Spring Fever
Chapter
10: Complications and Solutions
(Un) Important babbling-notes from Cimmy: Ahm, ahm, dedication-time! Alrighty, this chapter is dedicated to my very good friend Mary, because she’s been wanting an update for ages. Yay, I have a fan!
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Notes: From Charlie’s point of view.
Even if Travis had banned them from drinking, Charlie could tell that most of them wouldn’t be all that bright and shiny tomorrow.
He had been drinking way too much in way too short time. He was feeling a bit nauseous, actually.
Not as bad as Cecilia must feel, though. If it was possible, she had been drinking even more, in even less time. Poor Fred, with a girlfriend like that, he’d be facing another drinking problem soon. Maybe not his own, but hers.
They were all gathered at the party on the beach. Luis, who’d decided to tag along against all odds, and Connie had also drowned themselves in alcohol as quickly as possible. Charlie wasn’t sure what was going on between them, but something was clearly wrong.
Fred hadn’t touched a drop. Charlie wasn’t sure that he had been drinking at all since the car-accident last year. That was good, though. Very good.
Travis was as usual the most sane of them all. He was trying to keep an eye on Connie for some reason, while he was enjoying himself. How he was able to do both was hard to tell. Connie could be a handful when she was drunk.
Oddly enough, Guy didn’t seem to pay any attention to her at all. He wasn’t as drunk as the rest of them, but he still didn’t seem to care.
“I know why he’s mad at me.” A drunk Cecilia tugged his sleeve.
“Yeah? Why?” Charlie asked, not really caring.
“He’s a moron. Well, screw him.”
The usual come-back from Cecilia.
“Are you sure that’s the reason?”
“Uh-huh,” she nodded. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about after that, it was mostly just her babbling on and on about something. Probably in Swedish. That’s why it sounded so weird. Cecilia always had conversations with him in Swedish when she was drunk.
“Yeah, uhu,” Charlie agreed with her, just to show some interest. Fake interest, but whatever.
The rest of the night was all in a blurr. He couldn’t remember how he got back, who brought him back or how the others were doing. If Coach Bombay knew about this, he’d be furious.
It wasn’t until very early on Wednesday morning that he got back from his trip to wherever he’d been. It was Fred that got some life into him. Ironic, since Fred usually had been the one needing nursering after his heavy drinking.
“Get up,” Fred ordered. “We’re leaving.”
“Huh?” Too early for demands and questions.
“We’re leaving, help me get the others up.”
Charlie moved his head. Big mistake. It felt like he had an army of angry fighting-ants inside of it. It was a very painful experience.
“Leaving?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He sat up and tried to get everything into focus. He’d passed out on the couch, and so had Connie. Cecilia was sitting on the kitchen-sink with her head leaning against the wall. Fred could be so cruel sometime.
Travis was standing at the threshold, looking amused. He had no reason, though. Who could possibly be happy at... seven-thirty in the morning?
“Connie, get up,” Charlie heard Guy say.
“No,” she mumbled. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Well, big surprise.” Guy grabbed her arm and pulled her off the couch. Connie whined, and it sounded like a high-pierced yelling in Charlie’s head. He covered his ears with the pillow he had under his head and tried to go back to sleep.
“Get up, Charlie.”
Fred could be so vicious.
“Fine, I’m up,” he said slowly. “Why are we leaving?”
“By request,” Fred snorted and shook his head. “Besides from Luis’s complaint, I can’t really stay here any longer. My Dad wants me out, so they’re kicking me to the curb.”
“Who are?”
Fred sighed. “MC, who else?”
Really, too early for word-games. “MC what?”
“MC, as in Miller Corporation. Cecilia, get your ass out to the car.” Fred pointed at the door, and Cecilia did as she was told, surprisingly enough.
Charlie was confused. Why had they been kicked out? Had Fred’s Dad changed his mind, or what? There wasn’t much time for questions though. Travis, Guy and Fred seemed to know every little detail, while the rest of them acted like zombies.
This was great. A bad hang-over, nowhere to stay, Fred’s cruelty, and on top of that another road-trip. No, this was definitely not the right time to wake up on.
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Charlie leaned against the wall. They were all having a break from that stupid rental-van. Mostly because Connie’d not been able to stay in it anymore. She’d been feeling sick, and she was probably somewhere throwing up by now. Charlie had actually no idea where the others were. Not anywhere close, that’s for sure.
If he could only understand why they’d been forced to leave. Besides from high telephone-bills and some trashing, they hadn’t really done anything wrong. Although he knew that Fred’s Dad was sort of an odd character. To destroy and make mayhem for his son had to be his favorite hobbie, and of course that included changing his mind about letting Fred be at the beach house.
