Chapter 12

I rolled over in bed the next morning -- or was it afternoon? -- only to find that I was alone. George had been sleeping next to me... at least, I'm pretty sure he had been. I had a headache that was roughly the size of Montana, and it was a good thing that the shades were drawn because it made the room I was sleeping in fairly dark.

I took a moment for a brief mental inventory. I was still in Jim's house, in one of his spare bedrooms. Barb and I had drank *way* too much last night after we had our little talk... which I would definitely need to tell George about today. I remembered being half carried, half dragged to bed last night. And I was pretty sure that someone had tucked me in, though I had fallen asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was still wearing what I had on last night, which was fine because we had brought a change of clothing with us. And my ankle didn't hurt nearly as much as it did yesterday.

With that done, I decided that what I really needed was breakfast and a shower. And some asprin.

I rolled off the bed and got to my feet, barely. 'Wow, ' I thought, 'I haven't been this hungover in a long time.' I opened the bedroom door, and the smell of frying bacon hit me. My stomach gurgled a bit, but I managed to convince it that food would be good right about now, so I continued to make my way to the kitchen.

There's something remarkably sexy about a man standing in front of a stove in nothing but boxers, cooking breakfast. I felt my nipples perk up as I watched George take the next batch of bacon off the stove and cover it in paper towels. He noticed me standing there in the doorway as he grabbed another slab of raw bacon.

"She lives! Amazing. There's pancakes on the table, milk and O.J. in the fridge, and you can have some of this bacon as soon as it cools down a bit."

"Mmmmm... that sounds wonderful. I guess this means you still respect me in the morning?"

George laughed. "You'll notice you still had clothes on."

"True, true. Oh, yeah, do you suppose... "

"Asprin's on the table next to the pancakes." I could tell he was smiling even though he was facing away from me.

"Excellent. How on earth are you this perky this morning?" I downed two asprin, then tore into a triple stack of pancakes and a nice tall glass of milk.

"I didn't pack away as much booze as you and Barb did last night, and I drank about a liter of water after you went to bed. Christ, you two must have finished a case of hard cider by yourselves. Besides, it's almost 11:30."

Between bites, I mumbled, "Is anyone else here?"

"Nope. A couple people slept here last night, but they've all gone home. Jim's taking Barb home now; he should be back in a little while. Geez, leave some for Jim, willya? I'm out of batter."

He came into the dining room with a glass of orange juice for himself and the plate of bacon. I was going back for more, but decided to leave what was left for Jim. Instead I grabbed a piece of bacon off the plate and munched on it.

"So who else stayed over last night?"

"Barb, as I said, and a bunch of people that I don't think you know. Some of Jim's friends from school. Oh," he snickered, "and Mark and Heather."

I cocked one eyebrow. "Oh did they?"

"Yeah, though I dare say that they didn't get much sleep. You must have seen how they were all over each other in the living room last night. Well, when I came back out with the cheese tray, they were gone. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but later that evening I was trying to find an empty bedroom for Jill, one of Jim's friends, and, uh, I missed."

"What, you mean you walked in on Mark and Heather!?"

"Yeah, I did. It's kinda funny now, but at the time I was really embarassed. Jill hardly noticed, she was so gone; that was why I was trying to find a bed for her."