Chances

Chances Ch. 19

1 Day Later

"Where the fuck is he?" I shout at the TV. It is now 10:00 in the morning, and Julian is still gone. It would have been helpful to know where he went in the first place.
I have two problems right now.
1. I am an excessive over-thinker.
2. Today is Sunday, which means I have to go to work tomorrow. It's still snowing.
Over-thinking in this situation is probably the worst idea, but I really can't help myself.
Seal a deal.
What kind of deal did they mean? It can't be bad, I trust Julian.
But do I? I mean, he does drink a lot. Maybe he's passed out in some bar, or in some hotel room with a random girl.
This is EXACTLY what kind of things I think of when I over-think a situation. This is just lovely. Just lovely.

I decide to go into the living room and mess around with his piano, thinking it might take my mind off of the worrying. I play John Lennon's Imagine first, yet it makes me sad. Moving onto Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, I have to stop. The melancholy tunes play with my emotions. With Julian gone, I'm insanely bored. Not even playing the piano, which usually helps, is making me feel better. I decide to go upstairs and sort through my clothes to figure out what to wear to work tomorrow. Since it's now Wintertime, I find a Nirvana hoodie with some jeans and Converse, then lay the outfit on the chest of drawers. My jeans are uncomfortably rubbing up against my legs, so I take them off. I come to the realization that my legs need a clean shave.
After shaving my legs in the bathtub, I climb into his warm bed and fall asleep.

1 Hour Later

I wake up to a loud banging on the door and clamber out of the bed. The impatient knocks on the door rush me, so I rub my eyes open and run down the stairs. Once to the door, I unlock it and in comes 5 hungover guys, 1 of them thankfully being Jules.
"Julian, I was so worried about you!" I say, hugging him tightly and closing the door behind them. He groans as they all laugh. I turn around and greet the unfamiliar faces. "I'm Fab, this is Albert and Nikolai, you already know Nick." The short one with curly hair says, using his hand to shake mine and point at each guy. "Hey guys." I smile.
"Want some coffee? It's pretty cold out there." I ask as they make themselves comfortable on the couch and turn on a football game. "Yes please." The one with the bob says. Nikolai, I think is his name. Another one with curly hair also asks for coffee, but Julian, Fab, and Nick don't want any.
After I make my way to the coffee maker on the kitchen counter, Julian follows and stops me. "Let me do this. Put some pants on." He says, or slurs, rather. I look down and immediately turn crimson. How embarrassing. I've introduced myself to these guys without pants. They all chuckle at me while I walk up the stairs to put on pants. I search Julian's room for something, and I find a pair of my basketball shorts. These will do.

When I come back downstairs, Nikolai and Albert are drinking their coffee, and the rest of them are just sitting there watching the game. I didn't want to be the 'Annoying Girlfriend' and ask where they've been all weekend, but I was itching to find out. I go to the kitchen and make myself some coffee when Julian turns down the TV to say something.
"We have some good news." He says to me across the room.
"Do you?" I take a sip of my coffee.
"We got a record deal!" Fab blurts out.
"We're now officially The Strokes."
I almost choke on my coffee before I put it down. Julian never told me he was into music that much. I mean, he'd played me some stuff on the guitar but, other than that I had no idea.
"Oh my god, that's awesome!" I say, pretending to know what they were talking about. Julian looks at Fab in an annoyed kind of way, then back at me with a sympathetic look. He gets up from the couch and goes behind the kitchen counter to talk with me. "Emma." He whispers closely to my ear. I turn toward his mouth and realize that I smell alcohol on him.
"What?" I say, now annoyed.
"Don't be a bitch." He slurs.
I look at his eyes angrily.
"You're fucking drunk." I say, walking away and going upstairs. I shut his bedroom door and set an alarm for 7 A.M. Time to go back to sleep.