Chapter 7
Kekoa
Holy mother of hangovers. Like, seriously, the pounding in my head…was too bad for me to come up with something to compare it to. The floor beneath me was both soft and hard, with the thick rug I’d landed on being surprisingly comfortable, though I could have sworn I started in the easy chair.
Oh yeah.
I never made it back to it after I got up to use the bathroom, my mate’s house a blur of seashells and blue tones when they’d given me the staggering, shambling tour we’d taken when we’d gotten back here.
My shoulder ached, but when I tried to roll, the weight across my hips grew heavier.
Someone tugged me flush against them, shocking me the rest of the way awake.
My eyes snapped open, and I instantly regretted it when a floodlight burst like a rocket through my skull, forcing me to close them again.
“We’re just gonna die here,” Lani croaked, giving my hip another tug. “Together. Like shriveled worms.”
When had he wound up on the floor with me?
When I’d seen him last, he was slumped sideways against the arm of the couch, eyes glazed as he stared at the television.
I don’t even remember what we’d put on to fall asleep to, just that there were several episodes in a row and we all knew the show, not that I recalled much past the opening credits.
A nearby snore drew my attention to where Nyx lay sprawled face down on the couch, taking up the space Lani had previously occupied.
His arm dangled over the side, fingertips brushing the floor as his hair lay in a messy curtain, shrouding half of his face from the offensive light.
For a moment, I wondered what time it was before deciding I didn’t need to know.
The light was too painful, and I couldn’t remember where I’d put my phone.
Probably in my backpack. My fuzzy brain vaguely recalled the intention to shove it in there when we’d run out of lawn dart prizes and sat listening to stories about the students in Doc Burns’s classes and Mr. Pepsi and Nyx’s uncle Tony’s exploits.
Maybe if I closed my eyes for a little longer, maybe the light would go away, or at least I hoped it wouldn’t sting so much when I opened them again.
My next cognitive thought was of being shaken, which just made me painfully aware that my bladder was fixing to burst.
“Lani,” I hissed, shoving at his arm. “Lani, get off me.”
“Alright, alright, I wasn’t even groping.”
“So not the issue,” I replied, shoving his arm again.
He moved, which was perfect, because I needed a moment to steady myself after I stood and wobbled down the hall on unsteady legs, grateful that I remembered where the bathroom was.
I hated turning on the light, but it was necessary to find the toilet, relief flooding me by the time I was through.
I nearly slammed into Nyx on my way out of the bathroom, both of us letting out an awkward "oops" before he scurried past me and closed the door.
Back in the living room, Lani had popped himself up against the side of the couch and was busy rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“How did we not make it to the bedroom?” He groaned.
“How am I supposed to know? This is your house.” I shot back.
“Oh my god, I’m stiff.”
Snickering, I raised an eyebrow at him.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” he groaned.
“That floor about did me in. I don’t even remember lying down there next to you, though I do remember your legs almost tripping me up when I attempted a mad dash for the bathroom.
It wound up being more like a shambling ping-pong ball of me hitting walls and bouncing off things.
Now I just want a shower and food. Didn’t we bring home a container of something last night? ”
“You keep your flippers off my lumpia.”
“Oh, so you’re not gonna share?”
“One, maybe,” I told him. “But you’ll have to share it with Nyx if he wants some.”
I winked when I said it, and he laughed, then winced and clutched his head, moaning about the evils of green punch.
“The aftermath of an amazing evening,” I said as I helped him up.
“You really enjoyed yourself, didn’t you?” Nyx asked.
“Yeah, I really did,” I replied, “even if my skull feels like it’s trying to squeeze my brain out through my ears. It’s just the price of an awesome night.”
“One I feel like I’ll be playing for days from now on when I’m supposed to be planning someone else’s party,” Lani groaned.
“We were a rough-looking bunch wandering back here last night,” Nyx said, holding up his phone to show us some of the pictures he’d taken of us with Doc Burns and Mr. Pepsi, arm in arm and laughing.
“It’s going to be an interesting day at work for a lot of people,” I said as I brushed my hair out of my eyes. “Another bonus point of being fired. Please tell me the plan is to spend the day sprawled across the big old bed you guys teased me with and failed to deliver last night.”
“I don’t know what the hell we were thinking,” Nyx said, “stopping in the living room to unwind when we should have just taken our asses to bed.
