On Sturdy Legs

Since I'm Crazy

When I opened my eyes again, it was too dark to be morning; my head throbbed too much for me to really care. As people normally did, I made to sit up but found that my head hurt even more when I did and took a second to clutch my head before I felt alright enough to look around. Of course, I was still on James's couch, that wasn't a surprise, there wasn't another place that I really could have woke up on. And of course, he was still there. The reason it was dark was because it was still night and every light in the entire house had been turned off, every light except the one on the table across the room that illuminated a small circle. James sat just outside of this circle, not in the chair that was next to the table but in a chair from the kitchen that he must have carried over and sat in so he had his legs straddling the back and his chin resting on it too. James had put a good space of twenty or so feet between us after I passed out. It looked like he had been sitting in that chair and fallen asleep himself since his head lolled on the back and his eyes were blissfully shut.

I pushed the blanket off me to find that I was wearing everything exactly as I had been, even my shoes were still on. Only then did I slowly take them off and stand each one up on the floor. My flurry of motion didn't wake James, so I decided to make more and rose to walk to the kitchen. Somehow, I was hungover; I swore that I didn't drink enough to have this much of a hangover. Either way, there was nothing quite like hydrating after consuming alcohol, so I poured myself a glass of water and lifted myself up to sit on the counter while I sipped away at it.

The arrangement of James's house made it so I had a clear view of him, still asleep, even after all the noise I had been making. Sleep did strange things to people: Diego always looked more like a child than usual, Allison looked more like an authority figure than usual, and Izzy looked more angelic than usual. James looked as James as usual--he didn't de-age or soften, he just slept.

Until he didn't, as if my staring had promoted something, his eyes flicked open and James calmly ran a hand through his hair. I guess that James didn't wake up and wonder where he was. He saw me almost immediately and nodded. I guess James doesn't exactly wave; he left the chair where it was and came to join me in the kitchen. However, once he entered, he stopped on the other side do the island and kept up that five feet of space between up. I noticed then that he had changed out of the suit and instead wore a white T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that hung off his hips.

"How are you feeling?" James asked, but I couldn't read his tone--maybe that was hangover side effect.

"Hungover," I replied, but even as I said it, the hangover seemed to slip away and I was able to focus on his face. His face seemed to have aged several years in the last few hours. "I swear I didn't drink that much."

"You probably didn't," James confirmed, he set his hands on the counter in a forced motion without taking his eyes off me. I realized what it was in his voice: concern. "It's called R-2."

"Rohypnol," I groaned. Of course, not exactly one of the easiest date rape drugs to get but one that would mimic being drunk, even though I didn't drink all that much. "I didn't think of that, the only person who made me a drink was Madison and I only had a sip of it because I hate cosmos."

"It was probably in some of the bottles in the kitchen," James shrugged. It made me wonder how often he played the hero and pick up drugged girls from parties. His expression darkened and I knew what was coming next, "Ari, did anything happen? Did anyone...?"

"No!" I answered a little sharply. I was running through the party in my head. Zander tried to make out with me. I would guess that he put it in the drink, he would have seen me drink it and known that I would be out. However, I bet he didn't know that R-2 took thirty minutes to kick in. "He didn't get that far."