Just Another Pretty Face in the Crowd

Chapter 5 – A Bad Day Gone Good

I ran inside the bookstore after nearly running into the glass entrance door. Sadie smirked at me as I ran through the main aisle towards the back employee room while trying to pull my semi-frozen hair into a ponytail.

“Late!” Sadie shouted playfully, smirking at me as I quickly clocked in before I even put on my name tag.

“Shut up, Sadie!" I shouted back. I was not in the mood. I accidentally over slept this morning. I didn’t even give Caesar his usual time to do his business. It was pretty much ‘oh, you did your business? Good, now come on.’ As soon as he was done, I pretty much sprinted to the bookstore without anything to eat.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Sadie said, smirking at me. She giggled a little at my pain as I stuck myself with the damn name tag pin.

‘This is gonna be a horrible day,’ I thought as I finally got my name tag on correctly. ‘I can just feel it.’

Oh, how right I was.

The customers all had sticks up their butts. I had developed a migraine in my head. My drawer was off by almost twenty dollars. How that happened I don’t know because usually I’m spot on. And when I got home, it wasn’t much better either since Caesar decided ‘What the hell? Let’s piss off Drusilla by chewing on her couch cushions.’

“CAESAR! BAD DOG!” I yelled, making him stick his tail between his legs and crawl under my bed. “Fuck my life,” I muttered as I assessed the damage done to my couch. Now, it’s not the best couch in the world but it’s pretty damn comfy and it was cheap. Plus, right now I’m on a budget with my rent.

I really wasn’t in the mood when my phone decided to start ringing. I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the ID… Coach Nolan.

“Hello?” I said, annoyed.

“Dru, I thought you were coming to the weight room today,” she said. I could practically hear the smile in her voice. I was about to burst her bubble.

“Coach, I’m sorry but I’m kind of busy right now. I’ll call you if I can but I highly doubt that it will happen,” I snapped.

“Dru, you said you would and remember the winter practices,” she reminded not really caring that I was in a bitchy mood and that there was a really high possibility that I would kill someone.

“At this moment, I don’t care.” I snapped my phone shut. I debated whether to throw it at the wall or shut it off. Seeing as my life depended on that phone, I just jammed my thumb hard on the power button and throw it roughly at my bed. “Damn softball.”

I walked out to the living room and once again began assessing the damage to my couch. It really wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was only the left corner cushion. I just flipped it upside down and rotated the cushion, it was almost be unrecognizable.

I sat down lazily on the couch, leaning back. The ache in my head was still there, pounding on the back of my eyes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an aspirin in my bathroom. I just had to deal it as much as I hated migraines. It was these times in my life where I wished that I would have someone that would just hold and comfort me.

I turned on the TV so that there would some kind of noise in my apartment. I really didn’t pay attention to it as I decided lay down. Within minutes, I was asleep, allowing my body to heal itself naturally.

~

I was suddenly snapped out of my dreamless state to someone pounding on my door. I sighed and got up still tired from my nap. “What?” I grumbled as I opened the door.

“OH MY GOD! YOU’RE OKAY!” Tony shouted as he practically squeezed the life out of my body.

“I won’t be if you don’t put me down,” I choked out.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized. “What’s wrong with your phone?”

“Nothing, I turned it off.”

“Why?”

“I’ve had a shitty day and people are annoying me,” I said slightly annoyed since I could still feel my headache.

He walked in and sat down on my couch. He looked up at me with a smile on his face. “Well, I have some good news that might cheer you up.”

“What?”

“The guys wanna hang out again!” He said with a smirk. “Well, at least I asked them to hang out with me.”

“What were you planning?” I asked.

“I was planning on going clubbing a little,” he said. He wasn’t a big clubber but was definitely a huge partier. Two or three shots of vodka will make him drunk enough to dance with any woman on the dance floor.

“Nope.” My answer was automatic. I wasn’t one for clubs, parties, or anything that involved alcohol. I was that wall flower you saw at your high school dances. I was the one you could find reading the latest book release or watching a marathon of Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures.

“Party pooper,” he said.

“Yea, yea, yea. I’m just gonna stick to sitting at home,” I said. “I’ve had a horrible migraine.”

