I woke up the next morning in the bed of my truck to the lovely sound of birds chirping, waves breaking, and Addison throwing up. The second I heard her gagging I shot up in the makeshift pallet and groaned at the sunlight. I pushed back the pain of the headache and turned to Addison, who was leaning over the edge the car, coughing and gagging. I crawled over to where she was and gathered all of her hair into my hands, pulling it away from her face.
"You okay Addi?" I asked, rubbing her back with my free hand as she wretched one more time and leaned back, shaking her head and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Sorry you had to see that." She brushed it off with a laugh. "How do you feel?"
"Like hell." I answered truthfully, laying back down and throwing a pillow over my head. My mouth was dry, my throat ached and my head felt like it had been smashed over and over again with a hammer. At least my stomach didn't hurt like Addison's obviously did. "So do you remember anything from last night? You had a lot to drink." I asked.
"Well I remember Paige made me a few drinks and we were on a table at one point and then we swam and kissed a bunch, which was great by the way, and then we cuddled in the water and then I fell asleep." She recalled. She didn't remember wanting to stay. Sure, she probably still did, but she doesn't even remember telling me? I was about to ask her about it when a kid that I had algebra with walked over to the truck holding his head.
"Where's the Advil at?" He asked with a groan, resting his head on the side of the truck. I sighed and stood up, irritated that he had interrupted us. I ignored how light headed I felt, and hopped out of the bed. He helped me take the two cases of water from the backseat of my car and he took one bottle out for himself.
"Take it to the table for everyone to get as they leave, I'll take the Advil over there." I ordered, pointing off towards the table that Addison and Paige had danced on. He nodded and I fished the bottles of Advil out of the front seat. I poured four out of Addison and myself and shut the door, only to find Addison already out of the bed and leaning against the car.
"What's that?" She asked curiously, pushing her bangs out of her face.
"Medicine, it'll make your head feel better." I said, holding two pills out for her. She took them gratefully and smiled, looking around the beach at the people sleeping on the sand.
"Where's Paige?" She asked as we walked to the table to get water. A few people were already up and taking sips from water bottles. I shrugged and set the pill bottles down on the table, which people started taking the second I put it down.
"She's around here somewhere, last I saw her she was going to hook up with someone." I said, handing her a water bottle before taking one for myself. I took a swig of water and downed the pills while Addison observed, then she did the same. I was surprised, it had taken Killian at least three months before he was able to take pills without them having to be crushed up. Addison did it like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Hook up?" Addison asked after swallowing the pills, cocking her head to the side. "What does that mean?"
"Uh, well," I started, thinking of the best way to explain this to her. "It's when you find a person and you just, uh, make out with them and stuff." I explained with a cough. Sometimes I forgot that she wasn't from this realm and didn't understand some of the things we said.
"So we hooked up last night? I thought if we kissed that meant we were dating." She asked, even more confused than she was before. I chuckled and shook my head, taking a sip from my water bottle.
"Well when you hook up you don't really want to date them, like be their boyfriend or girlfriend. I want to be your boyfriend so that's why we went to the party together as a date. Does that make sense?" I asked, she pondered this for a minute and nodded slowly. She didn't answer, but she did catch my hand in hers as we walked and intertwined our fingers together.
We walked around the beach hand in hand searching for Paige for a while, but couldn't find the blonde anywhere. As we passed the burnt pile of wood and ash that was the bonfire, Addison stopped to pick up two pieces of clothing.
"Missing something?" She asked me, holding up my t-shirt from last night. I rolled my eyes and snatched it away from her and stuck my tongue out at her playfully as Paige ran up to us from behind some sand dunes, her eyes wide with panic. She gestured wildly as she ran, pointing off behind us. I turned around, the only thing behind us was my car and a few people walking off to their cars.
"Paige? What's wrong?" Addison asked and she got closer. Paige slowed to a speed walk and grabbed Addison's arm, pulling both of us towards the car.
