Page 119 of The Genius
Drunken Memories
Marco
Shelly went to bed around one a.m., at the same time as most of the Motlander women.
The eight women who had once been students were excited about sleeping in their old beds. Pearl and Shelly joined them inside but took the teachers’ rooms.
Only eleven out of the twelve men who had once shared two rooms inside the school were here, and most of them preferred to sleep in tents they had brought from home.
Hunter had a tent large enough for both of us and had offered to share it with me.
I was sore from Boulder’s attack but didn’t let it stop me from staying up with the rest of the men. It was three in the morning before we were done drinking and telling exaggerated tales from our time at the school.
“I have to take a piss,” Hunter said in a slurred voice and got up from the log he’d been sitting on around the bonfire.
“Take one for me too, I’m too tired to do any heavy lifting,” I teased and laughed at my own joke.
Hunter grinned and walked toward the line of trees.
“At least try to walk in a straight line, you drunken bastard,” Tristan called after him.
Without a word, Hunter looked over his shoulder before pulling down his pants and mooning Tristan and the rest of us.
Nero, Storm, and Tristan got up to moon him back and we all howled with laughter.
Even in my drunken state, I was aware that our level of jokes had sunk to a very low level and that it was time to go to bed. “I’m calling it a night,” I said and slowly rose up.
“Yeah, we should probably close down this party,” Tristan agreed and pulled his pants back up. “Archer threatened to have us all go running in the morning like in the old days.” He looked toward the large log cabin where Archer and Kya lived with their children now. “I’ll bet that’s why he went to bed at midnight. You know, so he can look sharp tomorrow.”
Pointing my finger at them in a slow drunken movement, I gave a hiccup. “I can still outrun any of you,” Two more hiccups followed. “I just need to sleep for an hour first.”
“Deal.” Tristan raised his wristband close to his eyes. “It’s seven minutes past three. We can sleep for almost four hours.” His words were slow and slurred.
“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded my head to William, who had fallen asleep an hour ago in his chair. “What do we do about Willy?”
Storm walked over and pulled William’s head back, slapping his right cheek a little. “Go to bed, William.”
Without opening his eyes, William pushed at Storm’s hands and groaned.
“Just let him sleep. It’s not that cold; he’ll be fine.” Boulder instructed. “If it starts to rain, he’ll find his way to bed.”
The other men said their good nights, and Boulder and Finn walked to the cabins while the rest of us spread out to find our tents.
“Careful,” I said when Hunter stumbled into the tent.
He gave a small laugh. “I’m so fucking drunk.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“How about we take a morning dip in the lake tomorrow when we wake up. I’ll bet that will sober us up real quick,” Hunter suggested.
“Yeah, it’s a solid plan. Very solid.”
Like me, Hunter was too tall to stand upright in the tent. “Where the fuck are my tooth cleaners?” he asked while digging through his bag. “Oh, here they are.”
“So you’re Shelly’s protector now,” Hunter asked when he finally lay down.
“Yeah. We’re having a child together.” It flew out of me without a filter.
