Chapter Three
Wyatt was awoken by the throbbing in his head, the sharp pain forcing him to awake unpleasantly. As soon as he opened his eyes, he winced at the bright light coming in from the window. He waited a few moments, ignoring how his headache had worsened dramatically when the light had pierced his pupils, and then stood up. He groaned and put a hand on his stomach, which threatened to spill over its contents with any brusque movements.
The blond man paused for a minute, concentrating on taking deep breaths to settle his body into a better state, but it didn't exactly work. A faint smell of toast and coffee reached his nostrils and he was slightly awakened by the scent. He stumbled to his door, pulling the curtains on the window shut as he did so, and then began the long walk down to the kitchen.
With every step down the stairs, his whole body was jolted, and the pain in his head increased. With many moans and pauses, Wyatt finally made it to the ground floor of his house. Grateful that the harder part was over, he maneuvered through the living room and towards the kitchen. He thought about orbing the rest of the way there, but then decided that, considering how he was feeling then, it would probably not be a good idea to use any of his powers. He would just have to wait until he was feeling better.
"You look like hell," were the words that greeted him as soon as he stepped into the kitchen, squinting in the bright light but inhaling the delightful smells coming from the stove. There was coffee and toast, as Wyatt had been able to tell earlier, but there was also an expertly made omelet, jam, cheese melted onto pieces of bread, and fresh orange juice.
Wyatt looked up at Chris, who'd uttered the unfavorable comment. He opened his mouth to retort, grimaced, and closed it. "Thanks," he muttered instead, grabbing a chair and collapsing into it, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, shielding them from further damage to the light. A clinking sound was magnified by Wyatt's headache, and he opened his eyes once more to see a steaming cup of coffee set right in front of him. Without any hesitation, Wyatt reached out and grabbed it, eager to get rid of the disgusting taste in his mouth.
He was so intent on the drink that he didn't notice that his mother was the one who'd set it there until she spoke. "Just how much did you drink last night, Wyatt?" she asked dangerously. She was no stranger to drinking, but her children doing so never stopped infuriating her. Not only were they breaking the law of their country by drinking underage, but she didn't appreciate them losing all control when they were inebriated, especially with the potential demon attacks at any time.
Wyatt shrugged, not willing to tell his mother how he'd lost count after the first hour. He noticed Chris snorting into his orange juice, while looking at Melinda meaningfully. She was seated at the table as well. Leo lowered the newspaper, eyeing his two younger children with a tired glance, and then turning to Wyatt. "I'll take it to mean that you had a nice time yesterday, then," he said. He tended to make less of a big deal about those sorts of things than Piper did, if only to provide more balance to the household. He knew what young adults were like, anyhow. After having been around for a much longer time than he was supposed to, he knew that teenagers would break the rules, despite everything that their mother told them. It was just something that he couldn't prevent, and as long as his children were careful, he wasn't going to yell at them… after all, Piper did that rather well herself.
Wyatt mumbled something incomprehensible, and Chris grinned widely, probably remembering something ridiculous that his brother had done last night. Melinda caught sight of Chris's face and she giggled. From looking at the pair of them, Wyatt could tell that Chris had spilled all of last night's events to their sister, which was why the couple was so amused.
Now that he was no longer being interrogated, Wyatt took a swallow of the dark coffee in his mug. It was quite hot, but the way that it woke him up and made him feel better beat the feeling of his tongue being scalded by the liquid. He inhaled and then set the cup down on the plate, already starting to feel better from the massive hangover he had.
"Here, bro, you might want this," Chris's voice said, and Wyatt glanced up to see a bottle of Advil flying his way. Instinctively, his shield was up, and the pill bottle bounced against it and landed on the floor, clattering loudly as the medicine inside it was shaken around. Wyatt groaned at the sound, and Chris looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "Seriously, Wy?" he asked, before using his telekinesis to lift the bottle from its place on the floor and back onto the table. Usually, he would have waited for Wyatt to do it, or stand up himself and pick it up. But, considering that Wyatt was feeling terrible, it was not likely he would bend down, and he needed the pills as quickly as possible.
"Hey, no magic at the table!" Piper said, exclaiming the often-repeated phrase. She set the pot of coffee in the midst of the dishes containing the many breakfast foods and sat down herself. She brushed her dark hair out of her face before serving herself and her oldest son something to eat. "I'm going to need you boys to run a few errands for me today," she said, carefully spooning up some jam and spreading it on Wyatt's toast. Piper knew her son was feeling really terrible, but that didn't mean that he could lie around the house all day, especially when they all had to get ready.
The phrase was met with groaning from both ends of the table. Both Wyatt and Chris were reluctant to run errands and have to do jobs around the house when they'd partied the night before and it was supposed to be their holiday. A high voice broke into the chorus of moans, as Melinda protested, "But, Mom! You promised that they would drop me off at Courtney's house to work on our Halloween costumes!" Both boys groaned even louder with that phrase, not eager to spend even the slightest while with Melinda and her really giggly friend.
"They'll drop you off on their way to the store," Piper said calmly, finishing with Wyatt's toast and beginning to eat breakfast herself. "I need you boys to get back early, so then we can all work on getting the house decorated." Chris grimaced at the thought of a whole afternoon spending intensive time with his family, working on making the whole manor 'scary'. His mother had gotten very competitive with the houses on the neighborhood, and every year at about this time, all her efforts were devoted to besting them and making the Halliwell Manor the most terrifying house on the block.
Wyatt began to eat his toast, frequently setting it down and gulping down more coffee. Undoubtedly, the bread was just what he needed, but some of the leftover queasiness made him prefer taking beverages than actually ingest solid food. Besides, if he was going to be in the car in his condition, which meant that Chris would be driving, it would be best if he didn't eat too much, lest there be a repetition of last night.
Melinda was satisfied with her mother's reply, despite her brothers' reaction. As long as she was able to get to Courtney's house without a problem, and without having to use magic to get there (since her mother had forbidden her to do so), she was happy. She planned on winning the homemade costume competition with an awesome outfit that she would stitch up with help from her friend's seamstress mother. She was sure to win!
Assured of her success, she chatted animatedly at the breakfast table, not noticing how both of her brothers were studiously ignoring her, and how her parents were actually talking about something completely unrelated to her costume topic. Melinda planned on getting a costume based on one of her favorite books, which had a magical creature that actually existed, so she could pay homage not only to the mortal Halloween, but show what magic there truly was in the world.
Wyatt blocked out the chatter as he downed his coffee and reached out to grab some more. He poured it into his cup, his hand shaking slightly. He rubbed at his forehead, still feeling the hangover beating at him. Hopefully the medicine would start taking effect soon, he had quite a day ahead of him.
(A/N) Hello, everybody! Sorry about posting it just a tad later than I usually do, but I've been having a really crazy week. I'm back in school now, so classes are going to take up a lot of time, but, no worries, these updates will continue as usual!
You guys are so awesome, and I wanted to thank everyone who Alerted, Faved, and especially those who reviewed: Magic Lover, NoseInANovel (can't thank you enough for all the reviews!), and Fanycharmed. Thanks you guys, you are awesome!
Anyway, I'll see you next week with the next chapter. For now, I'll leave you with this chapter that's a little more lighthearted than the past ones. Trust me, though, the story will get quite stressful, eventually!