Catch Up With Fate

“Tasha,” somebody called quietly, touching my arm lightly. “Tasha, wake up, you can’t stay on the couch, go to bed.”

I felt completely disoriented, when consciousness started to seep into my brain. Where was I? What happened? What was going on?

My mind was too foggy to figure any of that out but I didn’t know why. I wanted to go back to sleep, was my only partially clear thought.

“Wha...?” I mumbled and instinctively made a grab for and held onto what could only be Viktor’s shoulders when I felt myself being lifted up. “... Vik?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he whispered. “Go back to sleep, Tasha, I’ll bring you to bed.”

“Mhmm.” It was too much effort to keep my eyes half open and I couldn’t see anything anyway so I just let them fall closed again. He held me tightly, making sure I didn’t slip or fall even as he opened the door to ‘my’ room. Teetering on the edge between asleep and awake I squirmed when I felt the coolness of my bed, I wanted warmth.

“Shh, go back to sleep,” he calmed me and I felt him slip off my glasses. Why did I still have my glasses on if I was already sleeping? This all made absolutely no sense! This was way too much thinking for my tired, hurting head.

I felt him tuck the covers around me securely, up to my chin and then something soft brushed against my temple. He said something but I didn’t really understand. Maybe Swedish? The light clicked off and the last thing I took note of was the door closing before sleep welcomed me back.

.

I woke in my bed several hours later and had no (immediate) recollection of pretty much the entire night. The only reminder was the pounding in my head and the sick feeling to my stomach. What a wonderful feeling.

Even with the makeshift curtains in front of the windows, it was much, much, much too bright for my taste. As I contemplated a trek to the bathroom I considered wearing my sunglasses, but then I realized that a) I had no idea where they were and b) my stomach was not going to wait until I had found them. I pretty much fell off the bed and stumbled to the bathroom as fast as my shaky legs would, not putting on my glasses didn’t really help with coordination...

Throwing up was always awful and I hated it with a passion. I was much more prone to get a nasty cold than I was to get the stomach flu which I was very thankful for. Drinking was something I avoided because of my deep hatred of eating backwards, but yesterday I just hadn’t given a shit. Now I was paying the price by worshipping the porcelain god.

“Tasha?” If CC saw me like this, it didn’t matter (and count), because she was a family member and had seen me throw up numerous times before. Viktor witnessing this was completely not part of the plan.

“Hi,” I rasped weakly. “I’ll be better in a little bit, no worries.” He squatted down next to me and gave me a once over. Pale, sweaty face, really messy post-partying hair, same clothes as yesterday... The epitome of what we called a ‘Partyleiche’ (party corpse) in Germany.

“How much did you drink?” he asked with a chuckle. “You passed out on the couch, I put you in your bed at around 4 when I got up to drink something.”

“Huh,” I made, that explained how I’d gotten into my bed in my clothes.

“I found a note on the coffee table from your friend that said they brought you home and to call him later today,” he went on. I let out a groan.

“I don’t even remember getting home. I just remember Captain Asshole scoring and after that it’s a little fuzzy.”

“Just a little bit, I suppose,” Viktor smiled. I snorted, oh so ladylike. “Want some water or something? Are you going to be okay now? I can make some tea.”

“Too much info,” I groaned and closed my eyes. “I’ll just nap here.”

“Very convenient,” he laughed. I hummed a positive response. “I’ll get you some water. Do you have a hair tie somewhere?”

“My room,” I sighed, feeling something coming. He left the room and a few moments later...

When Viktor came back, I was sitting against the tub with my eyes closed. “Are you asleep?” he asked.

“I wish.”

“Here.” I opened my eyes and took the bottle of water and hair tie he offered. With the long blonde mess I called hair in a messy bun, I slowly sipped on the water, trying to decide if I trusted the peace my no longer upset stomach promised or not.

“I’m sorry you have to take care of me on your birthday, Vik,” I told him mournfully. What a shitty thing to do by me! Worst roommate ever.

Viktor sat down next to me on the floor and leaned his back against the tub as well. “It’s okay, don’t worry. Do you feel better?”

“A little. I don’t think I have anything left to throw up,” I replied dryly. “Thanks for putting me to bed.”

“Welcome, I wasn’t gonna let you stay on the couch, that thing sucks to sleep on,” he told me.

“So how does it feel to be 24, Mr. Stalberg?” I asked him after a few moments of silence. He let out a laugh.

“Not much different than yesterday to be honest,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. 24 is kind of boring,” I agreed.

“You’re feeling better if you’re chirping me,” he laughed.

“I guess... I mean, 16 or 18 or something is exciting. Maybe 30 if you’re a little crazy.”

“21 is exciting, too,” he pointed out and nudged my knee with his playfully.

“Ugh, no, it is so not,” I groaned. “Can we please not talk about a day when everyone is going to try to get me as drunk as possible, while I have a hangover? Thank you.”

“Alright, alright,” Viktor held up his hands with a chuckle. “Wanna try some tea and dry toast?”

“Are you sure your calling is to be a hockey player? Sounds more like nurse to me right now,” I grinned carefully and took the hand he offered after he stood up.

“No, thanks,” he faked a shudder. “Okay?” He gave me a scrutinizing look.

“Should be okay,” I nodded, not feeling dizzy anymore. I knew I soon would though if I didn’t get some sugar and liquid into me. Skipping breakfast was not in it, not even when I was hung over.

