Moonrise | Paul Lahote

11

"Fuck my life. No, fuck me. Why did I drink so much?"

"Mike, can you shut the hell up?"

"Fuck off, Eric."

"Maybe both of you guys should shut up," Tyler groaned.

"Please do," Jenna agreed, her voice muffled by the pillow her face was smashed against.

There was the squeak of a chair being pushed back, and Jenna cracked open her eyes to see a green-looking Kim pushing off Mike's dining table. "I'm going to the bathroom," she announced before slapping a hand over her mouth and dashing away.

Jared stood, striding after her. "I'll go make sure she doesn't puke on your carpet."

"Thanks, dude," Mike called after him.

Jenna picked her head off her pillow to accept one of the cups of water Tyler was handing out, wincing at the movement. Every action she did sent spikes of pain through her head and she had to keep her eyes almost shut or else her stomach would start swirling.

Mike and Eric were in similar conditions to her, with Eric slumped next to her on the table and Mike laying under it, curled in on himself in the shadows. Tyler was slightly better off, able to move around the kitchen and living room to make sure no one was dead or puking their guts out.

The award for the least hungover, however, had to go to Paul. Jenna propped her chin on her hand to watch him at the stove, frying up plates of eggs and toast for everybody. He didn't seem in any pain at all despite the shots Jenna had seen him downing last night, a fact that made her insanely jealous.

"Thank you," she sighed when he slid a plate in front of her. "You're a lifesaver."

"Yeah, thanks for doing this, man," Mike croaked, pulling himself off the floor onto a chair.

Paul shrugged. "It's the least I could do."

The next few minutes were filled with silent munching. Although her stomach rebelled at first, soon the food made Jenna feel better, easing her headache enough to glance around at the disastrous remnants of the party.

"Your parents are going to kill you," she told Mike, eying the number of passed-out teenagers still littered around his living room.

"Nah, I'll clean it all up before they get back."

"That's not it. I'm pretty sure at least three of your neighbors filed a complaint," Tyler said over a mouthful of bread.

Mike's face paled. "You think?"

Once they were done eating, everyone contributed to the cleanup of the place. With so many of them, all the trash was picked up and disposed of by noon. Mike insisted he'd be able to do the rest, leaving them free to go.

"Can I borrow a jacket or something?" Jenna asked Mike, helping him to drag a trashbag down the stairs. Paul was below them scrubbing spilled drink off the bottom stair and glanced up at her words. "I don't wanna walk outside in just this dress."

"If you can find any. I'm pretty sure Jess and Ang took some last night."

"You can take mine," Paul cut into the conversation. His hoodie was already in his hand, held out to her in offering.

"Thanks." Jenna accepted it with a smile, quickly slipping it on. It swamped her, dropping down to her mid-thighs and reaching way past her fingertips. It also had some of Paul's warmth and scent clinging to it, which caused a light flush to creep up Jenna's neck.

"That was fun," Kim declared when they finally stepped out of Mike's house, raising her arms above her head in a stretch. "Let's not do that again for a while."