“You didn’t have to come.” I step off the stool, and Chris tucks herself into my side, helping me toward the door. “Thanks, Bill! Have a good one!”
“Obviously, I did have to come,” she says as she leads me to her car. “You’re hammered.”
“Thank fuck.”
I drop into her car and put the seat back, immediately closing my eyes.
“Spinning?” she asks as she pulls out of the parking lot.
“Yeah.”
“If you’re gonna throw up, warn me so I can pull over.”
“Not gonna throw up.” I take a deep breath through my nose and will myself not to throw up. “Fucked up.”
“What happened?”
I swallow the bile rising in the back of my throat. “Addie’s gone.” I feel her turn off the freeway and brace myself as she turns right. “God, slow down. This isn’t a fucking race.”
“What do you mean Addie’s gone? Where did she go?”
“Broke it off,” I reply. We come to a stop, and I push out of the car and hurl on the grass, unable to keep it in anymore.
“At least you didn’t do it in my car,” Chris says from behind me. “Come on, jackass.”
Man’s arms pick me up, and I look over at Kevin, who smiles happily. “How did you get here?” I ask him.
“I live here.”
“You don’t live with me. Christina wouldn’t like that, and I don’t swing that way, man.”
“Oh my God,” Chris says with a laugh, leading us to the front door. “We’re not at your house.”
“Oh.” Before I know it, we’re in the guest bedroom. “I fucked up, C.”
“Why did you break it off?” she asks quietly and helps me out of my shoes.
“Because I fuck up everyone’s lives,” I say and lie back on the bed. At least throwing up made everything stop spinning.
“You’re an expert at fucking up your own life,” C mumbles, but then the lights go out, and I let sleep take over.
BACON. I CAN smell bacon. I turn onto my side and moan. Fucking hell, I should never drink like that.
Thing is, I don’t ever drink like that. I’m too old for that shit.
“Jake! Get your ass out of bed!”
Christina is yelling from the kitchen, and it makes me smile. Back in the day, before the fame and all the bullshit, she used to make me breakfast to get over a hangover. A four-egg omelet with bacon and more cheese than any one person should eat in one day.
Except, I don’t want to move. My head feels like ten people are sitting on it, and I’m pretty sure I no longer have a functioning liver.
“Jake,” Christina snaps as she opens the door to the bedroom. “Don’t make me throw water on you.”
“You wouldn’t.” Is that even my voice?
“Oh, you know as well as I do that I would. And have. And will again if I have to. So get your hungover ass out of bed.”
She slams the door, which makes me grab my head, needing to stabilize it.
When did she get mean?
I roll to the side of the bed and lift myself into a sitting position, moaning. God, I did a number on myself yesterday.
And Addie’s gone.
Fuck me.
I shuffle out to the kitchen, still in yesterday’s clothes, and most likely smelling like the booze-filled bar I spent the day in, and almost run into Christina, who’s on her way back to the bedroom with a glass full of water.
“You got mean.”
“It’s noon,” she replies with a roll of her eyes, and leads me to the kitchen. “And your omelet is ready.”
“This omelet is why we’re friends.”
“No, me picking you up last night is why we’re friends.” She smirks and sits at the breakfast table with me, watching as I devour the omelet. “At least you have an appetite.”
“I need something in my stomach. It feels raw.”
“It probably is,” she replies with a soft smile. “Want to talk about it?”
“Do I have a choice?”
She shrugs and looks out the window, which gives us a beautiful view of Mount Hood. “You always have a choice, but I won’t stop badgering you until you talk, so you might as well make it easier on both of us and do it willingly. You broke up with Addie.”
“How do you know that?” My head whips up to stare at her.
“You told me last night.”
“I was so fucking drunk.” I lower my head into my hand.
“Yeah, you gave the whole bar quite a show, lip-synching to Cyndi Lauper, and stripping down to your underwear and all.”
“I’m not wearing underwear,” I mutter, slightly mortified.
“Yuck.” She scrunches up her nose, then laughs. “I’m kidding. It sounds like you were just broody.”
I nod and take the last bite of the omelet.
“Here.” She hands me four ibuprofen and a tall glass of orange juice.
“Thanks for taking care of me.”
“I’m practicing.” She grins and rubs her belly.
I stop cold and stare at her. “For what?”
“For having a baby.” Her eyes well up. “It worked. I’m pregnant.”
“Oh my God, C!” I pull her into my arms and hug her close. “I’m so fucking happy for you. When did you find out?”
“Yesterday.” She pulls away and smiles happily. “I would have told you last night, but I was hauling your drunk ass around.”