Tomorrow's Blues

5. The Hangover

The car journey back was filled with a stony silence. Alice was sat in the back with her head leaning against the window, not saying anything. I was sat in the front, staring down at my hands and occasionally glancing at Joseph, feeling guilty, as if it was my fault that he had to come get us.

Surprisingly, Joseph was the first one to break the quiet. "So, you want to tell me who that guy was and why you were looking like you wanted to kill him?"

I let out a small huff of amusement, but Joseph wasn't smiling. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, lighten up." I peered back at Alice, who now had her eyes closed, but I knew she wasn't sleeping. "It's probably best if we don't discuss that now."

Joseph frowned, but kept his eyes on the road. "Why?"

"Joseph," I said in irritation. "I mean it."

He looked at me briefly, frowning, but didn't say anything. The car became silent again. I fumbled around with some buttons as I tried to turn on the radio to fill the quiet. Joseph's fingers suddenly brushed mine as he reached forward and simply pressed the 'on' button. I quickly drew my hand back, crossing my arms and turning to look out the window. For a moment, the only sound was the soft melody of a song I didn't know, until Alice announced to us, "I'm going to be sick."

Joseph very quickly pulled the car over at the side of the road, and I muttered, "I got it," before opening the door and jumping out. Alice was already standing outside, hunched over and throwing up. I made my way over to her and held her hair out of her face for her as I rubbed her back soothingly.

"Get it all out," I encouraged. "You'll feel better in the morning if you do." Alice threw up again, and I turned away while continuing to stroke her back. Joseph got out of the car and leaned against it, arms folded, while he waited. I winced as Alice retched again, glad it wasn't me. I hated throwing up, but I didn't mind looking after people when they were sick. I glanced at Joseph, who met my gaze. Then he jerked his head back towards the car. "Let's get going. Nothing more is going to come up."

I nodded, helping Alice as she stumbled over to the car, sitting in the front this time. I went into the back and Joseph started driving again. I couldn't help myself from peering occasionally in the rear-view mirror at Joseph, but he kept his eyes firmly on the road.

The car journey passed by agonisingly slowly, but when we got to the house, Alice jumped out of the car straight away and shuffled inside. I took my time a bit more and ended up walking up the path with Joseph.

"So, before you give me the big brother lecture on how I should have kept an eye on Alice and should have stopped her drinking so much, just remember–" I started, but Joseph interrupted me.

"I'm not going to lecture you. I'm her brother, not her dad," he stated in annoyance as we reached the house and stepped inside. Joseph locked the door behind us before turning to face me. "Alice drank too much and got all emotional. It happens. It's happened before."

I nodded. "Yeah, it has." I paused. "Do you know about Dylan?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Was that the guy you were yelling at?"

"I wasn't yelling," I muttered. "But yeah. That was him."

He leant against the wall, folding his arms. "He and Alice dated for a bit, right? Messy breakup or something?"

I pressed my lips together. "Something like that. Anyway, he just said something to Alice that upset her, which was why I was angry with him. I don't know what he said, but it must have been bad."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you had a go at him then," Joseph replied, a slight smirk on his face.

"He deserved it. Besides, I'm not done with him."