"Oh man, I swear I'm gonna tell Nadia to shoot me if I ever think about drinking again!" Allie thought to herself as she laid in her bed, with the worst hangover she had ever felt.
Allie had woken up this morning after a very rough day. She had slept all of the evening before and through most of the night. She vaguely remembered Craig helping her walk to her room and him putting a blanket over her. She also remembered the sound of his footsteps as he walked out of her bedroom and the sound of her door closing behind him. After that, she must've blacked out. The next thing she knew it was already morning and she was running to the bathroom because she felt so sick. She had drunk herself into unconsciousness and she was paying for that decision now. She had spent most of the morning throwing up, until there was absolutely nothing left. All she wanted to do now was get over the splitting headache that she had. Allie forced herself out of bed to go and get some extra-strength aspirin that her Mom kept in the kitchen.
As she walked towards the kitchen, Allie could see Brad lying on the sofa. He was watching TV, facing away from the kitchen.
"Good," Allie thought, "hopefully I can get in and out, without him even noticing me."
Allie quietly walked into the kitchen and went to the cabinet where the aspirins were kept. She quickly grabbed the bottle without making a sound. She thought for sure that she was home free, but then, Allie heard her cousin's voice.
"Morning, Sleepy Head." Brad said to her from the sofa, "You feeling any better?"
"Um, yeah…..what do you mean?" Allie asked him, unsure if he knew about what she had done.
"Well, I heard you running back and forth to the bathroom this morning, Craig must've been right." Brad answered.
"Craig? What did Craig tell you?" Allie inquired.
"When I got back last night, Aunt Marie hadn't made it home, but Craig was sitting here on sofa. He said that you weren't feeling well and he had helped you lay down on your bed. He said that he didn't want to leave you in the house by yourself, so he was waiting for someone to get home before he left." Brad revealed to her, "He had even put the garbage out while he was waiting. I told him that he didn't have to do that, but he said it was all right. He said that there was some stuff that needed be taken out before you saw it and it made you sick again. What, were you trying to experiment in the kitchen again or something?"
"No, nothing like that." Allie said as she walked back to her bedroom, "Look, I'm going to go lie back down for a while."
"Okay, I'll check on you before I leave." Brad replied.
As Allie went back to her room, she thought about how Craig had covered for her with Brad. She realized that he must've gotten rid of that liquor bottle before Brad could find out about it. She decided she would call Craig later and thank him. But first, she was going to try and get rid of this monstrous headache.
After laying down for a couple of hours, Allie's headache was finally gone. She felt like she could get up now to get ready for the day. After taking a cold shower and getting dressed, she went into the living room. When Brad had checked in on her, he had told her that he had some errands to run, before everything closed up. With everything that had been going on with her lately, Allie had completely forgotten that it was New Year's Eve. As she sat there, Allie realized she hadn't had breakfast yet. But, the last thing she wanted to think about right now was food. Since Brad had left already, she decided to go ahead and give Craig a call.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Craig. It's me Allie."
"Oh, hi Allie. Are you feeling any better?" Craig asked her.
"You mean after all of the puking and the splitting headache? Never felt better." Allie answered jokingly.
"I bet." Craig responded.
"Look, I just called to say Thank You for…..for everything, you know." Allie told him.
"It's okay. You know, if you ever need to talk, I'm always here to listen." Craig said to her.
"I appreciate that." Allie replied.
After a brief moment of silence between them, Allie spoke again.
So, what big plans do you have for tonight?" Allie asked him.
"I don't have anything that resemble big plans. Jimmy's throwing a huge New Year's Eve bash and practically everyone from school was invited." Craig told her.
"I guess you're going to have a pretty good time tonight?" Allie asked him.
"No, actually Spinner and Marco tried to get me to go with them. But I just don't feel like being around everybody, at least not yet. I'll probably just hang around the house and go with Joey and Caitlin to show Angie the fireworks at midnight tonight." Craig said.
"Sounds nice." Allie replied.
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Craig asked her.
At first Allie wasn't sure if she should accept his offer, but she remembered that Brad was going to go to some party with his girlfriend, and her Mom wasn't much of party person.
"Sure, I'd love to go with you." Allie answered.
"All right, come over anytime after eight. But we'll be leaving for the park around eleven o'clock." Craig told her.
"No problem." Allie replied.
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Next Chapter: Allie finds out what Kendra has been up to?
