All the small people

Chapter 10

I heard someone throwing up in the morning, and it nearly set me off. Luckily, I hazily recalled throwing up everything last night and even though I had a banging headache, I wouldn't be throwing up my guts. Hopefully.

Rani and I were sharing my bed and Theo was in Larney's since she'd stayed out last night at a friend's house. I paused. If they were here, who was throwing up?

I rolled my sleeping friend off of me and got up, my head tumbling. I used the wall for support as I made it down into the kitchen.

"Morning!" Charlie said far too loudly, facing the counter as he poured some boiled water into two mugs.

"Shh!" I admonished him, going for the medicine cabinet. "Too hungover and too early for your early riser shit."

He turned to face me and his mouth opened, eyes widening. "Your face... I—" He frowned and gave me a look. "What did you do?"

I got the little pocket mirror from the first aid kit and sighed. My cheek was split open and there was dried blood covering one half of my face. Whatever. I'd had worse. I grabbed the ibuprofen to stop the pounding in my head or maybe that was because of my face also. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro," I said, forcing a chipper tone.

A blur of messy blonde hair and an oversized black hoodie shuffled into the kitchen. Ugh, why was she here?

"She's here because she can be, okay?" Charlie said, answering my unspoken question.

My eyes narrowed at Holly. "But why? You got a house, don't you?" Trailer, more like.

She sneered at me, taking one of the mugs Charlie had made. "Not like it's any of your business."

Um, it hell was my business if she was living in my family's flat. But whatever. She could keep her little secrets. She grabbed the huge sandwich sitting on a plate in front of Charlie. It was stuffed with sausage, egg, bacon and hash browns. Great, now she was eating all the food, too. Just another mouth to feed.

Charlie rubbed her back soothingly. "Sorry, babe. I didn't think morning sickness would start this early." His eyes glazed over her with concern.

"Yeah. Woohoo for me," she grumbled and took a sip of her coffee. Then made a face and spewed it back into the mug. "What the hell?"

"Oh!" Charlie said like he'd forgotten something, twisting his own mug on the counter. "It's decaf. I was researching and apparently you're not meant to have much caffeine if you're pregnant."

She glared at him. "Seriously? I'm puking my guts up all morning and I can't get one decent cup of coffee?"

He winced. "Sorry, babe."

"God," she sighed then forced a sniffle through her nose, covering her eyes. "It's just... with everything that's happening and now this—"

Charlie put his hands on her shoulders. "No, wait, I can fix this. I can run out and get some now, I'll stop by Dark Bean and even get you a box of yum yums, okay?"

I shook my head at him. He was falling right into that pitiful trap of hers.

She blinked up at him with somehow wet eyes and sighed. "Fine, I suppose it's the least you can do."

He nodded and grabbed his coat. He pointed at me on his way out. "Be nice."

"Aren't I always?"

He shook his head admonishingly at me and left through the front door. I heard his footsteps echoing down the stairs as he went.

I ignored Holly, who'd instantly recovered from her 'crying' and was now messing with her phone. Ignoring her was as nice as I was willing to be to her and I made three mugs of tea for me and my hungover comrades.