the choice • charlie conway

chapter fourteen

charlie

When I wake up Saturday morning, I feel like I've just been thrown into the middle of a busy highway and then got ran over by a million cars.

I don't sit up at first, because I'm afraid that I might puke again. Instead, I open my eyes and stare at the ginormous ceilings that are in this guest room. Who knew guest rooms could be so luxurious?

After probably five minutes of watching the ceiling fan spin around and around, I finally decide to get up. My head is throbbing, and I immediately feel a wave of nausea wash over me. Why did I decide to drink so much again?

I decide that instead of taking the easy way out and throwing up again to make me feel better, I need to go downstairs and eat something. Whether I will be able to keep it down or not is the real question, but it's worth a shot.

The first thing I notice when I walk into the kitchen is Adam, who is sitting on one of the barstools at his enormous kitchen island with his head in his hands. From where I'm standing, he honestly looks like he might fall over.

"Yo Banksie, you alright?" I ask as my concern grows.

"Yeah." he mumbles, but it's so quiet that I can barely hear him. "I'm just trying to not get sick."

"You and me both." I say as I grab a coffee cup from the cabinet and pour myself some coffee from the freshly brewed pot. "Hold on, who made this?"

Even though Adam is clearly trying not to die, he has enough strength to point over to the kitchen table, where Dean is buttering two pieces of toast with Guy, Connie, and Julie sitting at the other three seats.

He smiles when he sees me look at him, while the other three offer a small wave. "Good morning Captain!"

"Good morning guys, how are you all feeling?"

"Like death." Adam calls from his seat, so I turn around and look at him. "I wasn't talking to you idiot."

"Who knew you were such a bitch when you're hungover?" Guy jokes, and I flip my middle finger up at him. For some reason, him and Dean start laughing like that's the funniest thing on Earth. I look at Connie and Julie, who just shrug.

"Oh by the way Charlie, there's some bread out by the toaster if you want to make some toast." Connie says with a smile.

I return it and walk over to the toaster, tossing a piece in. Holy hell, this thing is fancy. "Adam, how the fuck am I supposed to work this thing?"

He finally looks up at me, and his stare gives me chills. "You're really going to make me get up right now?"

"I'll show you Charlie." Julie offers, and within seconds she's tapping the screen and has it all set up. "How do you like your toast?"

"In the middle I guess. Thanks Jules."

She makes a face almost immediately. "Please never call me that again."

I ruffle her hair and she swats my hand away, rolling her eyes as she turns back towards the toaster. I go to take her seat, and it's not even two seconds of quiet before what we knew was going to happen happens.

In simpler terms, Adam starts throwing up.

"Gross!" Julie yells as he holds up his middle finger at her while his head is basically in the sink.

"Well, we all knew it was coming." Dean jokes, and I honestly have to hold back a laugh.

Connie gets up and fills a glass of water, placing it next to Adam. She rubs his back until he stops and then comes back to the table.

"Charlie." she calls, and I turn my attention to her. "Do you want me and Julie to help you with Sadie's anniversary presents? I can go to the mall later if you can."

My stomach turns as it dawns on me that my anniversary is in two days and I haven't even thought about gifts. "Uh... yeah! That would be great. Thanks Con."

"They helped me last year with Ella's homecoming proposal thing. Best decision I've ever made." Adam says, still hunched over the sink.

Julie comes over with my toast and is quick to add on. "Yeah, I'd love to help! It's really no problem."

I smile at them both, hoping they don't realize how much I'm freaking out internally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I'd known how big of shoppers Connie and Julie were, I would've thought twice before letting them help me. We've been at the mall for almost three hours and I still haven't found something for Sadie other than flowers.

"This is hopeless." I say with a frustrated sigh as we leave what feels like the one hundredth store. "Why are girls so hard? I don't understand why they can't just accept a card, some flowers, and a 'happy anniversary' instead of wanting a bunch of huge gifts."

"Girls aren't hard Charlie." Julie replies with a snicker. "You're just being dramatic."

"Yeah!" Connie adds. "All you need to do is put in effort. I mean, you should at least know what she likes."

I look up at the ceiling and start listing off things I know Sadie likes. "Sage green, daisies, stuffed animals, soft blankets, candy, meaningful notes, and me, obviously."

"See, that's a start!" Julie points out. "Now just combine those into a nice gift."

I stare at her like she's from a different planet. "If you think I have the money for all that, you're crazy."

She looks at Connie and they share some type of smile that makes me very confused. "Are you guys okay?"

"Let's get to work!" Connie exclaims excitedly.

What have I gotten myself into?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After another two hours, we finally walk out of the mall with everything we "needed", according to Connie and Julie.

A tan woven basket, and inside it is bouquet of daisies with a sage green ribbon, bags of her favorite candy, a teddy bear, a card that I'll probably fill out after my training session with Bombay tomorrow, and a necklace with a green jewel in the middle that I basically spent my entire allowance on.

Connie's mom takes me home, because I need some time away from the dorms if I'm going to make this gift somewhat good. I also need to sleep off the remainder of my hangover, because my mother will kill me if she knew how much of an idiot I acted like last night.

As soon as I get home, I say hi to my mom, eat the leftover pizza I find in the fridge, brush my teeth, and pass out.

Who knew that anniversary gift shopping could be so exhausting?