THE NEXT MORNING
Nick’s point of view

I woke up with what had to be the worst hangover in the world. My head was pounding and every time I moved, it began pounding even more. I somehow managed to make my way over to the bathroom but before I could take a few Tylenols for my head, my stomach lurched and I then began throwing up. Not a pretty picture. About ten minutes later my stomach felt raw and hurt a lot. I went back to my room and lay down on my bed. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what had happened the previous day at the party. I couldn’t remember much. The last thing I remembered was dancing with Liz and that was at about 1 in the morning. Everything after that was a big blank. I reminded myself to never ever get that drunk again for as long as I lived.
A half an hour later my headache seemed to loosen and I was able to get up and go downstairs to the kitchen. I didn’t want food; I just wanted some juice. I saw Brian and AJ already there eating their breakfast.
“Hey guys,” I said wearily and took out a glass. They didn’t respond; they didn’t even look up when I walked in. “Hello? Am I invisible?” I asked waving my hand in front of their faces. Still nothing. “Is this a joke?” I asked, completely confused by then. AJ then slowly raised his head and looked straight at me. His gaze made me uncomfortable because I could see that he was furious. I had no idea why. “What?” I asked.
“How could you?” asked AJ saying each word slowly.
“How could I what?” I said still confused.
“What do you mean how could you what??” exploded Brian. That was shocking; he was usually so calm. “Did you lose your brain yesterday?” he yelled.
“Huh?” was all I managed to come up with.
“Nick, you have got some nerve doing what you did last night at the party,” said AJ shaking his head. “I don’t think you want to be around when Kev wakes up,” he warned.
“Why not? Did I do something stupid?” I asked.
“Stupid does not even begin to describe it,” said Brian coldly. “More like unbelievably asshole-like,” he added.
“Do you have any idea how much you hurt Liz?” accused AJ.
A wave of dread swept over me then. “What?” I asked softly.
Brian looked at my confused expression closely and I could see he was surprised. “You really don’t remember do you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, I have no idea what I did after one,” I replied. “Now can you please tell me what this is about?” I pleaded. I was praying that whatever it was that I did I could somehow make up for.
“Nick, you were making out with some girl in the backyard yesterday for quite a while and Liz was trying to find you. Guess what, she found you,” stated AJ and I dropped the glass I was holding. It fell onto the floor and shattered into hundreds of pieces much like, I knew, Liz’s heart shattered when she had seen me.
“No,” I said softly.
“Yes,” said Brian. “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked.
“I wasn’t thinking that’s the problem, I was completely drunk,” I replied and covered my face with my hands. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to make this up to Liz?

Liz’s point of view

“Liz?” I heard Lana say softly from the other side of the door. “Are you awake?” she asked.
“Yeah, I am,” I replied and Lana walked into my room.
“Did you sleep?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not a wink,” I said. Tears were threatening to start pouring out of my eyes again any minute.
“I’m so sorry,” said Lana sympathetically.
I nodded not being able to say anything because I knew that if I would, I wouldn’t be able to hold back my tears.
“It’ll be okay,” said Lana comfortingly as she hugged me.
“No it won’t, it’ll never be okay again,” I said as I broke down sobbing once again. The doorbell rang downstairs and Lana looked back and forth trying to figure out if she should leave me and go answer it. “Go,” I told her.
“You sure?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll calm down in a few minutes,” I replied wiping away some of my tears. Unfortunately, more kept coming.
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” said Lana and went to answer the door.

Lana’s point of view

I opened the door and saw Brian.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I replied and let him in.
“How is she?” he asked.
“Crying,” I said as we both sat down. “How’s the bastard?” I asked coldly.
“Hung over,” responded Brian.
“Good,” I stated.
“Yeah I know, but Lana, he didn’t remember anything that happened yesterday, and I do mean anything,” said Brian.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yeah, he was so drunk that the last thing he remembered was dancing with Liz around one,” replied Brian.
“Oh my God, did you tell him?”
“Yeah we did and now he’s a total mess.”
“I’ll bet, but he deserves all that and more.”
“No kidding, I just can’t believe he would be so stupid and drink so much!” exclaimed Brian.
“What’s he going to do now?” I asked.
“I have no idea, last I saw him, he was heading up to his room in total shock,” said Brian shrugging. “Even though we now know that he was drunk, neither one of us wants to talk to him,” said Brian referring to himself and the rest of the guys.
I nodded. “Yeah, Liz is a total mess, she didn’t sleep at all,” I told him. “I have no idea how she’s going to handle work,” I added.
“She’s going to work?” asked Brian surprised.
“I think she is, she has a scene to shoot today,” I replied. “But let me go check,” I said getting up. “Wanna come? She could use all the friends that she can get,” I asked. Brian nodded and followed me up the stairs. “Liz? Can me and Bri come in?” I called out.
“Yeah,” said Liz and I opened the door. She was now dressed and apparently ready for work. But I could see that she was trying very hard to keep her composure.
“Hey,” said Brian and hugged Liz tightly. “How are you holding up?” he asked.
“I’m just numb now,” replied Liz.
“Are you actually going to work?” I asked.
“Yeah, I don’t really have a choice in the matter,” said Liz shrugging. “Besides, work is something that’ll keep my mind occupied,” she added.
“Liz, I gotta tell you something,” said Brian.
“Oh great, what else?” groaned Liz.
“Well, Nick didn’t remember anything that happened last night until me and AJ told him,” said Brian. “He was too drunk,” he added.
“That still doesn’t excuse what he did,” said Liz coldly.
“I never said it did and I don’t think that it does,” said Brian shaking his head. “I just thought that you should know.”
“Thanks Bri,” said Liz.
“Anytime,” he replied.
“Lana, can you drive me to work please?” requested Liz and I nodded immediately.
“Just give me five minutes to change,” I told her and went to my room.

