smells like teen spirit ~ danny gonzalez x drew gooden high school au

xxvii: we wish you a merry christmas

Drew's head pounded. Before he even realized he was awake, his head was hurting. He sat up in bed, shoving his duvet off. It was too hot for that. He rubbed his head, which throbbed red with pain. That was new. Drew squinted, wondering why it would have been hurting. The night before was little more than a blur.

Drew stood up and nearly fell back into bed. His whole body felt like he had been hit by a truck. He struggled to walk forward, forcing his sore legs to take step after step.

He emerged into the kitchen groaning, shielding his eyes from the harsh lights.

"Morning, sunshine." Drew looked up to see Amanda waving cheerily at him from behind a steaming mug of coffee. "Want some coffee?"

"Ugh, no," Drew mumbled, rubbing his eyes and sitting down next to her. "The smell's making me want to throw up."

"My bad." Amanda slid the mug away from him.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Drew asked blearily.

"They're working." Amanda looked at him like he was dumb. "They only get work off starting on Christmas, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Drew covered his eyes, trying to assuage his headache.

"How're you doing?" Amanda asked, uncharacteristically concerned about his well-being.

Drew shot her a look. "Bad. Why do you ask?"

"Well," she said, "when Danny dropped you off last night, he said you were really drunk."

"What?" Drew laughed. "I specifically chose the non-alcoholic eggnog."

"He also told me," Amanda continued meaningfully, "that someone had switched the signs for the two types of eggnog. Some stupid prank."

Drew stared at her. "Huh?"

She nodded. "You're hungover. Congrats."

Suddenly, Drew's pounding headache and lack of memory made sense. "I must've drank, like, eight cups of eggnog," he mumbled. "Is that why I feel so awful?"

Amanda nodded again. "I had to carry you upstairs."

"That sucks." Drew covered his eyes with his hands. "This sucks. I didn't even want to get drunk! This isn't fair!"

"Sorry, bud." Amanda patted him on the shoulder.

"Wait. You said Danny dropped me off." Drew straightened up. "Did he have to, like, carry me?" His tired face still managed an involuntary smile at the thought.

"Basically," Amanda sighed. "So you really don't remember anything?"

Drew shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Danny said you probably wouldn't," she told him. "Guess he was right."

All of a sudden, there came a knock at the Goodens' front door.

Amanda and Drew exchanged a look before both getting out of their seats to answer it.

When the door opened, Drew was greeted by the last person he expected to see. Laura stood on their doorstep, wrapped in a puffy blue winter coat that seemed too big for her.

"Oh! Hi, Laura," Amanda greeted her, which was good. Drew's foggy brain was too surprised to connect to his mouth. "What's up?"

"Hey," Laura answered, pulling her coat more tightly. "I just wanted to check in and see if Drew was okay."

Drew looked up, confused. Why was Laura, of all people, worried about him?

"You seemed a bit...off, last night. But I really appreciated what you did." She dipped her head.