When October Goes

Chapter 10

I woke up with a throbbing pain in my head.  It sounded like Tommy Lee was playing a solo on his circular drumming track.  It was going around and around.  I couldn't believe I was still wearing the same clothes I had on last night.  My mouth felt as though someone had shoved thirty cotton balls in it, and the bright sun shone across my bed, causing the pain in my head to intensify as soon as I opened my eyes.  I saw the mascara smear on my duvet cover and could only imagine that my makeup looked like Tammy Fay Bakker's after a good cry.  There was a small, wet spot where my mouth had hung open all night.  It helped create my own version of the Shroud of Turin.  My hair felt matted flat to the side of my head.  I removed the strands stuck to my cheek and the side of my mouth.  Why I let him encourage me to drink more last night is beyond me, I thought.

I went into the bathroom in search of water and something to dull the knife stabbing me in the side of the head.  Although, the more I moved around, the more the pain turned into a skewer running through each ear.  It's as if my head were on a spit.  Thank God it's not spinning!  I opened the medicine cabinet and found some ibuprofen.  I swallowed them down with an entire glass of water.  I took a good look at myself in the mirror.  I felt worse than I actually looked.  My body just didn't recover as easily as it did in my twenties, or thirties for that matter.  After I brushed my hair, that was only slightly matted, I cleaned the smeared makeup off my face.  Then I threw my hair into a ponytail and changed out of last evening's attire.

The aroma of coffee wafted into my room.  Richard must have made some.  I'm glad I taught him the most important part of the morning, I thought.  I went to the kitchen and poured myself a large mug of the sweet nectar.  Oh, crap!  It's nearly lunch, I exclaimed silently as I looked at the clock on the coffee maker.  It's a good thing I hadn't intended on getting anything done today, I lamented to myself.  I grabbed some pop tarts and sat at the table.  The pastry crumbled in my mouth, leaving it drier than before.  Definitely not a good choice for hangover food, I thought.

"I could really go for some tacos," I mumbled audibly without realizing.  I knew I didn't have the same power as my mom had in Stars Hollow.  She could call in an order and have it delivered despite the fact they didn't normally do deliveries.  There were no places close enough to even consider tacos as a cure for my hangover.  I took a large drink of my coffee to help wash away the extra dry feeling the pop tarts left in my mouth.

"I can go get you some, Mom," Richard replied with a chuckle.  Of course, my son would do anything to help me, and all I did in return was set a bad example for him.  I'm sure there were much worse lessons I could teach him besides proper hangover food.

"No, Mommy is all sunshine and lollipops today," I retorted with sarcasm.  I flashed a big, fake smile.

"I saw you passed out on top of your covers," he said knowingly.  I must not have shut my door last night, but I could have sworn I did.  He must have checked on me this morning when I wasn't up at my normal time.

"If you must know, yes, I'm hungover.  Happy now?"

"Did you learn your lesson?"

"I'll be learning my lesson most of the day.  Let this also be a lesson to you!" I warned with a slight grin.  I hoped I'd never have to take care of him like my mom did with me.  He seemed to have a pretty solid head on his shoulders, but we all do stupid things.

"And what lesson would that be?" he replied with a smirk.

It's times like this that Richard really reminds me of his father, I thought.  It also made me miss Logan at the same time.

"I'll assume that was a rhetorical question," I replied jokingly.

"Mom, I've seen you way more drunk than last night.  Remember celebrating Founder's Day in Stars Hollow a few years ago?" he reminded me with a smirk.  "On a more serious note, how was dinner last night?"