Chapter ten! My longest story yet! It sounds lamely short, given how long I would like it to be, but I'm working on it! This chapter is wayyyyy late, because I just started school. From now on, I'll update when I can. Whenever that is.

Annie eyed the bottle of Patron. It looked particularly inviting now. Shame there was no one else to get drunk with. She remembered Auggie saying he wasn't doing anything that night, so she called him.

"Hey Aug! I need a drinking partner for tonight. Are you game?"

"Sure. You still got that bottle of Patron?" Auggie asked, wondering why Annie seemed to want to get drunk.

"Yep. I'm looking at it. And a beer with your name on it."

"Sounds great. I'll call a cab and be right over." Auggie hung up (without saying goodbye) and called the car service immediately.

Annie sighed. She just wanted to forget about the whole damn thing. So what if she had gotten into a shouting match? So what if Joan had "strongly suggested" she take the next day of? So what? Why did any of it matter?

She threw a pillow against the wall and then noticed she was still in her work clothes. She quickly changed, and then went back to brooding.

When Auggie showed up, he was quick to ask questions. "Annie, why were you yelling today at work?" he asked, taking a first sip of his beer.

"Well, Jai was being an asshole. He said that reading in my sister was a mistake. So I said it was just my personal business. But then he said it wasn't, that only someone truly foolish like you would have advised me to do it. And then we may have started yelling at each other. And then Joan told me not to come in tomorrow."

When she finished speaking, Annie took a long drink from her beer.

"And so your getting drunk? Isn't that just the tiniest bit of an overreaction?" Auggie asked. Annie may have been his best friend, but still.

"Well, no. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's been a long week." Annie was tired. She needed the weekend. Unfortunately, it was coming a day early, thanks to her own stupid.

"Annie." Auggie said after a silence, "You're getting an extra day off work, in summer, and you want to spend it hungover? Really? You could take Chloe and Katia shopping, or to the movies, or to the park, but you're going to waste it. Certainly not the doting 'Aunt Annie' I know."

Annie sighed. She knew Auggie was right. She really was being selfish. And somehow, she reflected, he always knew exactly what to say to trigger the reaction he wanted.

"You're right Aug." She said mournfully. "If you want to go home, I won't blame you."

"How about this," Auggie said. "How about I take tomorrow off as well, and we take the girls somewhere together?" Auggie liked Chloe and Katia. He wouldn't mind spending the day with them at all. And he knew they would love it.

"Really Aug? You would do that for me?" Annie said, cheering up a bit.

"You know I would Annie. Besides, your nieces love me!" He said jokingly. "And Annie, if you don't mind, I think I will go home now. I"ve got a big day tomorrow." Then he winked, and went out to the magically waiting cab.

Inside, Annie grinned before cleaning up to go to bed. Auggie was right. It was a big day. And it was going to be a great day too.

So there. Chapter ten. Finally. Please please please review!

Next chapter will use OC's I borrowed from kittycat69!