Birthday Drinks
Title: Birthday Drinks
Character/Pairing: Mark/Maddy
Word Count: 3760
Genre: humor and romance
Rating: PG
Warning: none
Spoiler Alert: none
Summary: Maddy's 18th birthday party was awesome. She just can't really remember it.
Author’s Notes: Back when I wrote Barbarians and Rampaging Women I had a throw away line about Mark holding Maddy's hair while she puked on her birthday. A few of you asked me to write that fic. When Stef put up last week's One Word Prompt and used the word 'spin' I knew it was time to write the birthday fic. Hope you guys enjoy it!
A/N 2: It's the middle of the night. I just wanted to get this up today as I have a very busy weekend. If you see any errors, PLEASE point them out to me. And as always I love concrit as well. :)
“Happy birthday to you!” The Shannon family was not known for their singing skills. Because of that, every birthday song became a chance to out terrible one another. It made Mark cringe every single birthday, not that he wasn’t thrilled to be invited to all of the birthday events, but he wondered if one day he might find the joke funny instead of irritating. Then again, watching Zoe try to sing out more off key than her father, well, that was pretty funny. As they sang out the last line, Mark smiled while shaking his head. Maybe the joke wasn’t so bad. He watched Maddy blow out her candles and clapped with the family. At least he was included in all the birthdays.
“Cut me a slice of that cake, I’ve got to run in a few minutes,” Jim said.
“It’s Maddy’s birthday, she gets the first slice.” Elisabeth smacked his hand away from the plate.
“Where are you going, anyways?” Josh asked curiously, as he grabbed more forks from the kitchen.
“Just a routine check of Outpost 5, but I think Commander Taylor wants to get out. He’s been stuck at his desk for a week. The man gets restless when he’s chained to that desk too long.” Jim smiled when he was finally offered a piece of cake.
“Well, I’m glad you could at least stick around for my birthday dinner,” Maddy said genuinely. “Even if we had to have it a bit early.”
Mark couldn’t have been happier to hear that the Shannon patriarch would be out of touch over Maddy’s birthday. He’d been trying to decide what the best way to celebrate would be. The stars seem to align and things fell into place remarkably well, starting with Rosie Coates and her husband being OTG as well. She needed someone to water her husband’s plants; he was a botanist and obsessive about his plants. Rosie worked with Mark and asked him to take on the task, she also knew Maddy’s birthday was coming up, so in trade for the watering chore, she told Mark he could host a party in her home while they were gone.
“Throw the girl a wild party, she’ll love it, cake and liquor, she’s legal! Celebrate all that, and then spend the night, get out from under her family, it’ll be fun!” Rosie told him.
It certainly beat Mark’s ideas. He was looking for something romantic, but that idea was more fun. It was her birthday and a milestone; they could celebrate with a huge party. Better yet, a surprise party.
After Jim had gone and everything was cleaned up, they headed out. “Don’t have too much fun,” Elisabeth said as they left. Mark had let her in on the surprise and he was glad when she seemed thrilled with the idea. The way Jim Shannon had merrily left on his way, Mark knew Elisabeth had kept the secret to herself, thankfully.
“So, where are we going?” Maddy asked still wearing the pink and gold paper crown Zoe gave her as a gift.
“I’m not telling you,” Mark answered easily. “It’s a surprise.”
“Aw, come on,” Maddy nagged.
“We’ll be there in a just a minute, you’ll find out soon, we just have to make a stop at Rosie’s house. I need to water the plants,” he said slyly while walking up to the dark house.
“You couldn’t have watered Lennox’s plants earlier today? I don’t want to water plants on my big day,” she said standing patiently beside him as he opened the door.
When Mark turned on the lights the whole room exploded in “Surprise!” Confetti was thrown, friends clapped, and Maddy smiled from ear to ear. She clapped with them and covered her mouth in excitement.
“Good surprise?” Mark asked her once people settled down.
“Yes.” Maddy hugged him before turning to thank people for their birthday wishes. Josh was one of the first in line.
“Here,” he said handing her a drink. “You’re legal, don’t have too much, or I’ll tell Dad.” Maddy rolled her eyes at Josh before taking the drink.
The light was blinding. Maddy squeezed her eyes tighter as though it might keep out the light. “Why is there a spotlight shining on me?” she grumbled as she threw the covers over her head.
“Awake already?” Mark’s hand tightened around her bare waist and Maddy felt sick. “Your parents were not joking about you being an early riser every day of your life. You’d think your late bedtime would have afforded your body a few more hours.”
