If You Fall

Thirty Six

The day went downhill from there. I took a nap while Reed slept, but had only been out for ninety minutes when Bella showed up at two. Drunk enough that I could tell, which was saying something. Drunk and loud, my least favorite combo.

So I got up to deal with her, though Joey already had her on the couch when I had my face on and clothes that weren't pajamas. They were watching comedy and Joey was wearing a Santa hat. His eyes lit up when I came in and I could tell he was faded too. "Addy! Merry Christmas. Join us." He patted the seat next to him, as he sat in the middle.

"Her name is Heidi," Bella groaned. "Seriously, what the hell." But she leaned forward to wink at me. "Merry fuckin' Christmas, Heidi."

"Sorry, Heidi," he said cheerfully, taking off the hat and tossing it on the table.

I took the seat he'd offered, as it was on his left. I tucked my legs underneath me and sat. "Either is fine."

Bella snorted. "Not really," she said. "A name is a name is a name. Is a name." She drank from her thermos.

I waited until she passed it and Joey drank, then plucked it neatly from his hands. "Slow down," I said, trying to sound like I was joking. I felt responsible for her actions there, and while she rarely got sloppy drunk or caused scenes, I wanted to avoid those possibilities.

"Aw, you're no fun," she said, but switched to the bowl of crinkly chips on the coffee table. "I embarrass her," she said in mock confidence to him.

"You embarrass yourself," I muttered truthfully.

She flipped me off but didn't mean it. "Wanna sing Christmas carols? I'll start." She held her finger up for silence, cleared her throat, and began singing Silent Night with her eyes closed.

For the second time that day I broke out in goosebumps. Her voice was like an opera singer's, which I'd known, but still tripped me out when I heard it.

Joey's jaw dropped. 

When she was done I said, "I know, right?"

"Holy shit," he said. "That's crazy. How did you learn to do that?"

She was too inebriated to be modest. "I didn't."

He was amazed. "You mean you can just, like, do that?" He took the thermos from me and I let him because I didn't know him well enough to do anything else. I watched uneasily while he drank and recapped it.

"I can," she said graciously, settling back into his arm. "One of my many talents." Her innuendo was clear. 

I shook my head and took the thermos back from him, tucking it to the side of the couch in hopes it would prove the out-of-sight, out-of-mind theory.

Malone's arrival at four took everyone by surprise and the celebrating woke those sleeping. 

Reed stumbled in, barely awake, and I watched from across the room as his face brightened at the sight of her. He moved to hug her and she kissed his forehead, then hugged everyone, telling them she'd missed them.

They all left for church an hour later, leaving me with Bella and Joey on the couch again. We finished the movie we were watching an hour later. I was desperate for some alone time and I also felt like a third wheel, though they had yet to start making out as far as I knew. 

I figured they probably wouldn't mind the time alone either, so I put on my swimsuit and went out to stargaze in the hot tub. I had qualms about leaving her that intoxicated around a guy we barely knew and more importantly, Reed mistrusted, but I was right outside and she would probably pass out soon. I would check on her in a few minutes.