Rhett by Margaret McHeyzer

 

Today

 

 

Waking, I glance toward the window, squinting. My mouth is dry and feels like sandpaper. “Jesus,” I say as I try to push the covers off my body. I rub at my temples and my stomach roils as a seedy feeling creeps into my gut. “How much did I drink?” I ask as I try to remember what happened last night. “What time is it?” I reach for my phone, and can’t find it anywhere. “Shit,” I say. Did I lose it?

I manage to sit up on the edge of my bed, and I hear someone groan from beside me. What the fuck? I look over to find Pen sprawled out on the bed beside me. How did I not even realize she was there? “It’s early,” she grumbles.

“What happened?” I ask, my raspy throat desperate for water.

“Shh.” She grabs the covers and turns over, facing the wall.

I stand from the bed, and that sick, nauseated feeling makes itself known. Quietly, I open the door and head out to the kitchen. Mom’s sitting on the sofa, watching a movie while sipping on a coffee. When she sees me, her eyes light up and she reaches for the remote to mute whatever she’s watching. “Good afternoon, birthday boy.”

“Shh.” I rub at my forehead. “Stop yelling.”

“A bit hung over are you?” She chuckles even louder. “Pen still asleep?”

“What happened last night, Mom?” I walk into the kitchen, and grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Unscrewing the lid, I down it in one go. Once done, I reach for a second bottle.

“Well, I think between you, Penelope, and Dani you consumed three, maybe four bottles of bourbon.” I intake a sharp breath. “And you fell face first in your cake.”

I close my eyes, and lower my head. “Please tell me that didn’t happen.”

“Oh, it did. I’m fairly certain your brother snapped a few pictures of you with your face in your cake.”

I bring my hand up to shade my embarrassed face. “I’m so sorry, Mom.”

“Why? Didn’t you have fun?”

I walk over to the sofa, and sit on the recliner. “I don’t actually remember a lot.”

Mom’s smiling widely. “Well, I will say, it was extremely entertaining to everyone who was here.”

“Mom, please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.”

Mom winces with a smirk. “Define stupid, Rhett. If by stupid you mean you got so drunk you threw up in the flower pots out the back, then yes, you did stupid things. And you disappeared for a good half hour down in the back. I had to send Alec to find you.”

“Did he say what I was doing?” A massive rock churns in my gut. God only knows what was happening down there.

“He didn’t say you were doing anything. But they’re all coming over in about three hours for family dinner. You can ask him then.”

I don’t feel like a family get together, but I know how important they are to Mom. “All I want to do is go back to bed.” I look at the clock and see it’s already after two in the afternoon. “Shit, I’d better get Pen up.”

“She can’t drive home yet. She was wasted too. She’ll still have a lot of alcohol in her system.”

“I’ve still gotta get her up. But I think I’ll go take a shower first.”

“Please tell me you didn’t throw up in your room, because I’m not cleaning it,” Mom says as I struggle to stand.

“There wasn’t anything in my room when I got up. I’m gonna take a shower. Hopefully that’ll sober me up.”

Mom snickers. “Doubt it, son. You’ll be like this until tomorrow.”

Fuck, I hope not. I open the door to my room, where Pen has now moved and is sprawled diagonally across my bed. I grab clean clothes, and head into the bathroom to shower.

God, I hope I didn’t do anything stupid last night.

“Hey,” I say to Pen as I pull the curtains open in my room.

“Go away.” She drags the blankets over her head and snuggles further down on the bed. “I don’t want to get up.”

“Too bad. You have to. Dean and Alec are coming over soon. And you need a shower.”

She flicks the blankets back, and stares at me. She looks how I feel. “I don’t want to.”

“You have to.” I walk over to the bed, and flop down beside her. Pen moves so she’s on her side, staring at me. “Hurry up.”

“But I don’t want to,” she whines.

I pull back and wave my hand in front of my face. “Your breath is disgusting.”

“You’re a dick,” she counters.

I grab the blankets, and pull them all the way back. Pen is wearing a pair of shorts and one of my t-shirts. “When did I give you that?” I look down at the t-shirt.

“I probably stole it, Rhett. Do you remember anything that happened last night?”

“It’s all foggy. I remember you, Dani, and I were having shots. And I remember you trying to sing karaoke. I think I sang karaoke too.”

Penelope laughs. “Oh man, I think I remember that too.”

“Mom said I fell into my cake.”

Pen laughs a little too loud, causing the pain in my head to spike. “That hurt,” she says as she rubs at her eyes. “I don’t remember the last time I was this drunk. What did we drink?”

“Mom said between the three of us we had three or four bottles of bourbon.” Pen’s eyes widen. “Yeah, I know.”

“Jesus. How the hell are we still alive? I’m thankful we don’t have work ’til tomorrow.” I’m just praying I feel better by tomorrow. “Move over, loser. I’ll go have a shower.” She climbs over me to get off the bed. Looking around the room, she places her hands on her hips. “Where’s my bag?”