“Where are we?” she asked confused; the bed was far too large to be hers. “Why don’t I have clothes on?”
“We’re at Rosie’s. You’ve got your first hangover, happy birthday, welcome to full fledged adulthood.” Maddy whimpered while Mark kept explaining, “You took your clothes off, actually, you did that long before I put you to bed, it was a task to keep you modest.” He chuckled into her hair. She wanted to elbow him, or smack him or kick him. How could he laugh while she was in so much pain? Her head throbbed, her mouth was dry, her stomach was in knots and why did she feel dizzy?
“Stop yelling at me.” He laughed again and she moaned.
“Aw, I feel like I should document this somehow. Especially after all the hell you put me through last night. I will not be keen to see you drink that much again,” Mark said before getting up from the bed. The movement made Maddy heave and Mark raced around the bed to lean her over a trashcan and hold her hair.
“Why is the room spinning? I thought that happened when you were drunk not hung over.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before he gave her a towel and some water.
“Tipsy, drunk, or hung over, spinning likes to show up at all stages.” Maddy cringed while Mark took the trashcan with a grimace. “I’m going to make you some breakfast, drink that water and take those aspirin, then come out and eat.”
“I can’t move. I’m not leaving this bed,” she whined.
“You are not staying in bed all day, that won’t help.”
“Says you,” she mumbled pulling the covers over her head again.
“Fine, breakfast in bed it is,” he said before she heard the door shut.
Her stomach was still rolling and her head was still spinning and now Mark was cooking something that smelled awful. Very carefully, she pulled back the covers and shielded her eyes from the sunlight streaming in the windows. When she finally stood, she realized she was naked, except her panties. Scrunching her eyes closed she tried to remember why on earth she’d be so brazen. Not that Mark had never seen her naked, but she didn’t sleep naked. That was not something she did. She didn’t sleep almost naked. She liked pajamas. They were snuggly and warm and she liked to be covered.
He’d said something about her being difficult to keep modest…what was that about? Maddy opened her eyes and immediately narrowed them. The light was too bright still but she needed to cover up. Besides her cheeks blushing from embarrassment, she was chilly. Finding Mark’s shirt on the floor she pulled it over her head and staggered out to the main room. As she fell into a chair at the bar, he smiled at her and she scrunched up her face.
“I don’t remember a lot, but I remember you were drinking too, why aren’t you miserable like me?” He turned a pancake and smirked.
“I didn’t have near the amount that you had.” Something sparked in Maddy’s mind.
“Did we have this conversation last night?” she asked remembering a snatch of words between them. He nodded and she waited as the scenes swam to the front of her head.
“I think it’s time to cut you off,” Mark said with a chuckle to an inebriated Maddy.
“Maybe it’s time to cut you off?” she slurred back. “You’ve had more than me.”
“Aw, when you’re drunk your monster brain doesn’t work as well, I’ve got quite a bit of weight on you and I’ve done this before. Birthday girls that are tiny don’t have the same tolerance.” He touched her cheek softly and she took a step away from him. He smiled at her fondly.
“You’re mean,” she pouted and he shrugged. Turning on her heel, she braced herself with an arm on the wall before she moved to find Josh. He’d give her another drink of that lovely pink stuff someone had made in honor of her birthday.
Before she could take another step, strong arms around her waist stopped her. “You want some more cake?”
She leaned her head against her folded arms on the bar and groaned. “How awful was I last night?”
“Not the worst drunk I’ve ever had the pleasure to clean up after,” he said as he placed a plate in front of her, full of food. The clink the plate made when it connected with the counter top made her flinch and she heard him let out a breath, trying not to laugh at her. “Eat your food, Madelyn.”
“Oh God, what did I do to deserve to be called Madelyn?” She lifted her head and sniffed at the food that didn’t seem to smell so bad now that she was out here, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to ingest it. Not with the noise her stomach was making.
“Which part?” He raised an eyebrow at her and with his index finger pushed the plate an inch closer to her. She pulled back as though the food was toxic. “And I cleaned up your puke, twice now, that means that today I can call you whatever I want.”
She rolled her eyes as he stood in front of her picking up his own plate to shovel eggs into his mouth as he leaned against the counter with his legs crossed at the ankles. Bare-chested, pants low on his waist, he looked so relaxed. Maddy didn’t feel relaxed at all.
“You said you couldn’t keep me clothed,” she mentioned before she covered her eyes with her hands. “You aren’t serious, right?” The laugh that he let loose made her head pound again.
