“He’s fine. He pulled out the Jack Daniels and is working on getting Lee drunk. So, it sounds like they’re having their own version of a pity party,” she says, smirking as she puts her phone back down. We both get pulled back into the movie, our attention not breaking until the credits start rolling up the screen.
“Another movie or something else?”
“I’m good with whatever. This is your pity party, so you tell me what you want to do,” Lindsay tells me.
“Feel up to a game?” I ask, not really wanting to watch another movie.
“Sure, Rummy?” she asks.
“Yeah, I haven’t played in months,” I say, standing to go find a deck of cards. We move to the table, pulling out some snacks to munch while we play cards and BS the time away.
Morning comes, and I just roll back over. I don’t have anywhere to be today, so I attempt to fall back to sleep, but it fails me. I pull my Kindle out and get lost in the story I’m currently in the middle of for the next hour or so until Lindsay wakes up. Like all our childhood years, we crashed together in my bed. She’s the sister I never had.
“How are you feeling this morning?” she asks sleepily.
“Eh, I’ll be fine. I don’t feel like bawling right now, so I take that as a plus.”
“Has he tried to contact you since leaving here yesterday?” Lindsay asks.
“Nope, not that I would have responded if he did. I almost ignored your text yesterday, thinking it might have been him.”
“I wouldn’t have let you ignore me,” she says, stretching her hands up high above her head. Her phone starts going off on the nightstand on her side of the bed.
“You’re being summoned,” I say as I chuckle. I swear Tucker can’t go a few hours without Lindsay next to him. He’s fallen, and fallen fast for my best friend.
15
LEE
Fuck…
I groan as the light from the windows shines brightly in my eyes. I’m definitely not in my room or bed. The lack of black-out curtains and the sun streaming in is the first indication of that. Tucker did his best friend duty and got me drunk last night. Drinking my problems away doesn’t usually work, and if the pounding headache I’m waking up with is any indication, it didn’t solve my issues last night, either, and has just created more.
My mouth is cotton dry; I’m in desperate need of some water and something for my pounding head. Top that off with something greasy to fill my stomach to soak up any of the leftover alcohol, and I might start feeling human again. I roll from the bed, my feet hitting the carpeted floor in Tucker's guest room. I look for my phone and find it plugged in on the nightstand, and next to it is a bottle of water and four ibuprofen. I’m not afraid to admit that I love him. He’s a damn good man and the best friend I could ever ask for. Has never cast judgment on my life’s choices, even the stupid ones that have gotten me in trouble over the years. I toss back the pills before emptying the bottle of water.
With a little bit of hydration in my body, I make it entirely out of bed and into the bathroom. A quick shower, and I’m already starting to feel slightly better. Now for some more water, maybe some coffee to help wake me up and food, and I’ll be like a new man.
I make my way out to the kitchen, my stomach and nose leading the way as if I didn’t know the layout of this house as well as I know that of my own. I find Tucker and Lindsay in the kitchen, she’s standing next to the stove, and Tucker’s got her pinned between him and the countertop. “Morning,” I call out so they know I’ve joined them.
“Morning,” Lindsay calls, looking over Tucker's shoulder at me. “How’s the hangover?” she asks, turning to flip something that is in the pan.
“Ugh,” I grunt, not yet ready to make sentences or use words.
“That good, huh?” She smirks. “That’ll teach you to let this man get you drunk. Did you drink anything besides shots of JD?” she asks.
“I don’t think so,” I tell her honestly, not really remembering much after the first half-dozen or so shots.
“Nope, I kept it to just the Jack Daniels. Didn’t need him puking all over the place because of some mixed liquors,” Tucker states.
Lindsay slides some eggs onto a plate, along with a few strips of bacon and sausage links, topping the plate off with a few slices of buttered toast, and then sets it all down in front of me.
“You are a godsend,” I tell her, picking up the fork and shoveling the hot food into my mouth.
“Hey, that was supposed to be my plate,” Tucker whines.
“Hush now, I’ll make you another one. Lee looked like he needed it more than you did,” Lindsay says to him before kissing him on the cheek.
“You didn’t poison this, did you?” I ask, stopping once the food is half gone.
“Nope, but I do have some strong words for you, but I’ll let you recuperate a little bit before I let you have it,” she states.
“Shit, son. You’re in deep shit, and I am here for it,” Tucker quips, fighting back his laughter.
“Hey now, I thought you were supposed to be my best friend.”
“I am, but it doesn’t mean I can’t sit back and laugh at your expense when you're getting your ass handed to you by my woman,” he states, sitting on a stool next to me. Lindsay sets down a second plate, filled just as full as mine, with all the same delicious-looking food.
She holds up a coffee pot and an empty cup, offering it to me. “Want a cup?”
“Yes, please.” She sets it down in front of me, filling it up to the very brim. I sip down a little bit of the hot liquid, feeling the caffeine hit my bloodstream almost instantly. I might have drunk an unknown amount of whiskey last night and woken up hungover as fuck, but I’m doing pretty good right about now.
“Okay, give it to me,” I instruct Lindsay once we’ve all finished our breakfast and the kitchen has been cleaned up, the dishes loaded into the dishwasher. I’m kicked back in Tucker’s recliner while the two of them are curled up together on the couch. I swear he has to be touching her at all times when they’re in the same room.
“I’ll keep this as short and sweet as I can and get it all out. Then I won’t rehash things with you unless you specifically ask me to,” she says, pausing to take a deep breath. “I understand you’re an adult and can make your own decisions, but I think you royally fucked up yesterday. Allison is one of the best people that you will ever meet, as you well know. She’s kind and loyal to a fault. I know it's your ‘thing’.” she says, using air quotes as she says that last word, “being a lifelong bachelor, but do you really think that will keep you happy for the rest of your life? Think of how much your parents enjoy having you and your siblings over for family events, and how excited your mom was when your sister got engaged, and now to have grandkids on the way. Thinking you can’t do all of that and be happy simultaneously is just garbage. You’re a good man, Lee. You deserve to find someone who loves you, all of you. All your quirks, all the good and the bad. We all deserve that. Since we were babies, Allison has been my best friend, and I want what’s best for her, so if that truly isn’t you, then so be it. But don’t run just because that is what you’ve always done. If you think you could make something of it with her, then give it a shot. I know she might be mad for me telling you this, but I haven’t seen her as happy as I did for the few months that the two of you were hooking up. She had lost that spark that makes Allison… well, Allison. You brought that back, and I hate that she might lose it again.”