See You Again

30. HANGOVER RESULTS

Sandra found out that celebrating in style had its consequences. She woke up with a horrible headache and a churning stomach. She laughed at her situation and her head hurt even more. Still, she had no regrets. Never in her life had she partied like that.

Without opening her eyes, she extended her hand to reach the bedside table where she kept her painkillers. They were meant for the legs but she had been needing them less and less and now they would come in handy for her other, more urgent, pain.

When the pain numbed enough, she sat in bed and the room spun. She laughed at herself again. She had been that drunk only twice in her life, both with Helen, and she wondered how her friend was doing. She picked her crutches and walked out of the room with the intention of making it to Helen's room. She didn't need to. Helen was on their sofa, in the living room, head thrown back. She had a can of coke open in front of her.

"Are you alive?" Sandra asked.

"Barely," Helen replied and laughed. "Ouch! Don't make me laugh."

Sandra sat next to her flatmate and they couldn't stop giggling.

"What a night..." Sandra said.

"Sarah is a monster! I can hold my drink but that girl is a drainpipe. I feel humiliated," Helen joked. "I bet she's looking great right now."

"I bet she is. What time is it?"

"Last time I checked it was past one o'clock."

Sandra laughed again. "Gosh, I hadn't been this drunk since that time in Uni."

"Really? Don't tell your mom! She'll think I'm a bad influence."

"She knows you're a bad influence, Helen, but she seems to think this type of bad is good for me," Sandra giggled.

"San, do you remember that night?"

"Of course I do. I thought you had forgotten."

"I thought you had forgotten too."

They held hands and smiled in silence at the memories.

"We changed the soundtrack," Helen suddenly said.

"We definitely did!"

Instead of belting Spice Girls songs from the balcony, they had run down the canal, Helen pushing Sandra's wheelchair, screaming CALIS songs.

"Thank you," Sandra said. "For everything."

"Don't be silly."

Helen's phone beeped and she jumped on it.

"What's that?"

"People checking in. I sent the message to the group. Didn't you see it?"

"I have no idea where my phone is. It's probably dead in my bag."

Helen let out a squeal of delight. "Yes, yes, yes! Look!"

She passed the phone to Sandra. There was a message from Nancy.

'I'm alive and so is Jim. He's here. Since we can't remember much of last night, we agreed to rekindle our memories for the rest of the day. DO NOT DISTURB!'

"I'm so happy for them," Sandra shrieked.

"Me too! They waited for so long..."

"How long?" Sandra asked.

"At least two years that I know of."

"Some people are worth waiting for..." Sandra trailed off.

Mark was back in her mind. Almost a year had passed from the day they supposedly met. They had been back to reality for over eight months. Wouldn't he have the resources to find her if he wanted to? That is, if he was real. She found it harder and harder to believe the Mark she met was the real Mark Han with each passing day. He was a dream, maybe, a projection of her subconscious mind telling her to live her life in a more carefree way. That, at least, was a good thing. She had never felt more joy at being surrounded by friends.

"What about Patty?" Sandra asked.

"Her husband texted earlier to say she's safe home but he thinks she'll be out until tomorrow. He was going to drop the kids at the grandparents and come back to stay with her."

"That's sweet, in a weird way."

Helen was still going through her phone when she screamed. She started jumping up and down, dancing around the living room."

"What the hell, Helen? What is it?"

"It's my fangirl moment, sorry," she said slightly embarrassed. "We made it to Lucy's Instagram. She's following me. And so is Sarah!"

"Let me see," Sandra almost snatched the phone off Helen's hand. "I don't have Insta."

A sequence of pictures of the previous night was posted, including the cutest shot of Sandra and Lucy.

"What is this?" Sandra asked Helen, pointing at an arrow in the top right hand corner of the screen.

"It's a DM. Let me see..." Helen clicked on it and screeched even louder. It was a message from Lucy.

Hi, Helen, hope the hangover is not too bad. I'd like to help with the Robocop funding but I'm a little tied up with our new charity launch. Have you considered GoFundMe? If you set one up for San, hit me up on Twitter. I can at least tweet it to get some attention. xx

Sandra gaped at the message. She couldn't believe it.

"Oh, my god! Isn't she amazing?" Helen asked. "She's going through all this personal turmoil and she still wants to help us."

"Wow! Sounds great but what's this GoFundMe she's talking about?"

"I've heard of it. I think you create an account, tell people why you're looking for funding and anyone can donate. Let's have a look..."

They had a look at the page and it was simple enough. They decided they needed some food and a clear mind to think straight before starting the work.

On Sunday, after consulting with their work team, Helen set everything up in one go. Sandra didn't appreciate the pictures of her still in hospital but she knew they were needed to show what she had been through.

"At least I have some hair to cover that horrible scar now," Sandra said, staring at herself at her worst.

"And short hair suits you, you know? Makes you look modern and confident," Helen said.

Sandra snorted. "Right... Let's do this!"

With the click of a button, it was live. They would be crowdfunding to buy Sandra's new prosthetic leg. Hopefully, they would make enough to get any adjustments and the first replacement.

Helen messaged Lucy with the link. Lucy kept her word and tweeted the Instagram picture of her with Sandra and a link to the GoFundMe page.

I had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful young woman this weekend. She's a fighter. Please help her if you can.

All they could do then was wait.

A/N: SURPRISE!!! I am updating this week! 😂😂😂

Linking the story to the drama to come. Don't hate me!

Let me know what you think. 😘

xx Love