“I wish I was joking,” he said before laying the fork to rest on the plate. “That’s when I shut the party down. You were very intent on every guest seeing the scar under your left boob.” He was smiling and she just wanted the floor to swallow her. “Here I was thinking I was special because you showed it to me ages ago. Didn’t know you were such an exhibitionist.”
“Shut up, I didn’t do that,” she whined as she once again leaned her head on the counter. If she covered her head with her arms, maybe he’d go away. It would all go away and she could just rewind to her lovely, tame birthday dinner with her family. “Wait, was Josh here for that part?” The look on Mark’s face gave away the answer and Maddy felt like crying.
“Don’t worry, he helped me get everyone out when your shirt came off,” Mark explained as he came around to wrap an arm around her shoulders. He leaned down and kissed the back of her head. “Eat something, you’ll feel better.”
“Did I at least have fun?” She couldn’t even remember that and it was enough proof that maybe next time she should listen when he said she should stop. At this point, she was ready to swear off drinking forever. One night of debauchery was enough for Maddy.
“We did have fun,” he said as he sat down on a bar stool next to her. She turned to him and he held her hands. Mark smiled and the warmth in his eyes made her melt just a little bit, the part that didn’t want to run and hide from embarrassment. “I’ve never seen you dance like that.”
For some reason, the mention of dancing had her looking at the coffee table. It wasn’t there. A flash of something came to her and she gasped. “Did I break Rosie’s coffee table? I was dancing on top of it, that is not acceptable behavior!”
Mark covered his mouth with a hand to stifle the laugh. He bit his lips, still trying not to laugh. Maddy wilted and he grabbed her hands again. “It’s totally fixable. Josh took it with him, said he’d get it patched by the time Rosie and Lennox come back day after tomorrow.”
One of the songs Maddy remembered from the kids at school in 2149 was blasting. She twirled and threw her body back and forth. Her hair was all over the place. Pushing her arms above her head and swaying her hips to match, she danced. She bounced on her toes until something went crack and Maddy lost her balance. Thankfully, Mark caught her.
“You are crazy,” he said in her ear but she just kept moving. Once he set her on her feet she continued to move side to side, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself close to him.
“I’m having fun!” she said before kissing him. He kissed her back a moment before letting her go.
“I’m glad.”
“Just let me die. There is no way I can face anyone after last night,” she whined. Mark stood so he could hug her tightly. She heard him chuckle more and she wanted to be mad at him. But he clearly had to put up with a lot from her over the last 12 hours.
“Hey.” He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back soothingly. “You need to eat. And then we’re going to go run. That’s going to make you feel better. Sweat out this hang over and then showers and maybe you’ll even feel well enough that we can take that shower together.”
“You can just leave me here.” Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his bare chest. “I’ll just go die in that nice big bed and you can find some other girl to love. I’m not worthy to look people in the eyes.”
“Before you throw yourself on your sword there, babe,’ he paused as he pulled back and waited for her to look up at him. “You should know that you weren’t the only one hammered last night and you weren’t the only one making a fool of yourself, but you were allowed. You had the excuse of it being your birthday. Your first legal birthday. There were plenty of people that didn’t have that excuse. And you haven’t even remembered the part where you threw up on my shoes.”
“What?!” Maddy screeched. Just as she was starting to feel better, he went and broke the bad news. “I’m so sorry.”
“I know,” he said tenderly. “And it’s nothing I didn’t do the first time. Promise. All these things are just repeats, well, except the naked thing. I didn’t feel the need to get naked.” He pursed his lips before shrugging.
“Go back to the puking on your shoes,” she said cautiously.
“Well, we got everyone out after your little strip tease attempt.” The blood drained from her face and her eyes grew wide. He pressed his lips together and she could see he was trying not to laugh again. “It wasn’t that bad, like I said, Josh and I got everyone out before you took off your bra,” she sighed heavily and he smirked. “So Josh started to clean up in here and I herded you towards the bedroom so I could put you in bed, and you, well…” He waggled his eyebrows at her and she remembered. She leaned her head against his chest again and almost fell off the stool.
“No,” she said firmly. But she felt him nod.
“Yeah.” Mark rubbed her shoulders as she shook her head against his chest.
“I remember,” she whimpered.
“Come on,” Mark prodded her sounding a bit frustrated. “Here, just lay down.”
She turned in his arms and played with the seam of his tee shirt. Maddy pushed the shirt up and scraped her nails down his abs. He sucked in a breath and she smiled lazily. “You come with me.”
He took a deep breath, reached for her wrists and removed them from his stomach.
