Page 99 of Grease Monkey
My anxiety lessens, and I rearrange the pillows, lying back against the headboard and dragging the covers up to my chin, trying to tell myself that’s not too bad in the grand scale of how badly I’ve messed up recently. But fear and flashbacks of the night before are funny things, especially when your brain decides randomly to kick you when you’re down.
“Oh, shit,” I groan, bringing my knees up and burying my head in them as fragments of the night slowly make their way through the drunken fog.
Me sitting on the toilet.
Teddy helping me to my feet.
Him holding back my hair. Oh God, he saw me throwing up andhelpedme.
“Do you know if I said anything to him?”
Shay shrugs, slipping out of bed and going to the adjoining bathroom. Leaving the door slightly open, she pees. Honestly, the girl has no boundaries. “Not sure. What would you have said?”
She flushes the toilet, and the sound of running water and Shay’s electric toothbrush is like a jackhammer buzzing about my brain. She appears in the doorway, dabbing her mouth with a towel.
“Why do you look like that?”
“I feel like I maybe said something I shouldn’t have last night, but I can’t remember,” I say, rubbing my aching forehead as everything in my body protests at being awake and having to function as an adult. “I think I told him I missed him.”
Shay laughs, quickly getting dressed in yoga pants and a tee before brushing her hair into a high ponytail. “Not exactly the worst thing you’ve done with him recently, Morgs.”
I grab a pillow from behind me and throw it at her. “When will you stop bringing that up? I feel guilty enough without you piling it on.”
She picks up the pillow that landed nowhere near her and tosses it onto the bed.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I can’t believe out of everyone, sweet, innocent Morgana would do that.” I drop my head, hating how she always speaks the truth, even when I don’t want to hear it. She claps her hands together and rummages around my closet. “Right. No more wallowing. Let’s go out and do something. Take your mind off Richard, Teddy, your hangy. So get your ass out of bed and shower because, my God, Morgana, you fucking stink.”
She chucks clothes onto the bed, practically drags my sorry ass into the bathroom, and turns on the shower. I strip from my underwear as she leaves me alone, telling me she will make us coffee.
“Morgana, do you have any creamer?” Shay shouts from the other room. I hear a small knock and ignore it, assuming she is searching my near-empty shelves as I open the shower door.
“There should be a new one on the top shelf in the fridge,” I yell, dipping a toe into the water and testing the temperature.
“Actually, Morgana, can you come out here?”
I groan, suddenly desperate to hop in the shower and let the warm water do its magic. Showers when you’re hungover are the ultimate cure. Grabbing a towel, I wrap it around my body, tucking the edge into the top as I join her in the kitchen.
“Why can you never find anything unless it jumps out and smacks you in the face, Shay?” I look up, and my feet almost trip over themselves. “Teddy.”
He looks at Shay, who’s pivoting from foot to foot, and I can tell she wishes she was anywhere but here. Or maybe she wishes she had popcorn. She does like drama.
“I brought you coffee,” he says, extending the cup holder to Shay, and she greedily grabs one of the three white paper cups and brings it to her lips. He reaches behind and pulls out a yellow drink he must have had in his back pocket. “And also, a Gatorade for, you know, electrolytes and shit after last night. Lemon lime still your favorite?”
I nod, hesitantly accepting the bottle, my eyes unblinking as I watch him set the other two coffees on the counter and shift his weight awkwardly.
“Can we talk?” He glances at Shay, and then back to me. “Alone?”
“Oh, right, yeah, I, um, was going to go for a walk anyway,” Shay says, pointing to the front door. “Such a nice day and all. I might as well go see the sights.”
“Shay, we have plans,” I say, my voice a little croaky as I stare in horror as she backs down the hall. She can’t leave me here with him, not after last night. Not after the past few times we’ve been together and ended up… doing stuff. And this whole “nice Teddy” is throwing me off. It’s like he’s had a personality transplant. Not too long ago, he was throwing me out of that little apartment in his garage and now coming over here with coffee and my favorite sports drink. I can’t handle it.
“We never made plans,” she says, and I swear to God, I want to dump her as my best friend.
“Shay,” I growl, taking a step forward.
“Byeee,” she sings, ducking out the door in a blur and leaving Teddy and me alone while I’m dressed in a towel.
“I’m going to shower,” I say, tugging the soft yellow cotton tighter around my body like a shield. “I’ll be five minutes.”