“I can tell,” he said with a smirk. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” I replied sarcastically. “Seriously, even if I did wanna go I probably couldn’t with this damn pounding in my head. Even that nap didn’t work.”

Tony frowned a little at that. He never did like when a friend was down or in pain, “You okay?” he asked suddenly concerned.

“Oh! Now you’re concerned!” I shouted in mock anger.

“Well, are you?”

“Yea, I’m fine. Nothing I haven’t handled before,” I said, sitting in a chair and leaning back, closing my eyes.

“Okay. Well, I’m gonna head out,” he said in a concerned voice. “Call me if you need anything.”

I nodded a little and then heard the door close behind him. I let out a sigh as I once again in my peaceful sanctuary. “Caesar, here boy.” It took him a little while to come over to me, in fear that I might him for what he did earlier. “Come here. I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

He slowly walked over. I patted my lap for him to come on up and join me. Even though he was a two-year old pit bull, he thought he was a Chihuahua. He jumped up and then laid smack down on my lap. I grunted a little but I did enjoy the feeling of being loved by at least something.

“I love you, Caesar,” I said as I stroked his soft fur that was on his head. He looked up me and wagged his tail in return. He licked my other hand that was just lying in front of him lazily.

The two of us just sat there, watching the TV. I wasn’t really paying attention to the television show that was on. I just watched the pictures dance across the screen as my mind wondered off.

I don’t know how long I was zoned out but I came out of it when I heard someone pound on the door again. Caesar jumped up, barking protectively knowing that something was wrong with me. I got up and walked over to the door, opening it up.

“Hey Beautiful!” Max said, smiling down at me. I furrowed my brow a little at the sight of him standing in my doorway and then saw the others behind him.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked as Caesar glared. He was clearly not like that there were so many males around the apartment. I knew he wouldn’t like it very much if they would come in but he’d have to deal.

“Tony told us that you weren’t feeling well and we came to check on you,” Jordan piped up from the back. He wasn’t really hard to miss since he was the tallest one out the group that stood in front of my door.

“And where is Tony?” I asked.

“Right here!” he said pushing his way through the group. “Why do you people have to be so damn tall?”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at his comment. He really wasn’t used to being around hockey players. Well, neither was I but both my dad and my brother were over six feet tall, so I was used to the height difference.

“So, can we come in or are we just supposed to stand in the hall like idiots?” Sidney asked, leaning up against the door frame of my apartment. He and Max were squeezing Tony in between them.

“I guess you guys can come in,” I said with a small smile on my face. “That is if you don’t mind an over protective dog and a chick with a migraine.”

“I think we can handle that, darling,” Marc –Andre said with one of his signature smiles that never came off his face. He was standing on the other side of Max, leaning against the wall just able to peer inside.

I smirked a little then moved aside for the massive hockey players and my rinky, dinky friend. Caesar automatically started barking aggressively. He really didn’t like that they were actually in the apartment now. Kris looked at him skeptically, but still ventured in after the rest of the guys.

“Don’t mind him. His bark is way worse than his bite,” I said to him.

“I really don’t like that dog,” Tony muttered.

I just walked up behind him, since he was currently sitting on my couch, and slapped in across the head in response. He yelped a little but kept his mouth shut.

“It seems like you guys have mutual feelings for each other,” Sidney said with a smile. He was sitting on the couch but on the other side. The middle space was open so I just sat down in between the two. Max was sitting on the lounge chair with his feet up on the end of the coffee table. Jordan sat down in the other cushioned chair on the opposite side of the room while Marc and Kris just pulled over chairs from the kitchen table.

There was awkward silence for a little.

“How are you doing with that headache?” Sidney was the first person to say something about my headache.

“Okay, I guess,” I muttered. I could still feel my head pounding a little but really without aspirin there was nothing I could really do about it. “My headache is getting a little better since I took that nap that Tony so graciously woke me up from.”

“That’s good I guess,” he replied.

“Yea, I guess,” I said with small smile playing on my lips.

“What’s good on TV?” Jordan asked, grabbing my remote from the coffee table. He flipped through the channels barely even leaving any time to comprehend what was on each station.

