I woke up screaming. My head felt like a marching band was inside. Shit. I slowly sat up and the blinding sunlight made it hard to see.
"Awake?" I hear Mike's voice from somewhere.
"Wh–Where is Elio?" My throat was raw and my body was soaked in sweat and some other fluids.
There are footsteps on the floor and my eyes focus on Mike standing a foot away from the bed buttoning up his dress shirt.
"Elio?" Mike asked.
"Yes, Elio, where is he?"
"Not here."
"Last night..." I closed my eyes trying to remember everything, but it blurs between when Mike gave me the pill and when I saw Elio. "He was here, I saw the nigga here!"
Mike walks over to the bed and sits on the edge of it. "You had a terrible trip last night. Elio wasn't here."
My body relaxes.
"Did we... um... fuck?"
"The ladies enjoyed your time." Mike smiled.
"Yeah, I need to go." My legs were weak for me to stand long. I plop my naked ass back on the bed.
"Your phone." Mike points across the room to a countertop with a coffeemaker and two white mugs. My phone sat there. "It rings a lot."
Mike's eyes burnt a hole in the side of my face. I look over at him and he looks sad.
"I can keep you safe from Elio."
I rolled my eyes trying to stand again, but couldn't.
"I don't need another nigga keeping me safe," I said, my eyes focused on the floor, studying the lines on the tiles. "I fucked up. Like I fucked up so bad if Elio finds out about this then...."
I was talking to myself at this point; I didn't care if Mike listened.
He gets me a glass of water, but I don't take it. It takes a while for my legs to get together. I got dressed, while Mike watched at first but turned his back to me. He talked a bit in Russian when he couldn't find the right English word; I thought it was funny. But maybe it was because I was still feeling some effects of the drug.
I checked my phone. 30 missed calls from Elio.
"Safe to drive?" Mike asked. "I can have someone take you."
"Nah, I'm good," I said leaving.
I drove below the speed limit. The first thing I did was call my pops. When he doesn't answer right away, anxiety creeps into my stomach. When the phone crackles to life and his sleep voice breaks through, my body relaxes. We talked until I pulled up to the house.
I fell over on the couch and closed my eyes. The throbbing in my head worsens. Advil. That's what I need. But I was too stuck to even move. Sleeping away the pain would have to do. I wasn't sure when I moved from the couch to my bed. My head felt slightly better. The light in the bathroom was on... Why was the light on?
My room door opens and Elio leans against the door frame with his arms across in front of his chest. His expression looked too calm.
"Get up," he said.
"Yo, how the fuck you get in my house?"
"The front door was wide open. So I invited myself in. Be lucky it was me and not some psycho killer." he said. "Now. Get. Up."
"Well, I'm up."
"Shower. Put on something decent, then we're leaving."
"And going where exactly?"
