Page 14 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“It’s hard to have too much fun.” Nicki smiled pitifully.
Zoe rarely got this drunk. She was used to drinking in professional settings and always paced herself very well. But tonight, she almost drank an entire bottle of champagne. It didn’t help that Tom was once again gone for an entire week, trying to write his own screenplay with one of his friends in France.
It didn’t help either that Zoe couldn’t stop thinking about what she would say to Julie when she’d meet her. Ever since she said yes to Yasmine’s job offer, Julie was all she had on her mind. It felt so exciting to finally get closure, and at the same time, it was terrifying to think about how Julie would react. Zoe ran through all the possible scenarios in her head, and even in the worst of them, she was happy that she’d get to see Julie’s face again. Would she have changed a lot since college? Zoe tried to look her up on social media, but Julie hadn’t updated her profile with a picture of her in years. She liked to think that Julie would still look pretty much the same - short curly hair, blue eyes and a kind smile - but with a little wrinkle here and there. Mostly around her eyes. Julie always smiled with her eyes, it would make sense that she would have some there.
“Are you feeling better?”
Zoe snapped out of it. How long had she been silent? She couldn’t tell the passage of time any more. “Yes, I think the fresh air is really helping.”
“Will you be alright on your own tonight?”
The question reminded Zoe that she would go to bed and wake up alone. She usually didn’t mind, but in her state it felt miserable. “I think I’ll be alright. You can start the car again.”
Nicki put the contact on and slowly pulled out of the parking spot. Zoe had completely lost track of where they were. It took only two more lurching turns for Nicki to pull the car over again, this time in front of Zoe’s house. Zoe struggled to take her seat belt off and opened the car door more abruptly than she intended.
“Let me help you.” Nicki got out of the driver’s seat and ran to the other side of the car. She quickly grabbed Zoe’s arm and helped her out of the car.
“Ouch, my head. Why is everything spinning so much?” Zoe didn’t even feel that drunk any more, she just felt bad. Physically bad.
Nicki held her up to the front door, then fished in Zoe’s purse for her keys. They stumbled into the main hall and directly headed upstairs, slowly but surely. Zoe’s bedroom was chilly. A window had been left ajar and the cold evening air seeped into it. Nicki led Zoe to sit on her bed, then rushed to close it. Zoe had her head in her hands. She felt so stupid for drinking that much. Most of all, she wasn’t sure if she would be okay alone. She was starting to feel sick.
“Do you need a glass of water or anything?” Nicki sounded far away, but Zoe heard the concern in her voice.
“Yes.” Zoe could feel the paleness of her own skin. She kicked her shoes off and lay down in her bed.
She closed her eyes for what felt like one second, before Nicki patted her on the shoulder, a glass of water in her hand.
“Can you prop yourself up?”
Zoe obliged. Her head was killing her. She took the glass from Nicki’s hand as carefully as possible and downed it. Nickiwas sitting on the edge of her bed, still looking concerned. Neither of them had realised how drunk Zoe was.
“If you need me to stay over, I can do it. You don’t have to feel bad about it, I’ll invoice you for my extra hours.”
Zoe’s lips trembled and she softly nodded. “I’m so sorry, Nicki.”
“Don’t worry Zoe, you’re allowed to get drunk sometimes. Especially when you’ve just finished shooting a TV show.” Zoe saw Nicki’s eyes flick to the other side of the bed, which was perfectly smooth and untouched. “Especially when your fiance is away, too. I’m sure it’s hard when you miss him.”
The truth is that Zoe wished she had been drinking for that reason: because she was missing her fiancé, because she was sad that her wedding still didn’t have a date. She knew it wasn’t. She knew she’d been stupid tonight because she couldn’t get a girl - a girl she’d last seen over ten years ago - out of her head. Zoe suddenly couldn’t shake the feeling that if Tom had been here tonight, somehow the house would have felt just as empty as it did now. She didn’t know how to explain it to herself. When Julie had disappeared from her life, it was a part of Zoe that had disappeared as well. Tears pricked at her eyes, which brought her back to how silly and drunk she was.
With an effort, she turned towards Nicki, and felt her headache start to clear. The room was still spinning but not as painfully; not being in a moving car any more was doing wonders. Nicki smiled encouragingly, then grabbed the empty glass of water and ran downstairs to refill it. Suddenly, Zoe had a burning question she wanted to ask Nicki. She knew she shouldn’t. She was her boss, for god’s sake. But who else was she going to ask it to? Nicki reappeared into the bedroom almost immediately, handing Zoe the glass again.
“I put some lemon juice in your water.” She paused. “I have no idea if that will help, but it seems like it could, somehow.”
“When did you know you were into women?” Zoe blurted it out before she could stop herself.
Nicki blinked. She was clearly not expecting this. “I guess when I started thinking they were cute?”
“Did you ever have really strong feelings for a friend? Like maybe not quite love, but just strong feelings?” Zoe was slurring her words a little.
“I think that’s called friendship. But it’s also possible you might have romantic feelings for a friend? I don’t really know how to answer that question,” her assistant answered cautiously.
An awkward silence filled the room. Zoe was fidgeting with her glass of water. Nicki scratched her head, then finally broke the silence.
“Are you trying to tell me that you have feelings for me, Zoe?”
“What? No!”
“Oh thank god.” Nicki sat down on the bed. “You really had me for a moment there.” She turned towards Zoe. “But what’s this all about?”
