The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

Sunny, But With A Chance Of Rain... Part II

Callie's POV:

Over the years, I think it's safe to say that my experiences with alcohol have evolved... and not for the better I'd like to add.

In my 20's, I could party all night and then manage to work or attend classes the next day with ease. As long as I drank lots of water and took two Tylenol before bed, I was 'good to go,' come the morning. 

In my 30's, I could still keep up with drinking at the bar at night, but that's when I started having some terrible hangovers the next morning. I still drank tons of water, took the Tylenol, but eventually stopped the routine because it didn't seem to help anymore. Instead, I just learned how to curb my drinking so I wouldn't become blitzed every time. That strategy typically worked, unless I was callous and drank with reckless abandonment. Which, thanks to bad work days, usually happened at least once a year.

Now that I was well into my 40's, all bets were suddenly off with me and alcohol. First off, my reaction to it depended on the type of alcohol I was drinking, and the sugar content of the beverage definitely mattered. Wine, in excess, had become a notorious libation for me in recent years, case in point? The infamous dinner I had at Charley's that Monday night.

After an evening of predominantly sitting, I had just stood up when the wine hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately lost my proprioception, or sense of awareness in the world, thanks to the alcohol effecting my balance, all at once. It surprised me and caught me off guard as I wasn't expecting this to happen. 

I had felt absolutely fine, sitting at the kitchen island and talking to Charley, just minutes ago. It was like the wine had a delayed fuse and thanks to my lack of activity that night, the fuse had finally ignited and summarily detonated my sobriety to shreds.

Thankfully, Charley caught me and hung on to me by wrapping her arms tightly around my body. I did the same and wrapped my arms around her waist to keep myself steadied and on my feet. We stood like that for what felt like forever, but I was far from having perfect judgement by then. For all I knew, it could have been 5 seconds or 5 minutes with my lack of time keeping faculties. 

Either way, in the moment that instantly followed, it almost seemed like Charley might kiss me. Our lips were so close and Charley was a knock-out in every way possible. I remember thinking for a second, what it might be like if her lips met mine...that's when I pulled my drunk head out of the depraved spiral it had started going down and focused on our immediate conversation.

And, I incorrectly assumed I hadn't made a complete fool of myself by now, so I proceeded to try and cover-up for my intoxication (to no avail) with my words. Normally this would have been a good choice, but was not the best one given my lack of elocution skills by this stage in the evening.

"Charley, youuu, saved me! I can't thanks you lots. I shuld, ...not drive... whoooa!" At the end of my sentence, I foolishly put my arms out in an unsteady manner in an attempt to actually try and steady myself.

"Callie, I absolutely agree. Why don't you call Arizona and let her know what's going on, okay? I can help if you need me to."

I knew Charley was right, so I promptly dialed Arizona's number and let her know I would be home in the morning. I remember Charley speaking to Arizona before she hung up my phone and set it down.

It was at that point, the whole room had started rocking and rolling and I was pretty sure it wasn't from any of the waves on the lake. I felt myself start to spin out of balance again, when I felt Charley flex her biceps more so she could hold me even tighter. I now felt the warmth from her abdomen and chest, as she kept me firmly against her.

"Hey you, let's get you over to the couch, shall we, gorgeous? I think you need to be seated since being upright has become difficult, if not impossible." Charley had shifted her position so she was now standing behind me, but was still holding and supporting me while she spoke.