Amelia woke up with a dull headache. Sun was shining right in her face and she groaned as she rolled over and looked at the clock. 10:04 AM. She didn’t want to be up.
“Drink this.” There was a glass in front of her face when she opened her eyes again.
“Have I told you lately that I love you Lucy?” she said, sitting up and taking the glass. Ice cold screwdriver, it was exactly what she needed.
“Not nearly enough. Drink up, here’s to another tour,” Lucy knocked her glass into Amelia’s and plopped down on the bed beside her still semi-sleeping friend. Amelia leaned up on her elbows and sipped at the orange and vodka. The familiar bitter and tang filled her mouth and she swilled it around her tongue for moment before swallowing. Her headache lessened in a moment.
“Can you believe it, here we are, again, another fucking tour. Did you ever think we would be spending so much time working together?” Lucy asked, looking straight ahead, still barely awake herself as she drank her own screwdriver.
“Not really. I thought I’d end up as a goddamn band teacher at our old middle school,” Amelia groaned as she struggled to sit up.
“Yeah, I would have been the friggen choir teacher. Face it sweetie, we were meant to be, cheers,” Lucy and Amelia clinked their glasses together again.
During the course of the evening Lucy and Amelia had worked their way through all of the wine, most of the beers, half a bottle of Bacardi and about a third of the bottle of rum. Amelia had really over done it, she knew she had, and Lucy, knowing what a foul mood this tour was sure to put Amelia in, felt it was only fair to get just as drunk as her best friend.
“Amelia, what are you gonna do this tour?” Lucy asked, both of them knowing exactly what she was talking about.
“What am I gonna do?” She looked over at Lucy.
“Yeah,” Lucy rubbed one eye and turned to look at Amelia.
“What do you think?”
“Be bipolar?”
“Nope.”
“Kill yourself?”
“Nope.”
“Then what? There ain’t nothing else for you to do?” Amelia sat up, took a long sip on the screwdriver and said,
“I’m gonna tell him.” Lucy looked as though she hadn’t heard anything.
“Tell him what?”
“I’m gonna tell him I love him.” Again, Lucy looked as though she had not heard a word that Amelia had said.
“I swear on my signed copy of the Stunt album by the barenakedladies,” Amelia held up her hand. Lucy let out a shrill scream and flung her screwdriver to the floor as she jumped on top of Amelia, dumping orange juice and vodka all over the bed covers.
“You really mean it! Oh my god! You swore on your signed Stunt album! That’s it, we have to start making plans for the wedding!” Lucy was screaming at the top of her lungs as she squeezed the air out of Amelia’s.
“Take it easy!” Amelia laughed, trying to push Lucy off, but she was not to be deterred.
“Dear lord this girl is finally gonna tell him! Thank you sweet Jesus it’s a miracle!” Lucy hollered loud enough for someone in the next room to hear them.
“It’s not that big a deal Lucy,” Amelia struggled to say as she tried to untangle herself from the bed sheets soaked in orange juice and vodka, Lucy jumping up and down on the bed.
“Dear god, you’re gonna kill me.” Amelia finally extricated herself from the mess and stood up once she got to the edge of the bed.
“Well, it’s not everyday that you admit you’re gonna tell the love of your life that you’ve been crushing on him for five years. I’m excited for you girl!” Lucy slung herself around Amelia’s neck again and she felt her airways constricted.
“Lucy, come on, knock it off!” Amelia shoved Lucy off of herself roughly and shook herself to get the feeling back into her neck. Lucy collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles and watched her best friend.
“You’re really gonna tell him?”
“Yeah, I’m really gonna tell him. Have I ever said I was going to do something that I didn’t do follow through with?” Amelia may have had a lot of faults, but one thing that she always did was follow through. She never said something and didn’t go through with it. That meant she was dependable, and Lucy loved that about her. It was one of the reasons that Lucy stuck around, even though Amelia was annoying and self depreciating and worked entirely too much.
“No, of course not. Good old dependable Meals.”
“Watch who you’re calling old, you’re not too far off of twenty-seven either.”
“Yeah, yeah, so when are you going to tell the boy so you two can ride off into the sunset?”
“Soon, okay, soon. But I want to just get into the groove of the tour and then I’ll tell him. I don’t want to start the tour off with ‘Oh hey, I know I haven’t spoken to you in six months, but by the way, I’m in love with you.’ Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.” Amelia went to the closet to fish out some clothes that weren’t soaked in alcohol.
“Look at it this way, it’ll be an interesting way to break the news to him. Just think, one day you could tell your grandkids this story.”
“Definitely not what I was going for. I just have to find the right moment. Cause I just don’t want to spring it on him. I want it to be right.”
“Honey, seriously, any moment is gonna be the right moment. He is gonna finally know the truth, and maybe we can finally get the truth out of him,” Lucy put a hand on Amelia’s arm and squeezed it gently.
“What truth?” Amelia wrinkled her nose in confusion.
“The truth that you are the perfect girl for him and he should so realize how special you are and snatch you up before you get away from him. That truth.”
“Don’t scare me like that Luce.”
“Darling, all it takes is a bit of a suggestion, then the men realize their mistake and the rest is history. How do you think Brian and Leighanne got together?”
“They’re both freaks,” Amelia replied.
“Bad example. But don’t wimp out on me, we’ll find the perfect way for you break the news and you’ll be walking down the aisle by next June.”
“Well don’t you just know everything!”
“I try,” Lucy chuckled and patted Amelia on the back.
