The Nanny

10

Elisia cracked open a bleary eye. She felt bad, really bad. Her head was pounding, her mouth dry but oddly watering, it had been a long time since she'd felt this bad. 'Oh no!' She thought grabbing the waste paper basket and promptly vomiting into it.

"Ooo she's hungover" Carrie called from the other side of their shared room.
Elisia didn't have the energy to form a coherent reply, her head spinning, so grunted in response before throwing up again.

"It's blue Carrie, what did I drink that was blue?" Elisia moaned desperately, examining her own vomit.

"Everything Ellie, you drank EVERYTHING!!!!" Carrie was coming over, stopping briefly at the makeshift kitchen to collect supplies "Take these" She said putting 2 tablets into Elisia's hand followed by a bottle of water. "Now brush your teeth and I'll bring you some toast from the canteen."
Elisia did what she was told, crawling back into bed despite the room spinning, unable to decide if toast would make things better or worse.

Carrie arrived back with toast within half an hour, and joined Elisia on the bed, feeding her patient pieces of toast.

"This is the worst hangover ever, what did I do last night to get this drunk?" Elisia moaned.

"Oh sweetie it was bad. You were drunk by 11 and spent the night pining over a certain someone" Carrie laid it on thick.

"Oh god, was I awful. I can't even remember getting home."

"No you were cute and very friendly, I brought you home when I found you drunk dialling that guy." Carrie laughed.

"Oh thank the lord you stopped me and brought me home, could you have imagined if he answered!" That would have been embarrassing, Elisia's relief was short lived.
"Oh sweetie that ship had sailed, I found you 20 minutes in trying to convince him to investigate why chickens lay different coloured eggs, apparently it should be FBI priority 1." Carrie was laughing so hard she was nearly crying.

"Oh god, oh no... this isn't happening." Elisia pulled the covers up over her head. How would she ever live this down, it was bad enough Carrie had unearthed her crush on Aaron, now she'd drunk dialled him, what else had she said. 'Do you know if I said anything else?" She barely dared to ask.

"No idea honey, but I'm sure he'll tell you on Monday if you ask him nicely" She was practically cackling now

"What do you mean Monday?" Elisia was stood up now "What do you mean Monday!"

"Well he's picking you up to take you on a driving lesson, it'll be straight from work so you'll both be hungry, and I'm sure being a gentleman will mean he'll tale you to dinner" Carrie was gleefully rolling around the bed laughing.

"Well you've certainly got it all planned out." If it wasn't for the pounding headache she'd be screaming right now, "Have you picked out my wedding dress too?" It was only half sarcastic, Carrie seemed to have everything else planned out.

"Oh don't be like that Ellie, I'm only trying to help." Carrie's face dropped, it was obvious Elisia wasn't just hungover, she was genuinely upset.

"You've got it wrong though Carrie, he doesn't like me, I'm just the paid help, and I think I'll be lucky if I still have a job after this".

"Oh sweetie I don't think that will happen, you're a cute drunk, and I'm guessing that you'll be even more endearing to him now. Men like your Aaron like a helpless woman to rescue. I'm surprised he didn't turn up looking for you." Carrie tried to soothe and reassured her but it wasn't working.

"It really isn't like that, it can't be. I'm just there to do a job, I can't be getting involved, it would make everything too complicated."

"Sometimes things aren't simple, it might be complicated but it might be worth it too. I don't know who hurt you or what your running from Ellie but if you want to be loved you'll have to put your heart out there sometime." Carrie leaned down and kissed Elisia on the forehead, Elisia snuggled down into bed, her minding drifting into the past
"Try to get some sleep okay" Carrie whispered tucking the covers around her.
     

            *     

Elisia spent most of the day in bed. While her hangover had worn off shortly after lunch, the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach wouldn't go. Calling Aaron was a huge mistake, how could he trust her with Jack anymore? and if he told the agency she'd probably never get work through them again. Carrie wasn't right on this one.

She felt resigned to her fate and logged onto the local craigslist page to see if there was any new jobs advertised. There wasn't. She considered phoning Aaron, maybe if she was particularly needy she could beg to save her job, but she felt too embarrassed.

Elisia was finally persuaded out of her wallow hollow by Carrie, whose craving for pancakes was too strong to ignore. Elisia threw on a a pair of leggings with an oversized jumper with rolled up sleeves and shoved her hair back in a messy bun, she wiped the smudges of yesterday's eye makeup from her under her eyes and off the went for pancakes.

Carrie drove the short distance to the IHOP and once they were parked the girls made their way inside. Still stuck in her own head Elisia had only got half way across the carpark it shared with the local dry cleaners, head down not paying attention when she collided with a particularly hard chest.

"Well this must be some hangover" the familiar voice of Aaron laughed his arms coming around holding Elisia steady by the shoulders.

Elisia turned a fetching shade of beetroot, looking down at her feet she mumbled an apology, out of everyone she could have walked into it had to be Aaron, she felt terrible and was sure she looked worse. There was so many things she needed to say but her tongue felt two sizes two big for her mouth and there was this lump in her throat. She felt her eyes starting to fill with tears and blinked rapidly.

"Hey, hey, what's this about?" The thumb and forefinger of his right hand was cradling her chin, gently tilting it up towards him. She noted how handsome he looked, even with his brow furrowed in concern. He was wearing another quarter zip and in her head she wondered how many similar ones he had. Aaron certainly had his own particular uniform for every occasion. A suit for work, polo and a quarter zip for home. 

Elisia tried to answer his question, her mouth opening then closing, then opening again, but nothing came out. It was all too much, all she wanted was a pancake, but instead she was face to face with Aaron, her mind was racing, playing our scenarios where he fired her on the spot.

Aaron smiled at her, a kind smile, he took her face in his hands, wiping away the rogue tears which had fallen, "I'm glad you bumped into me actually." His voice was gentle, speaking to her as if she was a wild animal who may bolt "I'll probably be off work a little late Monday so would 7pm be okay for our drive, Jack is will be at his aunt's house so I thought we could maybe grab a bite to eat somewhere on the way"

Elisia felt her body relax and let out a half sob/ half laugh, "So I'm not fired?"

"Why would you be fired?" He seemed genuinely confused.

"I called you, I was drunk" it seemed so obvious to her.

"I've been woken up at 1am with much worse than a drunken call, don't beat yourself up. Plus if it wasn't for you I wouldn't know about all the corruption in the egg industry, I plan on setting up the eggs-B-I task force just as you reccomended first thing tomorrow." He laughed and Elisia found herself  joining in, feeling both the relief and embarrassment of the situation. "Now how does 7pm sound? if I'm not called away that is."

"7 sounds good." Elisia responded finally able to collect herself. "But right now, pancakes sound better and I believe I've lost Carrie" She needed to make a speedy exit.

"Ah, I think she's watching from the door. You better be quick or she'll be ordering without you." With that Aaron unhanded her and Elisia waved goodbye as she walked towards the familiar building.

"See I told you everything would be fine." Carrie said, pulling her in from the side for a hug and planting a kiss on her temple, she was looking far too pleased with herself "It's all coming together swimmingly."

"If you say so"

"Yes I do say so, now hurry I need to get my pancake on."