What Goes Around...

Part Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"We should leave."

Coop reached over and tugged at Freya's elbow. She turned elaborately to smile at him, "really?"

Her eyes were glassy and her face was warm. She was happy...but drunk. A bad combination. Keeping hold of her wrist, he led her out into the street, there were half a dozen hot dogs stands scattered along the street, and he instantly smiled at the memories the smells conjured.

"Hot dog?" She looked up at him and her eyes widened as he nodded.

"Not just any dog, but a George Street dog, the food of the young and the keen and the drunk. This is a more Newfie experience than your city tour or boat trip." Pausing to gesture at the vendor, he turned back to her, "you'll love it. I promise. Fully loaded and ready to go."

He handed her the snack complete with multicoloured sauces and toppings then almost had to look away as she bit into the sausage far too energetically. She was the most inadvertently sexual person that he'd ever met. He had to be careful, he was realising that daily, because she wasn't the usual type of woman he went for, and she was his friend's sister. He couldn't imagine admitting to Oscar that he'd slept with his sister; he'd hate him, because as friends they knew each other, and no matter how cool Freya was turning out to be, it would never be more than that. And Oscar would know that.

"These are good!" She exclaimed, mouth still full of food, etiquette all but gone with the pleasure of the food and the relaxation of the alcohol already consumed. "This has been an AMAZING night." Then she dramatically paused and stared up at him nervously, "sorry." It was meek and he paused in his chewing to raise a questioning eyebrow at her. She sighed, "we're here because of your father..."

Ah yes, a sad thing. It was sad, his father was just that, Coop was unable to hide that, but in between his hospital visits, she - Freya Wicker, she made the trip worthwhile, from her Bambi on ice impressions to her choice of reading matter...she made him smile, she made this bearable. She was a great friend, and a good companion. And he appreciated that.

"How many times have I told you that you're crazy the last two days?"

She deliberated for a moment, "I reckon five since we got off the plane."

He shook his head, "double that at least. Come on, let's go get a cab."

The thought of the next day, the horrors that may bring took the shine off the evening. But only a little bit.

This was one time too many that Freya struggled to open her eyes in the morning, head pounding, the light penetrating her brain like a knife. Until she left MIT she'd had maybe three hangovers ever, since then she'd had about ten.

IS that what my life has become? She thought that over for a moment, was alcohol becoming a substitute for life, was it her coping mechanism? Rolling to sit up she shook her head, no, that wasn't the case, each time she'd drunk alcohol it had been as part of a social situation. That was what she'd missed out on over the years...LIFE.

She staggered to the bathroom, so life equals hangovers on occasion, it also equals dancing, eating, watching movies, talking, ice skating and having fun. And for the first time in her life she didn't miss MIT, education, studious work, in fact she was glad that she was free of it. For now. Her mind needed more, more than it was getting in terms of stimulation, but she was getting SO much more out of life. Balance, that was what she wanted, what she needed, and maybe something completely new. She just had to work out what.

"You awake?"

Mitchell Cooper's voice cut into the silence of the bathroom, bending she finished cleaning her teeth, then using a towel scrubbed her face randomly, not sure what she hoped to achieve before emerging in front of him. As usual he looked normal, fresh, not like her, not like someone who had been drinking and dancing into the early hours.