Gnik Nus

Chapter 11

It was an ugly sight. Brian's apartment was a complete mess. Empty bottles were strewn everywhere, the beds were all ruffled and disorderly and don't get me started on how we looked. Adam was still asleep on the floor facedown, almost fully naked. There was a puddle of milk where Jenny had spilled it. Kylie's hair was going in all directions and Peter had Jenny's dress on. And then there was Ben and I.

"I leave you guys alone for one night..." Mal started, drinking in the environment.
"What on earth happened?" Brian asked again, "Did a hurricane come blasting through here?"
"It sure looks that way," Peter said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Well? Explain yourselves!"
His voice was shrill and high pitched and it managed to bring Adam out of his slumber. He woke up with a jump, pushing himself up into a crawling position. We all looked at him. He then noticed that we were all staring... and then noticed Brian in the doorway. That got him up into a standing position pretty quickly.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Adam asked groggily.
"That's what I'd like to know," Brian responded sternly.

I guess we were all to blame but it really was Adam's fault for buying the drinks in the first place. Brian continued to death stare each of us individually. When his eyes landed on Ethel I noticed his expression change slightly – he was surprised, just like we were. You'd never know that she was a party animal at heart.
"Even you, Ethel?" he said softly.
"I guess you don't know me that well," she responded in her thick Welsh accent, "For this was all my idea. I wanted a party."
Brian raised his eyebrows, as did Mal. In fact, so did I.
"No, no, it was all my fault," Adam chimed in.
"Now that's more believable," Brian said, glancing sideways at Ethel as he crossed his arms.
"I bought grog for everyone. I take full responsibility for this."
"You bought grog? Where did you get the money?"
Adam just looked at his feet. He'd really done it. Brian was going to kick him out, into the unknown.

"Did you steal it from me?" Brian asked accusingly.
No one met his eye, Adam especially.
"How dare you! I house you, eight stray strangers, I buy you everything you need, I feed you, and this is how you repay me? By vandalising my home and stealing from me? I can't believe you lot. What else did you get up to whilst I was away?"
This time he also looked at Mal for an answer.
"Well, uh," Mal fumbled.
"Just the same old, same old," I responded, "It was only last night that we did anything out of the ordinary, I promise."
"I have a good mind to throw you all out!" Brian bellowed.
"No, please, don't!" we all pled.
"I don't think that's necessary, Brian," Mal tried to reason.
"Please don't, Brian," little Jack pled. That seemed to calm Brian down slightly.
"You are all very lucky that I am not evicting you," he spoke over the hubbub, "But just keep in mind that I am in no way obliged to keep you here. I provided you with a home out of the goodness of my heart."
"Thank you," I thanked him sincerely.

There was a silence where we all looked ashamed of ourselves and Brian inspected the damage with a pained look on his face. He then got a proper look at Ben.
"Where did you get that?" he asked, pointing to his head.
Ben's hands flew to his head where he felt the wig.
"Oh, uh," he stumbled to answer, "I'm not quite sure."
I smirked, remembering his discovery of it.
"How much did you lot drink?" Mal asked, somewhat in awe and somewhat disgusted.
"To be honest," Adam started, "I bought over fifty pounds worth and it's all gone."
Brian had to sit down on the lounge to calm himself.
"I don't supposed there's any left?" he said, "I could use a stiff drink."
"Why are you home so early?" I asked him, "You weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."
"To be honest, I came home to prepare a party for the boys," he revealed, "It was to be a welcome home party of sorts, and also a 'thank-you for not playing up' party for you lot. Now I'm seriously reconsidering it."
"Oh no, please don't!" we all called out our protests.
"If you can get this place cleaned up within the next hour I will consider still having it!" he called over the top of us.