Truth Be Told

fourteen

Perry shrugs. "I'm just guessing."

"Do you ever shut up?"

"Never," Perry replies without missing a beat. "Is it true you never hooked up in high school? Like, ever?"

"Are you gonna shut up or am I gonna have to shove my fist down your throat?"

"Kinky," Perry says, but when Colin straightens in his seat, he immediately scrambles back. "Okay, okay. Shutting up now."

Colin glares at him for good measure. Perry flashes him a smile and then goes back to fiddling with his own phone, probably to post another dumb Tweet about his hangover. Rolling his eyes, Colin gets to his feet and leaves him to get a much needed shower.

Drew's already awake when Colin comes out of the bathroom.

"Rough night?" Drew gives him a teasing smile.

Before Colin can even think of a reply, Perry looks up to give him a look of despair. "He won't shut up."

Colin raises a brow. "That makes two of you."

"No. Don't lump me with him. Unlike me, Drew is not charming enough to pull off being annoying."

"Is that any way to treat the person who took care of your drunk ass last night?" Drew asks him, looking prouder than he should be. From where he's seated, Perry buries his face in his hands and groans. Drew pays him no mind and adds, "You all thought I was gonna get drunk, but look who's laughing now."

Colin shakes his head, but doesn't say anything more. Instead, he walks past them both and into the bedroom to get dressed. When he's done, he sits down on his bed, drying his hair with a towel. (He could really use a haircut, he notes.)

He's just about done with his hair when his eyes snag on a pink sticky note, only just partly visible from under the bed.

He picks it up and sees Sadie's neat handwriting. It seems to be a to-do list for her requirements, with only two items crossed out so far. There were dates enclosed in parentheses for every item, and Colin can only assume that it's the deadline for each.

She missed three of them.

◇

As always, he could be wrong.

She could have just forgotten to cross them out.

Just because she hadn't marked them done doesn't mean that she didn't actually submit them in time, right?

"Why does everyone look stressed out?"

Perry shoots Drew a glare. "It's called a hangover, dumbass."

Unaffected, Drew turns to them with a smile. "You want me to order some tacos? I got coupons from last night."

Colin's stomach churns, thoughts of puking flooding his memory. "Please don't."

"But I'm hungry."

"Not tacos."

"How about Chinese?" Perry suggests.

Before they can decide, however, the door opens. They all turn to find Sadie stepping into the room. She lets the door shut close behind her. Kicking off her shoes, she gives them a bright smile and lifts a brown paper bag with noticeable grease stains.

"I brought food," she says. "Not sure what you guys liked, so I just ordered whatever."

Drew's whole face lights up. "Holy shit, Sade. You are an actual angel."

Colin keeps his eyes low, his mind preoccupied with two things: Last night's stupidity and the sticky note he'd just found. Okay, make it three things, because Drew had just opened the paper bag and Colin's stomach, still half dead from last night's episode, grumbles.