Sweetest Downfall

01: Sweetest Hangover

I think it was the urge to throw up that woke me.Or maybe the blinding lights streaming through the window. Or I don't know, maybe it was the unending pounding in my head, like something was trying to knock it open with a fucking hammer.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and rubbed my forehead. 

God. That was some party last night.

I  hopped off the bed and was about to head to the bathroom when Annabelle came out with only the white dress shirt I was wearing last night on her, and a seductive smile on her face.

Well, I think she thought it was seductive. Maybe I would have too if I didn't have a splitting headache or the urge to spill the contents of my stomach onto the floor.

"Do you wanna go grab some breakfast, baby?" she asked, walking towards me and dragging a finger down my chest.

"Actually, I think you should go." I said, grabbing her wrist.

She looked up at me, eyes accusing. "Fine."

She started to gather her clothes from last night, while I walked to the bathroom and started washing my face. A few minutes later, I heard the door shut.

When I was done with my morning routine, I headed to the kitchen to get some aspirin for my headache that was just not letting up. To my surprise, I found Jake and Charlie already there.

"Well, good morning to you, Sunshine! I see you're enjoying this lovely Saturday morning." Jake exclaimed, abnormally loud, earning a glare from me.

Charlie rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head.

"What are you guys doing here?" 

"Well, there wasn't any food in Jake's apartment so... here we are! And besides, Nick," Charlie says, opening the fridge and starting to shuffle around, "I knew you'd have a hangover worse than Jake, so really, you should be thanking me."

Now that I think about it, I actually should. All the males in our little group were hopeless when it came to cooking. If we weren't friends with Charlie or Cassidy, the rest of us would probably have to spend a fucking fortune ordering in and eating out.

And speaking of Cassidy...

"Where's Cass?"

Charlie cleared her throat awkwardly. "Derek stayed the night."

Oh. Cassidy and Charlie shared an apartment a floor below me, Jake and Parker, who all had our own. Anyways, none of us really liked Derek. Sure, we tolerated him because he was dating Cassidy, but only because of that. He was a real arrogant guy, and a total jackass too. He made Cassidy cry often, and we've all tried to talk her out of the relationship, but she was the most stubborn out of all of us. Charlie absolutely hated him. The thing about her is that she feels really strongly about certain things, her friends being one of them. Every time Derek would stay over, she would sleep at Jake's, Parker's, or my apartment. She couldn't stand being in the same room as him.

"Yeah, so she stayed over at mine!" Jake said, scooping another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

I raised an eyebrow at Jake at that. It was so blatantly obvious that Jake had a thing for Charlie, and so did she. They both denied it, though, telling us we'd all lost our heads. We haven't brought it up again, cause we were good friends like that.

"She's probably going to come over later, once he's gone. I heard them talking last night, and Derek said he had work today." Jake spoke.

Charlie let out a sigh of relief. "The Lord is good. Hallelujah."

Later on, a stack of waffles was placed in front of us, along with scrambled eggs, bacon and French toast. 

"Charlie, you are a goddess." I complimented her, grabbing two waffles and some bacon. Jake being Jake, also grabbed a ton of food even though he'd already had cereal.

"I'm here!" a muffled voice sounded. Footsteps echoed along the walls, and Cassidy appeared, sitting down on the stool next to me. 

"Derek gone?" I asked.

She nodded her head, grabbing some eggs and bacon, along with some OJ. "Yeah, he had to work today." she pouted. "That's okay though! We're going on a date tonight. Don't wait up, Charlie. I'm staying over at his tonight." she giggled.

"Sure," Charlie replied. She's pretty good at pretending she liked Derek - or rather, could stand Derek. Now that I think about it, we all were.

"Staying over where?" Parker comes in then, throwing his cap on an empty space at the counter.

"Derek's." said Cassidy.

Parker narrowed his eyes. "Right... Anyways, Nick, the Jefferson account just opened up, and people are like prowling tigers. We have to get that account, man. You know how much the commission is."

I groaned. Ugh. It was too early in the morning for fucking work and thinking of accounts, but I knew he was right. "Ugh, yeah, let's work on it after lunch. I think we'll get it, though. We've proved ourselves, and we've been working harder than anyone the past month."

Cassidy groaned just then. "Yes, Nick. Work on it after lunch. Let's just have a peaceful breakfast without any talk of matters that could stress us out, because it's so goddamn early!" 

Parker turned to her. "Cass... I'm really sorry, but it would be really good for us if we took this on as soon as possible."

Cassidy pouted, "Please?"

Parker shook his head, turning away. "Fine."

Cassidy laughed in joy. "Love you!"

"Anything for my bestest friend," Parker said, giving her a grin.

We all kind of froze for a moment. Parker and Cassidy used to date. And they were really serious. I don't really know what happened, but they broke it off, but we all we know is that right after they broke up, Cassidy was really torn up, and now Parker was acting as if he still loved her that way.

Charlie's phone rang suddenly, and she answered it. "Hello?"

Suddenly, her eyes sprang up to mine. "I'm great, how 'bout you?... Oh, that's great, yeah!..." Suddenly, she gasps, and her eyes widen. Now she's looking everywhere but me. "You are?"

Everybody's staring at her now, wondering why she was acting this way.

"Yeah... Yeah, I can't wait to see you too. Everyone's gonna be so excited..." she looked down, biting her lip when she said that.

"Okay. Bye..." she said, hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Jake asked.

Charlie gulped, her eyes flitting all around the room. "That was Ava." she said. All eyes turned to me. "She's coming back."

Now it was my turn to gulp.

I think that splitting headache was starting to come back.