Tales That Must Be Re-told

I ended up finding poor Zack in a bathroom, puking his heart away. I sat on the edge of the tub, next to the toilet, and rubbed his back. "You realize that's supposed to happen during your hangover?" I asked and smiled.

"Shut up," he mumbled and swatted at the flusher about three times. I pressed it for him and he started throwing up yet again.

"Shit, you really took it in tonight," I observed. He moaned slightly and finally, the contents of his stomach were all in the toilet.

"Adelaide, can you drive me home?" asked Zack. "Please?"

"Of course," I told him. "Alex told me that the plan was for you guys to all crash at our house tonight, because our parents aren't home. We'll go find him and tell him what we're doing and I'll take you there, okay?" I asked him, somewhat similar sounding to someone patiently talking to a four-year-old.

He weakly nodded and followed me out of the bathroom. I grabbed his hand so we wouldn't get seperated in the sea of people. We ended up finding my brother in the kitchen, surprise surprise, getting more beer.

"Aex, I'm taking Zack to our place," I told him. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Come here, you!" He said nothing else and gave me a big hug, smiling widely.

I returned the hug and gave him a pat on the head before leaving the house.

Most of the half hour car ride from the party to our house consisted of Zack babbling on about nonsense and me humouring him.

We finally pulled up to the house and went inside. "You can take Alex's room, if you want," I told Zack. He nodded. "Go on up, I'll bring you some Advil and water."

Zack, who didn't need telling twice, made his way upstairs. I retreived a bottle of water, a garbage can, and the bottle of Advil and headed upstairs as well. By the time I had reached my brother's room, Zack was already in his bed and looked like he was struggling to stay awake. I set the water and Advil on the night table beside Alex's bed, and the garbage can in front of the table.

"In case you need to throw up again," I told him and handed him the bottle of water, along with two Advil. He downed them and drank nearly half the bottle.

"Will you be okay by yourself if I go back to the party and look after the rest of the fools?" I asked.

He nodded weakly and stood up from the bed, where I had been sitting. I kissed him on the head and made my way to the door.

"Thanks Adelaide," he mumbled.

I smiled. "No problem, sweetie."

When I arrived back at the house, I hadn't even walked five steps from the door and collided with someone's bony chest.

"Hi Addy!" exclaimed Jack happily. "Where were ya?"

"Driving Zack home," I shouted over the music.

Jack started laughing. "What a pussy!"

I just shook my head, then realized that I had barely seen Rian and Matt that night.

"Hey Jack-o, you don't know where Matt and Rian are, do you?"

He did one of those moves where you shug and put your hands in the air a little, grinning.

"Wanna come with me to find them?" I asked.

"Okay!"

Jack put his arm around my waist in a way that felt a little more than friendly, an action I chose to ignore because he was drunk, and we began searching for the pair. After we couldn't find them in the house,we I decided to try looking in the back yard. Sure enough, there were Rian, Matt and Alex, swimming in the pool.

In their underwear.

"Oh God," I muttered. Rian and Alex were splashing each other and laughing like schoolgirls while Matt was pretending to be a duck.

Jack made no hesitation to throw his clothes off and jump in as well; he ended up joining Matt in making quacking noises and trying to waddle around in the water. Rian took it upon himself to pretend to be a shark and sneak up on Jack and Matt, causing a lot of screaming and commotion while Alex and I laughed (him more so than I). I yawned and pulled out my phone to see what time it was; the clock read 2:04.

I sat down on the ground, a safe enough distance back so I wouldn't get splashed. I couldn't help but laugh at the boys' crazy drunken antics.

"Come join us, Adelaide!" called Matt giddily.

I chuckled and shook my head. "I think I'm fine right here, Matt."

"You're such a party pooper," said Jack, pouting.

Finally, after sitting there for quite a while, the boys decided they'd have enough of the pool. While they were standing there in their underwear, they realized they had nothing to dry themsevles off with. This made me laugh.

"Hey Addyyyyy," called Alex.

I stood up and sighed, knowing what he was about to ask. "Stay here, I'll go find some towels."

My brother grinned and formed a heart with his hands. I went inside and eventually found a linen closet, grabbed five towels, and went back outside where the boys were standing, looking quite rediculous. I tossed them each a towel.

"Thanks Addy!" said Jack and gave me a hug, getting me wet as well.

I shook my head. "Thank you, Jack."

"Welcome!" he said cheerfully and proceeded to dry himself off (or at least attempt to, in his state).

After assissting Rian and Alex in getting dressed, we were finally ready to leave. After a very noisy car ride back to the house, I stopped as soon as we entered and turned around, facing the boys.

"Now, Zack is sleeping," I said quietly. "Shhh."

They all giggled and copied my shushing noise, putting fingers to their lips. Alex and Matt clumsily made their way to Alex's room while Jack and Rian followed me into mine. Rian flopped down onto the bed, followed by Jack. I grabbed a pair of sleep pants and an old wifebeater from my dresser.

"I'm getting changed, I'll be right back," I told them and went into the bathroom to change. Under normal circumstances I would only have told them to look the opposite way, but I didn't want to take any chances. Yawning, I walked back into my room.

"Scooch over, Barakat," I said. I have this thing where I can only sleep on the left side of the bed. If I don't, I'm always on top of the person who is on the left side. I'm pretty sure it's a subconscious thing.

Jack rolled over and I shut off the light and laid down beside him, making him in the middle of Rian and I.

"Good night Addy," he whispered.

"Good night, Jack."