Page 34 of War

She started the engine and turned the radio off. Bless her.

“That bag has stuff for your hangover,” she whispered, then she turned her head to back out.

I perked up. “It does?”

She backed out of the spot and pulled forward onto the road.

Intrigued, I pulled the bag up into my lap and looked inside. A bottle of water, a bottle of ibuprofen, sunglasses, a ziplock bag of toast, and another pack of Reese's. The sunglasses weren't even goofy or embarrassing, simply regular men's sunglasses. I could've kissed her.

I stuffed the uneaten Reese's cup inside the bag and put the sunglasses on my face. They dulled the light immediately, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I opened the water and used it to down two ibuprofen. The cool liquid on my throat brought intense comfort. I gulped it all down.

But wait... How did she know?

I capped the empty bottle, turned to look at Amantha, and asked, “What are you doing here?”

She spoke quietly. “I'm off work. I came to get you. Figured you weren't up to working today.”

That didn't answer what I wanted to know. I simply asked her. “How did you know I'd be hungover?”

Amantha glanced at me and smiled. “You called me last night.”

I frowned. “But I don't have your number.”

“Yeah, I got your number from Joey to thank you for whatever you said to Neo. I texted you, then you called me because you were too drunk to read the text. I figured you'd have a hangover today.”

Made sense. But...

“I didn't say anything embarrassing, did I?”

She held back a grin. “Nope.”

Ah, fuck. I covered my face with my hand.

“Liar. I'm sorry,” I muttered into my palm.

Amantha laughed and patted my arm. “You were fine. What do you want to do today?”

I groaned. “Go back to bed.” I moved my hand away from my face.

She clicked her tongue. “Sounds like a wasted day to me.”

I would've rolled my eyes at her but my head hurt too much. “Well, what would you suggest?”

“You can spend the day with Neo and me.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Do you expect functional?”

“Nope,” she said cheerfully. “As you are.”

I could do that.

“Fine.”

“Awesome.”

All I wanted to do was shut my eyes.

“Can I please take a quick nap?”

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