.
A little later I did wish Viktor a real happy birthday and gave him my present but I still felt shitty about my behavior. I wasn’t up to anything but lying on the couch and watching TV while I nibbled toast and crackers and sipped the tea he made me. The birthday cake I had promised was definitely not going to happen today and I wasn’t even sure if I’d feel up to attending his birthday dinner. Especially because the reason for my drinking binge was going to be there. Next to feeling awful physically, I felt awful in every other way, too. The only ray of hope was that he seemed to really like my present.

I had spent all week trying to come up with an appropriate present for my landlord-roommate-friend. Even if I’d known him for months and was now living with him, I still had no idea what to give him. That was until I found the kitchen pantry full of a wide variety of different teas. When I’d visited my aunt in Sweden, I’d noticed that they seemed to drink a lot of tea but I didn’t know that Viktor did, too. The mostly half empty boxes and tins suggested that he did drink tea more often than not, so I used that for an idea. With the help of a college friend, I found a good tea shop and purchased a few different, as-non-girly-as-tea-can-get kinds which they wrapped as a nice present right away.

He’d definitely been surprised, probably didn’t think that I had noticed, but I could tell he liked the idea. In fact he made himself a cup right away and was impressed that I had picked something he actually really liked. Where I was an epic fail on his birthday in every other way, at least my present didn’t disappoint.

Sometime while Viktor was talking to family and friends in Sweden, I decided that no matter how much I might not want to have to sit at dinner with Jon and CC, I would do it, for Viktor. It was his birthday and I had already ruined enough of it with my stupid hangover. Because he wanted me to come, I would. And I would find some time this week to make him the cake I’d promised, too.

.

“When does dinner start? And where is it?” I asked him later that afternoon. I’d heard him talk a lot on and off, sounded like he got a lot of birthday calls and I didn’t want to disturb.

“8, it’s some Italian place we ate at a few times that was really great,” he answered. “You’re coming?”

“Of course,” I smiled as much as I could. He smiled back happily. “Is it fancy?”

“Not really, but if you want to get dressed up, I’m the last one to complain,” he grinned.

“I see how it is,” I chuckled, nodding. “When are we leaving?”

“I’d like to be there a little early, so probably 7.15, is that okay?”

“I don’t take half a day to get ready, so yes,” I rolled my eyes. “Do you want the bathroom first?”

“Uhm, sure,” he shrugged.

“There’s no mirror in my room,” I explained.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Guess we’ll have to get you one,” he said thoughtfully.

“Nah, it’s alright, just gotta stick to some kind of plan with the bathroom,” I shook my head. He didn’t need to outfit the room with anything else, it was fine as it was. I was holding onto the hope that this wasn’t permanent, scratch that, I was 100% sure that this wasn’t permanent, so there was no need to overdo it in the guest room.

I’m pretty sure that Viktor took longer in the bathroom than I did. Not that I timed him or anything, but yeah... Of course that was fine, he was the birthday boy and on top of that this was his apartment. But it did make me chuckle when he finally told me I could have the bathroom now, with about an hour left until we were leaving. It only took me about half an hour though, mainly because I’d already composed my outfit while Viktor had been in the bathroom.

The top I’d picked out was more of a summer-y light purple tunic blouse, but paired with a cardigan I figured I’d be fine inside the warm restaurant. To go with that I was going to wear my only dress-y pair of pants that weren’t slacks: black jeans, and the pair of boots with heel that I had. I didn’t go overboard with the make-up but I did spend some time pulling my hair back with a braid at the side of my head. After I left the bathroom you almost couldn’t breathe in it, I’d killed the air with hairspray (not really, but a little).

“Is this dressy enough for you?” I asked Viktor, who was watching TV. He turned to look at me and gave me that totally unfair smile.

“You look beautiful,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I replied shyly, thinking that I was definitely no match to all the girls that continuously threw themselves at the single guys on the team and even those who weren’t. Though I had to say that I was glad that I didn’t feel the need to cake my make-up on or wear as little clothing as possible. I sat down next to him on the couch to zip up my boots. “What’re you watching?”

“Nothing really, there’s only crap on,” he shrugged.

“Ugh, yeah. In Germany they show these fake court shows and family problem shows. Pretty sure you actually lose brain cells watching that,” I agreed.

“Yeah. Ready to go?”

“Just need my coat, yea,” I stood up. “Magic, magic, suddenly I’m so tall!” Viktor followed suit, grinning, standing up to show off that maybe my boots didn’t make me all that tall. How unfair!

.

“So, are we going to need an ambulance later?” Patrick leaned over to me with a grin. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“How about you get out of my personal space and I’ll think about giving you an answer?” I deadpanned. He laughed and sat back in his seat. I was completely convinced that it was Viktor’s revenge to make me sit next to Kaner, for this morning. Jon and CC were at the other end of the table so I had to make due with one of the evils, I guess.

“No, we will not. I am going to behave and unless provoked, I will be the epitome of serenity tonight,” I said finally and the people around us laughed.

“Serenity,” Sharpie repeated with a smile. “We’ll see.”

“I said unless provoked, so really, if I go ninja on your ass, it’ll be your own fault, Mr. Sharp,” I gave back.

“I’d like to see you try ninja, actually,” Niklas grinned. I rolled my eyes and put a bite of my lasagna into my mouth. Viktor had been right, the restaurant was indeed really good. The atmosphere was very warm and cozy and they’d put us somewhere mostly out of sight from everyone else. Surrounded by people I knew and got along with well took the edge off that I’d felt the last couple of days, but only as long as I ignored the other end of the table. A few times I caught CC’s eyes and once even C.A.’s and it was uncomfortable, especially with him. I was thankful that no comments had been made so far, I’d hate to be any more responsible for ruining Viktor’s birthday than I already was.