Southern Constellations (Fuenciado)

Chapter Nine

I woke up the next morning with quite possibly the worst headache of my life.

"What happened?" I muttered groggily, slowly opening my eyes to take in my surroundings.

I found myself sprawled out on an unfamiliar couch, streaks of daylight filtering through roughly closed shades. Raising my hand to shield my eyes against the brightness, I pushed myself to a seated position. Sliding my legs over the edge of the sofa, I attempted to stand before being overcome with an overwhelming sense of nausea and having to sit down again. On the floor around me lay a crowd of maybe thirty kids, the majority of which were still unconscious. Strewn across the floor like discarded toys, some were half naked while others clutched at partially full beer bottles.

Taking a deep breath, I rose to stand again, this time managing to ride out the vertigo. I lightly stepped around the sleeping bodies, careful not to step on any miscellaneous fingers or toes. I noticed Rian and Jack amongst the zombies on the floor, although I didn't recognize anyone else. After taking a piss, I padded into the open hardwood kitchen, hoping to find Alex and ask to bum a ride home. Instead I ran into Jenna, who sat at one of the bar stools lined up at the counter. She held a steaming mug in her hands, and her dark makeup was smudged around her eyes. I could vaguely remember fighting with her last night, although if she had any recollections of it she wasn't showing it.

"There's coffee on the counter if you want any," she said, gesturing. "It'll help with the hangover."

I nodded my thanks and poured myself a cup; I'd never been much of a coffee person, but anything to dull the thudding in my head was fine by me.

I brought the liquid to my lips, taking a sip which seemed to burn its way down my throat. I swallowed hard, the cup slightly shaking in my unsteady hands.

"Have you seen Alex anywhere?" I asked, my head immediately throbbing at the sound of the words.

Jenna looked up from her drink, eyes sliding back into focus. "Last I heard he got his ass kicked for trying to steal to steal someone's bong at 2 am, although that was," she paused, glancing at her phone. "Over nine hours ago."

I gulped. "Did you say nine hours?"

She nodded, a "duh" expression on her face as she gestured to the morning sunlight outside.

Shit. Nine hours. That meant it was almost noon. That meant that my aunt would be awake and wondering where I was.

"Fuck, I've gotta go," I said quickly, placing the coffee onto the granite countertop and hurrying to look for Alex. He had to be here somewhere, didn't he?

I stepped lightly around the pile of bodies, trying to spot him amongst the masses. But for the life of me, I didn't know where he was. I kept looking for his shaggy brown hair, but it was hard to see when I was squinting to avoid the ridiculously bright light.

"Alex," I hissed, hoping to draw his attention without pissing off too many other people.

"Wha?" someone murmured groggily, shielding their face with their hand.

I carefully made my way over to him, at one point accidentally standing on someone's fingers. Luckily, they were way too passed out to even notice.

"I need you to drive me home," I whispered, squatting in front of him.

"So. Tired," he groaned, rolling back onto his stomach and burying his face in the sofa cushion his arms were wrapped around.

I shook his shoulder, my nerves intensifying as my headache slowly subsided. "C'mon, we've gotta go."

"Fine," Alex sighed, slowly using his arms to push himself up to a seated position. He yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head as he did so.