After what seemed like hours of dreamless sleep I awoke in total darkness. My temples were pounding and my mouth was as dry as the Mojave Desert. I sat up quickly and winced. Where was I? The last thing I can recall is Flame holding my hair back while I vomited into a toilet. Am I in my room? Am I still at Gumball's house?
Then it all came flooding back to me. Barfing on Marshall Lee. Him exiting the room while I sat near my mess of vomit on the floor. Was he mad? Why did he leave me? What a fool I was to think he actually liked me. He only wanted sex - just like every other guy. He couldn't get it so he just left me. Huh. Well, that's better than being taken advantage of. "Fuck him" I thought as I leaned back and stretched my arms mid yawn.
My right arm landed on a heap of hair. Or at least I think it was hair. I leaned forward as the thing I touched moaned and turned over.
"Marceline?" I heard it mumble.
Reluctantly I answered, "yeah? who's there? what happened last night?"
A lamp was suddenly turned on and light flooded the room. I looked down and saw a fiery mess of red hair and then, with a turn, Flame's beautiful brown eyes squinting up at me. She was in rough shape too I could tell.
"What's with the light? You're nuts for turning that thing on" I said.
"Well I wanted to make sure you were okay and show you it was me" she answered groggily while propping herself up and leaning against the headboard of the bed we shared.
I sat back too and nodded. That made sense I guess.
"You feeling ok?" she asked while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Not really, not at all. But I guess this is the price you pay for a night of heavy drinking and promiscuity."
Flame laughed and said "I wouldn't call it promiscuity. You and Marshall Lee never had sex. That asshole took off as soon as I walked into the room to help you."
I felt a stabbing pain in my heart. Marshall left me. It wasn't just that though… Marshall left me when I kind of needed him. What if something happened to me? What if another party goer had walked in on me in that state and decided to be selfish. A chill ran down my spine and I shivered. I'll be more responsible next time I drink.
Flame must have seen me shiver because she asked if I was ok again. I managed to reply with an "I'll be fine" and decided I wasn't going to cry until I got back home to Hambo.
It turns out the room Flame and I woke up in was Gumball's parents room - the room I was hooking up with Marshall in the night before. We opened the curtains and hissed like vampires at the bright sun. Gumball's parents had heavy-duty black out curtains that Flame must have drawn after she helped me clean up and put me in bed. That's why I had no idea where I was when I woke up; never mind that it was already midday.
She filled me in as we walked about the room and tried to put things back to where, we assumed, they belonged. Apparently Flame was downstairs dancing with one of her many suitors when she saw Marshall Lee walk down the stairs alone. She felt suspicious and approached him, eventually demanding to know where I was. She told me he said something to her that she couldn't hear and then he grabbed her arm and led her to the room I was in.
When she saw me sitting next to the vomit with my head down she rushed over to me and lifted my chin up to make sure I was okay. She told me I was fine, just a bit messy, and that she helped me up and ushered me into an adjacent bathroom. After I had thrown up a few more times and Flame washed the vomit off of me and my clothing we exited the bathroom and Marshall was nowhere to be found. That's when she helped me into bed, drew the curtains, and climbed in next to me for a drunken night's rest.
Wow. What an amazing friend. Half of her night was ruined just so she could take care of me.
"Thanks Flame" I finally said, "really, you're a great friend for what you did for me. Looking after me an all."
"Oh don't worry about it, Marce. I know you'd do the same for me. Plus it was already like 3 in the morning when this happened anyway. I was ready for some sleep!" she responded cheerfully.
I smiled. I felt really grateful to have her in my life.
"Okayyyyy, now let's go find LSP and PB and see if they're down to go get some fucking breaaaaaakfast" Flame announced enthusiastically.
I nodded and followed her out of the room. I was SO ready to leave this house.