“I don’t know,” I say as I keep lying back in the bed. I could easily go back to sleep right now.

She opens my walk-in closet door. “Aha, here you are.” Grabbing her bag, she brings it over to the bed, and throws it on the edge. Riffling around, she grabs her clothes, and leaves the room.

I head out to Mom again. “Hey, do you know where my phone is?”

“I put it on the charger in my room. Go get it.” I walk into Mom’s room and see my phone. It has a full battery, so I take it off the charger, and fire it up.

As I make my way back out to the family room, my phone dings a few times. Some are from people who couldn’t come to my twenty-third last night, wishing me a happy birthday. And there are photos from Alec. “Oh shit,” I say as I look at the pictures.

“What is it?” Mom asks. I turn the phone around to show Mom the photos of me with my face in my cake. Me laughing as I lift my head from the cake. “I’m choosing to believe these are Photoshopped.” Except that when I ran my hands through my hair in the shower, my hair was sticky.

“You can believe whatever you want. But it actually happened.” I flick through the photos again. There are only five, but each is pretty bad. “I have a nice one of you and Pen. Hang on, let me get it.” She reaches for her phone and scrolls through her photos. “Here, I like this one.”

Pen is sitting on my lap, we’ve got our faces smooshed together and we’re both laughing. “Yeah, neither of us look too drunk in that one.” I don’t recall Mom taking this.

“And I have this one of you and Dani.” She grabs her phone and flicks through some more pictures. “Here.” She hands the phone back to me again.

I quickly send this one to myself. I like it too. I don’t remember it, but I like it. I have my arm around Dani’s waist, and she has her head on my chest, just smiling. “When did you take this one?”

“It was about an hour before the face plant in the cake.” I hand the phone back to Mom and she smiles as she’s staring at the photo. “You two make a nice couple.”

Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen. “Dani’s not interested in me, Mom.”

“But you like her?” She draws her brows in together.

“No, we’re just friends. That’s it.” Mom slowly nods. “What?”

“You and Dani looked a little too cozy to be only friends.”

I swallow and look over at her. “What do you mean?”

“Neither of you could keep your hands off each other. Did you kiss her?”

“What?” I shriek too loudly. Not that I remember if we did or didn’t. “I don’t think so.”

“When are you going to talk to her again?”

“I don’t know, Mom. It’s not like that with us. I told you, we’re just friends.”

“You didn’t look like just friends last night, Rhett.”

“Who didn’t look like just friends last night?” Pen asks as she comes out and sits next to Mom. “Morning, Elise.”

“Morning, sweetheart.” I look at Mom, silently giving her the don’t say anything look. “Did you have a good night?”

“My mouth feels like kitty litter, I’m so hung over I feel like I’m going to be sick, and my head is thumping. So, all in all, it was an awesome night!” Pen peers over her shoulder toward the kitchen counter. “Do you know where my car keys are?”

“Yes, I have them. I’ve already spoken with your parents and told them you’re not driving home today.”

“How did Dani get home?” I ask Mom, now that I know the three of us polished off numerous bottles of bourbon.

“Alec and Serena took her home. She was adamant she’d be fine to walk home. There was no way in the world your brothers, or you for that matter, would let her.”

I scrub my hand over my burning eyes. “I don’t recall any of this.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. The three of you were so drunk.” Mom stands and walks into the kitchen. “We’ve got plenty of leftovers from last night.” She opens the fridge door, and takes out a carton of eggs. “We’ll have them for dinner tonight, but for now, I’ll make you both eggs.”

“I’ll make us coffees.” Pen stands and heads into the kitchen.

“You actually look pretty good, Pen,” Mom says.

Penelope laughs. “I feel like I’ve been hit by one of our fire engines.” She chuckles. “But that’s not going to stop me.”

Mom laughs, and gives Pen a hug. “If only you loved each other different than the way you do.” Mom gives Pen a kiss on the temple.

“Eww, don’t gross me out,” Penelope replies. “But don’t worry, Elise, there’s no chance in hell I’ll ever be out of Rhett’s life. Which means, you’re stuck with me too.”

“The daughter I never had.”

“You know, you make me seem disgusting whenever you wrinkle your nose up when people ask if we’re a couple,” I say to Pen.

“You’re not gross, but you’re just...you. You’re Rhett. I don’t look at you and say, ‘Oh, I wanna tap that.’”

“Dear Lord,” Mom mumbles.

“I don’t,” Pen responds in a higher pitch. “Rhett’s my brother. There’s no shortage of women checking him out whenever we’re out together, and trust me, I get it. He’s a good-looking man. But he does nothing for me.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pen,” I mumble. She smiles broadly. “Lucky, because I’m not into chicks who lack in the ass department,” I reply with a heavy measure of snark.

Mom chuckles, and Penelope huffs. “I have a seriously awesome booty. Look!” She sticks her ass out to Mom. “Elise, tell him I have a good butt.”

