MHA #2 | Saturday Morning...ish

[defenderofdesmoines]

The sun was out, which was terrible of it, really, and the ruins of the Christmas rager lay before anyone who had slept here last night. The tub, miraculously, still stood, full of half-melted ice and gross citrus peels and candy that had not made it into cups. The kitchen was nothing short of a disaster. There was tinsel and glitter everywhere.

But.

There was also coffee brewing, and Annie -- zonked and mildly (success!) hungover though she was -- had put on a kettle in case there was, like, a British person asleep in a corner somewhere. And true to tradition, Barry -- who was absolutely there and had been the whole time, of course -- had supplied a veritable army of bagels for the hungover troops this morning.

Hopefully you don't have any regrets beside a headache, and maybe the sweater you chose to wear.

[open to anyone who crashed here last night (feel free to say you did!), or anyone who'd like to swing by to help clean up the carnage!]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

At the time, it had seemed like a good idea that Summer would crash under the jello shots table (once the spotlights were killed, of course), but by the time the smell of brewing coffee pulled her, groaning, out of sleep, she had no idea where she was.

Which was why, when she pulled herself upright, her head smacked right into it.

"Coffe--" she started to say, and then whack! Right into the table hard enough to shake off a few things and send a mess of whatever was leftover and close enough to the edge tumbling and splattering down.

"--owwwwww," she concluded, miserably, crawling put from under the table and gingerly rubbing her forehead.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That sounded like it hurt," Annie commented softly, wincing and wandering over in her sunglasses with a mug offered out for Summer. "Coffee? Painkillers? Carbs?"

All of the above?

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yes," said Summer, apparently giving up on the whole 'emerging into the world idea' and flopping down on her stomach, then slowly rolled over to sprawl out on her back. "Yes, and yes."

Followed, a moment later, by, "Everything hurts."

It was awesome.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, that just means you did it right," Annie told her, gently setting that mug within reach and heading back to the kitchen for further fortification. "I'm honestly surprised I'm not more hungover."

It helped when you didn't drink hardly any of your own terrifying bathtub punch. Who'd have thought.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Exactly," said Summer, with a pleased, wistful sigh that turned into a little bit of a groan as she made a very half-hearted reach for that mug, before realizing that she'd have to set up to drink it, and....this was fine, she'd work up to it, right now, she would just gain strength from the fumes. "See, you get it. You know how it goes. That's why you're my favorite, Annie, even if I hate you for not being as hungover. Booo. Fail."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I could try to get more hungover?" Annie offered, picking up a glass from the counter and giving it a sniff before second-guessing that cute little offer. "Oh God, no, I was wrong on both counts -- I just needed to smell it. Gross. Gross, gross."

Carbs and coffee would help her, too.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Well, if you have a bathtub full of booze, chances are that someone is going to sleep in it. That's just science.

"Gross," Cade said, standing up and looking down at his drenched leather pants. Where had his shirt gone? When had Cade even shown up? Did he even go here?

All very good questions! None of them would be answered today.

[defenderofdesmoines]

You know -- crash her party once and catch Annie unawares in the morning, shame on you. Crash her party twice and catch Annie unawares again the next morning, shame on her.

And so, here in the third year of this tradition, Annie took one look at Cade and immediately made a beeline back to her own bedroom, emerging shortly thereafter with an unopened pack of black men's tanks tops.

It was possible that someone's husband had asked her to stop giving away his shirts.

"Morning, Space Chad Kroeger," Annie greeted him drowsily, ripping open the pack and offering out a tank.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Oh, it's still morning?" Cade replied, reaching for the tank--and one of your towels, sorry, Annie. "I can catch another hour or two's nap, then."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, no, no you can't," Annie hastened to tell Cade, watching him with that towel and narrowing her eyes. "You can have a bagel and some coffee, and get on your merry way before I bounce you personally, my friend."

It maybe did not sound like she actually thought of him as a friend, weirdly!

[shutupandkillsomething]

So weird! He was definitely walking out of your place in a tank top and that towel because was classy. And punch-covered leather was awful.

"Two bagels," he countered.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Only if your second bagel is one of the gross cranberry ones," Annie negotiated, raising a brow. "You're already taking party favors home!"

No one else was getting a souvenir shirt and towel, Cade!

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Two bagels and a beer for the road," Cade said. "Final offer."