Lionblaze Lost the Lightning

Chapter 9: Just Like You

The sound of throwing up jolted Hollyleaf awake. She blinked open her eyes, realizing her eyelashes were stuck together. She rubbed them with her hands, wondering why they were sticky too. There's alcohol everywhere, she thought, frantically trying to put the pieces together. Shit, I don't remember anything… wait WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

After a solid look around of her surroundings, Hollyleafs heart dropped as she came to the conclusion that things were in even worse shape than she bargained for.

I've hit rock bottom, she thought miserably as she watched Firestar throw up out her car window. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and some girl she didn't know was passed out in the seat beside him. She had long blonde hair, and there was makeup all over her face. Her head was laying on the dashboard, with her arm out the window. A burnt out cigarette was stuck between her fingers, getting black ash all over her chipped black nails. Hollyleaf looked down at herself, groaning again as she realized she was wearing Firestars shirt and someone else's skirt. After further inspection, Hollyleaf realized that the skirt must have been the blonde girls, as she didn't have anything on but an oversized sweater.

Oh yeah, Hollyleaf thought to herself as her hangover kicked in full force. This is bad, real bad. Who's that girl sitting next to Firestar? And what happened last night?

Hollyleafs head pounded as she struggled to remember the previous night's events. Alright, so we were drinking on the couch, she thought. Me and Firestar were holding hands… and then we were dancing… drank more… oh my god I think I kissed him at one point and OH MY GOD WHAT IF SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENED BETWEEN US?!

It was just too much to process. Hollyleaf scrabbled to get up as fast as she could, rolling down her window and throwing up at once. She let herself hang out the window for a long time, trying her best not to exist when the blonde girl started to laugh. Hollyleaf turned her face back to her, holding her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't puke again.

"I gotta hand it to you," the girl snickered, shaking her head in admiration. "I've never seen anyone keep up with my brother like that. You really know how to drink."

"Oh?" Hollyleaf didn't know how to respond, head spinning with confusion. Brother?

"Oh yeah, I guess you don't remember," Firestar spoke for the first time, his voice nearly making Hollyleaf have a full blown anxiety attack. He turned around, looking like death himself. "Hollyleaf, this is my sister."

"Princess," the girl smiled slightly, giving Hollyleaf and odd look. "Nice to meet you. Again."

Hollyleaf didn't know what to say, so she just stared at the girl and Firestar, feeling as though reality wasn't actually a concept. Her eyes drifted over to Firestars neck, hickeys and bite marks stared back at her. Oh good god

"Why are we in my car?" She squeaked at last.

"Oh, you got too trashed and tried to go driving," Princess replied, shrugging as if it was no big deal. She smiled right after and grabbed something out of her sweater pocket. "But don't worry; I got your keys before you could do anything."

With a shaking hand, Hollyleaf reached out and took her keys from her. "Thanks."

No one spoke after this, everyone too lost in hangover hell to talk to each other. After a while, Hollyleaf felt her phone vibrating from underneath her. She didn't move, letting it ring over and over.

When it stopped, she started to cry.

"Can we go to the movies soon?" Dovewing asked, looking down at the clock on her phone. She sighed, looking agitated. "It's gonna start in ten minutes."

"I'm sorry," Lionblaze groaned, looking out the window at the empty driveway. Hollyleaf, where are you? "I was kinda counting on my sister to give us a ride there."

"Or, here's a thought," Dovewing mumbled, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "We could walk there."

Lionblaze looked at her, confused on her irritated tone. What's her deal?

"It's just really cold out," he said slowly, wondering why he felt the need to explain himself. "And the theatre is pretty far away."

"Yeah," Dovewing replied dismissively, waving her hand as if to drop the matter. She stared outside the window, her dark eyes narrowed as if she was angry. Lionblaze awkwardly pulled on his red shirt, not knowing what to do with his hands. She's getting so agitated over everything lately… I don't know what to do! I guess that's to be expected though, her being five months pregnant and all.

But… if this is only five and a half months, she still has three and a half to go

It's only going to go downhill from here

Sigh

"Maybe if you got your license, you could give yourself rides," Dovewing said suddenly, her snippy voice cutting into Lionblazes thoughts. At once he felt his blood boil, and he glared at her before he could restrain himself. Not this stupid topic again!

"How many times are you going to bring this up?" he snapped. Dovewing shrugged, widening her eyes as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"I don't know," she said, voice too high pitched. "How many times are you going to get your sister to drive you places?"

"Can you guys stop fighting?" Jayfeather suddenly called out from the other room. "Or at least be quieter about it?"

Lionblaze opened his mouth to yell something back, but stopped when he realized he didn't even know what to say. He shut his mouth with a snap, still staring at his girlfriend.

"You know what," she whispered at last, turning away. Her long grayish hair fell in front of her eyes, and she made no effort to fix it. "I don't want to go anymore anyway."

"Kay," Lionblaze muttered, too irritated and confused to argue with her. "Where are you going?"

"Home," she snapped as she opened the door. She slammed it a little too hard behind her, making Lionblaze wince. He sighed and sat down on the couch, feeling defeated.

Lately she's been on my case about EVERYTHING, he thought to himself, pulling out a smoke and lighting it. All the stuff she didn't care about before is now a thing, and I don't know what to do.

Will I ever know what to do?

He smoked the cigarette quickly, throwing it into an empty take out container that was sitting on the coffee table. It was still lit, smoke rose from the plastic box but Lionblaze was too upset to care. He sat in silence for a few minutes, until another thing crossed his mind.

"Hey Jayfeather," Lionblaze called out. "Where's Hollyleaf?"

"I haven't seen her since before she started her shift yesterday," Jayfeather called back. "I think she went to a party last night, I don't know."

Since when does Hollyleaf go to parties on a Wednesday night? Lionblaze thought in confusion, concern starting to creep in his mind. And why is she still gone? It's nearly six in the evening…

Lionblaze was shook out of his thoughts once again as movement in the window distracted him. He jumped up and moved the curtain, relief shooting through him as he saw Hollyleafs red car pull into the driveway. He watched as she got out and walked up the front steps, taking into account how tired she looked. That's funny; she looks like a female version of Firestar!

"Hi!" Lionblaze called out as soon as she walked in the door. Hollyleaf turned to look at him, looking like she had just risen from the dead.

"You look super tired," Lionblaze commented. "But not tired enough to make me some chicken noodle soup!"

"I don't want to cook right now," Hollyleaf sighed, kicking off her shoes. She left them in the middle of the floor, not bothering to put them nicely on the rack. Lionblaze raised an eyebrow. That's weird.

"I've never been so hungover," Hollyleaf mumbled, flopping down on the couch. Lionblaze didn't know what to do, so he just patted her on the head like a cat.

"There, there," he said, trying his best to sound comforting. Hollyleaf just groaned, face first in the pillow. "I feel like I'm gonna die."

"You sound like Firestar," Lionblaze laughed, unable to help himself from sharing that thought. "You're acting just like him and-"

"I'm NOT just like Firestar!" Hollyleaf suddenly screamed, jumping up at once. The sudden movement made Lionblaze shriek and he nearly fell backwards over the coffee table. Hollyleaf stormed away, shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair.

Lionblaze sat back down on the couch, feeling completely fed up. Girls, he thought in exasperation. I'll never figure them out