Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Two: Lauren, Sunday

Lauren heard Al throwing up as she dressed herself in the clothes she'd apparently ripped off, or had ripped from her, sometime last night or earlier this morning. She was on the verge of being sick herself, but she kept it together because she had to; of her and Al, she was the more experienced at having to get herself out of stressful situations, and she knew she was going to have to be the one to figure out what to do next. And to do that, she had to have her clothes on. 

It wasn't that she was ashamed of Al looking at her naked; she, Rachel and Al had all seen each other naked on more than one occasion, although with Al it had never been this up close and personal. She was even a little flattered that the sight of her body turned him on so much, but being flattered was not what she needed to be right now, nor did she need to have the memory in her head of grabbing her first cock that wasn't Joe's, nor did she need the uneasiness of not remembering if that cock had been inside her in the last few hours; she had the sinking suspicion, from the feel of her down there, that it had. Any feelings she might have on that matter would have to wait, though, because she knew Al would be a mess, and she had to be the one to figure out what to do. She had to strap on her sword, just as she'd done more than thirty years ago, literally, and as she'd done two years ago, figuratively. Since she didn't have her sword here (it was still in her office, as far as she knew,) getting dressed would have to suffice for strapping on. 

There were lights on in the kitchen, the underside lights under the cabinets that allowed a soothing glow by which to navigate during the night. It was how she was able to find her clothes, and Al's, on the hardwood floor. This was Rachel's apartment, and when she and Al married he'd moved here with Samson, who sat watching her from the couch, the arm of which he'd already begun ruining in the relatively short time he'd been here. Rachel had complained to her about it, but what could she do? Cats scratched things, and she knew that well enough from seeing Al's old apartment and furniture. If she didn't want to divorce Al and throw him out, she'd just have to live with it.

Samson hopped down and walked to his food dish, looking at Lauren hopefully. "Sorry, kitty," she said, "I don't know where your food is. Al will be out soon, I hope."

He was a handsome brown tabby with white bib and boots, and his gaze never wavered, making her feel surprisingly uncomfortable being partly dressed in a way she hadn't with Al. She finished buttoning her blouse, noticing a button was missing, torn off, perhaps, in the apparent rush to disrobe. How would she explain this to Joe? Where was Joe, for that matter? 

As she looked for her purse, she noticed the bottles on the coffee table and the kitchen counter. That was when she remembered the party. They'd all been here, drinking... and that was as far as her memory went before it went black. But she was relieved to remember that Naomi and Tosh were at her parents' house. Whatever had happened to Joe and Rachel, the children should be safe. 

That left the memory gap so bewildering. Where were those two? And what had caused her and Al to fall into Al and Rachel's bed? Oddly enough, this wasn't the first time she was in that bed, although not with Al. It wasn't as if she wanted Al that way, although she never minded watching what he and Rachel did. In those sessions, she saw that he was an attentive lover, and from time to time she wondered what it would be like to have a man on top of her for a change, though she would never say she was dissatisfied with Joe; he was just too big to ever be on top, really on top, and she usually had to do the work when they fucked. Had Al been on top of her? Had she finally been able to wrap her legs around a man's waist as he made love to her? Was that what she wanted? Why couldn't she remember? 

What was worse? To know they'd committed adultery and worry about Joe and Rachel finding out, or to have done it and not remember how good it was? In the first few seconds of waking, she'd responded to Al's embrace as eagerly as if it had been Joe's. Was that because she'd thought it was Joe embracing her? Even in those first few seconds, though, she'd known those arms were far too small to be Joe's, and it had only taken a grasp of Al's... other extremity... to confirm her suspicions. Yet she'd taken it in her hand without disgust, without shock, almost as if she were as familiar with it as she was with Joe's. Did that mean something had happened between them, and she'd liked it?

She found her purse slung around one of the dining room chairs. She found her cell phone inside and brought it to life.

No voicemails.

No texts.

What the fuck?

"Lauren?!" Al's voice was high and panicked. 

Lauren refused to look up from her phone. She unlocked it and checked both her messaging app and her voicemail just in case. She could not believe there was no contact from Joe, because to believe it would be to open herself to the possibility that something bad had happened, and that possibility was growing with every second her phone didn't ring. She didn't want to respond to Al for that reason, either, because she didn't like how his voice sounded. If she stayed here, looking at her phone, willing it to do something, she could pretend that everything was the same as always, that Joe and Rachel were just out for a walk or something, and she and Al had found themselves naked in bed for... some reason other than the obvious one.

But then Al appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, still naked, and his nakedness now looked comical and vulgar, because he didn't even seem to be aware that he was naked, his attention focused on his own phone, and the terrible tidings he saw there, and not on how silly his flaccid penis looked hanging against his leg. She wanted to scream at him to get dressed, but before she could, he showed the phone to her as if she could read what was there from where she stood.

"I'm sorry, Lauren," he breathed. "I'm so sorry."

Things are looking pretty dark already for Al and Lauren. What happened to their spouses? What is Al so sorry about? Before we find out, let's return to 1978 and see when Lauren first met the other members of the LSDC. I did these flashbacks in the first novel and decided to continue them, this time from Lauren's point of view. Click on "Continue reading" to see. If you like what you read, click on the "Vote" button and leave a comment.