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Hangover

I woke up and had no idea where I was. Then I realized: the Treehouse. We had all fallen asleep in the Treehouse.

Lucas was laying across the sofa, with me curled up on his chest. Riley and Farkle were cuddling on the floor in front of the TV. Josh was laying on the bar, and Zay was laying on the table, half of a chocolate donut still in his hand.

I very, very carefully got up so I wouldn't wake Lucas. My head hurt. I tiptoed across the tree house and went behind the bar. I opened the ice box, where all the ice had melted overnight, and dipped an empty glass in, filling it with ice water. I climbed the ladder to the loft with one hand, holding my glass in the other hand. There was a table full of papers, another sofa, a telescope in the corner, and a small bookshelf. I sat down at the table and looked at the papers. They were all money-related. 

Most of it was receipts, and logs of different purchases and ways they got money. Just last week a relative of Zay's died and left him 15,000 dollars. They weren't kidding. They were filthy rich. Their family bloodlines went back for generations, and the money was piling up. 

I got up and sat down on the sofa. A tiny kitten slunk out from under the sofa and hopped onto my lap. It was silvery white, like Gala, the cat that I had seen in the kitchen.

"Hey, little guy," I whispered, rubbing the cat's ears. It mewed and yawned.

"That's Briar. She's one of Gala's kittens," Lucas was standing in the mouth of the loft.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" I asked, pecking him on the lips. He took my hand.

"No, I have a headache," he said, wincing. 

"Me, too," I said, smiling, "I didn't think we got that drunk."

"Me neither," he said.

"I have Ibuprofen somewhere in my bag. I just didn't want to wake anybody," I said.

Downstairs, I heard Farkle and Riley wake up. Seconds after, Zay woke up, too. Convenient timing.

"We should wait for Josh," I said, "We shouldn't leave him here."

Lucas snorted, "No, Maya, he won't be awake for a long time. He got straight up hammered. There were a dozen beer bottles in the fridge last night when we went to sleep. Everyone else was asleep except for Josh. When I woke up, they were all gone," he said.

My jaw dropped, "He drank twelve?" I asked incredulously.

Lucas nodded, laughing. 

We headed downstairs. Everyone was holding their heads.

"Your Savior has arrived," I said, getting the bottle of Ibuprofen, mild pain medicine, out of my bag.

There was a general murmur of relief and I unscrewed the lid and passed it around. I took two, then slung my bag over my arm.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, Josh'll get back in a few hours," Lucas said with a smirk.

We climbed down to the ground, another easy climb, but this one was slightly dampened by my headache, since the Ibuprofen hadn't quite taken effect yet.

I didn't bother to look up at the tree house, I wouldn't be able to see it anyway. 

I laced my fingers into Lucas's, and we set off towards the house.