The party.
Yes.
He’d gone to a party with...
Wait.
Shit!
His memory came flying back—Belle as bait, he and Hobbit sitting at the picnic table, Mindy-Mandy the flute girl, and the sudden strange sensation that his head was no longer attached to his shoulders.
Don’t leave me don’t leave me don’t leave me...
Hobbit clearly hadn’t, and Belle hadn’t either.
But oh dear God, a tsunami wave of nausea had appeared with the rush of remembering, and Jules had sat up because,fuhhhck.
But Shelly was there—she and Sadie’d been sleeping on the floor, and shit, Tom was in the room, too, curled up over in the corner on a bean bag chair. But Shelly was his savior, because she’d thrust a bucket—red and clean and large, thank you Jesus—at Jules because yes he was absolutely going to throw up and he would not have made it out of the room to wherever the bathroom was.
“Oh God I’m so sorry,” he said because as awful as he felt, he knew for damn sure that this was not going to be fun for any of them, but Shelly spoke over him.
“It’s okay, let it out, try to get it all out, you’ll feelsomuch better.”
Jules could feel Hobbit’s hands on his back—soothing and steady,I swear to God, I will not leave your side—as Belle chimed in, too. “This should be the last of it. There really can’t be much more in your stomach.”
Jules’s eyes were streaming and his nose was running from the awfulness as he retched and gagged, because yes, Belle was right. Nothing much was coming up. Shelly was right there with a box of tissues, too, and he took more thanone to wipe his face. “Oh, my God, have I been doing this...?”
“Since around three.” Tom should’ve sounded tired, but he just sounded like Tom.
The clock-radio on Belle’s bedside table had said 6:23, and yes, light was peeking in from behind her window shades.
He’d finally stopped throwing up, and Hobbit had gone with him to the bathroom, waiting respectfully outside of the closed door as Jules had gotten himself cleaned up.
When they’d gone back into Belle’s room, the start of the debrief had been sobering.
“Belle and Hobbit got you out of the party without blowing our cover,” Shelly told him. “You were able to walk once they got you up on your feet. Tom and Sadie and I met you at Tom’s car, at the end of the street.”
“You climbed the stairs with just a little bit of help,” Sadie told him, because yes, Belle’s bedroom was on the second floor of her house.
“You were in and out of the car pretty easily, too,” Belle chimed in. “I mean, yeah, there was a bit of a disconnect, but once you got moving, you seemed okay-ish.”
“I don’t remember any of that,” Jules said. “And I was...talking...?”
“You told Tom he was hot,” Sadie reported.
Oh, God, he did? Jules winced.
“Come on, Sade, he really didn’t need to know that,” Tom scolded.
“If it was me, I’d want to know,” Sadie shot back.
Didhe want to know? He kind of did, but he also didn’t. “Sorry,” Jules said. “Can I just... make a blanket apology to everyone?”
“Dude,” Tom said. “You were flying pretty high and... frankly, I’m flattered.”
“Yeah, we all know you’re getting a T-shirt that saysJules thinks I’m hot,” Belle teased.
“No, that would be you,” Tom countered with a laugh, “with the T-shirt sayingJules thinks my boyfriend’s hot.”
