Denver's POV (Alix)

I stood there like a dummy for the better part of ten minutes after Sirius had left. The heat from the floor slowly working its way up my ice-cold legs. My whole night had been surreal. Presents, people being nice to me, Sirius gifting me something I would not have owned on my own if I lived to be fifty and worked for it.

Tiffany, times two.

That entitled poster girl for bad parenting had tried to ruin my party and then attacked me. I still had no idea how I had gotten out of that. I remembered the anger and pain, but it was all fuzzy to me.

And then Sirius.

Protective, handsome, charming, and caring Sirius. So many words I had never thought applied to him. And hot as hell in more ways than one. He had been like a human radiator, and it had felt amazing being pressed against his chest. I could still feel his hands on my body. Yes, he had been his usual somewhat pervy creep with the innuendos and lustful looks, but his hands had been the ones of a gentleman.

Nothing inappropriate had those hands done.

'Not that you would mind if they did'

"I honestly can't wait until I get sober again and you disappear," I grumbled loudly while undressing. "I hope your next job will be as a voice over in Japanese porn or something. That way I'm sure to never hear you again."

'Ha, what do you know about Japanese porn?'

Great I pissed off myself by talking to myself. Alcohol sure lived up to its reputation.

"I'm a teenager with access to the internet and a gay best friend, I know shit I wish I didn't."

'Touché.'

After my shower I sat on the bed, I had a text from Black waiting for me. I had completely forgotten about him. It was a sweet message, really, just the kind I had expected from him.

'Hi b-day girl. You're probably still partying, I hope you have a great time. I'll text you tomorrow.'

Sitting on the bed wearing nothing but Sirius' shirt, I had decided to stay and relax, no more partying for me. I know, I just took a shower and now I was back in a dirty shirt. It was not dirty, it smelled of him, the smell of his cologne lingered on it, but it was the smell of him that was oddly familiar and calming.

A knock on the door pulled me from my drunk, semi-window-fogging thoughts about muscles for miles.

"Eh, I'm not here to disturb."

Great Xodiac, what did he want?

He snuck inside and came over to me, he sat on the side of the bed and handed me a mug.

"It's hot chocolate, my mom swears by it," He scratched his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Fail a test, stomp your toe, loose your teddy bear at the park, scrape your knee, break a nail, not something I've needed to be comforted from, though. Really, anything, and she whips out the hot chocolate, marshmallows and all."

"Thank you," I said with equal parts surprise and renewed respect as I took the mug from his hands.

That was so sweet. Maybe he was not such a bad guy after all? Maybe Sirius was not either? It is easy living on assumptions based on behavior attributed to stereotypical roles in school. They had judged me on the same premises as I had done them.

"I'll head back downstairs. Shortcake is doing damage control and Sirius has gone. Get some rest, ok?"

He did not let me say anything, he just upped and left the room. In terms of good guys Joshua had picked right, even if his gaydar had been off, it had chosen what Josh needed.

I had no idea when I fell asleep, it was after I had finished my hot chocolate at some point. I had been exhausted. I had however a clear idea of when I woke up. It was the moment Joshua came into the bedroom in a whirlwind of happy chattering, smiles and too much freaking energy like he had been fucked raw by the caffeine fairy all night.

"Why aren't you hungover and slumped on a couch somewhere, like a normal person?"

His smile faded a little. "Well, I reached a point quite fast where I didn't feel like partying, so I went sober to bed."

Yeah, I had caught onto that part. I had hoped he had found his party spirit later on.

"The party pretty much ended when your future babydaddy came carrying you like a damsel in distress."

"My what now? Don't even joke about that!" I shrieked like a banshee. Hell no, a mild infatuation, ok, babies, would be such a big no there would be made memes about how big a no that was. "I'm not pushing out his musclespawn if I could save the planet by doing it."

Joshua shrugged. "My gaydar may be off, but my vision is perfectly fine. I see the way he looks at you, how hard he tries. I'm telling you, homeboy is falling for you."

I scoffed. I was not ready to go there yet. I would go as far as to say I had taken him off my shit list, but that was as far as I was willing to stretch it for the time being.

'It's better than nothing, give him time.'

"I'm not even going to pretend to discuss it with you," I growled at the voice, which apparently meant I was not entirely sober yet.

"I'm not discussing anything," Josh instantly said, thinking I was growling at him. "Come down, there's lunch and cola."

"Sorry, lunch? How long have I been sleeping?"

"It's almost noon, just come down, ok?"

I nodded and got out of bed while Josh left and went downstairs. I brushed my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair. Falling asleep with wet hair made me look like an 80's Tina Turner. Whoop whoop me!

I grabbed my phone, there were three messages from Black.

'Good morning, I hope you had a great birthday.'
'Are you sleeping in? Got a hangover?'
'Are you ok?'

He was sweet, I had not heard my phone beep at all. I had just slept.

'I'm fine, just going for lunch. Text you later.'

Dragging myself downstairs, I felt like I needed to study law just to be able to sue alcohol distilleries all over the world.

"I'm here, I need a tub of cola, an aspirin the size of Texas, and something greasy," I bellowed when entering the kitchen.

"Here."

A glass of cola and two aspirin was shoved into my hands, and I was met with a dazzling smile.

Good God, how could a man look that wonderful that early in the morning...

'It's noon, girl'

"Shut it!"

"Ok cranky pants. Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" Sirius commented dryly at my outburst. He gently caressed my cheek "You look like one of those trolls from that cartoon."

"And you look like the Hulk. Yay us for being cartoon characters."

He threw his hands in the air. "Ok, not a morning person. I'm backing away..." Sirius walked slowly backwards.

I could not help but smile. He was such a dumbass.

"I've brought burgers, fries, pizza, Chinese, and desserts," Sirius said from a safe distance, looking intensely at me.

I was very conscious of me still wearing his shirt, he had noticed it too and his eyes were burning into me.

Hi dear Wattlings.

Thank you for reading.

And we're getting closer to Sirius catching a brak, eh? Not too bad, and he's a lifesaver with the hangover food, wouldn't you forgive him anything for that?

If you like it then pop a vote and please leave comments. The comments are important for me to know how the story is progressing and the characters are developing. And I'd love to know what you think and interact with y'all.

Give me a follow too for updates on other work and put this book in your library. I'd appreciate that.

Love, Alix

Published: December 16th, 2021. ©Alix Davenport, Copenhagen