New Girl - The Creatures

Chapter 24

I woke up the next morning to my alarm screaming its head off, letting me know it was a bright and beautiful 9 AM. I groaned and sat up slowly, welcomed by a pounding migraine. I made a beeline for the bottle of ibuprofen still lying on James' bed from yesterday, and only after popping two into my mouth did I realize his bed was empty. I turned around and checked to see if he was in the bathroom or on the balcony. He was nowhere to be found, so I sent him a text like the paranoid friend I am.

"Did you get kidnapped by an SVU perp?"

Almost immediately I got a text back.

"They wish, no one is getting their hands on me. I'm almost back to the room, don't worry"

I set my phone down and made my bed, followed by opening the windows to let the breeze in. It was a little warmer today, and the fresh air smelled amazing. I peeked down into the parking lot to see if I could possibly spot James but instead heard the door open behind me. I kept leaning out of the window, letting my hair blow behind me and feel the breeze on my face.

"If you die, I'm telling everyone it was Seamus," I heard James say. I chuckled and came back into the room. He had two cups of Starbucks coffee sitting on the table, and I could smell from here that one of them was my precious caramel macchiato. "In case your hangover is a bitch today," he said, gesturing to the cup on the right. "I have a headache but that seems to be the only thing, thank you," I said somewhat hastily, desperate for a sip of coffee. I almost chugged it in one go without realizing how thirsty I was.

James smirked, and drank from a rather frilly looking frappucino. "That's basically a milkshake, that's not even coffee," I complained. He flipped me the bird while slurping the whipped cream with caramel on top, looking very much like a little kid as he did so. Laughing, I went over to my drawers and got out my outfit for the day. It was a pair of high waisted black skinny jeans (knees ripped and all) a weird mix of baggy and fitted navy blue sweatshirt, and my favorite and very beat up black baseball hat.

"Don't come into the bathroom you pervert," I called as I closed the door, knowing full well that James' mouth was full of caramel to defend himself. I heard offended grunting as it clicked shut, and I chuckled to myself as I closed the door. After brushing my teeth and putting on deodorant, I tried to pull my hungover self together. I decided to put my hair into a long fishtail braid, kept my makeup fairly standard with my typical petite brown eyeliner, and got dressed accordingly. I walked out of the bathroom and slid my hat on, pushed up my sleeves and tied my Converse on.

"Very tumblr, good job," James snorted. I scoffed at such an offensive slang word and tried to find something to tease him about. He was wearing nondescript black jeans, a red Minecraft creeper shirt, and a gray zip-up over top. "Very... predictable?" I tried. He shook his head and laughed. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, checking around the hotel room for any last minute items we would need.

I grabbed my wallet and my phone and then gave him a salute. We locked up the room and headed down to the lobby where the others would be, in accordance with Jordan's say so at dinner last night. After a quiet elevator ride, we saw the rest of the group waiting in some loveseats, minus Seamus and Ash. I was glad to not have to see him first thing in the morning and felt much more energetic.

"Morning, whiskey lover," Max said, grinning at me. "I'm surprised you don't have on shades and are smiling," Dan said, sounding impressed. "Coffee is the only thing that keeps me alive in the morning," I revealed, quietly amazed myself that I was functioning properly. Jordan handed James and I our badges and lanyards, seemingly picked up earlier this morning. "Where's Seamus and Ash?" complained a very groggy looking Sly.

As if on cue, the elevators dinged, and out came the duo. Ash's eyes seemed to be puffy and they weren't holding hands like they had been last night. I was curious but chose to not comment, or even look at Seamus. "Good moooorning lovebirds!" Sly giggled, resulting in a rather malevolent look from Seamus. "Fuck me, okay! Eat shit too!" Sly recovered, still laughing but his eyes looked defensive. A couple of people chucked, some a little awkwardly, and Jordan lead our group back out into the Boston air like he did last night.