A Lonely Road

Drunk Words, Sober Thoughts

His first thought was that his head hurt like hell. The second, that his eyelids felt like they were cemented shut. A familiar floral smell teased his nostrils, and he heard a few thuds as someone stumbled around his room, magnified by his over sensitive ears, the migraine pounding at the back of his skull. He raised a hand slowly, still having yet to open his eyes, and felt the edges of thread underneath his hair. He couldn't remember what had happened, not anything past Kaelie getting thrown against a wall.

He wrenched his eyes open at the thought, the room was blurred and fuzzy, but he could see a flash of red in the corner moving around. "Kaelie?" His voice barely carried any sound, and came with a sandpaper pain, and he wondered for the first time how long he'd been out. She jumped and turned, lacking her usual fluid grace, and knocked more stuff off the dresser and onto the floor.

"Oh! Jace! You're awake, yay," she said, her voice higher pitched than usual, the words coming out slow and drawn out, like she was forcing her tongue to make them the right way. "That's good, that's good, you see, I'se really starting to think you was dead and all that, and that would just be really irritating and all and-"

"Kaelie, are you drunk?" he interrupted, noting she had a large glass bottle, with maybe an inch of amber liquid left in it clutched in her hand. She'd taken off her cast too, he saw, and her wrist looked stiff.

"Hmm?" she asked. "Oh. Drunk. Am I drunk?" She looked down at herself and then back at him. "Oh yeah, definitely drunk, or I'm getting there, at least. Takes a lot, you know?"

She wobbled towards him, leaning down to whisper in his ear conspiratorially. "It's because I'm genetically engineered. Like a lab rat. I might not even be real," she said, tapping her temple, and then looking heartbroken at the last few words she spoke. "Am I real, Jace? You're real."

His head spun at her mood swing, and it was not helping the pounding. "Kaelie, why don't you give that to me?" he said, nodding his head towards the bottle.

She pouted at him, clutching it to her chest, and stumbling back again. "Jace, I can't. Mr. Daniels is my friend, I have to finish it, I said I would!" She pushed her lower lip out farther, and Jace almost cracked, just because she looked so comical and convincing.

He wiggled his fingers again. "No, Kaelie, it's okay. Mr. Daniels will understand, just let me see him, okay?" She hung her head, making a sad noise in her throat as he pull the bottle out of her hand and set it on the floor next to him. He patted the bed beside him, gesturing at her to come and sit, and she bounced on to the bed next to him.

He winced, and her face fell. "I hurt you?" she said, crestfallen. "Oh man, sometimes, I just don't even know how strong I am. I'm sorry. Let me fix it!"

And then her damp lips were on his face, dropping tiny kisses everywhere, across his cheeks, his forehead and chin, the bridge of his nose, his ears and eyebrows, and finally his lips, gentle pecks, but he could taste the whiskey on her, and smell it's sweetness on her breath. She whispered 'sorry' between each one, until he finally put his hands on her face to stop her.

"Kaelie, stop, you didn't hurt me. What happened? How long have I been asleep?"

"Oh you weren't asleep, silly, that Hunter punched you in the face and you hit your head on your way down. I had to give you stitches! The others are back in the states, but I wouldn't leave, not until you woke u-" her voice trailed off as her head dropped onto his chest and she passed out, soft snores escaping her parted lips.

He smiled down at her fondly, felt sleep tugging him back under. When he awoke, several hours later, she was gone, and so was the bottle. He rolled out of bed, but crashed to the floor when his legs gave out after what he was going to assume was days of disuse. His headache had faded to a dull throbbing, and he stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he found Kaelie in a large t-shirt, a messy ponytail, and long socks, pouring the rest of the Jack down the drain and cleaning the kitchen.