Legal Prejudice

Chapter 11

When Allie woke early the next morning it was to the worst hangover she'd ever had. Gingerly sitting up she gathered she was at Susan's rather than her own apartment. Spying the water and tablets she gratefully gulped them down and used the bathroom. She staggered back to the bed and closed her eyes to stop the room from spinning. She lay like that until she heard movement, then removing her jacket, which she appeared to have slept in, she went back to the bathroom and found a toothbrush and paste by the sink. She brushed her teeth and splashed her face before going to see who was up and about.

Susan was putting the coffee machine on looking less put together than Allie had ever seen her. Susan and John's younger sixteen year old daughter Olivia was at the breakfast bar looking diapproving. "You guys are a disgrace." Susan clutched her head, "Be outraged quieter Olivia. At least until I've had coffee." Allie climbed up on one of the stools, "I'm too hungover to be embarrassed. Susan thanks so much for letting me stay here. I don't even remember getting back." Susan smiled, grabbed two mugs and poured the fresh coffee in, passing one to Allie along with a carton of milk. "You insisted Michael take your shoes off in the cab and he carried you to bed." Olivia burst out laughing and Allie faceplanted the marble counter in shame, "Noooooo. Oh my god he'll never let me live it down." Olivia jumped down having finished her cereal, "You're probably right. He'll be sure to mention it every time he sees you for the next five years." She groaned again against the counter before grabbing the coffee and drinking gratefully.

Having lined her stomach with some toast, Allie set off for the short walk back to her apartment. She took a shower and lay on her couch for a couple of hours and took a couple more headache pills before deciding some fresh air might help. She walked along the beach and back. The sun was warm and she lay on the sand listening to her head throb. A voice quietly said, "Look who it is, party girl." Allie groaned and rolling over opened her eyes to see Michael clutching two smoothies. "You look like you could use one of these" he said sitting next to her. Allie looked dubiously, "It's very kind of you, but I think I might be sick." Putting the smoothies down he grabbed her hands and pulled her to a sitting position, "No you won't, drink it, you'll feel better." She sucked the straw and Michael drank his. "Okay Michael, I admit it tastes better than it looks." she said.

She stole a look at him. He was wearing a sports vest and she could see the results of his workouts. "I've just noticed, your arms are huge." Allie said absentmindedly. He smiled indulgently at her, "Good job when I'm called upon to carry drunk girls out of cabs." She groaned and lay back down closing her eyes, "I'm never going to live this down am I?" He was laughing as he pulled her back up, holding her shoulders to stop her sinking down again, "Probably not Karaoke Queen". She groaned louder "Okay stop, so embarrassing!" She got up to her feet, "I'm going to lie in a darkened room 'til tomorrow. Thanks for the smoothie but I'm off to die quietly now." Michael was laughing again, but he caught her hand as she went to move off and said in a quieter tone, "Hey, I kinda liked party Allie." She looked into his eyes tying to gauge if he was teasing again and said, "Thanks for taking care of me." before releasing his hand.