Morning light shown through the windows as Cara opened her eyes slowly. She felt like a truck hit her; her head was pounding, her stomach was bubbly, and the light hurt her eyes and made her want to scream. She tried hard to remember last night…oh…yeah…she was hungover. Bad too. Stretching, she painstakingly sat herself up. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the light (which took a while) she noticed something very odd…what was it…

She was in Peter's bed.

Of course Peter wasn't in the bed with her, he may have been in the bathroom or something but…she was in his bed. Did something happen last night that she didn't remember? How would she tell? She was already sore all over, so it was hard to notice where…she'd have to wait until Peter came back into the room. There was no way with the way she felt right now that she was getting out of bed.

Just a moment later, Peter came back in the room with a towel around his waist and drying his hair with a cloth. "Ah…morning Cara," he said, mildly surprised to see her still there. "Are you doing alright?"

"Not feeling too well…but it'll pass," said Cara. "So...uh…Peter…did…anything—er—funny happen last night?" She turned very red and looked down at the sheets.

"What do you—oh—oh!" said Peter, going red too. "Oh, no, not at all. We got back and we were both smashed…we went in the house and you insisted on sleeping in my bed with me…trust me, you fell asleep too fast for anything at all to happen."

"Oh, okay," said Cara, somewhat relieved. "I'm sorry by the way…for getting so drunk. I hope I didn't make you think worse of me."

Peter rolled his eyes and said, "No, of course not. You were really out of it, but hey, I think you deserved to have a little bit of fun. I was gone too, remember?"

Cara laughed. "Well, it's kind of hard to remember," she said. "If you wanna get dressed I can go downstairs or get dressed in the bathroom or something."

"Nah, it's okay, you obviously don't feel well, I'll grab some clothes and dress in the bathroom," said Peter. "You stay here as long as you need to. Sleep it off some more. I'll bring you some coffee if you like. Do you need to be at work later?"

"Bill told me to come in whenever today," said Cara. "Good thing too."

"Okay," said Peter. "Well, I'll dress ad bring you a cup of coffee. Sugar?"

"Cream too," said Cara. "Coffee's not my favorite, but I'll take it." Peter nodded and walked out of the room. Cara couldn't believe how blurry last night was. She knew she had fun, that was obvious…they drank and danced all night…she thought harder. She believed him when he said they didn't fool around last night, but she couldn't help but think she was missing something big…she concentrated hard on the whole night. It took a while, but she remembered: they had kissed.

Cara wasn't sure if she was happy or put off, or if Peter even remembered. Nevertheless, she thought about it harder, trying to remember what it felt like. Soft, chilling…so very drunk. Should she feel guilty? She had no idea. After a few more minutes of thinking, Peter came back into the room, dressed and holding a mug of steaming coffee.

"Thanks," said Cara, accepting the coffee.

"No problem," said Peter. He sat down next to her. Cara wondered if she should mention anything about the kiss to him. "Feeling alright?" asked Peter again.

"Better," said Cara after a sip of coffee. "So…do you remember uh…more about last night?"

"Cara, we didn't fool around any, I promise," said Peter.

"No, it's not that," said Cara. "I mean…this may be wrong, I dunno, I'm really blurry…but…did we—kiss last night?"

"Oh," said Peter, blushing. "I uh…think we did. Sorry." He looked down in embarrassment.

"No, it's okay," said Cara, her thoughts now confirmed. "We were both really drunk, it was both our faults."

"Yeah…out faults," said Peter, echoing what Cara had said. Cara sipped more at her coffee in the awkward silence and Peter sat at the foot of the bed in thought. How could he have possibly thought to do such a stupid thing? It was the alcohol, he knew it; he would have loved to kiss Cara any other time, but no, it just had to be then. He sincerely hoped he had not ruined any chance of being with her. "How's the coffee?"

"Good," said Cara. "Could've used a little more cream, but it works."

"Good to know," said Peter. "Are you sure you're gonna go into work today? You look like you're going to have a rough morning."

"I have to go in," said Cara. "I made a stupid mistake last night; doesn't mean I can't do what I have to. I'll just go in when I feel better later on today."

"Alright, if you think you should," said Peter. "So…should we talk about what happened last night?" Oh, why Peter, why on earth did you say that? He wanted to bash his head against a wall.

"Well, I don't see what there is to talk about," said Cara. "It was just a mistake…it's not really a big deal."

"Yeah, no big deal," said Peter.

