Rachael: May 13, 2014
I got up from the couch, leaving Hanna in the living room alone and went into the kitchen where Josh and Andre were talking about a SBNN fundraiser they were organizing.
"Yeah I think that sounds like a really good idea, we can talk to Avan about it when he comes later," Josh was saying as he stood up from leaning against the counter.
I darted past them to the fridge and pulled out another beer.
"Hey, what was that about?" Andre asked me, pointing to the living room.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't even ask." I sat down on one of the stools surrounding the island and twisted the cap off the bottle. Josh just smiled and went back into the living room.
"Oh Rachael, I'm so sorry I ever hurt Josh! I love you, blah blah blah! Same shit, different year," I muttered when Josh was out of range. Andre laughed at me and joined me at the counter.
"You know what we need to do tonight?" he asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"What?"
"We need to celebrate your freedom girl!" He took my now bare left hand and held it up. "You're newly single and you look too good to not go anywhere tonight!"
I could use a night out. I hadn't been out to a bar or club in so long with all the wedding planning and work and Sam wasn't one who liked the party scene, unless it was some swanky shindig the country club was throwing. My agreement to go caused Andre to stand up and throw his arms around me.
"Yes! I'm so excited! We're gonna have so much fun! I'll see if the two lovebirds want to join us." He started walking towards the living room but I quickly stopped him.
"Actually, no, don't. We should give them some alone time! Why don't you and I go somewhere!"
We agreed on a new bar that just opened in downtown LA. I hugged Josh and semi-hugged Hanna goodbye because my flight back home was leaving the next day and I planned on having the cab drop me off at my hotel that night.
"What are you drinking tonight, hun?" The bartender asked me. I peered at the various bottles behind the bar, searching for something that stuck out. Then I saw him, my dear old friend, Captain Morgan. He and I had a love-hate relationship. I loved him and he hated me, then at the end of the night, I usually ended up hating him back. I did all I could to stray away from him, but he found a way to weasel his way into my bloodstream anyhow.
I woke up the next morning, not sure where I was at first, until I saw the giant shoe and baseball hat collection in an open closet on the other side of the room. I sat up in the empty king sized bed I was in and thought about the previous night's events.
We started off with a few martinis then met some of Andre's friends and sat around a table with them and did some shots, then what? My mind drew a blank. How did I wind up back at Josh's and why am I in his clothes? And FUCK, what time is it? I'm going to miss my plane!
I scurried out of the bed and ran out of the room in search for my belongings. I had a couple hours to spare before I had to be at the airport and I still had to go to my hotel and get the rest of my stuff. I waved to Avan who was in the living room on his iPad. Josh was in the kitchen drinking something from a Starbucks cup and laughed when he saw my frantic state.
Josh: March 14, 2014
Rachael was a mess when she ran into the kitchen as I took the last few sips of my latte. I couldn't help but laugh at her appearance. Her hair fell every which way, mascara was smeared under her eyes and I'll never forget how sexy she looked in my old gym shorts and over-sized t-shirt.
"Well, good morning sunshine! Sleep well?" I slid a Starbucks cup on the counter for her.
"I gotta get out of here! Where's my stuff? I need to get back to my hotel!"
"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down. Sit." I pointed to the kitchen table.
"What? No! Josh, I have to go my plane leaves at 1!"
"Uh no, it doesn't. Because you called the airline and cancelled your flight last night. You were going on and on about seeing the pandas at the San Diego Zoo because you were watching this show about them on National Geographic last week and you just HAD to see them."
"Oh my God, no that didn't happen, you're making that up!" She sat down at the table.
"So in order to get you to shut up about the damn pandas, I told you that I'd take you sometime and I kept trying to get you to go to sleep, but you kept arguing that you weren't going to live unless you saw the pandas soon. So you got out your phone at like 3am and called the airline and moved your flight to Sunday morning."
Her head was on the table and she was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out of her. Her shoulders were moving up and down so fast that I would have thought she was having a seizure if I didn't know she was laughing. When her laughing subsided, she giggled, "Why didn't you take my phone from me?"
"You wouldn't let me. I tried three times but you just argued with me, so I said 'forget it'. You're like a 2 year old when you drink, you know that?"
"I'm sorry! Blame it on the Captain!" She got up and joined me at the counter where I was whipping up some eggs and green peppers with sausage. "Mmm smells good!" She exclaimed, looking over my shoulder before grabbing her coffee from the counter.
"Yeah, you need to eat. You threw up a lot last night," I replied, dumping the green peppers in with the eggs in the pan.
"I did? Wait so can you fill me in on what exactly happened last night? All I can remember is doing shots with Andre's friends and then I don't know what happened."
"Well, uh, long story short, you guys called me at 2am because the cab driver let you out on West 8th Street because you were both yelling at him for not going through the drive thru at Taco Bell. So I had to haul my ass all the way downtown to pick you guys up. And I couldn't let you sleep in your hotel by yourself because you didn't even know which way was up, so I brought you both to my house."
"Aww Josh I'm so sorry! Thank you for coming to get us so late! Where is Andre anyway?" She asked, looking around.
"In the spare room. He wasn't as bad as you. And I was still up because Hanna and I were fighting again."
"What else is new?" She blurted, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that."
"No its ok." I scraped the eggs onto a plate and went to the toaster to wait for her toast to finish.
"So who got the duty of changing me?" She asked, pulling at the Cincinnati Reds shirt she was wearing.
I smiled thinking about the way she looked in her bra and panties when I had to take her dress off. "Well, you threw up in the driveway when we got to my house. So there's dried Chalupa all over down there that I need to hose off later. And you got a little on your dress and I wasn't about to let you sleep in my bed with puke on your clothes, so I had to change you myself because Andre was already out cold."
The toaster dinged and I took it out and spread butter on it, "And you fought with me the whole time because you said you could do it yourself, but you only were able to take one shoe off so I had to do the rest."
"Oh," She looked down at the plate I set in front of her and blushed, "so you slept on your couch, I take it?" She picked up her fork and took a bite.
"No I slept in my bed," I answered, putting the pan in the sink and filling it with water. I stared out the window watching Driver chew on a stick he found in the yard, thinking about the way she looked laying next to me that morning. I never wanted something so bad in my life.