I checked that my phone was in my backpack; unfortunately, looking in there also reminded me that I didn’t have any spare clothes; they were all back in my motel room.
Hanging it back on the hook beside the door, right over the shoe rack where we’d haphazardly left our sandals, I was reminded that there was another bonus point of being fired.
I didn’t have to stick my feet in steel-toed boots until I found a new job.
Or decided to do as my mate suggested and go into business for myself, even if just temporarily.
I hated closed-toe shoes, but I hated dropping a hammer or worse, a cinderblock, on my toes even more.
“Soberish tour now, or fully sober tour later?” Lani asked as he leaned against me.
“How about a tour of your shower followed by a glimpse of this big-ass bed you bragged to me about?” I said.
“Just don’t be upset if I faceplant on it, preferably between the two of you; otherwise, I’ll take the couch if you’re not good with having me in your bed yet.
I was kind of wondering if that was why we paused out here last night. ”
“Baby, our bed is exactly where we want you; have no doubts about that,” Nyx declared.
“Besides, our couch isn’t exactly built for sleeping beyond little catnaps, and I do mean little. I feel like I ran into the side of another bus after spending the night on it,” Nyx said. “There is definitely a chiropractor visit in my future.”
“If you remember to schedule one before things stop hurting,” Lani quipped.
“Wait a minute, back up; I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole running into the side of a bus thing,” I said, stopping them before they could launch into a round of banter.
“It was nothing,” Nyx said, though the light flush of rose on his cheeks said differently.
“How do you call running into the side of a bus nothing? You hit it, right?”
“Full force while not looking where he was going,” Lani said. “He was too busy waving to this boy he had a crush on and slammed into the side of the school bus as we were getting on to go home.”
I couldn’t help laughing at the story and the sheepish look on Nyx’s face while Lani told it.
“Not one of my finer moments,” Nyx muttered.
“Does it have to be a chiropractor?” I asked. “What about talented tentacles? Tingly, toxin-infused tentacles capable of working out all your kinks, and I do mean all of them.”
“If you tell me the cost is $19.95 and it comes with a money-back guarantee, you’re going to find out what kind of damage it can do,” Nyx threatened.
Grinning, I just eyed the couch, pursed my lips, and flicked my tongue out at him. “Then it’s a good thing we’re selling tentacle massages for the low, low cost of $9.99 from now until the end of the weekend.”
“I hate to break it to you, but the weekend is over already,” Lani pointed out. “It’s Monday morning, and some of us do have to show our faces on a video screen in…oh shit, two and a half hours. Is it wrong to wish for a blackout, or at the very least, a storm to disrupt the internet?”
“I’m sure most of the people who stayed late at the fiesta last night feel the same way,” Nyx said.
“My vote would be all, but that’s just me,” I amended.
“You two are not funny,” Lani complained as we straightened up and started shambling down the hall.
Nyx just glanced over at him and grinned. “Maybe not, but we will be snoring while you’re stuck arguing about place settings and whether or not to use real or LED candles.”
“Is it a big celebration you’re planning?” I asked as we stepped into the bathroom, and Nyx opened the doors to a walk-in shower that could easily fit four people comfortably, especially with its trio of overhead showerheads.
I should know; I’d helped install more than my fair share of them.
“It’s a baby shower,” Lani explained. “The problem is that the grandfathers are feuding in the most passive-aggressive way possible, by trying to outdo one another with the level of extravagance.
“I-I…” Stammering, I just shook my head and laughed as Nyx turned the water on and Lani started shucking off his jean shorts.
“I got nuthin’ for that. I mean, I guess it’s good that they aren’t rolling around on the lawn throwing punches at one another, but, um, it’s gonna be one spoiled kid if they pull that shit at Christmas. ”
“Or on birthdays,” Nyx added as the pile of clothes on the floor continued to grow.
“Honestly, that’s for them to figure out, and I hope they do,” Lani said.
“My issue is the constant changes and how to keep my team from revolting if any more requests came in over the weekend. Oh hell, I haven’t even taken the time to check.
It was one of those rare weekends when we weren’t covering an event.
After meeting you, well, let’s just say I was grateful to have no interferences, or I might have been tempted to call out with some mystery flu or a bad case of just-mated disease. ”