Chapter 26 – The Morning After
The room was spinning a little as Woody struggled to open his eyes. The light coming through the chink in the curtains hit him like a freight train, and he decided against any sudden movements of any kind. Putting a hand up to his forehead, he tried to remember what had happened. Bits and pieces came back to him – dancing with Bo, ordering drinks, their happy chatter, her hand on his arm, then more drinks….
After that it was a dark blur. Woody decided to try and figure out where he was, so gingerly he moved his head to one side. He focused on the clock sitting on the nightstand – his clock, and his nightstand. At least he appeared to be in his room, and in his bed. The clock read 10.08am – he didn't remember when he'd last slept in so late.
Not that he needed to go in for classes – the exams were over and he didn't have any education to worry about for a while. He just needed to have been on point in his interview, and then hopefully if he got the job….
Woody stopped, something nagging at him. There was something not right, but he couldn't fathom what it was. He'd done something stupid, he knew it. Unfortunately his brain was like mashed potatoes right at that moment, and he couldn't access what it could possibly be.
At that moment, the door opened, and Bo entered, wearing a long pastel blue sundress, her hair combed and held back by a blue headband. She looked so pretty, Woody thought, just like she had done last night. He was so proud to think she'd been on his arm all night, receiving compliments and getting her self esteem boosted. He'd been able to relax, have a few glasses of alcohol…..
Oh no. Woody quickly shut his eyes again before Bo noticed he was awake. Sinking down under the covers, the memory cruelled jabbed its way back into his short term. He'd had too much whisky, and he'd blabbed to Bo what he'd been trying to put off telling her – at least until he could tell Jessie and Buzz too.
He'd essentially told her about the potential job he might have. Why couldn't he keep his big mouth shut?
"What would have happened if I hadn't blurted that out?" Jessie wondered to herself silently.
She was curled up in her dorm, alone, thinking about Buzz, and his move to Tennessee. After they had openly declared their feelings for each other, they had moved into the den to sit and talk for hours, mostly about how their relationship was going to work at such a distance.
The red truck that Buzz had bought so suddenly – the one he'd picked her up in the previous evening – was a purchase he had needed to make. He was intending to pack his belongings into it for the long drive to his new lodgings in Nashville.
His much loved Apollo GT, to Jessie's amazement, he had sold on at a slight loss to a car enthusiast online. He needed the money for the move and for rent, as well as other potential outgoings, including the payments for his new truck. Obviously he'd been sad to part with it, but it was a case of needs must. A car like that would be no use on the roads down south.
Between them, they had agreed to mention Karl no longer. Jessie hadn't heard from him since he had moved out of state, and it would do their relationship no good if his name kept cropping up every time they had a fight. In addition, Buzz had told Jessie that Mollie was also a thing of the past – although she'd never even been a thing at all; he'd never desired her in the slightest.
What Jessie kept coming back to, amidst all her thoughts, was how she'd finally blurted out, after weeks of knowing, that she knew that Buzz was leaving. If she hadn't said that sentence, they wouldn't have ended up having a conversation where they professed their love for each other. She wasn't aware she was so ready to say it. Heck, she wasn't aware Buzz even felt anything for her, after she'd behaved so badly around him.
But it had happened, and they had talked, and then Buzz had driven her home, since it was late. She'd gotten a text a little later to say he was home safe, and that while they had been out, Bo and Woody had arrived home. Buzz had added that nothing had been said about their not turning up to the date, because Woody was a little drunk and Bo seemed to have her hands full dealing with that.
Jessie was relieved a little by Buzz's message, but knew that they hadn't heard the last of it. When Woody was back to his normal self, they'd probably get an ear-wigging for not getting in touch. Jessie giggled to herself, not bothered in the slightest. It had all been worth it.
She turned over in her bed, and shut her eyes, thinking instead of Buzz's strong arms around her. The memory settled her, and she dozed off, happy and content.