Hot Mess (LBSC #1) | Completed

Chapter 4

Water flowed over my face and surged up my nose. Holy shit! I'm drowning!

I lurched up from the sofa, my face dripping. I opened my eyes to find Zoey standing above me with her arms folded across her chest, and a stern look on her face. An empty glass dangled from her left hand. She lifted an eyebrow.

"Have a good night?" she asked.

I ran a hand over my face and stretched, immediately regretting it. My head ached immensely, and the urge to puke was overwhelming. I knocked over the empty liquor bottles by my feet as I ran for the closest bathroom...which just so happened to be Zoey's.

"Hey!" Zoey exclaimed as she followed me. "Go to your own bathroom!"

Too late. I heaved up last night's nightcap, and what felt like everything I had eaten in the last week. Zoey came up behind me and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

I sat back and wiped and a hand across my mouth. I actually felt almost human. "Thanks, friend."

Zoey sighed. "We need to talk."

I got to my feet and tried to give her a hug, but she threw her hands up in front of her. "I saw you wipe your mouth with your arm!"

I left Zoey's bathroom with my head bowed, and my shoulders drooped like a chastised child. Zoey was right on my heels.

I went back to the sofa, and winced at the array of empty bottles littering the floor. I grabbed the crocheted blanket that Zoey's nana had made for her from the back of the sofa, and wrapped myself in a cocoon and lay on the sofa. I didn't remember drinking nearly that much. Actually...I didn't remember much of anything. I just knew that I was upset about brunch with my family, and about Quinn.

Quinn! I bolted upright, not caring that the world spun crazily around me. "Oh shit. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no."

Zoey rushed around the sofa and sat next to me on the sofa. "Reese, what is it?

I stood up and started pacing around the living room, my head in my hands. "Oh God, oh God, oh God."

Zoey stood up. "Reese...you're scaring me."

I clutched fistfuls of my hair and spun around to face her. "I drunk dialed Quinn!"

"You did what?"

"I drunk dialed Quinn," I said frantically. "And I think it was bad...like, really bad."

Zoey's entire face flushed as her cheeks inflated and she threw both hands over her mouth. Her eyes sparkled as she tried her hardest not to burst into the hyena laughter she used when she found something absolutely hilarious. "Like, how bad?"

I tried to recall what I had said in my message. I was pretty sure I told him I hated him...and that I wanted to kiss his face. I screwed up my face as if that would help me remember, and then I gasped and looked at Zoey in horror.

"I said something about it being because I'm black."

Zoey couldn't contain her laughter any longer. She laughed so hard that it echoed throughout the apartment, and tears began to stream from her eyes. She clutched her stomach and fell backwards on the sofa in hysterics.

"It's not funny," I said fiercely.

Zoey's laughter continued, finally dissolving into hiccups as I stood there glowering at her with my arms folded over my chest. When she finally quieted, she righted herself on the sofa, took one look at me, and burst into hysterics again. I couldn't help myself; I started to giggle a bit. Then my giggles elongated into guffaws, and I was howling along with her. I walked over to the sofa and nudged her over.