"Papa found out I didn't spend the night with Addison last night. I need to go home right now or my ass is grass." She explained, her words panicked and rushed. Oh no, this couldn't be good. Jefferson, even though he was nice most of the time, was extremely protective over Paige after he lost her during the first curse. Even though I was her best friend and he had known me forever, he still called my parents to verify if we were okay or not. Sure, it didn't bother us when we were thirteen, but we were eighteen for heaven's sake. After we turned fifteen, his over protectiveness got extremely annoying.
Addison ran ahead of us to gather the pillows and blankets from the bed while Paige climbed into the backseat and I started the car. When Addison jumped into the passenger seat I didn't even wait for her to close the door before I hit the gas and sped off.
"Did your dad sound pissed when you were on the phone?" I asked as I drove into the woods towards her house. I glanced into the rear view to find her wringing her beach towel in anxiety and she nodded shakily.
"He was absolutely livid Henry. I'm going to be grounded until I go to college, and that's like a year away. I'm dead meat." She said, defeated. I sighed and gave her a nervous smile. Paige was usually so carefree, even after we got caught doing something we weren't supposed to be doing. This time she was quiet and fidgety, which was completely unlike her.
"Maybe he won't go too hard on you?" I said, more as a question than anything. She shook her head right as Addison reached over and grabbed my arm, digging her nails into my forearm. I glanced over and saw that she was pale, even more so than usual, and slightly green. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing a little bit heavier than normal.
"Henry I'm gonna throw up again." She wheezed, throwing her free hand over her mouth. I slammed on the breaks and before I could even stop completely Addison had already thrown the door open and was gagging and coughing for the second time that day.
"I hope my dad thinks this is a good excuse for being late." Paige said as I tried to ignore the sound of vomit hitting the ground, which only made my stomach turn more. I reached over to rub Addison's back while she continued to rid her body of the alcohol she had drank, hoping Paige was right.
"Go." Addison commanded once she was done, resting her head against the headrest and shutting her eyes. I set my hand on her thigh and rubbed it soothingly as I sped off again. It wasn't long before we arrived at Paige's house, and an angry looking Jefferson stood was waiting on the front steps.
"If I'm not dead, I'll call you and let you know my punishment." Paige grumbled. "If he does kill me, you've been a hell of a friend Henry. I hope you and Addison name your first born after me." She gave us a salute and grabbed her bag as I rolled my eyes. Paige always had a flair for the dramatic.
She got out of the door and slumped her shoulders in defeat, trudging towards the house looking like a puppy that just got kicked. When she got to the steps her shoulders went down even more than I thought was physically possible and Jefferson all but pushed her inside the house.
I started back down the long driveway to the main road, and for the first time since she threw up, Addison spoke up. "Is that how your parents are going to react?"
"Killian knew where I was and what I was doing. He covered for me." I explained, shaking my head. Addison only nodded but didn't respond. It was quiet again, but not for long. My phone started ringing from its spot in the cup holder, making Addison jump. "Not used to it yet?" I teased her with a playful smile. She rolled her eyes, throwing her middle finger up to me as I picked it up to answer. Fear and anxiety ran through me when I read the caller ID. It was Emma.
"Hello?" I answered. Whatever you do, don't sound suspicious. I told myself, taking a deep breath.
"You and Addison need to come to Gold's shop right now and don't even bother trying to bullshit me because I know you were at that party last night." She said. Like Regina, she wasn't one to beat around the bush.
"Are we in trouble?" I asked. I heard Mom chuckled from the other end.
"Depends, how hungover are you two?" She asked, still chuckling.
"Extremely, I feel like someone has tried to bash my skull in with a brick and Addison's hurled like two times." I said as I pulled up to a stop sign, which gave Addison the opportunity to throw the door open and throw up, again. "Make that three." I added with a sigh.
"Sounds like the hangover is punishment enough. Just come to Gold's and we'll figure out what to do from here." She said.
"What's going on? Did Belle and Gold find something?" I asked as Addison shut the door, allowing me to start driving again.
"Yeah, they did." Mom answered, pausing for a beat. "We found a way to figure out how she got here, and who sent her."