“No, I need to help clean up and you are in no state of mind.” She pouted with her bottom lip out and he shook his head before bending down and placing a peck on her lips. “You need to sleep. We can have your birthday sex tomorrow, alright?”
“But I want it now.” She stomped her foot like a petulant child and Mark scoffed. But then Maddy stopped. Her face changed and before Mark could dodge it, she’d emptied her stomach on the floor…and his shoes. Maddy ran to the bathroom and Mark was left to clean up the mess.
“I’m so sorry,” she repeated for what felt like the tenth time that morning.
“I know. It’s okay,” he soothed. “Eat something. We’re going running.”
“Why do you keep trying to shove food in me? I don’t want it. My stomach is not okay with all that grease.”
“I’m sure there’s some kind of scientific reason, but just know, this will make you feel better.” Mark picked up his fork again and polished of his plate quickly.
Maddy pushed the eggs around and cut into the pancake and took a bite before shoving the plate away from her.
“I can hardly go running,” Maddy tried. “I don’t have any clothes but what I came in yesterday.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Mark replied quickly lifting a bag from the floor. “Your mom sent Josh with this little overnight bag for you, isn’t she sweet?”
Maddy made a face. “My mom knew about this? And she didn’t tell my dad?”
He handed her the bag and smiled. “She didn’t. I think she likes me. More than your dad at least.”
“Honey, I’m sure there are Sixers that like you more than my dad.” Now it was Mark’s turn to pout at her jab. “It’s okay, he likes you more than he used to.”
Mark rolled his eyes and dragged her back to the bedroom to change. She whined the whole time and when she was finally dressed, hair pulled back, Maddy felt her stomach roll again. “This is not going to work. I’m going to feel worse.”
“You are dramatic this morning.” Mark lifted his foot behind him to stretch. “Do this with me and you’ll feel better. If you don’t you can lie in bed the rest of the day.”
Maddy sighed heavily but agreed. “I need some sunglasses or a hat or something, it’s blinding out here. I bet nobody complained about hangovers in 2149. No sun to make you hate life.”
“I’m pretty sure we were all hating life already,” he said handing her a ball cap he found by the front door. “Let’s go.”
“Not fast,” Maddy demanded.
“We’ll save the races for another day.” He put a hand on the top of her head and shook a little. Maddy bristled at the movement.
“Are you trying to make me puke again?” she asked grouchily.
“My mission in life, I’ve been trying since I smeared you in stinky mud two years ago,” he teased as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into motion. When they were both moving he dropped her hand and kept the same snail pace next to her. She didn’t love this idea, but she was starting to feel a little better. The air was fresh and the sun did warm her skin. But as they jogged, her stomach didn’t settle. Instead, it rebelled more.
“Come on, can’t you go a little faster?” he prodded. She gave him a dirty look while he turned around so that he was jogging backwards. “I’m pretty sure Casey can go faster than you in his beat up wheelchair.”
The taunting caused her to speed up, Mark knew she was competitive and he was baiting her. She knew it, he knew it, and it worked. Maddy took off in a sprint and was three houses away before he caught up. They stayed at the same high pace for a few more minutes before she had to stop. Bending over to catch her breath she felt the bile rise in her throat. She couldn’t stop it and just as Mark came back to check on her she puked. On his shoes. Again.
He just stood there and sighed heavily. Wiping her mouth on the hem of her shirt she looked up at him pink with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she said but then she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, no I’m not! This time it’s your fault!”
“Is everything okay?” Dunham seemed to come out of nowhere, but he looked concerned.
“She’s fine,” Mark answered tersely. “This is Maddy’s new way to show me she cares, she hurls on me.” Dunham took a step back at the scowl on Mark’s face and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s his fault,” she said with a finger pointed at Mark. “He’s the one that took a severely hung over person for a brisk jog.” Maddy smiled widely at the perplexed look on Dunham’s face and the one of disgust on Mark’s.
“Come on,” she said grabbing Mark’s hand and leading him away with a wave to Dunham. “Let’s get you into the shower, hm? You’re right, I’m feeling much better now.”
“Oh sure, now you are,” he replied shortly after dropping her hand and stopping. “I’m not sure I want to shower with you now, you’ve puked on me a lot in the last 12 hours.”
Maddy looked at him smugly and licked her lips. She knew he liked it because she saw him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling at her. He narrowed his eyes before bending over and grabbing her legs, with his arms behind the back of her knees, and throwing her over his shoulder. Maddy yelped and he laughed before he smacked her ass with his free hand. “But you’ve got to brush your teeth before I kiss you.”
“Some birthday gift this is,” she hollered.
“Consider this your penance for all the chunks I’ve had to clean up.”