“I’m not looking at your butt, Penelope. Stop twerking.” Mom grabs Pen by the hips, and moves her out of the way. “I have eggs to scramble, and I don’t need your butt in my way. So, move.”

Penelope chuckles as she pours the coffees and brings one over to me. She sits cross-legged and keeps talking with Mom.

My life would be so much easier if I loved Penelope more than just being my best friend. But, I don’t. And I know she doesn’t either.

“What the hell happened to you last night?” Dean chuckles as he sits opposite me out on the patio. “You two and Dani were so drunk.” He pointedly looks over to Pen who’s helping Mom in the kitchen.

“You should hear what I heard,” Alec says as he grabs a beer and sits beside me.

I look around, making sure neither Dean’s wife, Joanne, or Alec’s fiancée, Serena, can hear us. I check to make sure Thomas isn’t near either. “What did you hear?” I ask, afraid I did another something stupid last night.

“You and Dani were down in the back.”

“Down in the back where?” I ask.

Alec purposely looks down past the house, near the shed right at the back of the property. “What?” I ask. “No, we weren’t.”

“Yeah, you were. Serena and I came to find you, and both you and Dani were back there.”

Oh shit. I swallow and try to regain my composure. “Yeah? What were we doing?” Fuck, please don’t tell me we were having sex.

Alec chuckles and looks to Dean, then me. “You and Dani both professed your love to one another.”

What?I squint and screw up my mouth. “Huh? No, we didn’t.” Alec’s eyes widen as he picks his beer up and takes a drink. “Alec?” I question.

“Oh shit,” Dean mumbles under his breath.

He places the beer down, and smiles. “Serena?” he calls his fiancée over.

She holds a finger up, then walks over. Alec pulls her to sit on his lap, and she wraps her arms around his neck. “What happened last night?” I ask, my stomach knotting from what I hope she doesn’t confirm.

“What part? Before or after you face planted into the cake?” She starts laughing.

“Immediately before,” Alec says. He stares at me, his chin up and his chest puffed out, all proud.

“You mean when we had to find Rhett, and he was down in the back whispering to Dani how much he loves her? Or when Dani told him she loved him back, then passed out?”

I clap a hand to my face, not remembering any of this. “That didn’t happen,” I say attempting to convince myself.

“Yeah, it did. You were both down there.” Serena pivots and points next to the shed.

With my hand still over my face, I’m mortified to know I said something so personal to Dani. I would never say that. I don’t love her, because I know she doesn’t love me. And besides, she’s never given me any kind of vibe that she’s into me. “Drunk slurs don’t count for anything,” I say trying to justify whatever they heard.

“Serena?” Mom calls from inside.

Serena gives Alec a kiss on the cheek, stands, and walks back inside. “If you say so,” she calls over her shoulder. “It was obvious to both of us that day we had breakfast over at Elle’s Café that you’re attracted to each other. Ask her out,” Dean says.

I shake my head. “We’re friends, and that’s it.” I add another head shake.

“Well, just saying, don’t leave it too long, little brother. Because one day, when you decide you really do want her, someone else will swoop in and win her heart.”

“Then it’s not meant to be.”

“Speaking of Dani, do you know where she lives?” Alec asks.

“Not really. I think Faith Haven somewhere. Why?”

“Serena and I took her home last night, and she lives in a trailer park.”

I blink rapidly for a moment, and feel my forehead wrinkle. “In a trailer park?”

“Yeah, back of Mulberry Point. She was quite adamant for us to drop her off at the top of the street. And we did, but Serena and I followed her to make sure she got home okay. Did you know she lives in a trailer? I mean, it wasn’t a dump or anything. But, she’s not in a permanent home. And there were no lights on or anything, but given, it was nearly four in the morning when we took her home.”

“I had no idea. Wait, how did she get here?”

“She said her parents dropped her off, but they couldn’t pick her up,” Alec responds.

“Honestly, I had no idea at all.” I’ll have to suss this out. Why is she living in a trailer?

“Like I said, it’s a nice trailer. It had a small vegetable garden out on the side, and a small flower garden out in the front.” Dean, Alec, and I are all quiet for a moment. “Oh, and we think we’ve found a house to buy,” Alec says changing the conversation.

“You have? Where?” Dean asks.

“Serena and I are going to look at it the day after tomorrow. It’s here in Mulberry Point. Big house. But not like your monstrosity,” Alec says to Dean.

I sit back listening to my brothers. But, I’m more interested in what Alec said about Dani living in a trailer. I wonder why she’s living in a trailer? What’s going on with her parents that they can’t afford to rent a house? Is she okay? Do they need help? Can I do something to help them?

“...soon.” Alec hits me on the leg.

“What?”

“I said you’ll be able to move into my place soon.”

“Yeah, great. Thanks. I appreciate it.” I’m still distracted by the whole trailer thing. There’s only one trailer park in Mulberry Point. It’s quite large, but it shouldn’t be too hard for me to find where Dani lives. Hmmm, I wonder what’s going on.