ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

TWO... a date with agatha

CHAPTER TWO

•••

Collins was usually the first to wake in the Jacobson household after one of Charlie's late shifts. The routine of it all had persisted for as long as she could remember- seeing Charlie briefly before he headed out for his night shift, spending the evening home alone and going to bed with the lamp light in his room still on, then waking up to the sunlight in her eyes when it rose at dawn and Charlie sound asleep like he'd always been there. It was such a simple life they lived, simple, but charming. She had very few complaints.

It was humid in the small house. It usually tended to be in the mornings. No use in keeping the A/C on when the nights were so cool. Collins could feel the soles of her feet stick to the floor with each step. She crept out of her room to see her brother face down on the futon with a pillow over his head, no doubt soon to be nursing a hangover from the back to back bachelorette parties he'd bartended/entertained.

Collins made sure she was quiet as she went about the house, tidying up after the mess that had been left the day before. She picked up the clothes Charlie had discarded on the floor and dug through the pockets of his work pants to fish out a thick wad of cash. Her eyes widened and she smiled at Charlie's snoozing figure in impress after counting it and stashing it in their trusty tin can. She'd picked out a couple of phone numbers that had gotten lost in the mix and examined them one by one.

Call me ;) 804-555-0125

Had a good time with you tonight, text me if you wanna have another 225-555-4609

Ur cute 904-555-7509

She scoffed under her breath and placed them in a pile on the table next to Charlie. Each one had been more messily scrawled than the last, indicating that the women must've been too intoxicated to write more legibly or even come up with something more clever to write. And of course they'd all be from different area codes, Charlie wouldn't bother calling them purely based on that alone.

Collins moved to the fridge which she'd stocked with their new supply of groceries and stuck her hand in to feel the temperature inside. It wasn't as hot as it was yesterday, but Collins was paranoid now. So she grabbed a mixing bowl from their drawer and began filling it with cold water from their sink's faucet.

Once it was full, she stuck it in the fridge next to the other bowls of water she'd used to keep it cool inside. They'd have to eat what was inside more quickly before it went bad.

The sound of Charlie grumbling as he slowly awoke from his slumber made Collins turn to look back at him. "Puke bucket?" She asked, half-joking but also kind of seriously. Charlie was good at keeping drinks down as he drank them, but it was the day after where he struggled.

"Just a Tylenol, please." He mumbled groggily, barely able to keep his eyes open long enough to look at her as he said it.

Collins began to fish through their medicine box then filled up a glass of water for Charlie to drink with it. She padded over to him and held out the two items. "Here, ibuprofen is better. Wouldn't wanna damage your liver more than you already have."

Charlie took the two little pills and chugged the glass of water in mere seconds. Once he had finished, he groaned and slumped back onto his pillow with an ill expression on his face. "I swear on my life that I didn't even drink, all their yelling and screaming has just inflicted a headache on me that has carried over for the last ten hours. Them bachelorette's are insane."

Sitting on the edge of the futon next to him, Collins raised her brows. "The fear of celibacy is real, Charlie. You sure made an impression though." Collins picked up his pile of phone numbers for further emphasis and waved it at him.