Chapter Eight
Lexi found me two hours later. With a new cup in hand I stumbled to my feet and met her halfway. 'Hey, what are you doing over here?' She was watching me cautiously, an obvious eye on the cup in my hand. I took another sip trying to remember how many of these Blake's cousin had supplied me with.
'Just taking a break.' I mumbled, my head feeling a bit woozy as I leant against her for support.
'You've been a social butterfly this past hour, I'm not surprised you're taking a break.' She supported me while leading me off towards the house. 'Have you seen Blake?'
I waved my hand off at the party with a pout. 'He left to chase after Ava. Haven't seen him since.'
'He's been looking for you.'
I looked at her with narrowed eyes trying to tell if she was being serious or not. She rolled her eyes with a huff as she pushed me off of her shoulder and down onto a lounge on the porch. 'Geez, you can't sit straight.' She huffed once more and plucked the glass from my hand. 'Who gave you this?'
'What?' I crinkled my nose in concentration while sloppily kicking my shoes off. 'I don't remember his name. He was nice, very welcoming.'
'Shit.' Lexi muttered patting her pockets down before pulling out a sleek black phone. 'Fuck. Blake! Answer your phone. I found Callie, and I'm sure she's drunk off her arse.' Once her phone was safely tucked away she looked down at me.
We were silent for a minute and I tried to stop the nauseating feeling that the world around me was spinning uncontrollably. 'He left his phone in his room.' I chimed happily when the wooden ground stopped zooming at me.
'Seriously?' I shrugged and she leant over the railing to look into the darkness. She started pacing, stopping intermittently to look at me, frustration clear in her eyes. We both jumped when the door closest to us opened with a loud bang and one of the woman at the party walked out, a tray in her hands. 'Miley! Oh thank god. Can you watch Callie for a sec, I need to go find Blake. She's not feeling well.' The more I thought about her words the more it started to become true, a pit of nausea started filling my stomach, feeling like it would overflow at any minute.
'Yeah sure. Just let me drop this off real quick though.'
Lexi watched her cousin hurry away and took one look at me. 'I'll be back. Miley will be a second, don't move a muscle.'
I nodded, but the slight movement pushed the contents of my stomach higher. I heard Eve's voice in my head telling me to grin cheesy, and I did just that, hoping to get rid of the nausea. It only took a second for the feeling to pass and by the time I had opened my eyes another drink had been pressed into my hand. I squinted at the boy and in my hindered state took a large gulp.
'Carl?' At the sound of her voice the boy scurried away quicker than I could comprehend and I couldn't stop my stomach from reeling again. I went to take a sip to quell my upset stomach but Miley was quicker and had the cup out of my hand before I could get it that high. 'Well no wonder you're sick.' She chuckled bringing the cup up to sniff at the drink. Sticking her finger in the liquid she brought it to her mouth to taste it. 'Ew, this is shit alcohol Callie. Remind me to give Carl an arse whooping when I see him next. He deserves it.'
I should have known it, but it still surprised me. 'I was too social.' I muttered to myself, but Miley heard it and raised her eyebrows in question. 'I'm never that social, not until I know you real well. When I have alcohol I become really comfortable around people.'
Blake rushing into view but hesitated on the steps. 'Hey baby.' He crouched down in front of me taking my hands as I let my head rest against his chest. 'Where is he?'
'He gave her another drink but when I came back he took off.' Miley provided handing the drink to Lexi.
'It's not vodka.' Lexi commented with a groan. 'It's brown liquor. He's been mixing them.'
'Shit.' Blake muttered squeezing my hands gently. 'How you doing baby?'
'I don't feel good.'
'I know baby.' He rested his lips against my head and I clenched my eyes shut, hoping somehow to drown out all the sounds and movement that were pulling at the linings of my stomach. 'How about we get you to bed?'
'But the party.'
'They'll understand, Cal. They've seen enough of you tonight.' Lexi patted my back in what I guessed was supposed to be comfort, but it just made me feel worse. Her words sunk in and I jumped to the conclusion that their family was done with me, that they were sick of me already. 'Is she going to be alright?'
I felt Blake shift slowly, as if to avoid disrupting me. 'I don't know. I've never seen her this drunk, she knows her limit.' Blake helped me to my feet but when I staggered under the weight of my own body he offered to carry me on his back. 'Can you let Mum know what's happened, but be discreet about it. Callie won't want everyone knowing what's gone down.'
'Yeah, sure.' I could hear the worry in her voice, but it didn't seem to click that it was for me until Blake and I were inside the house.
He sat me down on the bed, dropping my shoes at the door as we came in. He moved around silently collecting things before sweeping me back up off my feet. 'Let's get you ready.'
We were in the bathroom before I realised where we were going and I was sat down on the cold edge of the bath. He pulled out a makeup wipe from my toiletry bag and handed it to me. 'Think you can manage?'
I nodded and started to scrub the makeup from my face. He pulled a brush out next and nudged me so I had my back to him. 'Any bobby pins?' he asked and as I shook my head he tried to gently pry my hair tie from its tight clutch around my hair. 'Callie, why is your hair stiff?'
