When You're Right, You're Wrong

That night Jolene and I decided to hit the bar. Even though I was still in a brace, I was sure it wouldn’t be a deterrent. I made her go out and dance while I sat at the bar and watched. She was reluctant at first but I told her I would be fine.
“Can I buy you a drink?” I turned to see a very handsome blonde haired man sitting next to me, casually resting his elbow.
“You may.” I say smiling at him. He turned to bartender and raised his hand. He then pointed at my drink then turned back to me.
“What’s a lovely lady like you doing here, all by yourself?” He asked even though it was obvious.
“I broke my knee and my friend ditched me to go dance.” I said
“How did you do that?” He asked looking at my knee.
“My last race I took a rather nasty tumble.” I reply. “Oh look there it is!” I pointed towards the TV behind the bar. I watched for probably the millionth time in the last two days, myself clip the guy behind me tire and fly forward only to have a pile of bikes land on top of me. They then flashed my picture up on the screen. The guy looked back at me with a smile on his face.
“You are very lucky.” He said.
“I’ve been told.” I smiled.
After a couple hours of random chit chat, laughing and slight pecking on the lips he finally talked me into going back to my place. Jolene wasn’t too happy about me taking a random guy back to my house without anyone else there but I didn’t care.
The cab pulled up in front of my house and we got out and started walking towards the door holding each other up. I was probably way to drunk to be doing this but oh well. I was a risk taker. I managed to get the door open and headed for the kitchen. I opened a bottle of whiskey and poured two shots. He grabbed one of them and I the other. I counted to three then together we slammed them back. That was when I blacked out.
~~
I woke up to my phone buzzing loudly on the table. I moved to grab my phone but stopped. My head was pounding. I tried again, this time succeeding. The buzzing stopped. I sighed and set my phone on the bed next to me. My phone started buzzing again. I grabbed it and put it to my ear.
“Hello?” I slurred
“Lucy! Thank god! I was fixing to send over the search team!” Jolene shouted into the phone.
“Quite! My head is pounding! Why are you calling so early?” I groaned.
“Early? Its nearly 4 in the afternoon! I’ve been trying to call you since noon!” She said.
I looked over at my clock. Sure enough it was almost 4pm. I must have been out cold for hours. I rolled over and instantly regretted it. The world started spinning. My stomach churned. I closed my eyes and prayed for it to stop.
“Lucy! Jim, Andy and I are on our way over.” Jolene said.
“Why?” I groaned.
“To check on you.” She said.
“Okay, sure.” I said then ended the call. I let my arm drop to the bed and closed my eyes.
~~
“Lucy!” Jolene shouted. I forced my eyes open to see her standing next to my bed. “How much did you drink last night?” She asked genuine concern on her face. I tried to remember the night before.
“I remember about 4 drinks at the bar then a shot at home.” I grunted.
“It looks like a whole lot more than that.” Andy said walking into the room. “Here drink this.”
“Ugh! What about that guy I brought home?” I asked trying to sip the water.
“Left a note saying you passed out shortly after you got home and put you to bed.” Jim said
“At least I won’t ever have to see him again.” I said. “Can I go back to sleep?”
“No! Do you know how dangerous that could have been?” Jolene said looking extremely pissed.
“So?” I mumbled trying to push myself under the covers.
“So, you could be dead in a ditch somewhere! He could have done horrible things to you and you wouldn’t know!” Jolene said pulling the blankets off me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and pulled the pillow over my throbbing head. “Lucy!” I sat up and turned towards her.
“I have a hangover that is making my head feel like the size of Texas while I want to throw up but I am pretty sure there is nothing left in my stomach. Can you just let me get rid of this hangover then you can yell at me.” I half shouted sitting up, which I instantly regretted it. I let myself fall back onto the bed and begged my head to quit throbbing. Jolene got out and huffed out of the room, slamming the door as she went. I flinched and grabbed my head groaning. I heard the door close again. Someone sat on the edge of my bed.
“She’s only worried about you. You seem to be self-destructing and she doesn’t want you to get seriously hurt. Or worse kill yourself.” Andy said. I figured Jim had gone to talk to Jolene.
