Please Mind The Gap #1

12: Please mind the birthday

12: Please mind the birthday

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Nathan woke up groggily to find Teddy snuggled up beside him, her head resting on his chest. He blinked and stared at her sleeping form, honey blond and fiery red strands in disarray, splayed across his chest. Then he gently placed her head off him and looked around.

It was morning. Sunlight was streaming in bright golden rays from the uncovered windows. Brent and Keith were snoring senseless and Andrew was sleeping silently near an empty tequila bottle. Five shot glasses were lying side by side and...

Ughhh. Nathan groaned in pain as he realized that his head had a splitting headache, like someone was chopping it in half with an axe. Then he felt his stomach lurch and a minute later, he ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet.

When he came back feeling terribly sick, Teddy was stirring. Nathan absentmindedly smiled as Teddy groaned and clutched her head.

"Happy birthday," she mumbled, slurring her words. "Happy birthday to me."

Nathan blinked. "It's your birthday?"

"Yeah," she whispered. Her face contorted into a confused frown. "Wait...what?"

"Today?" Nathan asked. He didn't know. Nothing was planned...

"Happy birthday," she mumbled again and grinned blindly in his direction, her eyes still closed. Then she opened them and seemed to realize who she was talking to. "Hey. Nathan?"

"Yeah?" Nathan replied, his mind filled with plans for her birthday. Today? What would he do?

"Come here," she whispered.

Startled by her gentle tone, he knelt on his knees and crouched down close to Teddy's lying form. "Yeah?"

"Nathan," she said softly and smiled. "I..."

Nathan's head was filled with concurrent thoughts. Kiss her! What'll I do for her birthday? No, you idiot. Then somehow his thoughts led to the mirror in the bathroom for no reason. How do I look? Was there a mirror in the bathroom? Why did I not look in the mirror in the bathroom? Because I was puking my intestines out. But... still! The mirror could have told me if I looked like crap or not...

"I... HATE YOU!" Teddy yelled unexpectedly, slapping him across the cheek. "You daft dimwitted bonbon! Why did you kiss me last night?!"

Now his mind was totally blank, and his cheek was stinging from Teddy's slap. "You kissed back!" he managed as a comeback. "You kissed back so don't you dare blame me!"

She stopped. "I didn't kiss back," she protested lamely.