Page 7 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
Chapter Three
Blinding white light shone behind my eyes, turning my world from dark and comfortable to bright and painful.
“Oh my god,” I groaned. My mouth felt like I’d slept with cotton in it and my eyes seemed glued shut.
I flopped over onto my front to bury my face in the pillow and hide from the light. I realized my mistake when the world spun, and my stomach heaved.
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, passing a towel-wrapped Frankie to dive for the toilet.
“Whoa!” She backed to the edge of the hall as I passed and then peeked into the bathroom while I heaved. “Fun night?” I didn’t even have the brainpower to process the teasing note in her voice before I face-planted onto the tile floor, looking for a cool surface to stabilize me.
“Apparently,” I said around the bile flavored sand coating my mouth. There were faint traces of maraschinocherries on my lips, and fuzzy memories of ordering cherry martinis after last night’s failed date flitted in and out of my foggy brain.
“Drink water. Put a little salt in it and when you’re ready, eat some eggs—with more salt.” She rattled this off like a hangover pro, though I rarely saw her drink in all the years we’ve lived together.
I still couldn’t quite lift my head, so I just gave her a thumbs up and spread out further on the cool tile floor.
“Turn the light off.”
“Sorry hon, but that ‘light’ is the sun and last I checked, I could not turn it off. At least, not without risking killing everyone and everything.” She still stood, leaning against the doorjamb, with her towel wrapped around her, water dripping on the floor.
“That would be ok.”
She just laughed, the sound too loud and grating on my poor, abused body.
“Come on sleepyhead, you’ll feel better when you get some water.”
“You’re the devil.” I stood and followed her laughter to the kitchen, though. Hopefully, she proved right, and water would help. Anything to end this misery.
She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and handed it to me, which was… weird. I looked at her again. She bit her lips, her eyes sparkling with laughter, though I didn’t know why she held back since she’d already laughed at me this morning.
“What is it?” I tried to run my fingers through my hair and caught on the tangled, matted curls. My dress from last night sat crooked on me, showing more to Frankie than I’d usually be comfortable with, but I didn’t have it in me to care right now.
“Just get your water.”
“Ok.” I didn’t have the energy to figure out this game. My headache worsened by the minute and at the mention of water, my body remembered it had needs and my throat felt drier than ever.
Frankie snorted once behind me while I filled my water, my forehead resting on the cool stainless steel of the fridge.
“Just tell me,” I said.
“The note by the dispenser.”
“What?” I lifted my head and sure enough, some of my bright pink note paper stuck out from behind a hamburger magnet Frankie bought for me the last time she visited Nevada.
Today was not the day for a joke, but I pulled it out anyway.
My handwriting stared back up at me, but no matter how much I blinked, I couldn’t bring it into focus.
I gulped down some water, and salt hit my tongue. Frankie must have put some in while I stared at the paper. The water felt like a godsend to my parched body, and I tilted my head back in relief as I felt the cool water move to my empty stomach.
I wanted to guzzle it, but I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep it down if I did. One more sip and then I tried reading the note I left for myself last night.
“What. The. Fuck.”
Frankie burst out laughing behind me and I spun toward her. Whoa, not ready for that.
“What the hell is this?” I thrust the note at her.
