Standing By

Home Free Pile

(Austin)

" 'Yeah, heel-toe, do-si-do, come on baby, let's go boot-scootin'," came blaring in my ear and I just lay there blinking a minute.  Heh?  What?  Who the hell was singing at this time of night? I squeezed bleary eyes shut, trying to ignore the fool and go back to my dreamless sleep.

    " 'Yeah, cadillac, blackjack, baby meet me out back...' "

    "Shu'up," I mumbled, barely able to get my dry, numb lips to move.

    Somebody in the other bed lifted their head.  I frowned, disoriented in my hungover state.  Who the hell was in my room with me?  Where'm I at?  Home?  Friend's? Hawthorn? Dorm? Hotel?  Lambda Chi house? Elizabeth's?  I wasn't even sure of much of anything. When he spoke, my sleepy brain couldn't even recognize his voice.  "The hell is that?"

    " 'We gonna boogie!'," the singing continued, and I buried my pounding head into my pillow trying to hide. "Make it sto-op."

    "Whassit?  The alarm clock?" he asked.

    " 'Get down, turn around, go to town!'," it warbled, irritatingly bright and uptempo and cheery for this time of night.

    "I hereby override any alarm clocks," I mumbled, reaching and arm out to shut it off.

    " 'Boot-scootin' boogie!'," it finished before falling silent.

    "Thank God," I mumbled, pulling the bedspread up over my head and squeezing my eyes shut.  I had just dozed back of when...

    "Dum-dah-da-dum-dah-da-dum!" something drummed out.

    "Oh good Lord," my unplanned roommate grumbled, sitting straight up and scowling.  I squinted at him through my hazy vision and decided it must be Adam.  What the hell was Adam doing in my room anyway?

    "Dum-da-da-dum, da-dum-dum!" it drummed out again.

    "Wha is tha?" I demanded, licking at the roof of my mouth.  It tasted and felt like I'd been chewing on cotton.

    "A drum?" was Adam's suggestion as he let himself fall back on the bed.

    "Dum-dah dum-dum-dum dum-da-dum!" it shouted out annoyingly loud before falling silent again.

    "Uh... Adam?" I asked hesitantly, still staring up at the ceiling.

    "Yo," he said, curling back up in a ball.

    "What you doing in my room?"  I closed my eyes.  The ceiling fan was giving me a headache as it spun lazily around.

    "I dunno," Adam admitted, yawning.  "And who gave the sun permission to rise?"
     I turned my head, squinting in the sunlight that was pouring in despite the half-closed curtains.  "Not me.  What time is it?"

    I heard him rustle around for a minute.  "9:51 AM."

    "9:51 AM?  Really?" I demand, sitting up and rubbing at scratchy eyes.  A contact lens popped out and onto the bedspread.  I licked a finger and tried to pick it up, only to drop it again.  It rolled off the bed.  I blindly followed it only to tumble out myself.  "Oof—owww," I moaned, laying in a heap on the floor beside the bed.

    "And I've missed two calls from Luke," Adam reported.

    "Who?" I asked, resting my poor head on the side of the bed.

    "Luke, Austin," he answered, leaning forward.  "Ohhh, my head."

    "Who's Luke Austin?" I mumbled, scratching the back of my head gently.