I almost started crying as they forced a glass of wine into my hand and started making even more fattening and delicious snacks.
I could avoid for a little bit longer. He seemed to be doing it.
Lucah texted me when I was on my third glass and I was a wee bit tipsy.
Have to deal with family tomorrow night. Sorry, Sunshine.
I didn’t really have a response for that, so I just typed out Ok, see you tomorrow. I wasn’t drunk enough to not be able to text, but I was getting there.
We had somehow turned Cards Against Humanity into a drinking game, but I was still unsure of the rules, so whenever someone told me to drink, I did.
By the time we got to the second bottle of wine, I was definitely buzzed and feeling good. Warm and fuzzy and kind of in love with everyone. I wouldn’t stop hugging Chloe and she kept threatening to make out with me if I didn’t stop.
“We need more wine,” Sloane said as she poured the last into my glass. I tossed it back and she stumbled to the kitchen and found another bottle.
“Score!” We all cheered as she filled up our glasses again.
An hour later, I was completely toasted. I hadn’t been this gone in a very long time. Maybe not since college. It was kind of nice. My phone buzzed and I picked it up. It was another text from Lucah.
Missing you.
I had an impulse and hit his number and before I knew it, he was picking up and saying, “Hello?”
“I love you. I love you and it sucks because now I’m going to lose my job and all our kids are going to have red hair and I want at least one of them to be blonde, but they’ll probably all have red hair and you’re keeping secrets from me and I love you.” I hung up before he could say anything and he called me back a second later, but I tossed my phone on the table and ignored it.
“You tell him!” Sloane said from her position on the floor. She had been sitting on a chair, but now she was on the floor. I found this wildly funny and we all laughed until we forgot what we were laughing about.
“I’m drunk,” Marisol said.
“Me too.” Chloe moaned and put her head on my shoulder.
We were all drunk.
~*~*~
“Fuck you, sun,” was the first thing I heard the next morning. We’d ended up either on the couch or on the floor.
“Why did we do that?” I finally opened my eyes and instantly regretted it.
“Fuck you, sun,” I said as everyone else moaned and groaned and tried to get up.
We all had to work today, but we were all hopelessly hung over. Damn wine. My phone buzzed and I reached for it, squinting at the clock.
“SHIT!” I was supposed to be at work five minutes ago.
“Why is there screaming?” Chloe moaned as I struggled to get to my feet while my head pounded and my stomach heaved. Nothing short of a miracle was going to get me into the office today. I hadn’t called in sick in two years, but there was absolutely no way I could go in. I grabbed a glass of water to wash my mouth out with and then called my dad.
“Hey, Dad. I just wanted to let you know that I can’t come in today. I’m just not feeling well.” This wasn’t a lie at all and I hoped he heard it in my voice, and didn’t figure out what caused it.
“Oh, Rory. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, just need another day. Will you let everyone know?”
“Of course, of course. You never take a day off and I always worry that you’re going to burn out before you’re old enough to burn out. You take some time and we’ll take care of everything here.”
“Thanks, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” He hung up and I saw that I had about twenty texts and missed calls from Lucah. How had none of us heard my phone? I scrolled through the messages and then it came back to me.