I reached back to touch the spot he was talking about and groaned. 'Ava?'
He rubbed my hair between his fingers with a sigh, 'you're probably right.' He thought about it for a moment before backing away from me and heading to the shower. 'Come on.' He encouraged me with a bend of his finger, helping me with the zipper of my dress when I stumbled over to him. 'Why did you keep accepting the drinks?'
'I didn't realise it was alcohol.' I mumbled feeling the warm water pound my back, soothing away the aches and tensions. 'I didn't know your cousin would try to get me drunk and he kept giving me drinks and I felt obliged to take them.'
'You're too trusting.' He sighed massaging my head with shampoo, warning me to keep my eyes shut tight as he let the water rush over my head. 'I should have warned you about him though.'
'Are you mad?' I asked my lips pursing and my brow crinkling in worry.
'Not at you baby.' He assured me moving onto the conditioner. 'I didn't think Carl would stoop so low.'
'You disappeared.'
He sighed running a hand through my hair and I sunk into the feeling. 'I know. After I chased Ava I got caught up with my Aunt, and the next time I saw you, you were talking to Jodie, I thought I'd leave you two to talk. I'm sorry, I know I said I wouldn't leave you.'
'I'm a big girl Blake.' I mumbled trying to blink the water from my eyes. 'I need to be able to fend for myself around your family, I can't hide behind you forever.'
'I know,' his lips pressed against my forehead in a sweet gesture, 'but it's the first time you're meeting everyone, I should have been with you.'
I wasn't in the state of mind to find the words to say to him, because while half of me understood that I couldn't hide under Blake's wing forever, the other half of me was upset with him. 'I just hope I haven't ruined anything.'
'You haven't. I promise, no one's going to know. Good thing you're not an embarrassing drunk.' Blake chuckled turning the water off to my dismay.
'Déjà vu right?' I gave him a week smile as we stood together in the small shower.
Blake laughed while shaking his head, remembering, like I had, the last time he had needed to help me shower. 'Except this time you're in no position to be taken advantage of.'
'You didn't take advantage of me last time, you were just being a good boyfriend.' I knew he wouldn't try anything like that night again right now, and I was glad, I didn't think I was up to anything like that, I was fine now, but I had a feeling that if I moved too much I might end up throwing up. I hadn't been drunk last time, just tired and sore from the gym and I'd forced Blake to condition my hair for me. He had done just that, plus more.
'Alright minx, its bed time for you.' He wrapped a towel around me, and when I complained about my hair, and how it would be unmanageable in the morning if I didn't dry it, he gave a small smile. 'I don't think your top priority in the morning will be about your hair. You'll probably want another shower just to feel alive again.'
He helped me dry it off as best he could before leading me back to his room. The three kids who were sharing the room with us hadn't shown up, even though it was nearly nine o'clock and the youngest was only fourteen. I felt like Nicole had something to do with their missing pillows, but I wasn't about to question it.
Blake made sure I was comfortable before climbing in next to me. 'What were we doing tomorrow?' I asked quietly, hoping what had happened tonight wouldn't affect the plans for tomorrow.
'Well I'm going to Carl's place in the morning. If you're up to it I'll show you the farm, if not we'll just have a movie marathon or something. Something easy.'
I moaned as I pressed myself against Blake, 'Sounds heavenly.'
'Just go to sleep, Callie, we'll decide in the morning.'
***
I hadn't slept well, I never did after drinking, and the signs were obvious on Blake, who'd been kept awake by my tossing and turning. He'd disappeared around eight and I spread out across both spots to try and absorb any extra warmth he had left. I didn't give up on decent sleep until ten when the smell of bacon caught my attention, and like the resurrection of Jesus, I rose from my bed. As I got to my feet I realised that I had a headache, but it was bearable. I just needed to drink some water and take some Nurofen and I should be fine.
As I entered the kitchen I added food to my list of things to feel alright. I cleared my throat and greeted Nicole. 'Good morning.' She had moved onto something other than bacon and I strained to see what it was. 'Would you like some help?'
'Oh.' She jumped out of her skin as she turned around. 'I didn't expect to see you up so soon.' She opened a cupboard and pulled out a glass. Filling it with water she handed it over. 'Would you like some paracetamol?' I nodded my head taking a sip of the water as she dug through a drawer for the tablets. 'My Dad talked to his sister, who's going to have a word with Carl, and he won't be invited to our house again.'
I didn't know how to answer her but she seemed content with my silence. She collected a plate of food for me and set me up on the island. 'Blake shouldn't be too much longer, he just went to tell Carl personally that he can't come around, Paul got him to do some work before he could escape, you'd think by now he'd understand that the boy doesn't want anything to do with the farm.'
'Blake wants to be a part of it.' I jumped in, hoping I could convey Blake's sense of belonging, 'He just doesn't want it to be his life. He loves his computer stuff, he's really passionate about it, which is a really good thing to be about your job.'
'Oh, I know. I can't remember the amount of times I had to drag him away from his computer screen, just to get him outside and with the others.' Nicole shook her head as she made herself a plate to join me. 'I don't understand where his obsession with computers came from, I understand why he started, but I don't know why he picked computers.'
