick which one you want.”
“It’s a date then,” she added. She talked a little bit about her night with Craig, but after a few moments I had to get off the phone because the hammering in my brain was just too painful.
I set my phone on the bedside table and lay down, grabbing a blanket and pulling it up to my chin. I was a lightweight, and this was embarrassing. As I lay there drifting off to sleep, the thing that kept running in my head on a loop was how Professor Baldwin informed me I was his.
I needed to talk to Alexis about this, to confide in her. I wanted her advice on what the hell to do.
But just now, I needed to rest and sleep this off. Maybe when I woke up, things will be clearer.
The sound of banging roused me from a foggy slumber. I opened my eyes, a hazy pinkness filling my room. The noise ceased, and I was about to go back to sleep when my phone went off, the ringing irritating on a normal day but overwhelming right now.
I instinctively reached for my phone. My vision took a time to clear, but then I saw Alexis’s face on the screen. I then observed the time, as it was already five in the evening. I didn’t know how I’d managed to sleep so long, but it didn’t matter because in this moment I’d been a pretty lousy buddy.
I answered the phone on the fifth ring. “I’m coming. I’m sorry.”
I flung the blanket away and left my room, headed toward the front door. I was still kind of drowsy, but at least my headache was gone. I opened the door and peered at Alexis, who looked less than happy.
She stood on the other side of the door with a pizza box in one hand and a large paper bag tucked under her arm. She lifted a perfectly arched dark eyebrow, the corner of her mouth kicking up in a smile, and her gaze scanning over me. Then she whistled under her breath. “Damn girl, you’re looking rough.”
I lifted my hand and brushed my fingers over my hair. I had no doubt I looked a flaming mess. “Yeah, won’t even argue with you on that.”
I stepped aside and let her in. She was already talking about another date she has tomorrow with Letterman Craig.
“Wait, so like, it’s getting serious with this guy?”
She opened the pizza box and picked out a piece, taking a bite and shrugging yet smiling at the same time. “I mean, he’s growing on me,” she added between a bite of pizza. She dropped the slice back in the box and reached in the paper bag for a six-pack of pop. “Anything good on Netflix?”
I pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat, pulling one of my legs up so I could put my foot on the chair.
I shrugged, more curious about how things were going with Craig and a lot of issues I wanted to chat to her about related my night. “A mystery might be a good fit for tonight.” The grin on her face had me giggling.
“Hey, Craig isn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t talking about you and Craig.” I took a long breath, knowing that I just needed to get this off my chest. “What I told you happened last night didn’t really go that way.”
She was mid-bite on a piece of pizza when she stopped, this look on her face indicating me she was instantly piqued.