Character/Pairing: Mark/Maddy
Word Count: 3760
Genre: humor and romance
Rating: PG
Warning: none
Spoiler Alert: none
Summary: Maddy's 18th birthday party was awesome. She just can't really remember it.
Author’s Notes: Back when I wrote Barbarians and Rampaging Women I had a throw away line about Mark holding Maddy's hair while she puked on her birthday. A few of you asked me to write that fic. When Stef put up last week's One Word Prompt and used the word 'spin' I knew it was time to write the birthday fic. Hope you guys enjoy it!
A/N 2: It's the middle of the night. I just wanted to get this up today as I have a very busy weekend. If you see any errors, PLEASE point them out to me. And as always I love concrit as well. :)
“Happy birthday to you!” The Shannon family was not known for their singing skills. Because of that, every birthday song became a chance to out terrible one another. It made Mark cringe every single birthday, not that he wasn’t thrilled to be invited to all of the birthday events, but he wondered if one day he might find the joke funny instead of irritating. Then again, watching Zoe try to sing out more off key than her father, well, that was pretty funny. As they sang out the last line, Mark smiled while shaking his head. Maybe the joke wasn’t so bad. He watched Maddy blow out her candles and clapped with the family. At least he was included in all the birthdays.
“Cut me a slice of that cake, I’ve got to run in a few minutes,” Jim said.
“It’s Maddy’s birthday, she gets the first slice.” Elisabeth smacked his hand away from the plate.
“Where are you going, anyways?” Josh asked curiously, as he grabbed more forks from the kitchen.
“Just a routine check of Outpost 5, but I think Commander Taylor wants to get out. He’s been stuck at his desk for a week. The man gets restless when he’s chained to that desk too long.” Jim smiled when he was finally offered a piece of cake.
“Well, I’m glad you could at least stick around for my birthday dinner,” Maddy said genuinely. “Even if we had to have it a bit early.”
Mark couldn’t have been happier to hear that the Shannon patriarch would be out of touch over Maddy’s birthday. He’d been trying to decide what the best way to celebrate would be. The stars seem to align and things fell into place remarkably well, starting with Rosie Coates and her husband being OTG as well. She needed someone to water her husband’s plants; he was a botanist and obsessive about his plants. Rosie worked with Mark and asked him to take on the task, she also knew Maddy’s birthday was coming up, so in trade for the watering chore, she told Mark he could host a party in her home while they were gone.
“Throw the girl a wild party, she’ll love it, cake and liquor, she’s legal! Celebrate all that, and then spend the night, get out from under her family, it’ll be fun!” Rosie told him.
It certainly beat Mark’s ideas. He was looking for something romantic, but that idea was more fun. It was her birthday and a milestone; they could celebrate with a huge party. Better yet, a surprise party.
After Jim had gone and everything was cleaned up, they headed out. “Don’t have too much fun,” Elisabeth said as they left. Mark had let her in on the surprise and he was glad when she seemed thrilled with the idea. The way Jim Shannon had merrily left on his way, Mark knew Elisabeth had kept the secret to herself, thankfully.
“So, where are we going?” Maddy asked still wearing the pink and gold paper crown Zoe gave her as a gift.
“I’m not telling you,” Mark answered easily. “It’s a surprise.”
“Aw, come on,” Maddy nagged.
“We’ll be there in a just a minute, you’ll find out soon, we just have to make a stop at Rosie’s house. I need to water the plants,” he said slyly while walking up to the dark house.
“You couldn’t have watered Lennox’s plants earlier today? I don’t want to water plants on my big day,” she said standing patiently beside him as he opened the door.
When Mark turned on the lights the whole room exploded in “Surprise!” Confetti was thrown, friends clapped, and Maddy smiled from ear to ear. She clapped with them and covered her mouth in excitement.
“Good surprise?” Mark asked her once people settled down.
“Yes.” Maddy hugged him before turning to thank people for their birthday wishes. Josh was one of the first in line.
“Here,” he said handing her a drink. “You’re legal, don’t have too much, or I’ll tell Dad.” Maddy rolled her eyes at Josh before taking the drink.
The light was blinding. Maddy squeezed her eyes tighter as though it might keep out the light. “Why is there a spotlight shining on me?” she grumbled as she threw the covers over her head.
“Awake already?” Mark’s hand tightened around her bare waist and Maddy felt sick. “Your parents were not joking about you being an early riser every day of your life. You’d think your late bedtime would have afforded your body a few more hours.”
“Where are we?” she asked confused; the bed was far too large to be hers. “Why don’t I have clothes on?”
