Light Me Up

An hour later, with more coffee in hand and a turtleneck covering the offending marks, Ellie drove us to Sam and Alex’s house so we could help clean up and I could get my Jeep. Alex answered the door in her pajamas too, but it was clear she was still sleepy.

“Hey guys, come on in,” she said, as she walked back to the couch and plopped onto it face-first.

“Big night, huh?” Ellie laughed, and nudged Alex’s shoulder with a coffee cup.

Her voice was muffled from a pillow. “Huge.”

“I’m uh, sorry I cut out early, Alex. I wanted to stay and help clean up but I wasn’t feeling quite myself.”

That got her attention, so she shifted into a sitting position and finally accepted the coffee from Ellie with a grateful smile.

“Oh hush, no one was in any condition to clean up last night. That’s what today is for. But are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m great now. Just needed some sleep.”

Ellie’s face held a smirk, so I rushed to change the subject before Alex noticed.

“How are you feeling? Did you have too much to drink?”

“Way too much. But I also didn’t eat much, other than your delicious desserts. I probably need protein.”

“Yeah, protein, carbs, and fat. Soak it all right up,” Ellie said. “You want me to make you an egg sandwich or something?”

“Hey, if you’re offering, I won’t turn it down.”

Ellie patted Alex’s head—causing a groan—and headed over to the kitchen.

The remnants of the party were everywhere. People mostly behaved, it was an engagement party, not a frat house. But there were still bottles lining the table, empty food stations, balloons suspended halfway to the floor. It would take the rest of the morning to set it right. And since my guilt over being a bad friend and bailing early was consuming me, I got up to start the process.

“Sara you really don’t have to.” Alex said between sips of coffee.

“Nonsense, we take care of each other.” I grabbed the bottles closest to me and took them over to the kitchen.

“I should get Sam up, it was mostly his friends that made the mess.”

“Yeah, his friends are wild, right Sara?” Ellie said, breaking an egg into a frying pan. I smacked her on the butt in response.

“What is going on?” Sam stumbled down the stairs, eyes half closed and his hair standing on end.

“Ah, the man of the hour.”

“You look a little worse for wear, there, my friend.” I said, grabbing a trash bag from under the sink.

“Yeah, well, you can blame fucking Theo and his tequila shot idea. It was a domino effect.” I was proud that the sound of his name only made me think of the garage for a moment, before I forced myself to concentrate very hard on a peculiar stain on the floor.

“Where did he get off to last night? I would have thought he’d be one of the last men standing.

“Nah, he had that date. Probably took her home to bang.”

I was really scrubbing the stain hard now.

“No, I saw her leave later with a group of the servers from Landry’s.” Alex helpfully told him.

“Huh, that’s weird.”

“Here’s your sandwich!” Ellie called, louder than necessary. I shot her a grateful look and gave up on the stain. It might have been a knot in the hardwood, anyway.

“Mmm this is so good, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Sam, come on, help us clean.”

“How come she gets a sandwich?”

“Because she’s your bride. Those are the rules.”

“Fine, but I at least need some coffee.”

“Right-o.”

“I’ll make a pot,” I offered, putting the now-full trash bag next to the counter.

“You’re a godsend,” he replied.

With the four of us working, the house turned back to normal a couple hours later, and we celebrated by heading into town for lunch. It was so nice an afternoon that I’d set the stuff with Theo aside and had even forgotten about being anxious about this newfound attention at the shop. I should have known the moment I grew complacent was the moment everything would shift.