The Times We Felt Alive

Madeline woke up with a jolt that nearly caused her to fall out of bed. It took her a moment to collect her thoughts from her pounding brain to remember exactly what had happened the previous night.

After the tequila shots, everything grew fuzzy. Groaning, she realized that she needed to find her phone so she could contact Trevor and Lilly and give them an update.

She stepped over a sleeping Alex on the floor – poor thing, she thought. It had been really nice of him to let her use his bed, and she was very glad to see that there had been no repeat of their very first encounter.

Madeline made her way out to the hallway, her head spinning. A wave of nausea overcame her and it was all she could do to rush to the washroom and make it to the toilet to throw up.

She had only just began when someone else ran into the bathroom and headed straight for the bathtub.

Madeline sat there for a good ten minutes or so before she finally stopped throwing up and felt safe to sit up from the toilet. She looked over to find she was sharing the bathroom with Alex. Motherly instincts coming into play, she went beside Alex and helped hold his hair.

Finally after a few minutes, Alex lifted his head weakly.

“And good morning to you too,” said Madeline with a smile. She was never one to get hungover – if anything, she would puke the next morning but feel fine right afterwards. Apparently, Alex wasn’t so lucky.

“Thanks, Madds,” Alex mumbled. He looked like he had been hit by a truck, and probably felt like it too.

“Go lay down, I’ll get you some water. Do you feel like you can stomach anything?”

“Toast would be great,” Alex rasped.

Madeline smiled. “Sure.” She helped him back into bed and found her way to the coat room. After she located her phone, she called her apartment.

“Madds!” exclaimed Trevor. “How was your night?”

“Fine,” said Madeline quickly. “How’s Ava?”

“She’s great,” said Trevor. “She fell asleep shortly after you left and only woke up once during the night.”

“Oh good,” she said, relieved. “What time is it?”

“Ten thirty,” said Trevor. “Did you even go to sleep?” he laughed.

“Yeah, around five or so I think,” said Madeline. “Anyways, Alex is pretty sick so I’m gonna stay here for a bit and make sure he’s alright. I should probably help clean the house too.”

“You are such a mom,” said Trevor. “It’s adorable. Maybe just give us a call when you’re about to head home, okay?”

“Will do,” said Madeline. “Tell Lilly I say hi and give Ava a big kiss from me.”

“Will do,” said Trevor. “See you later, Madds.”

“Bye, Trevor.” She hung up her phone and proceeded to the kitchen, where Matt and Rian were cleaning up broken beer bottles and other clutter.

“Good morning,” Madeline yawned.

“Hey,” they both replied at the same time.

“Do you guys have any water bottles?”

“Yep, there are tons in the fridge,” said Rian.

Madeline proceeded to the fridge. “Did you guys have fun last night?” she asked, grabbing two.

“Of course,” said Matt. “Clean-up just sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” she replied. “I’m just going to make sure Alex isn’t dying and then I’ll help you guys.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Madeline!” said Rian, surprised.

She shrugged, smiling. “It’s kind of what I do.”

The three continued making small talk while Madeline navigated her way around their kitchen through the mess. Eventually she found a loaf of bread and a toaster. She popped in three slices of bread and set the toaster. She located a plate, a knife, and butter, figuring that would be the safest thing for Alex’s stomach to handle.

She prepared the toast and set off to Alex’s room, eating a piece along the way. Madeline was on the second half when she entered Alex’s room, where she found him curled on his side in the fetal position on his bed.

Madeline laughed. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve seen worse mornings, sadly,” grumbled Alex.

“Well, I’ve brought you some water and toast. I’ll grab you some Advil if you want – is it in the bathroom?”

She took Alex’s head movement to be a yes and left the room, returning with a bottle of Advil.

“You are a lifesaver,” said Alex, who was now sitting up and eating his toast. He accepted two pills from Madeline and swallowed, following with a swig of water.

“How do you feel now?” she asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.

“Much better,” said Alex. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

“How messy is my house?”

“Well, I only saw the kitchen. Matt and Rian were cleaning it when I left. I’m not sure about the rest,” replied Madeline.