“We’re at Rosie’s. You’ve got your first hangover, happy birthday, welcome to full fledged adulthood.” Maddy whimpered while Mark kept explaining, “You took your clothes off, actually, you did that long before I put you to bed, it was a task to keep you modest.” He chuckled into her hair. She wanted to elbow him, or smack him or kick him. How could he laugh while she was in so much pain? Her head throbbed, her mouth was dry, her stomach was in knots and why did she feel dizzy?
“Stop yelling at me.” He laughed again and she moaned.
“Aw, I feel like I should document this somehow. Especially after all the hell you put me through last night. I will not be keen to see you drink that much again,” Mark said before getting up from the bed. The movement made Maddy heave and Mark raced around the bed to lean her over a trashcan and hold her hair.
“Why is the room spinning? I thought that happened when you were drunk not hung over.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before he gave her a towel and some water.
“Tipsy, drunk, or hung over, spinning likes to show up at all stages.” Maddy cringed while Mark took the trashcan with a grimace. “I’m going to make you some breakfast, drink that water and take those aspirin, then come out and eat.”
“I can’t move. I’m not leaving this bed,” she whined.
“You are not staying in bed all day, that won’t help.”
“Says you,” she mumbled pulling the covers over her head again.
“Fine, breakfast in bed it is,” he said before she heard the door shut.
Her stomach was still rolling and her head was still spinning and now Mark was cooking something that smelled awful. Very carefully, she pulled back the covers and shielded her eyes from the sunlight streaming in the windows. When she finally stood, she realized she was naked, except her panties. Scrunching her eyes closed she tried to remember why on earth she’d be so brazen. Not that Mark had never seen her naked, but she didn’t sleep naked. That was not something she did. She didn’t sleep almost naked. She liked pajamas. They were snuggly and warm and she liked to be covered.
He’d said something about her being difficult to keep modest…what was that about? Maddy opened her eyes and immediately narrowed them. The light was too bright still but she needed to cover up. Besides her cheeks blushing from embarrassment, she was chilly. Finding Mark’s shirt on the floor she pulled it over her head and staggered out to the main room. As she fell into a chair at the bar, he smiled at her and she scrunched up her face.
“I don’t remember a lot, but I remember you were drinking too, why aren’t you miserable like me?” He turned a pancake and smirked.
“I didn’t have near the amount that you had.” Something sparked in Maddy’s mind.
“Did we have this conversation last night?” she asked remembering a snatch of words between them. He nodded and she waited as the scenes swam to the front of her head.
“I think it’s time to cut you off,” Mark said with a chuckle to an inebriated Maddy.
“Maybe it’s time to cut you off?” she slurred back. “You’ve had more than me.”
“Aw, when you’re drunk your monster brain doesn’t work as well, I’ve got quite a bit of weight on you and I’ve done this before. Birthday girls that are tiny don’t have the same tolerance.” He touched her cheek softly and she took a step away from him. He smiled at her fondly.
“You’re mean,” she pouted and he shrugged. Turning on her heel, she braced herself with an arm on the wall before she moved to find Josh. He’d give her another drink of that lovely pink stuff someone had made in honor of her birthday.
Before she could take another step, strong arms around her waist stopped her. “You want some more cake?”
She leaned her head against her folded arms on the bar and groaned. “How awful was I last night?”
“Not the worst drunk I’ve ever had the pleasure to clean up after,” he said as he placed a plate in front of her, full of food. The clink the plate made when it connected with the counter top made her flinch and she heard him let out a breath, trying not to laugh at her. “Eat your food, Madelyn.”
“Oh God, what did I do to deserve to be called Madelyn?” She lifted her head and sniffed at the food that didn’t seem to smell so bad now that she was out here, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to ingest it. Not with the noise her stomach was making.
“Which part?” He raised an eyebrow at her and with his index finger pushed the plate an inch closer to her. She pulled back as though the food was toxic. “And I cleaned up your puke, twice now, that means that today I can call you whatever I want.”
She rolled her eyes as he stood in front of her picking up his own plate to shovel eggs into his mouth as he leaned against the counter with his legs crossed at the ankles. Bare-chested, pants low on his waist, he looked so relaxed. Maddy didn’t feel relaxed at all.
“You said you couldn’t keep me clothed,” she mentioned before she covered her eyes with her hands. “You aren’t serious, right?” The laugh that he let loose made her head pound again.