"Nope, not at all," said Cara. She couldn't really tell what Peter was thinking; she knew that she kind of wanted to talk, but she just could not shake the awkwardness of the situation. Maybe she should just avoid the subject altogether. She looked over at Peter, who was enthralled with a lock of his hair all of the sudden. She silently finished the coffee and collapsed onto the pillow; her head was still throbbing. "Uhg…so…much…regret."

"It'll go away," said Peter. "Food may help too. Come on, get dressed and come on down; I think it's Mike's turn to cook today, he's pretty good."

"I may have a hard time keeping anything down," said Cara, groaning as she tried to get up. She didn't know how she did it, but she got up on her feet and made her way over to the bathroom to shower and dress. After a very clumsy shower (as soon as the water turned on, for whatever reason, Cara lost her footing and slipped multiple times), she dressed and went down the stairs carefully. The smell of the omelets in the kitchen that she would have normally loved nauseated her a little, but she'd try to eat anyway. Everybody was down in the kitchen and almost finished eating when she came down. Peter smiled at her when she made it all the way there.

"Well hey there party animal," said Mike when he saw Cara. "Surprised to see you alive!"

Cara made some sort of evil-sounding noise and sat down at the table…it was so loud out there. Mike saw how grumpy she was and decided not to say anything further; he'd seen glimpses of an unhappy Cara before and did not want to see full-blast furious Cara anytime soon. Silently, he served her a plate with a smaller serving of cheese omelet. Cara was happy that Mike knew not to give her a huge amount; Peter must have said something to him. The bright yellow color hurt her eyes and the smell was stronger than usual, but she decided to go for it anyway. She took a small bite and swallowed with much labor. As soon as the egg slithered down her throat, her stomach began to bubble. Before anyone, including herself, knew what was happening, she shot up the stairs and was kneeling over the toilet, hacking up everything she had to eat since yesterday.

"Ya know mate, that was a chance," said Davy to Peter. "Could've held her hair back."

"Oh crap, you're right," said Peter. Cara came plodding back into the kitchen, breaking heavily and coughing. She felt horrible. The way she looked up at everybody from under her bangs with her dark, pathetic-looking eyes made Peter want to cuddle her until her arm popped off. "God Cara, are you sure you want to go to work today?"

"I have to," she said, irritated. "Whoever drives me better go smooth."

"I'll do it," said Mike. "My car anyway." Cara searched through her purse, popped a piece of gum in her mouth, and flounced out the door with Mike. "So…uh, first hangover?" said Mike as he started up the car.

"Yeah," Cara grunted.

"So why in the world are you going to work if you feel like this?" asked Mike.

"I have to go," said Cara. "I made a commitment and I'm going to stick to it. No stupid little mistake is gonna screw me up. Just drive smooth." Mike decided it would be better to continue the trip in silence. It was a longer trip that way, but it was worth it because no one exploded or threw up. After what seemed like forever and a day, Mike parked in front of Psychedelic Psycho to let Cara out.

"So, you're sure you're gonna be okay today?" asked Mike, his fatherliness getting the better of him finally.

"I'll be alright," said Cara, getting out of the car. "Just—sorry I snapped and everything."

"Don't worry about it," said Mike, relieved. "I definitely understand." He saw Cara off as she walked into the shop. Once he was sure she was in safely and not puking her guts out at the door, he drove off.

"Morning Bill," said Cara as she collapsed on the stool by the counter.

"Mornin' Cara," said Bill. "You feeling okay? You look beat."

"I had a long night," said Cara. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Ooooh, I get it," said Bill, winking. "Don't worry hun, it's all a part of that growing up thing. Party while you're young, that's what I say!"

Cara made a sound that was supposed to be a laugh but instead came out as a dry croak. "I'll get to work," she said. "Need anything done?"

Bill looked around. "Hm…what can you do…" he said. "Check to see if all the shirts over there are folded right and are in size order why don't ya?"

"Right," said Cara, clumsily standing up and hobbling over to the shelf with the t-shirts. As she was organizing and folding, the bell at the front door sounded, meaning someone had walked into the store. She heard Bill greet the customer, and out of habit, she turned around to see who had walked in. Oh, dear God no, why now, why her? Standing in the middle of the store, a bright smile on her face, was Jane.

"Oh, hi Cara!" she greeted, uncharacteristically, like she was actually happy to see her. Cara knew there had to be something fishy.

"Hey Jane," said Cara. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, I knew you worked here, so I decided to stop by," said Jane. "Look, I'm just so sorry about all of the mess I gave you with Peter, I just had to come apologize. I was so rude of me, and I've come to realize that when it comes down to it, Peter will chose who he wants to be with. I'm sure you know what it's like to be head-over-heels, don't you?"

"What are you saying?" asked Cara, suspicious.