“What were you watching anyway?” Marc asked.

“I have no idea. I was just sitting here watching it mindless, hoping that my migraine would ease up,” I shrugged.

“Why is Caesar so skid-ish about men?” Max asked, watching the multi-colored pit bull lay down in the middle of the room.

“My brother and I both rescued our dogs from the humane society when they were six months old. The people there told me that they rescued them from underground dog fighting,” I explained.

“Your brother has one too?” Tony asked, furrowing his brow a little.

“Yea, his pit is a female though," I answered. "Her name is Cleopatra."

“Fascinating,” Tony said not really interested in the subject.

Jordan finally landed on a TV station. Of course, it was a hockey game. I really didn’t care who was playing who, I just watched. Almost everyone shut up and watched the game. The score was 3-2 and it was in the 3rd period with 5 minutes and some odd seconds.

“Who’s playing who here?” I asked one of the guys, “My mind is a little foggy because of the headache.”

“Canucks vs. Sharks,” Kris said in his French accent, taking his eyes off the TV screen for a few seconds to look at me.

“Oh my God, you speak!” I shouted, pointing at him. “Finally!” The guys couldn’t help but laugh at my reaction. Kris just sat there, fiddling with his fingers. “Awww, please don’t be embarrassed. I was only trying to say that you actually spoken on your free will. And towards me, no less!”

“Yea,” he muttered, shyly. I couldn’t help but smile a little at me. He was too cute.

“But anyway, thank you,” I said, turning my attention back toward the game as did he.

“Dru, are you going to school tomorrow if you still have that headache?” Tony asked. His eyes never tore away from the TV screen.

“Yes,” I said. “Why would you ask that?”

“Just wondering,” he replied back.

“Did you even do our Calculus homework?” I asked, glancing over at him.

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’ at the end. “Kibbles-N-Bits was on again last night and I’m here tonight, so I have no time.”

“Not if you don’t get up early and do it,” I said with a smirk. Tony actually looked at me with a look that said ‘What the fuck are you on?’ I couldn’t help but laugh at him, “Sorry for even mentioning that idea.”

“Yea, really,” he said before turned his attention back to the TV. There was only about a minute left in the game. The score was still 3-2 in favor of the Canucks.

When the game ended, everyone couldn’t help but stretch. I could feel Sidney’s arm go around my shoulders, almost like the ‘stretching’ move that teenage guys pulled, except he was actually stretching.

“Well, it’s almost ten-thirty and we have practice at six,” Marc said, standing up and stretching his long legs.

“Well, doesn’t that suck,” I said. “Of course, I have class around eight, so I can’t say anything really.”

“Now, that sucks. I don’t think that I would be able to learn anything before noon,” Max stated with a smirk.

“Yea, I know how that is,” Tony said. “I can barely stay awake.”

“You can’t,” I stated. “You fell asleep three times last week.”

“Shut up, Dru.”

I just stuck out my tongue in reply.

“I think we should head out, as much as we don’t want to,” Sidney said, standing up as well.

“Fine,” Jordan mutter, dragging out the word. He set the remote down on the coffee table again and stood up.

Kris just stood up, wordless once again.

Max stood up, “I guess we’ll see you around Beautiful.”

“Yep,” I said smiling. I got up with Tony trailing behind me. I escorted them to the door and opened it for them as well.

Jordan, Marc, and Kris went out saying their goodbyes. Max leaned down and gave me a squeeze while I just simply hugged him back. Tony smiled and hugged me as he left. Last but not least, Sidney hugged me. He’s was different but it felt better than Max's and Tony's. In that one brief moment my migraine disappeared. When he pulled away, it began pounding against my skull dully.

“See you guys,” I muttered, waving as they walked down the hallway toward the elevator.

I closed my door. I walked down the hallway toward my bed room. Caesar lazily followed me, knowing that he would finally be able to sleep in peace.

I changed into my pajamas. I put my phone on its charger and crawled underneath the blankets. Caesar jumped up and circle once before laying down on the bed.

Within minutes, the two of us were asleep. I fell asleep, hoping that I didn’t have a horrible morning the next day like I did this morning.