“I wish I was joking,” he said before laying the fork to rest on the plate. “That’s when I shut the party down. You were very intent on every guest seeing the scar under your left boob.” He was smiling and she just wanted the floor to swallow her. “Here I was thinking I was special because you showed it to me ages ago. Didn’t know you were such an exhibitionist.”
“Shut up, I didn’t do that,” she whined as she once again leaned her head on the counter. If she covered her head with her arms, maybe he’d go away. It would all go away and she could just rewind to her lovely, tame birthday dinner with her family. “Wait, was Josh here for that part?” The look on Mark’s face gave away the answer and Maddy felt like crying.
“Don’t worry, he helped me get everyone out when your shirt came off,” Mark explained as he came around to wrap an arm around her shoulders. He leaned down and kissed the back of her head. “Eat something, you’ll feel better.”
“Did I at least have fun?” She couldn’t even remember that and it was enough proof that maybe next time she should listen when he said she should stop. At this point, she was ready to swear off drinking forever. One night of debauchery was enough for Maddy.
“We did have fun,” he said as he sat down on a bar stool next to her. She turned to him and he held her hands. Mark smiled and the warmth in his eyes made her melt just a little bit, the part that didn’t want to run and hide from embarrassment. “I’ve never seen you dance like that.”
For some reason, the mention of dancing had her looking at the coffee table. It wasn’t there. A flash of something came to her and she gasped. “Did I break Rosie’s coffee table? I was dancing on top of it, that is not acceptable behavior!”
Mark covered his mouth with a hand to stifle the laugh. He bit his lips, still trying not to laugh. Maddy wilted and he grabbed her hands again. “It’s totally fixable. Josh took it with him, said he’d get it patched by the time Rosie and Lennox come back day after tomorrow.”
One of the songs Maddy remembered from the kids at school in 2149 was blasting. She twirled and threw her body back and forth. Her hair was all over the place. Pushing her arms above her head and swaying her hips to match, she danced. She bounced on her toes until something went crack and Maddy lost her balance. Thankfully, Mark caught her.
“You are crazy,” he said in her ear but she just kept moving. Once he set her on her feet she continued to move side to side, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself close to him.
“I’m having fun!” she said before kissing him. He kissed her back a moment before letting her go.
“I’m glad.”
“Just let me die. There is no way I can face anyone after last night,” she whined. Mark stood so he could hug her tightly. She heard him chuckle more and she wanted to be mad at him. But he clearly had to put up with a lot from her over the last 12 hours.
“Hey.” He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back soothingly. “You need to eat. And then we’re going to go run. That’s going to make you feel better. Sweat out this hang over and then showers and maybe you’ll even feel well enough that we can take that shower together.”
“You can just leave me here.” Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his bare chest. “I’ll just go die in that nice big bed and you can find some other girl to love. I’m not worthy to look people in the eyes.”
“Before you throw yourself on your sword there, babe,’ he paused as he pulled back and waited for her to look up at him. “You should know that you weren’t the only one hammered last night and you weren’t the only one making a fool of yourself, but you were allowed. You had the excuse of it being your birthday. Your first legal birthday. There were plenty of people that didn’t have that excuse. And you haven’t even remembered the part where you threw up on my shoes.”
“What?!” Maddy screeched. Just as she was starting to feel better, he went and broke the bad news. “I’m so sorry.”
“I know,” he said tenderly. “And it’s nothing I didn’t do the first time. Promise. All these things are just repeats, well, except the naked thing. I didn’t feel the need to get naked.” He pursed his lips before shrugging.
“Go back to the puking on your shoes,” she said cautiously.
“Well, we got everyone out after your little strip tease attempt.” The blood drained from her face and her eyes grew wide. He pressed his lips together and she could see he was trying not to laugh again. “It wasn’t that bad, like I said, Josh and I got everyone out before you took off your bra,” she sighed heavily and he smirked. “So Josh started to clean up in here and I herded you towards the bedroom so I could put you in bed, and you, well…” He waggled his eyebrows at her and she remembered. She leaned her head against his chest again and almost fell off the stool.
“No,” she said firmly. But she felt him nod.
“Yeah.” Mark rubbed her shoulders as she shook her head against his chest.
“I remember,” she whimpered.
“Come on,” Mark prodded her sounding a bit frustrated. “Here, just lay down.”
She turned in his arms and played with the seam of his tee shirt. Maddy pushed the shirt up and scraped her nails down his abs. He sucked in a breath and she smiled lazily. “You come with me.”
He took a deep breath, reached for her wrists and removed them from his stomach.
“No, I need to help clean up and you are in no state of mind.” She pouted with her bottom lip out and he shook his head before bending down and placing a peck on her lips. “You need to sleep. We can have your birthday sex tomorrow, alright?”
