Not What We Expected

3: Just Try To Connect

When Dec wakes up the day after, his head is literally killing him and all he wants is to just disappear. He tries hard to just go back to sleep by dragging the blanket over his head to make the surrounding darker. After some tossing and turning, both with and without the blanket over his head, he gives up and opens his eyes for the first time this day.

The process to wake up, open his eyes, sit up and leave the bed takes a good time, but eventually he enters the kitchen, says a tired 'good morning' to Jennifer, Jojo's sister, as he heavily sits down on one of the chairs.

"Or more like midday or lunchtime.", she says amused but with a soft voice, and she places a glass of water together with an aspirin in front of him. "How's your head?"

"Thanks", he smiles and takes a sip of the water, "Like expected I guess. Get what I deserved."

"But you had fun?"

"I think so... but honestly I don't really remember...", he answers, feeling embarrassed, "Where's Jojo by the way?"

"In the shower."

Dec nods slowly and suddenly remember that it's Joanna's birthday - it's today! Together with that realisation also a memory of him being really sick comes to his mind. And of all people, he thinks he remembers Anthony helping him in that humiliating situation and that makes him want to kill himself. Why Anthony, they had barely met! He guesses Jojo forced him.

What an amazing friend he is... Getting that drunk on her birthday party, which he knows Jojo doesn't like - or to be more specific - she doesn't like the outcome of that. And now, today, on her birthday, being incredibly hungover.

"She showed me the necklace, so sweet of you!", Jennifer talks again and interrupts his thoughts, and in his hazy world it takes some time before he really understands what she is talking about, so his silence makes her continue, "I saw on her that she really liked it."

"That means a lot...", Dec smiles right before Jojo happens to enters the kitchen. She smiles at him and her sister and sits down opposite Declan. "First of all, happy birthday!", Dec says, looking at her, "And secondly, I'm so sorry for yesterday..."

Luckily she doesn't seem too bothered by his behaviour the night before. She just happy he seemed to have fun the first half and that he got to meet Anthony.

"So, what's your thoughts about Ant?", Jojo's voice is excited, even though she must know the chemistry wasn't on top between them yesterday. No second-best-friends-at-first-sign.

"I don't really kn-"

"Remember?", she chuckles.

"Yeah, that too.", he gives her a small smile, "Did you forced him to take care of me? Humiliating for us both, how do you think we'll be able to even try to become friends after that? And I still don't get why you want us to become friends? He was pretty annoying."

"Since I met him, I have thought that you two are pretty similar, and I think yesterday proved that.", she says with a grin, "I promise you, when you're friends, you'll thank me!"

"But what if I don't want to be his friend? And no, I'm not like him! Because I'm nice.", he says and feels like adding, "And funny, likeable, polite and kind.", trying to convince her that he doesn't want to get to know Anthony and that she can't force him! But she just laughs and tells him to wait and see that she will be right.

The birthday continues like that, it's not much happening. They eat their late breakfast, or lunch, and Joanna keeps talking about all the things she means Anthony and Declan have in common as they clean up after yesterday. It takes some hours and when they're done Dec gets in the shower and because he cannot walk around in his pj's or his clothes from yesterday, he gets to borrow some of Jojo's comfy-clothes. He is given a baby-pink hoodie and she laughs at him for looking like a girl.