'I understand computers.' Blake didn't bother announcing his arrival as he kicked his shoes off on the tiled floors. 'Uncle Jed made them sound fun.' He was carrying two bags, one looked like it was full of groceries but the other was more squared off. When Blake caught my eye he held the bag up, 'movies.'
Even though I could have handled a tour around the farm, Blake and I ended curling up on the couch and watching all three of the Star Trek reboot movies, with Chris Pine, before moving on to binge watch Criminal Minds. I'd been in and out of sleep as I leant against Blake's warmth, if I was still enough I could hear the sound of his heart pressing against his chest and it was like a lullaby for me.
'Reid or Morgan?'
I grumbled when Blake's question kick started my thoughts. 'Reid, honestly, if they ever get rid of him I'm not going to continue watching it. Snickers or Twix?' I eyed the bag on the coffee table with a small pang of hunger. I knew him, he had to have bought some chocolate.
He laughed at leaned forward to grab the bag, his movement jolted me from my comfortable position and I groaned. 'Snickers.' He answered pulling two from the bag. I hadn't been a huge fan of Snickers before I'd met him, but he'd soon got me hooked and I greedily stared at the two bars of goodness. 'Hot or cold?'
'Cold, cause then I can snuggle with you.' I nuzzled up against him and let my eyes shut but kept listening for things he'd say. 'Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry?'
'What?'
'Miley's coming out of her reckless diva stage but Val thinks Katy's going into...' Blake placed a hand over my face which effectively cut off my next words.
I pried one eye open to see Paul standing in the doorway seconds before I licked Blake's hand for covering my mouth. 'You need to come help me with something.'
'Can't Harry help, or Zeke?' Blake asked frustration seeping into his words as his father shot his eyes to me and then back to Blake.
'They've been helping ever since you left. You owe me some work.'
'I do not. I quit Dad, I'll help out, but you can't give me a list of things to do as if I still work for you.' Blake was tense and I didn't know how to help him. I was at a crossroads, if I defended Blake his dad will hate me more than before, but I felt like I had to do something. It didn't help at all that I didn't feel like it was my place to talk about family matters.
'You've gone soft boy.'
Blake threw his head back against the couch with his eyes shut tightly. 'I have not gone soft.' He bit back, I found his hand and squeezed it, hoping to convey my support for him. 'I'm working on my job, on building a life for myself, I may not have turned out the way you wanted, but I am who I am. I love doing what I'm doing, I love working for Uncle Jed. I love the city, and I love Callie, but those are all unrelated. If you have a problem with me, then you shouldn't take it out on her. She's done nothing wrong, even if I hadn't met Callie, I'd still be in the city and you wouldn't have been able to stop me.'
'You got anything to say girl? You seem to have quite the opinion when it comes to my family.'
'Leave Callie out of this.' Blake hissed as he pushed himself forward, covering me from view of his father. 'This is between you and me, she's none of your business.'
'She's only with you because of the money.' Paul said before he stormed off leaving Blake steaming at my side.
'What?'
Blake looked at me with a scowl and I hoped it was just the lingering effects of his anger at his dad. 'What?'
'Why would I be with you for the money, Blake?'
Blake winced and shook his head trying to clear away the anger. 'My grandfather is a retired miner, he's pretty well off.'
'The boat?'
'It's Nick and Klara's. My family has one too, but it's a bit smaller.' He sighed detangling himself from me so he could look at me without any discomfort. 'You know how I told you I was working with Jed?' when I nodded cautiously, wondering where this could be going, Blake bit his lip and tugged my hands into his lap. 'I wasn't entirely clear, I work for Jed, and he owns the business. He doesn't have any kids, and since I'm his protégé he's offered the business to me when he retires.'
'Okay.'
Blake laughed but it was tense as if he didn't want to be having this discussion. 'It's not exactly the small company I made it out to be. We do a lot of things, we have a security team, a teams to design apps, an advertising team and we even have a manufacturing team that develops all the bits and pieces that a lot of technology uses.'
'Now you're just bragging.' I teased not knowing what to say, I understood why he hadn't brought it up, it wasn't exactly casual conversation, but it was still shocking and it wasn't processing in my mind. 'You know that it doesn't change anything right?'
'I know that, but my dad doesn't even care to get to know you. If he did he'd know that money has nothing to do with it.' Blake turned his glare to the empty doorway and I started to realise that even though I'd thought I'd understood Blake's relationship with his Dad before coming, I hadn't even come close to grasping the tensions between them. 'He just had to go and ruin a good day.'
'He hasn't ruined anything, but you will if you keep being a grump.' I warned him kissing his shoulder through the fabric of his shirt. He gave me a flirty look barely giving me enough time to understand what he was about to do before his lips were on mine. 'Hey.' I mumbled against them, he kissed his way along my cheek until he was pressing soft lips against the tender spot just below my ear. 'Your family could walk in at any moment.'
'I don't think they'd all fit in the hall, baby.'
'Blake!' I laughed just before he captured my lips with his again and all conscious thought left me as I let out a breathless sigh.
Ta Da!
What's your favourite T.V. series to binge watch?
Later Lovelies xx