“I’ll be fine, but honestly can I sleep off this hangover and feel all my regret tomorrow?” I asked cracking an eye open to look at him. He didn’t look happy.
“No. Now get in the shower and get dressed. We have a show to film.”
~~
Even though I was injured I still had to be there to be a cheerleader for the rest of the crew. Normally I wouldn’t mind but today I tried to stay out of the sun as much as I could. Hangovers and sun don’t mix. I only came out when I needed to be in the shot then quickly retreated when it was over. Every time I would fall asleep I was rudely awoken and water was shoved into my hand. I wasn’t allowed to take any pain meds until I complained about my knee enough that Jolene gave me an aspirin to shut me up.
“Not going to drink again, huh?” Andy asked plopping down next to me with a sandwich that he shoved in my hands. I took one loop at it and wanted to throw up. “Eat. It’ll make you feel better.” He said shoving another sandwich he had magically made appear in his face. I looked down at the sandwich again. This time my stomach growled. I took a bite and waited to see if my stomach would accept the food. When I didn’t feel nauseated I ate the rest of it.
I leaned back and looked out over the set. My eyes immediately landed on Travis and Mandy. The food in my stomach threatened to come back up.
“I think I need to head home.” I said standing up. Andy gave me a look and followed my line of sight.
“Come on, I’ll drive you.” He said.
~~
“If I let you stay home alone, promise no more drinking.” He said as he pulled into the driveway.
“I promise.” I replied opening the door and getting out. I could feel his eyes on my back the whole way as I hobbled to the door. As soon as I was inside, I broke.
I dropped my crutches to the ground and let myself slide against the wall to the floor. Tears were flooding my eyes. I didn’t know what to do anymore. Maybe Andy was right. Maybe I was self-destructing. Maybe it was this damn hangover and that’s why seeing Travis and Mandy together had caused this. Isn’t that what I’ve done after every other guy? I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to get this day over with.
I grabbed my crutches and hauled myself off the floor. Slowly I hobbled up the stairs and to my room. I went into the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills my doctor had giving me for the nights I was too nervous to sleep. I took a pill out and swallowed it with a swig of water.
I walked towards my bed, pill bottle in hand, setting it down on the dresser. Then I started the slow task of getting my pjs on. As soon as I pulled my shirt on, I could barely keep my eyes open. I put my head on the pillow and was out.
I woke up and looked at the clock not sure of what had happened. I had been out for about 10 hours. My whole body hurt. Not a physical pain but a deep ache starting in my chest. Instantly everything came flooding back. I grabbed the pill bottle and took another one. This one worked faster.
When I woke again, the sun was shinning brightly. I groaned and rolled over, trying to bury my head in the mess of pillows and blankets. The ache came back. My whole body felt heavy. I decided I had slept enough and turned on the TV.
“Travis Pastrana and Mandy James have been getting pretty cozy lately.” The first guy said just as a picture of the two showed up on the screen.
“In our last interview, Travis hinted at a possible marriage proposal.” The second guy said.
“I wonder how Lucy McDade is taking all of this.” The first guy asked. I turned off the TV quickly and threw the remote as hard as I could at the wall, watching as it broke into tiny pieces. I just couldn’t escape these two! I was hoping Travis would dump her soon and things would go back to normal. But what was normal? Travis and I together again?
No! I didn’t want to think about that. Not ever! There was no way I was going back there until she was gone. Would anyone even miss me? That was doubtful. I was the self-destructing girl who couldn’t handle her own problems. Why would they miss someone like that? Plus if I was gone Travis wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore. Mandy, of course, would be happy. That was what I would do. I would take myself out of the picture. I grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills and poured the whole bottle out in my hand before tossing a few in my mouth at a time and downing them. Soon I had the whole bottle down. I got up and turned on the TV for something to put me to sleep. They were still talking about Travis and Mandy. Someone had come up with a name for them. Trandy! Oh how I wasn’t ever going to miss that! I felt my eyes getting heavy. I let them close, welcoming the sleep that would take me away.