“I should probably go check it out,” groaned Alex, slowly standing up. “Did you bring a change of clothes or anything?” he asked, noticing Madeline was still wearing her clothes from the night before. To be honest, she didn’t even look like she had just woken up from a night of partying – her hair and make-up were still perfectly in place and her clothes looked neat.

“Yeah, I have a bag in my car.”

“I’ll be fine if you go change or have a shower or whatever,” said Alex. “Or if you just want to split and go home, that’s cool too.”

“Oh, no – I’ll stay and help tidy things up,” said Madeline.

“You really don’t have to do that, Madeline!” said Alex, raising his eyebrows. “You’ve done more than enough already.”

“Don’t worry about it, Alex,” she smiled. “I’m just going to get changed.”

“Sure thing,” he said, and headed off to the kitchen.

“Ugh,” he groaned as he entered, seeing the huge mess. “Where do I even start?”

Rian laughed. “It’s mainly in here and the living room; other than that, no big mess.” Alex nodded and proceeded to the living room, where there were empty cups, beer bottles, and a bit of scattered food. Nothing too major – at least there weren’t any stains or vomit to clean up.

By the time Alex had most of the cups and bottles thrown into a garbage bag, Madeline had appeared with a broom and began to sweep whatever mess appeared on the dark hardwood floor. Making a bit of conversation as they cleaned, it seemed like in no time the living room had been restored to its original state.

“I think we’re good,” said Alex, looking around.

“We should probably go see how they’re coming along in the kitchen,” said Madeline.

They entered the kitchen to find that it was fully cleaned as well. Matt and Rian were sitting at the table; they looked exhausted. A sleepy-looking Jack walked into the room. Saying nothing in his zombie state, he went to the fridge and got a bottle of water. It was all anyone could do to keep from laughing – apparently Jack didn’t realize that he was walking around with crusty flour all over his face.

He sat down and drank his water. “I have to piss,” he mumbled and stood up. He walked towards the bathroom.

“Wait for it…” said Matt.

A few seconds later, they head a distant Jack sceam,“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY FACE?!”

Everyone in the kitchen roared with laughter.

“Wait… this happened last night when he passed out, didn’t it?” asked Madeline, slowly remembering.

Rian laughed. “Yeah. Have you ever heard of antiquing?”

“…Not that I know of,” said Madeline. “Enlighten me.”

“Well, you do it to the first person to pass out at a party. When they crash, you throw a bucket of water on them – that wakes them up,” said Rian.

“Then you throw flour all over their face,” added Matt. “That gives them a shocked expression. And then you take a picture.”

Rian laughed again. “He must have been so drunk that he fell back asleep without washing himself off.”

Everyone was still laughing as Jack re-entered the room. “You guys are all motherfuckers, did you know that?”

He sat back down and added, “But congratulations. It’s pretty funny, I have to admit.”

Zack now walked into the kitchen scratching his head. “Sup?” he asked groggily.

“Is anyone else hungry?” asked Matt.

Everyone seemed to agree; after waking up the remaining crew members, everyone grouped into cars and drove to a nearby diner for brunch.

“Hey, Madeline?” asked Alex. It was just the two of them in Alex’s car.

“Mhm?” she asked.

“Do you think it would be alright if I went back to your place with you to see Ava?” he asked eagerly.

Madeline smiled. “Of course, Alex. You don’t have to ask permission.”

“Sweet,” he grinned.

Brunch went really well – even though Madeline didn’t know these people very well, they made her feel like she’d known them for years. They were really easy to talk to and seemed like they were a lot of fun.

After everyone’s meals were paid for – Alex refused to let Madeline pay for hers – they all began to make their way back to Rian and Alex’s house.

“Can we head to your place?” asked Alex excitedly as soon as they pulled into his driveway. Madeline smiled at how excited Alex was to be in Ava’s life – she deserved it.

“Sure,” chuckled Madeline. “Are we taking separate cars?”

“Yeah, that would probably be the easiest,” said Alex.

“You know how to get to my place, right?” asked Madeline. Alex nodded. “Okay. If not, try to follow me.”

“See you there,” smiled Alex. Madeline got out of his car and into her own. She texted Trevor telling him that she and Alex were heading over. Placing her phone on the passenger’s seat, she couldn’t help but smile at the thought that things might be starting to work out.