Revamped!

[This is a short chapter, but what can I do?] [2020: So, who would tell past me that I ended up shortening this chapter even more during the revamps?]

Beware of Sharp Thornes: Part Nine

After the Party

They made no progress on the cleaning but they couldn't do anything on an empty stomach. They were starving from last night so Thorne ordered some pizzas. He got seven boxes so they could have one each, even if they could eat more or less than that. It was still early for such a mean since it's only breakfast, but they're famished.

Besides, the salty carbs will help with their hangover, or so they hope. As long as they don't throw it all up which they probably will. The little spike of energy is what they need.

"I'm not eating pizza this early," Cinder says as Scarlet puts the boxes down on the table for them. She brushed away all the trash to the side to make room, ignoring anything that fell to the ground. They'll pick it up eventually so what's the point?

"What?" Kai exclaims, middles because he's already in the middle of a slice. "Everyone likes pizza at any time of day! If you don't, you just haven't tried the right kind."

Cinder opens a box and shrugs at the plain cheese option. "Forgive me, my brain is still full of helium … or should I say alcohol?"

To prepare their minds and bodies for the pizza, some of them started organizing. It'll also give them a head start on the cleaning so they could pass out later in a pizza coma. Plastic cups were in one bag, empty bottles in another, and forgotten items were put in a pile in the living room's coffee table.

"Aside from the fact that nobody got pineapple pizza, the real question is how we all ended up where we woke up," Wolf says.

"Pineapple pizza sucks," Thorne responds. "There's your answer to that."

Wolf mocks him, purposely stealing one of his slices. Cress, Cinder, and Winter look at Thorne in utter offence. That was all the proof the others needed to conclude that pineapple pizza was a Lunar delicacy (and should've stayed in Luna).

"But I was up first," Thorne continues. "I was on the couch with Cinder, Winter, and Scarlet. Kai was on the floor behind the couch."

"I was in the upstairs hallway," Wolf adds.

"And I was in Thorne's room with all your phones," Cress says. The apples of her cheeks redden a little when she says that. It's the memories of last night in that room that make her giddy.

Winter glances at her phone. "My last post, as well as most of our classmates, was around 3:45 AM. I'd say that's when the party was starting to clear out."

-o-

At the Party

Cress feels alienated at this party although she's the only one with her head straight. Everyone else is off-the-rails hammered and she's happy to be sober. (Actually, there were more sober people around but Cress couldn't locate them. The hammered zombies probably kidnapped them or they were dragging the zombies home.) That one disgusting sip of beer she spat was the limit to her drinking adventures. Besides, that makes her the designated driver for her drunk friends. Her father would be so proud of her for taking this responsible leadership role in an environment reeking of peer pressure and alcohol.

Her friends are her world. They're responsible for most of her everyday joy, fun, and will to leave the house. Now, this is how she returns the favour. She needs to bring them home safely but she will fall asleep behind the wheel.

"Okay," Cress says to her drunk friends. They look like they're listening but she's not sure. "I'm exhausted but will drive you home. I want to get us there safely. Let me take a quick power nap for about half an hour."

"Take our phones," Scarlet tells her. "I don't want to do any stars I'll regret when I'm hungover."

Everyone agrees and hands Cress their phones. She sits on the couch, fumbling with her bouquet of electronics.

"I'll just lie here," Cress says.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Thorne screams even if he didn't have to. Maybe he's so drunk that he thinks the loud party is still happening. "You, Crescent Moon Darnel, will go to my bed."

He hoists her and her cell phone bouquet bridal style. Cress yelps a little when Thorne stumbles but he regains his footing. If anyone were to ask, this was her favourite part of the night.

"I'll put you to sleep," Thorne says. He pauses. "No, that sounds weird. I'll lay you to rest." He pauses again. "No, that sounds wrong. You know what I mean."

Cress smiles. She loves this idiot. "I do."

-o-

At the Party

When Thorne returned downstairs, he sat on the couch with the others and they waited. Without their phones, they had no indicator of the time. Thorne's house had fancy analog clocks but the second hand made them dizzy when they tried to concentrate. So they killed some time letting their minds wander, dozing off or admiring the weird art that somehow survived the night (and that was unarguably in better condition than them).

"I think it's been 45 minutes," Cinder says.

"How do you know?" Winter asks.

"Because it felt like 45 years have passed."

Nobody could argue with that logical reasoning. If it made sense to them, then it had to be right.

"I'll go wake her," Wolf says as he starts going upstairs.

"Whose car are we taking back?" Cinder asks.

"Mine!" Kai chants, throwing his keys in the air.

His keys fly behind the couch. Everyone's heads went up and plopped down to follow its flight path. When they land, Kai gets up and circles around the couch to get them. As he crouches, he falls and as a joke, Winter tosses a throw pillow over her head to land right beside him. Kai takes a while getting his keys. Maybe they fell under the couch so he was swiping his arm around in hopes to hit them.

"Your lap is comfy," Scarlet says as she lies on top of Winter.

"So is yours," Cinder says as she lies on Scarlet.

Thorne does the same on Cinder and she's so drunk and tired that she doesn't bother to push him off.

"Do you think we could snooze for a bit before Wolf comes back?" Cinder asks.

Winter's already out, Scarlet mumbles something that sounds like a yes, and Thorne's lightly snoring.

[I promise to have the final chapter of Thorne's arc up by the end of the year.] [2020: … did I keep that promise? Probably.]