In a Perfect World

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

            "Wake up!" I prompted impatiently, shaking Damien by his shoulder.  "Wake up!!"  I had been awake for an hour and figured an hour and a half was enough time for Damien to get ready for school. 

            "Hmphhh," he mumbled into the pillow. 

            "Damien.  Wake up!" I pushed him onto his back and then went to open the curtains. 

            "The light..." Damien complained, moaning and squeezing his eyes shut. 

            "There's a cup of water and aspirin on the nightstand; I'll be next door in the nursery."  I walked through the bathroom and found Hayley sitting in her crib, playing with her feet.  "Hi, Hayley girl!"

            "Maaaaa," she said as I lifted her out of her crib.  "Ah ba da aaahh."

            I brought her into the kitchen and fed her the bottle I made a few minutes earlier.  I carried her, as she drank her bottle, into my room where Damien was still sleeping.  "Damien.  My goodness.  Wake up.  You have to go to school." 

            He mumbled some incoherent words and motioned for me to go away. 

            "I cannot believe I have to do this."  I went into the bathroom and dampened a face towel with cold water, while balancing Hayley and helping her hold the bottle, and threw it over Damien's face. 

            "What the hell?!" he protested, jumping up tossing the towel aside. 

            "I cannot believe you got wasted last night.  You cannot do that.  And you especially cannot ever call me at one in the morning at tell me that you crashed your car."

            "I crashed my car?" he asked, incredulous, before throwing up into the trash can I put next to him, causing Hayley to start wailing.  "Oh my god, get her to stop.  My head hurts so badly."

            "That's not my fault," I said to him, bouncing Hayley up and down.  I patted her back and then rubbed circles on her back for a few minutes before she calmed down and reached for her bottle like the happy baby she was. 

            "Thank you," Damien said, holding his head.  "Wait, did I really crash my car?"

            "I don’t know.  Now take the aspirin and then go take a shower.  Use the blue towel hanging on the back of the door and when you finish, go to the kitchen, I'll have breakfast ready for you.  Hurry up, or you'll be late for school."  I went out into the kitchen before Damien could say anything, closing my bedroom door behind me, and placed Hayley in her high chair.  I filled a Sippy cup with apple juice and gave it to Hayley before starting to make pancakes. 

            By the time I finished cooking the first batch of pancakes, I heard Damien finally got into the shower and Jessica and my parents got up. 

            "Who's taking a shower?" Jessica yawned, sitting next to Hayley. 

            "Damien."

            "What?" my dad said.  "Why is he here?"

            "He called me last night at one in the morning, completely wasted," I informed them, flipping my second batch of pancakes over. 

            "And you brought him here?" my mom asked as she and my dad sat at the breakfast nook.

            "Yeah, I couldn't carry him all the way up the stairs in his house."