“You have a fair point,” he says after a moment.
Then he walks off toward Richard and Lacey.
Meanwhile, I try to brush off what he said, but I can’t.
I need a drink.
* * *
For the second time in a handful of days, I’ve woken up massively hungover.
Thankfully, it’s not as bad as the other time.
Least I don’t think.
Let’s see.
I slowly sit up in bed—Tai’s bed—and try to assess the damage.
My head aches.
My mouth tastes sour.
There’s a mysterious bruise on my arm.
I’m wearing my nightshirt backwards.
The light coming in through the windows tells me I’ve slept in, which I must have needed.
I close my eyes, and try to remember the last thing that happened. I don’t even think I remember going to bed.
Oh.
Oh wait.
There’s a fragment of a memory, grainy, like an old photograph.
Someone carried me up the stairs.
And gently placed me in bed.
I remember the gentle part the most, just the feeling of it, because it reminded me of my father when he’d pick me up from when I fell asleep in the car and take me to my bedroom. I was always in a half-awake, half-asleep state. Comforted and cradled.
Ugh. Did my dad have to do that last night because I was so drunk?
I can feel my cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Shit. So much for trying to make my dad proud of me. Hi, I’m Daisy, I’m twenty-eight years old and my dad has to put me to bed.
I exhale slowly and pick up my phone from the bedside table. It’s noon and there’s a text from Laura, one of my friends back home, wondering how the wedding was. But other than that, no one has asked if I’m okay or has tried to wake me up, which makes me feel even more uneasy.
How much of a wreck was I?
I open my phone and go straight to the photos because I’m the type of girl who brings her phone out when she’s drunk and tries to take selfies with everyone.
And there I am, in drunken Daisy mode, just as I thought.
I’m in a selfie with Lacey, whose one eye is half-closed, a sign that she’s drunk too. We look happy though, which is nice. Like real sisters should.
Then I’m posing with Richard, who has somehow slicked his hair off his forehead and is wrinkling his brow like a wannabe De Niro. It’s creepy.
I’m also in a photo with my parents, with Eaton, with Jana, with Eaton and Jana together, all of us drinking wine at once, then I’m with Tai’s parents, then I’m with some of Tai’s friends, then I’m with someone’s grandmother doing a funky dance, then I’m back with Richard and Lacey yelling happily about something. I’m getting progressively drunker and sloppier in each photo, but then again, so is everyone else.
Then I come across a photo I hoped I wouldn’t see.
A photo of Tai.
I’ve taken a picture of him from the side. He’s got a drink in hand, the bow tie on his tux has been loosened and the collar unbuttoned, showing a nice slice of dark skin. He’s laughing at something someone has said off-camera and his expression takes my breath away. There’s something so loose and freeing and…happy about him here. For a moment I wonder what it would be like to be the one that makes him laugh like that.
I pause on that picture for a long time, studying it.
Then I flip to the next one.
In this picture Tai is looking at me and, naturally, his expression has totally changed. He’s frowning, lips pressed together as if he must not ever smile. The Great Extreme Grump. Guess I really must do that to him.
I sigh and scroll to the next one on the roll.
It’s a blurry selfie of the two of us.
My arm is around his neck, holding him down to my height.
He’s looking deep into the camera, frowning to the extreme.
My mouth is open, smiling, all teeth, loving this.
The next photo my arm around his neck is even tighter and I’m pressing my thumb between his brow as if to stop him from frowning. In this photo, his eyes are dancing and it looks like he’s trying not to smile.
Then there’s the next photo, where I’ve pulled him right to me, like literally right on top of my boobs, and he’s laughing and I’m kissing the top of his head.
Oh my god.
This photo.
Not only did I get him to laugh, I’m actually kissing him, with his head on my boobs. Granted it looked to be in a non-intimate kind of way considering there are people in the background of this photo. But still.
Then there’s the next photo, which is a selfie of just me, making a dramatic sad face, my hair all messy, my lipstick smeared.
Oh wait, I can see Tai in the background, walking away.