“I’m sort of confused,” Adam announced from the van. Fred had been able to bribe someone at Miller Corporation to get them that van. Otherwise getting home would’ve been hell.
“Oh yeah?” Charlie answered.
“If we’re thrown out of the beach house...” Adam began pondering. Charlie just sighed. It was all complicated to understand, but the main-reason was; Fred’s Dad doesn’t like Fred. Even if that thought was really sad, it was the explanation for it all.
Connie came stumbling back, looking pale. “Could anyone WITH a license drive now? I really don’t want to throw up again.”
“No one wants you to,” Adam muttered. “It’s gross. Where are we going, anyway?”
“Spring break will be way over before we even get to Texas,” Charlie moaned. “And why does everyone disappear the minute I turn my back against them?!”
To his frustration, both Adam and Connie started laughing. “You’re priceless when you’re worked up like this,” Connie snickered. “I can go look for them. Adam?”
“Oh, so I guess I’m going to look as well,” he said sarcastically. “Queen Moreau, I’m here to satisfy all your needs.”
“Wow, that sounded dirty,” Connie giggled. “You’re not coming on to me, are you?”
Adam grabbed her arm and dragged her along to find the rest of the troop. Charlie laughed, knowing how hard it could be to get Connie to shut up.
Two minutes later they were back, Travis and Guy following them. Luis was nowhere to be seen, but according to the mood he was in, he was probably looking for roadkill along the interstate.
“Well, they’re broken up. Again,” Guy sighed and climbed into the van.
Charlie closed his eyes and moaned even louder. He had it coming, Fred and Cecilia had been practically trying to kill each other since the arrival to Florida. What was a holiday without break-ups?
“Let’s get going,” Charlie said and waved everyone into the van. “Hey, Itchy and Scratchy, get over here! We’re leaving!”
There was no sign of arguing, not even a mean look, when Fred and Cecilia got back. They just avoided each other and went at different directions, Fred to the driver’s seat and Cecilia to the backseat.
“Sometimes you people drive me nuts,” Charlie explained and gave Cecilia a pointedly look. “If you start yelling, I’ll drop you off at the side of the road.”
Charlie’s leader-ability came rushing back when the head-ache disappeared, so he was able to get the people organized. Just when they were about to drive off, his cell-phone began beeping. According to the display, it was Coach Bombay.
“Yes, it’s Charlie.”
“Hi, Charlie, how’s it going down there?”
What should he say? ‘We got thrown out of the state of Florida, had to rent a van illegally, and everyone is really hung-over.’ Nah, that didn’t sound too good.
“Charlie?”
Oh, right, he had to actually answer. “Uhm, it’s going quite well, Coach. We’re on our way back. We’re going on a road-trip instead.”
Why did he have to say that? “Really? How did you manage to get a car?” Bombay wanted to know. “It’s still reckoned to be 25 when you rent a car, in most parts of the country.”
“Uh... Uh... Fred kind of....”
“Don’t say you’re driving a car you’re not supposed to drive!” Bombay exclaimed. “If you get caught, you’ll be in a lot trouble, Charlie. I put you in charge, but all you seem to do is to get into an even bigger mess then before.”
“But...”
“I want you on the first plane back to Los Angeles right now! Preferably on the plane to Minneapolis, but I’m pleased as long as you get back home, right now!”
“We’re doing fine!” Charlie howled. “No one’s in trouble...”
“What’s the license-number on the car you’re driving?”
Charlie started to feel irritated. Why couldn’t he be trusted when he was telling the truth? He told Bombay the license-number of the van, and decided to try and talk about some nice things instead. He didn’t have any change, though. Bombay interrupted him.
“I’m going to call and ask about this car, and hopefully you’ve returned it by then, otherwise I have to ask them to track you down. You’ll not like that, I promise.”
“How are we going to get back? We don’t have any money!” Charlie shouted, knowing that raising his voice only would get them into even more trouble.
So, they had to return the car. Thanks to Charlie’s yelling. Somehow he knew that the others probably hated him right now. Guy was annoyed with everything that moved, especially Cecilia. Fred acted clueless about the whole ‘breakup’ and Connie sighed every other minute.
Charlie knew he had to solve everything somehow, but he really didn’t know where to begin.
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Author’s
Note: Yep, this
update took a really long time. Sorry. I ate a sandwich while writing the
second part, so I have to wipe away some crumbs from the keyboard before
editing the next chapter. Bare with me, it won’t take months.
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