MEMENTO

IX.

            "Up and at 'em," Cecilia called out as she tore the blinds open in Erica's room, spilling sunlight onto her face. Erica grumbled and shifted away from her, burying her face deeper into the pillows.

"C'mon, it's New Years," Cecilia pointed out, pausing. "Well, kinda. It will be at midnight anyway. Come help decorate the house."

"Why do you always get up so early?" Erica groaned, shifting beneath the sheets as she sat up.

"Guess I'm just a morning person," Cecilia returned, shrugging. "Plus, we have to make sure James didn't die in his sleep or something."

"He's fine," Erica insisted, pushing herself out of bed and padding across the floor to throw on a sweatshirt over her pajamas. "I can't believe he got that drunk, though. I think I'm going to need a new liver after this trip."

"Yeah," Cecilia remarked, curling her bottom lip. "Still, I don't think I've ever seen him that wasted."

"He can be a bit messy," Erica admitted, pushing herself up. She followed Cecilia as her voice trailed through the hallway, rifling through her own suitcase. "What's that?" Erica inquired as Cecilia pulled out a shiny garland.

"New Year's decorations," she explained, tugging out a cannister of glitter. "They say how you start the year determines how it'll continue. Well, I want to start it in fashion."

"Fine," Erica grumbled as Cecilia slung the garland around Erica's neck, giggling at the sight of the vexed expression on her face. "Let's go decorate."

*

Sol drove James over to get more booze as Erica and Zip created snowflakes for Drew and Cecilia to hang up. Cecilia, second tallest of the group after Drew, twirled around the room, casting glitter all over the floor as she'd poured it all over her chest and face.

"You're going to have to vacuum that before we leave, you know?" Drew informed her, attempting to suppress a grin.

"I know, just let me have my fun for now," Cecilia returned, stopping to fix the droopy garland which she tacked to the fireplace.

"I don't see why Drew doesn't have to make snowflakes," Erica grumbled as hers turned out looking more like a Rubik's cube than a snowflake. The holes in the paper were splotchy and didn't form the elegant shape Zip's were through a few snips of his scissors.

"Because he's tall and needs to hang things up," Cecilia pointed out, tickling Erica's nose with a fuzzy boa that Erica shooed away.

"Sorry to separate you lovebirds for even a second," she moaned in dramatized anguish.

Erica flushed slightly, gluing her eyes to the tabletop as she started over with a new sheet of paper. Drew also seemed too fixated on his unraveling Cecilia's 'Happy New Year!' sign she bought at the dollar store.

"If they come back without champagne, I'm sending them back," Cecilia continued, throwing a hand in front of her face as she plopped in the chair beside Erica.

"Champagne's expensive," Drew pointed out. "Good champagne, anyway."

"Did I say it had to be good?" Cecilia threw back, eyeing Drew with an arched brow.

Erica shook her head, feigning contempt despite holding laughter back. The past few days had been absolute, unadulterated bliss, she realized. She bit into her bottom lip, mood souring when she realized she'd have to return to the real world eventually.