“Jady…” the owner of the voice shakes me gently and I groan. “C’mon, wake up,” he shakes me harder until I open my eyes and stare at Brian.
“Wha?!” I ask grumpily.
“It’s 7am. We need to be at the airport in an hour.”
“Uh…” I mutter and close my eyes again.
“Jady,” he shakes me again and I push his hands off me.
“I’m awake!”
“Ok, you want breakfast?”
“No.”
“Ok. I’ll go get some then. I’ll be back in half an hour. Be dressed.”
“Uh.”
“Ok,” he sounds amused and I hear him walk away and the door open and close.
I groan and open my eyes. My head feels like a brass band set up home during the night and I’m so tired. I’ve only had about three hours sleep I guess. And I drank way too much last night. I sit up as slowly as I can but it still makes my head pound. I groan and hold my head in my hands as I climb out of bed. Maybe a shower will make me feel better.
A shower later and I’ve woken up a little but my head still feels awful and my mouth is dry. I get dressed and sit on the couch, glad I did my packing yesterday.
“Hey, you’re still awake,” Brian walks back in with a bag.
“Uh huh,” I nod slowly. “Ow. That hurt.”
“Aw,” he chuckles slightly and hands me the brown bag. “I got you a croissant and jelly for later. If you get hungry.”
“Thanks.”
“You feel as rough as you look?”
“Thanks,” I mutter dryly.
“Oops,” he laughs and then looks at me wickedly as he starts singing. “I did it again! I played with your…”
I shut him up by throwing a cushion at him.
“Shall we go?” he laughs and I stand up, grabbing my shades and putting them on.
I pick up my bag and follow him down to the lobby. We’re flying back to Tampa with Ali, Nick and AJ. Kevin has a flight to Kentucky with Kristen this afternoon and Howie is flying out to join his family in Puerto Rico.
“Hey guys, the car is already here,” Nick greets us and then looks at me with amusement. “Rough morning huh?”
“Yeah yeah.”
“Wow Jady, is there any alcohol left in LA after last night?” Ali teases and I pull a face at her.
“I didn’t drink THAT much!”
“No? Cos you sure LOOK like ya did,” Nick laughs.
“My head hurts,” I complain. “Stop laughing so loud.”
“Sorry,” Nick whispers and then laughs again.
I fall asleep pretty much the minute I get on the plane, leaving the other four to amuse themselves. Brian tells me later that Nick had wanted to draw things on my face but he had talked him out of it. Typical. Our bags come pretty quickly at the airport in Tampa and we say our goodbyes before climbing into separate cars. When we finally arrive at our house, I go straight to bed. I am exhausted.
I wake up at 3pm and pad downstairs to the kitchen. Brian is there.
“This is a nice sight,” I joke and he chuckles.
“I thought I’d fix my beautiful wife some lunch.”
“Wow, my very own house-husband. I always wanted one of those.”
“You’ve got him,” Brian pulls me close for a long kiss before carrying on with the cooking.
I pinch a carrot slice and eat it, sitting on the counter as Brian looks at me.
“Feeling any better?”
“Much,” I smile. “I just needed some sleep. My headache has even gone.”
“Good. It’s great bein’ home,” he grins.
“I know. There’s no bed quite like your own bed.”
“Uh huh,” he agrees. “Nick called. He’s havin’ a pool party next week.”
“He only just got back!”
“I know. Y’know Nick, he gets bored easily.”
“Obviously,” I giggle.
“His family are gonna be there.”
“What are they like?” I wonder.
“His mom is a little… Uh, business-minded,” he says diplomatically.
“Yeah, Nick told me a little about her.”
“His dad is funny. Like an older Nick I guess.”
“That would be weird!” I laugh.
“Aaron is cool. He’s pretty hyper but cool with it. And I don’t know his sisters too well but they seem ok. Well, except BJ. She’s kinda off-the-rails sometimes.”
“So I heard. She’s the one who wiped his car out right?”
“Yup.”
“Nick talking to her yet?”
“Probably not!” he says with a grin.
“So, you said we’d go?”
“To the party? I said yeah. That ok?”
“Sure,” I smile.
“I called my mom while you were asleep. She sends her love and she wants to know when we are gettin’ blessed already.”
“Ah. What’d you say?”
“That we haven’t had time to talk about it and to chill her boots.”
“Ya didn’t?!”
“Yeah,” he grins. “Ok, I didn’t say the last part in those exact words…”
“I should think not,” I giggle.
Nick has decided he’s having a pool party next week. He called me about it this morning and begged me to go along and help him. I tried to make up some dumb excuse not to go because his family are gonna be there and I really don’t want to pretend everything’s great all day. But Nick had turned on the charm and I’ve never been able to resist him. So I’m going and playing the dutiful girlfriend.
I moved all my stuff back into the old apartment when we got back. It’s kinda good to be there again. It’s all so familiar and comforting. Jay is coming to stay in a couple of days. He has some more work to do with the drug dealers. It’ll be cool to see him again.