All That and a Bag of Chips

Chapter 13

Collin woke up, having no clue about the time, his head pounding, and his stomach sour. He needed coffee, toast, and someone to slap him hard in the face if he ever considered drinking a Long Island ice tea ever again.

He hoped Heather was doing okay. That she had locked her door securely, and that creep was leaving her alone.

Would it be too forward to text her? To spend the ten cents to see how she was doing?

His phone was stranded in his jean's pocket. He rolled over and swiped at the pants he had abandoned on the floor the night before and grabbed it. The battery icon was flashing on the front screen, and it also said he had one new message.

He flipped open his phone to see what it was, but before he could push the button to read it, his battery died.

Fuck.

He scrounged around behind his mattress until he found the charging cable, plugged his phone in, and tossed it into his mess of sheets.

Then he stood, walked over to his dresser, and found a pair of sweats to pull on over his boxer briefs before going on a quest for coffee.

As he went to the door that led to the rest of the house, his hand froze on the knob, remembering the scene he had come home to.

Shit. Avery better not still be here.

He listened, pressing his ear gently against the door. It didn't sound like anyone was up, so he pulled open the door and walked down to the kitchen.

A half-full pot of coffee waited in the carafe, and Diana, one of his roommates, was sitting alone at the dining room table reading the Sunday Chronicle.

"Good morning," Collin greeted her as he walked with his cup of coffee over to the orange couch where Avery had been sitting the night before.

"Morning," Diana said, glancing up over her wire-rimmed glasses.

Collin took a gulp of the lukewarm coffee. Today would definitely be a two cup day, probably a three cup day. "Are you the only one up?"

"Um, Kris went for a jog a bit ago and Jody didn't come home last night. Haven't seen Sam." She went back to reading.

Collin looked at the clock on the wall. It was already past ten. He'd slept longer than he realized.

He continued to sip his coffee, watching the beams of light that spilled in through the front windows. It was going to be another beautiful day. California was in a perpetual drought, and he probably should hope for April showers to bring May flowers, but he really did like the sun. Made him feel hopeful.

And, even if last night wasn't the home run he was expecting, he hadn't struck out either. It was more like he had hit a long fly ball that was sailing towards the pocket, but Ken Griffey Jr. was in center field and made an epic sliding catch, getting him out. Sure, he didn't make it to base, but there was nothing to be embarrassed about. He'd made solid contact with the ball.

"Are you reading the sports section?" Collin asked.

"All yours," Diana replied. "It's in that pile."

Collin put his coffee on the coffee table and went and grabbed it. The Giants had beat the Dodgers 9-3 and Moss had thrown a good game. It was early in the season, but Collin had a feeling his team would go far.

As he was looking through the other articles, Sam walked up the stairs from her room. He looked over at her, but said nothing until she had joined him in the living room with her own cup of caffeine.

Noisily, he rustled the newspaper pages, making a show of folding them up and putting them down. "What the fuck did I come home to last night?" he asked, cutting to the chase.