I woke up on my bed wearing the same clothes I’d worn the night before; the pungent smell of cigarettes, scotch and rum was still very present however I hadn’t drank enough to feel nauseated by it. With the little energy I had regained over the few hours I slept, I began to kick my shoes off as well as my pants but I quickly realized that I would need more than just my feet to actually get these clothes off. I sat down hoping that today would be a headache-less day; most hangovers gave me the shittiest migraines. One time I could barely see and or recognize people who were two feet away from me.

I managed to remove my pants and just as I was about to throw them into the dirty clothes basket, I remembered that I had a very valuable piece of paper inside them. Sarah’s number. I really didn’t understand what it was about her that had me so hooked. The main reason I went ahead and talked to her was because I just wanted some casual, non-romantic sex and here I was removing the napkin she’d written her number on carefully from my pants.
After cleaning myself off and changing from the nasty-smelling clothes, I headed downstairs to take some Advil and prepare myself some breakfast tacos. Usually I was the first one up, and even though it was roughly twelve o’clock, the smell of eggs, bacon and Aunt Jemima’s Pancakes were a sign that Vic had already woken up.

-“Good morning, Pig,” he greeted me with a cheeky smile and a wink referring to the fact that I ditched them yesterday to bang a girl. “How was it?”

-“Uhm, I’m not so sure,” I responded, not really knowing what to say. Let’s just say I’m not really the kind of guy who gets stood up or rejected when it comes to one night stands. Vic stared at me in complete confusion “We didn’t fuck,” I continued and just as the words came out of my mouth Vic began to laugh obnoxiously loud and seemed to find no way to stop.

-“Mike the ‘Sex God’ got REJECTED? Everyone’s gonna love to hear this story!!” he kept on between laughs. “Oh my god this means the streak is broken!” he added, now in shock. After my break up with Alysha five months ago I had slept with over twenty girls, thus the nickname Pig came into place and now that Sarah had rejected me, everything changed.
“Shut up and give me some food Vic,” I said ignoring his remarks. I wasn’t sure whether I was pissed at the fact that some random chick rejected me or if I was pissed at the fact that I wanted to call her and see her again.

Still laughing, Vic handed me a plate with some eggs, four strips of overly burnt bacon - just like I liked them - and three pancakes with butter and an unhealthy amount of caramel syrup. Mom still wondered how I hadn’t become a diabetic at the age of ten, considering the amounts of sugar I consumed on a daily basis. After several cavities and a couple of sugar-rush-induced headaches, my Mother had to put a stop on how much sugar I could consumed weekly. However my Starbucks orders had gone down from thirty extra pumps of syrup to twenty seven so that was an accomplishment... right?
“So, anyway what happened last night?” I said, trying to make Vic forget about the whole ‘I got rejected deal’.
“Well, Jaime said him and Jess had some important things to take care off so they were off the radar for pretty much the entirety of the night. Apart from that, it was kind of like a triple date: Tony, Erin, Kellin, Katelynne, Danielle and me” he explained as he took a mouthful of eggs “Jaime did texted me and said that he wants to meet us at the studio later this afternoon, he’s got something to tell us,” Vic explained and told me to be ready at three, which was in about an hour and a half and so I had plenty of time to take a hot shower and get rid of the hangover smell and hopefully clear my thoughts about everything that happened.
What was pissing me off now was that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was like eating all of my thoughts and overtaking my mind. I finished eating and threw my plate into the dishwasher and headed upstairs to clean up and try to relax a little before we headed over to the studio. The last thing I wanted was to be distracted during the band’s time.

---

Traffic was really bad at this time and so we were the last to get to the studio. Jaime and Tony were already chitchatting and so we walked into the sound booth and joined them.
“What’s up Mikey? Heard you got rejected?” Tony said obnoxiously. Fucking Vic couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Wow, bro can’t keep quiet can’t you?” I retorted nudging Vic but the three of them started to laugh; I’d basically confirmed the fact but at this point I was so done with the whole situation all I wanted to do was drink it off.
“Okay, okay, as hilarious as it is to make fun of the Sex God right here, I’ve got an announcement,” Jaime said and we all sat down on the couch ready to listen; he seem really excited and giddy, he kept on dancing in one place and being impatient. “So last night I took Jess out for a nice dinner and stuff and,” he paused and giggled. We all complained that he had to finish telling what was going on which only made him laugh harder “well, to the point, Jess and I are ENGAGED!!!!!!!” he screamed and we all followed. This was a huge deal. Jaime and Jessica had been together for years and they never really finished that honeymoon stage.
“Oh my God dude congratulations!” Vic exclaimed and we all went in for a group hug, jumping and messing with each other. Jaime and Tony were like our brothers too. The band had brought us together and as the years passed we became closer and closer - sometimes too close - but that’s just who we were and it allowed us to share these kinds of moments and enjoy them to the same extent.
“So Jess and I were thinking, how about we go out and celebrate tonight?” Jaime suggested and we all agreed it’d be a good idea. The details were still shaky but after jamming in the studio for a little, we decided Jaime was going to make a couple of calls to get us a booth in one of his favorite clubs for a ‘small’ get-together; I say ‘small’ because I was sure that if we were going to a club Jaime style, we were going to be at least fifteen people.
“Call her,” Vic said nudging me on the shoulder.
“Dude, I’m not that kind of guy,” I chuckled, although internally I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do.
“Please, your eyes practically lit up like a little girl at the mention of it,”
I hated when Vic was right about these things. Why was this girl getting to me? Why was I allowing myself to be caught up in a weird nest of feelings? This wasn’t what I had signed up for, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with the situation.

Notes