“But I want it now.” She stomped her foot like a petulant child and Mark scoffed. But then Maddy stopped. Her face changed and before Mark could dodge it, she’d emptied her stomach on the floor…and his shoes. Maddy ran to the bathroom and Mark was left to clean up the mess.
“I’m so sorry,” she repeated for what felt like the tenth time that morning.
“I know. It’s okay,” he soothed. “Eat something. We’re going running.”
“Why do you keep trying to shove food in me? I don’t want it. My stomach is not okay with all that grease.”
“I’m sure there’s some kind of scientific reason, but just know, this will make you feel better.” Mark picked up his fork again and polished of his plate quickly.
Maddy pushed the eggs around and cut into the pancake and took a bite before shoving the plate away from her.
“I can hardly go running,” Maddy tried. “I don’t have any clothes but what I came in yesterday.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Mark replied quickly lifting a bag from the floor. “Your mom sent Josh with this little overnight bag for you, isn’t she sweet?”
Maddy made a face. “My mom knew about this? And she didn’t tell my dad?”
He handed her the bag and smiled. “She didn’t. I think she likes me. More than your dad at least.”
“Honey, I’m sure there are Sixers that like you more than my dad.” Now it was Mark’s turn to pout at her jab. “It’s okay, he likes you more than he used to.”
Mark rolled his eyes and dragged her back to the bedroom to change. She whined the whole time and when she was finally dressed, hair pulled back, Maddy felt her stomach roll again. “This is not going to work. I’m going to feel worse.”
“You are dramatic this morning.” Mark lifted his foot behind him to stretch. “Do this with me and you’ll feel better. If you don’t you can lie in bed the rest of the day.”
Maddy sighed heavily but agreed. “I need some sunglasses or a hat or something, it’s blinding out here. I bet nobody complained about hangovers in 2149. No sun to make you hate life.”
“I’m pretty sure we were all hating life already,” he said handing her a ball cap he found by the front door. “Let’s go.”
“Not fast,” Maddy demanded.
“We’ll save the races for another day.” He put a hand on the top of her head and shook a little. Maddy bristled at the movement.
“Are you trying to make me puke again?” she asked grouchily.
“My mission in life, I’ve been trying since I smeared you in stinky mud two years ago,” he teased as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into motion. When they were both moving he dropped her hand and kept the same snail pace next to her. She didn’t love this idea, but she was starting to feel a little better. The air was fresh and the sun did warm her skin. But as they jogged, her stomach didn’t settle. Instead, it rebelled more.
“Come on, can’t you go a little faster?” he prodded. She gave him a dirty look while he turned around so that he was jogging backwards. “I’m pretty sure Casey can go faster than you in his beat up wheelchair.”
The taunting caused her to speed up, Mark knew she was competitive and he was baiting her. She knew it, he knew it, and it worked. Maddy took off in a sprint and was three houses away before he caught up. They stayed at the same high pace for a few more minutes before she had to stop. Bending over to catch her breath she felt the bile rise in her throat. She couldn’t stop it and just as Mark came back to check on her she puked. On his shoes. Again.
He just stood there and sighed heavily. Wiping her mouth on the hem of her shirt she looked up at him pink with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she said but then she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, no I’m not! This time it’s your fault!”
“Is everything okay?” Dunham seemed to come out of nowhere, but he looked concerned.
“She’s fine,” Mark answered tersely. “This is Maddy’s new way to show me she cares, she hurls on me.” Dunham took a step back at the scowl on Mark’s face and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s his fault,” she said with a finger pointed at Mark. “He’s the one that took a severely hung over person for a brisk jog.” Maddy smiled widely at the perplexed look on Dunham’s face and the one of disgust on Mark’s.
“Come on,” she said grabbing Mark’s hand and leading him away with a wave to Dunham. “Let’s get you into the shower, hm? You’re right, I’m feeling much better now.”
“Oh sure, now you are,” he replied shortly after dropping her hand and stopping. “I’m not sure I want to shower with you now, you’ve puked on me a lot in the last 12 hours.”
Maddy looked at him smugly and licked her lips. She knew he liked it because she saw him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling at her. He narrowed his eyes before bending over and grabbing her legs, with his arms behind the back of her knees, and throwing her over his shoulder. Maddy yelped and he laughed before he smacked her ass with his free hand. “But you’ve got to brush your teeth before I kiss you.”
“Some birthday gift this is,” she hollered.
“Consider this your penance for all the chunks I’ve had to clean up.”