Page 75 of Perfect Chemistry

“I’ll tell you what, Kai. You throw up in my car and I will not talk to you again,” Bradley warned him as they shuffled down the street.

Kai seemed quiet and just stumbled along, “Tell Amy it’s ok. She can just do it,” he whispered out like he was accepting a life sentence.

Bradley was confused. “What? Kill you if you chuck your guts in our car? Dude, she won’t get a chance, because I will do it myself,” he informed him.

Kai shook his head, “No. Tell her I’ll go on the date with her fucking friend.”

Bradley stopped walking and looked over at Kai, “Dude, you are drunk enough. So I, as your best friend and wingman of nearly 15 years, am going to pretend that you did not agree to that. I didn’t hear it.”

They continued walking the last few moments in silence until they reached Bradley’s car. The lights on the silver Volvo flashed as he unlocked it and opened up the passenger door for Kai to get in.

“Do not puke in my car, Kai,” he warned him again before closing the door and walking around to climb into the driver’s seat.

Starting the car up, Bradley drove off toward his house. He couldn’t leave Kai alone like this. Fuck.

* * *

Kai’s Point of View

Shit. My head hurts.

I felt like I swallowed a mouth full of dog hair. Trying to open my eyes, I realized that I was not in my bed as I looked around the room.

Shit. Bradley must have brought me back to his last night. I can’t even remember what happened after I got to the Stone Balloon. I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep waiting and hoping for something that I don’t deserve.

I sat up slowly and looked around the guest room in Bradley’s house. I had slept off many drunken nights here. On the night stand was a glass of water and two extra strength Tylenol, with a note from Amy: “Take these before you come down.”

Grabbing the two pills and the water, I swallowed them down and finished off the water. I needed to get my life together. I can’t keep crashing at Bradley’s place when I have a shit day. I needed to just move on and settle down. I’m too old for this shit.

I shuffled to the bathroom across the hall from the guest room and finally got a good look at myself. I had dark circles under my eyes, and I looked like shit. Turning on the shower, I stripped out the clothes that I had on and cleaned myself up. The hot water cleared my head up a bit, and allowed me to think clearly for a few moments.

I turned the water off and grabbed the fresh towel that Amy always left hanging on the rack. She always kept the guest room ready, and this bathroom stocked like they had guests coming over any minute. I wanted something like this for myself. I wanted to be married and have a wife who worried about this kind of shit.

I grumbled some more as I wrapped the towel around my waist and gathered up my clothes off of the floor. Amy let me leave a spare set of sweats at their house for nights like last night. Maybe that was a clue in itself that I never saw before now. I was so pathetic leaning on my best friend, that his wife let me keep clothes at their house.

I pulled a black t-shirt and gray joggers out of the dresser in the guest room and got dressed. I realized that I didn’t know where my phone was. I’d ask Bradley if he had it when I went down. I folded up my dirty clothes into a bundle and returned the used towel to the bathroom rack.

Walking down the stairs, I could hear Amy talking in the kitchen; the smell of coffee filling my nose.

She turned to me smiling as I came around the corner, “Oh, good morning, Sunshine.”

“Hey. Sorry about last night,” I apologized to her, feeling my face heat up.

Amy smiled and nodded in understanding, then passed me a cup of black coffee. “I know you don’t usually drink coffee, but you might want this when I remind you of what you did last night.”

My hand paused as I accepted the mug from her, “Um, what did I do last night?”

Amy just looked at me and laughed, and went back to cleaning up the kitchen after making lunches.

Shit. Is that the time? I realized it was nearly one o’clock, looking at the time on the stove.

“You only promised to go on a date with my friend Lindsey. Don’t worry, I haven’t told her yet. Bradley told me not to make any plans before you sobered up,” Amy winked at me while smiling ear to ear.

Fuck, I need to stop drinking. “Um, yeah. Hold off on that until I get my shit straight,” I offered, smiling lightly. “By the way, have you seen my phone? I didn’t see it upstairs.”

Amy looked at me and furrowed her brows a bit. “No. Do you want me to call it?” she offered.

Can this day get any more embarrassing? ”If you could?” I smiled at her.

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