One Day at a Time

Jenn was completely knocked out by the time I laid her down on the pull-out sofa. And, of course, this made more work for me. After I took off her shows and un-did her hair, I pulled a comforter over her and went into my room to change and go to sleep. I was worried about falling asleep after that crazy dream earlier, but here’s hoping for a peaceful sleep.

The next morning came faster than I had expected and I was glad for that. No sweating or crazy nightmares, but I did wake up to find Jenn sprawled out on the living room floor. I walked over and crouched down next to her.

“Jenn,” I pushed her lightly. “Jenn, get up.”

She rolled over slightly, but didn’t wake up completely. I crouched down lower and was now next to her ear.

“Jenn!” I exclaimed and moved back quickly. She jumped out of her coma and sat up. “Well, good morning Jenn. I’m glad to see you’re up.”

“Wh-what?” She asked and put her hand to her forehead, wincing in pain. “Oh man, I’ve got a killer head ache going on up there.”

I skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and a bottle of Tylenol. Jenn held out her hand as I dropped two pills in her hand and handed her the water. She popped them into her mouth and chugged half the bottle.

“Oh damn. I feel like someone is hitting my head with a baseball bat over and over again,” She capped the bottle and slowly rose to her feet.

“You look like you’ve been hit with a baseball bat over and over again,” I joked.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me with much intensity. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“If I wasn’t so hung over, I would be extremely pissed with you. But seeing as my head feels like it’s about to explode, I’ll put that off until later,” She took a seat on the couch after I had folded it back up.

“Sure, like that’ll happen,” I mumble.

“Aye! Alexa, not so loud,” she begged and held her hand up to her head again.

I could tell it was probably going to be a very long day for her.

Saturday had never been so boring in my whole life. Even when I was sick and I couldn’t go out anywhere, I still had more fun than I was having right now. Jenn thought it would be a fabulous idea to stick around all day when I was kind of hoping to get out of the house.

“I can’t believe I feel this sick,” she said as she leaned back on the couch. “I feel like I might die.”

“Gee, that’s terrible,” I mumbled sarcastically.

“Hey,” she pointed towards me. “Hangovers may suck, but this is a way of God telling me that I kicked ass last night.”

I shook my head, trying to block her dumb excuse from my mind. My phone started to ring just as I was sitting down next to Jenn.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey.” It was Erik.

“Hey! I’m glad you called,” I said. “Jenn is driving me crazy.” Jenn narrowed her eyes at me as I said it. “But, what’s up?”

“I’m coming home early. I’ve got to talk to you about something. See you tonight?”

“Yeah, sure,” I replied. “Love you.”

Before he answered back, he had already hung up. I looked at my phone with a disappointed look and then closed it before dropping it next to me on the couch. Jenn gave me a sad look.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, still clutching her throbbing head.

“Oh, uh, nothing. That was just Erik,” I said, combing my hands through my hair.

“You can drop me off at home then. I think I’ll be okay. Wouldn’t want to interfere with you guys,” she laughed and stopped after wincing from the pain.

“You sure?” I asked. “I doubt Erik would mind you staying over another night. I mean, you’re still pretty out of it.”

“Nah, just bring me home. I’ll sleep it off,” she closed her eyes and winced from the pain again.

I shrugged my shoulders and helped her up off the couch. I grabbed my car keys, wallet, and phone and walked her slowly down to my car.

“Oh, man!” Jenn slid into the seat back too fast. “Ugh, remind me the next time we go out not to drink so much.”

“Like you would listen to me anyway,” I replied and went around to the other side and got in.

I could feel her eyes burning into my face and sort of laughed.

“Gosh, don’t burn a hole in my face, please,” I joked.

But before she could answer, she was passed out on the passenger seat. Poor thing. Hate to say I told her so; because if I did and she was sober, she’d probably hit me. It was a silent drive back to her place and I struggled, once again, to get her out of the car and into her apartment. After dropping her off, I took my time driving back to my place. I was still worried about the short call I had with Erik earlier.

What worried me the most was the tone he used as he said it to me. I’ve seen plenty of movies before and when someone says ‘We need to talk’, it’s never really a good thing. I took in a deep breath as I pulled up in front of my building and went up to my apartment. He had been waiting on the couch, looking upset.

“Erik, hey,” I said as I closed the door behind me. “You’re back. How was your trip?” He stood up and faced me.

“Fine. What about your night out with Jenn?” He asked with a very serious expression on his face.

“It was fun,” I answered and then scrunched my eyebrows. “How did you know I went out last night?’

“A friend of mine. He saw you with some other guy,” he said and took a few steps closer to me. I hesitated to move at all.

“It was just…” I began and then felt a numbing pain run throughout my body, starting in my face and fell to the floor, holding my face. Erik knelt down next to where I was lying on the ground and lifted my head by my hair.

“Buddy boy better watch it, ‘cause you’re mine,” he whispered and threw my head back to the ground. Terrified, I stayed down as he grabbed his luggage and left.