"I'm saying that I'd like to be friends," said Jane. "What are you doing after you get off work today?"

"Uhm…I dunno," said Cara. "Probably nothing."

"Well, how would you like to go out?" asked Jane. "Grab a bite to eat maybe?"

"Sure…" said Cara, reluctantly. She was going to get down to the bottom of this. Maybe it was her hangover, but this particular situation was not making sense at all.

"Great!" said Jane. "When do you get off?"

"Uhm…Bill?" asked Cara.

"You're out at three today," said Bill, sorting through the cash register.

"Yeah, three, what he said," said Cara.

"Perfect," said Jane. "I'll be back here at three then, buh-bye!" She waved all the way out of the store with that huge fake smile plastered on her face, leaving Cara slightly shocked, to say the least.

"Who in the hell was that?" asked Bill.

"An annoyance," said Cara, staring at the door Jane had just walked out of.

"Yeah, I can dig that," said Bill. "Then why are you gonna hang out with her?"

"To get to the bottom of this," said Cara.

"Wait…is that the chick who's crazy about Peter?" asked Bill.

Cara laughed. "Actually, yes."

Bill rolled his eyes. "Oh, boy have I heard about her," he said. "Drives Peter up a wall, let me tell you. She probably wants to be friends with you to get closer to Peter. Creepy little chick."

It was all starting to make sense now…Jane was trying to stalk Peter or something through her! Oh, Cara would play along with her little game, but not before Jane lost and Cara had victory. "I want to be friends" her ass. If Jane wanted to go there, boy would she go there. Little did Cara know how far off she was about the situation.

Jane drove on down to Jeff's house to tell him what she had accomplished. This was gonna be good, and she was going to win. Once Cara was out of the way, she'd have Peter all to herself. She smiled deviously as she parked. She thought her plan of getting to know Cara on a personal level to gain her trust was the perfect scheme. She walked up to the front door and knocked. Standing back, she waited for the door to open.

Jeff opened the door. "Yeah?" he said gruffly.

"I'm meeting up with Cara later today," said Jane. "Told her I wanted to be friends and all that crap."

Jeff grinned. "Good," he said. "When are you gonna make the move?"

"To what?" asked Jane.

"Get her here by any means possible," said Jeff. "When are you gonna do that?"

"As soon as I gain her trust," said Jane. "All of this is personal to me too, remember?"

"Ah, yes," said Jeff. "That goof I hit in my car, I remember. What the hell do you see in that loser?"

"That's not important," said Jane. "All I know is that she loves him too, and I'm gonna make her suffer as much as I can, got it?" Jeff was taken aback by the feistiness of this small girl. What had he gotten himself into by taking her on? Hopefully something good.

"Alright," said Jeff. "But when the time comes, get her here by any means necessary—do anything but kill her…completely. Any of that will be my job, got it?"

"Got it," said Jane. She wondered what Jeff meant by not killing her "completely."

"What time are you meeting her?" asked Jeff.

"She gets off work at three," said Jane. "I'm gonna pick her up then and then we're gonna go to that burger joint down the street."

"Great," said Jeff. "Don't screw up." He closed the door, leaving Jane out on the doorstep. Oh, she wouldn't mess up, not one bit. When it got personal, she was always around to screw up people's days.

"So, Pete, what exactly happened last night?" asked Davy to Peter while they were sitting alone in the living room.

"Well," said Peter. "We went out dancing and got some drinks. I didn't know she'd never drank before, so when she finished her first drink, she was halfway smashed, and then she got more…I did too…and we were both stone drunk."

"I noticed she wasn't downstairs sleeping tonight either," said Davy, winking.

"Oh, no," said Peter. "We both slept in my bed but nothing happened, I swear."

"How did it not?" asked Davy, surprised. "You were both freaking drunk and you like her, and you may be starting to grow on her as well?"

"Well…she fell asleep," said Peter. "But I still don't know if anything would've happened."

"Oh, come on mate," said Davy, elbowing Peter. "So you didn't get sweet on her all night?"

"Well…" said Peter, wondering if he should be telling Davy this. "Before we walked in the apartment…we…well, I…I kissed her. We were both way too drunk, it was really stupid of me—"

Davy chuckled. "Peter, it wasn't stupid. Come on mate! 'You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss'—"

"Yeah yeah, 'a sigh is just a sigh', I know the song," said Peter. "I just feel like I was taking advantage of her, that's all."

"Does she remember?" asked Davy.

"Yeah," said Peter.

"Then it's okay," said Davy. "Just chill out Peter, everything's gonna work out."

"Hope you're right," said Peter. Just when things were about to get the most crazy of all, of course.