Brian’s point of view

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to go to work?” I asked worriedly looking at Liz. Despite the fact that she was trying to look like she was fine, I knew she wasn’t. Her eyes were full of pain.
“I don’t know,” said Liz sighing. “I know that Nick has work today too but I’m hoping that his hangover will keep him home,” she added.
“I have no idea,” I said shrugging. “But Liz, what are you going to do if he does go to work?” I asked.
“I’m going to do my job,” she replied. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll talk to him or come near him outside of the movie.”
“Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” I agreed. “Do you think that you and him are over for good?” I asked carefully.
Liz sighed deeply. “Bri, it’s way too early for hard questions like that,” she told me. “I’ll have to think about it, but if I were to answer right now, then I would say that yes, we are over for good.”

Nick’s point of view

I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost six thirty. I was debating whether to go to work or not. I knew that I had an obligation but I didn’t know if I could work in the state that I was in. Then again, like it mattered what state I was in, Liz was probably feeling about a thousand times worse than I was.
“I am such a moron!” I exclaimed out loud.
“You got that right,” stated Kevin, startling me as he came into my room. “AJ told me you didn’t remember anything that happened yesterday,” he said sitting down next to me.
“Yeah, but now I wish I could live the day all over again and not drink a drop,” I said sighing. “How did my twenty second birthday become the worst day of my life without me even realizing it?” I asked.
“You only have yourself to blame for that,” said Kevin bluntly. That hurt, but I knew he was right.
“Do you think Liz will ever forgive me?” I asked hopefully.
Kevin thought for about a minute. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I guess you’ll have to ask her,” he added.
“I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t curse me out if I try to talk to her,” I said groaning.
“True,” said Kevin shrugging. “But Liz doesn’t curse,” he pointed out.
“I think she’ll make an exception seeing how I deserve all that and more,” I said.
“Once again, true,” agreed Kevin. “Seriously though, you need to talk to her. Tell her that you were too drunk to do anything normal and that the making out didn’t mean anything to you. It didn’t right?” he asked suspiciously.
“I seriously doubt it since I don’t even remember who I was making out with,” I replied.
“Good, so tell her that, and maybe in a few centuries, she’ll forgive you,” said Kevin shrugging.
“Great,” I said and buried my head in my pillow.
“Now get up, you’ll be late for work,” said Kevin.
“I’m not going,” I mumbled.
“Yes you are, you have to talk to Liz,” he said and pulled my pillow out from under my face. My head flopped onto the mattress and I turned around and glared at Kevin.
“I can’t go, how am I supposed to get there for one? I can’t drive!” I exclaimed.
“I’ll drive you,” he offered. I was surprised, Kevin was being a little too nice to me considering what I did.
“Why are you being so nice?” I asked.
“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for Liz, I figured that chewing you out won’t help since Liz will do plenty of that,” he replied. He was right; I couldn’t even begin to prepare myself for what Liz would say to me.
“Fine I’ll go, give me a few minutes to get dressed,” I said and got up from my bed.
“Okay, I’ll be downstairs,” he said and left my room.
I sighed and went to find some clothing. I found a pair of khaki pants and a white sweater and quickly put them on. After putting on my shoes I went downstairs and saw Kevin already there and dressed. I grabbed my jacket and we both headed out to my car.
The drive to the set was a little too short for my liking and when I got there I knew that I was also late. It was about seven twenty.
“Great, now I’ll have to deal with Liz and Todd and Jake,” I mumbled.
“What?” asked Kevin turning to look at me.
“I’m late, the director and producer will definitely chew me out for it,” I told him.
“Is this the first time you’re late?” asked Kevin.
“Nope,” I replied.
“Well then, good luck,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said and got out of the car.
“Wait Nick, what time do you finish?” called out Kevin as he rolled down the window.
“I have no idea, I’ll call you or one of the other guys,” I replied.
“Okay, see you later then,” said Kevin and rolled the window back up. I gave him a slight wave and dragged myself towards the set.

chapter 12 chapter 14