What If

16. Payback

8:39am Wednesday July 14th
Tijuana

Something was pounding. And it hurt. It took about two seconds for me to realize that was my own head. If felt like there was a hammer beating against my skull. What the hell? I groaned as I tried to open my eyes. The sun was so bright as it streamed through the windows, I had to raise my hand in an attempt to shield my eyes. I sat up and the pounding got worse. I pressed on my temples and massaged them to try to make the pounding stop. I couldn't hold back the groan that came out of my mouth.

"Good morning, sunshine." I heard a familiar voice say.

I pried my eyes open and squinted in the direction of that deep baritone I've become familiar with. Sean was sitting at the table by the window with a cup of coffee in his hand and a giant smile on his face.

"What time is it?" I asked with a scratchy voice. Did I have sandpaper for dinner? I thought.

He must have gotten up, because the next thing I knew, there was a large glass of water and two aspirin in front of me. "It's almost 9."

I took the medicine and water and downed the whole glass. "Thank you," I replied on a sigh. God, water was delicious.

"More?" He asked in a voice that told me he was still grinning like an idiot.

"Yes, please." God, I felt like my head had its own night club. Night club... Memories from the night before started coming back to me. We were at a night club last night. I remembered there were lot of tequila shots. There was a strange man and...dancing. I think I danced with-Sean? Got it was hard to think clearly.

When he returned with another glass of water, I took it and looked up at him. "Can you please tell me what happened last night? Because, my memories are in bits and pieces and I want to make sure I didn't end up dancing on tables or taking my clothes off." A chill went down my spine at that last part. "I didn't take my clothes off...right?"

He smiled as he returned to his seat at the table and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Well, I believe your words last night were, 'I want to let loose'. You wanted to do shots. A lot of shots. Then you asked me to dance."

I felt my eyebrows raise at his statement. Okay, that was better than getting embarrassingly naked, but that did not sound like me. Besides the night in the French Quarter, I've never danced in front of anyone. Not once have I ever even asked anyone to dance. But I knew Sean well enough to know that he was telling me the truth.

"What else?" My voice seemed shakier now. Nervous.

"There was this guy that came up to you. I didn't hear what he said, but it made you uncomfortable, so I told him to leave."

Okay, I know that's an understatement. I gave him a look. "You didn't punch him, did you?"

He smiled as he showed me the backs of his hands. "Nope. Unscathed."

My eyes narrowed. "You threatened him. Didn't you?"

He had an fake innocent look on his face that told me I was right. "It wasn't a threat, per se. I just told him to back off or I would be inclined to...take action."

"Mhmm," I said as I shook my head at him. Even though I was teasing him about this, I had to admit, it could have been a lot worse if that guy hadn't left me alone. Curious and scared to know more, I asked, "Anything else?"

He looked away briefly, making me wonder if I shouldn't have asked that question. "We danced for a while. When you were ready to leave, I drove us here." Another uncomfortable pause. "You fell asleep in the car, so I carried you to the room and put you in the bed."