Chapter 33

Tricia slowly awoke feeling like her mouth was full of cotton. Her head also felt about three times it’s normal size. She came to the realization that she had one hell of a hangover. Her first thought was that she had just dreamed that she had placed second in the ladies event. Her hangover, though, told her that the party afterward had really happened so that meant that she had not dreamed it. She rolled over and tried to sit up to see the clock. That made her groan and wonder if maybe it would be better if she had dreamed it and didn’t really have the hangover.

Her eyes went wide when she saw that it was a little after ten thirty in the morning. She had no recollection of when she went to bed or for that matter of even getting to her room. The trail of clothes that began just inside the door told her that she’d apparently been very eager to get to bed. There was no evidence that she’d dragged anybody in with her though.

That’s a relief, she thought at first, then wondered if it really was, it might have been fun. She laughed at that thought then groaned when she found laughing made her head hurt. If I’m going to cheat, she told herself, I ought to at least try to remember I did it. If I cheat and can’t remember that I did it is it still cheating she asked herself, nearly laughing again and reminding herself not to try to be funny for several more hours yet.

Her body was telling her that she had apparently come straight to bed when she got to her room. She got up slowly and gingerly padded to the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and yelped.

“God Tricia you look like hell,” she said aloud, giggling and then wincing. “Note to self, you are too old for this shit.”

As she went through the motions of trying to make herself at least somewhat presentable she tried to remember the events of last night.

She remembered well placing second and getting her winnings.  She recalled the party, or the start of it. Talking to Kevin and being relieved when he agreed that she should not buy into the main event seemed to have really happened.

Things went south fast after that. Tricia remembered Sandy calling her over when she got back from talking with Kevin. She had been drinking enough to where her normally bubbly flirtatious personality was put to shame by the way she was laughing and flirting with Rick when Tricia got to the table. Tricia remembered not minding as much as she thought she would and also remembered thinking she should take notes on how to flirt.

She remembered Gary coming over and joining in the conversation but also saying he wasn’t going to drink much because he still wanted to play some more that night. Then Jaime and Kevin came over and she recalled a rehash of the conversation with Kevin about not playing the main event.

They’d also asked her what her plans were she thought but things started to get fuzzy there because the drinks had started adding up. At some time she thought she remembered Carolyn coming back without Ruben.

Things just sort of faded out after that. By the time Tricia was dressed she realized that there was just no more to recall. She hoped like hell that she had not embarrassed herself. Even though she had a killer hangover she felt happier than she could remember for a long time. She’d done very well here, better than she’d dreamed. She’d been prepared to lose her bankroll and have to spend the next six months to a year building it back up before trying again.

Belatedly she wondered if she’d arranged to meet anybody for breakfast. These guys sure seemed to like to do things over breakfast. How, when they partied like this, she didn’t know. Well, she thought, if anybody was stupid enough to think was remembering anything last night and would remember a breakfast meeting it was their own fault.

The last thing she wanted right now was breakfast anyway shethought as she went downstairs to see if she could find anyone to tell her if she’d made a fool of herself.

As she came off the elevators and out into the lobby proper she saw Jaime watching the elevators. Upon seeing her he stood up. He looked good wearing his black logo shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots. Sourly she thought he looked entirely too fresh considering he’d partied as long and as hard as she had, or so she thought.

He smiled at her as she came over to where he was standing. “Nice to see you’re still alive. I bet you’ve got one hell of a hangover. I’ve been debating on calling your room to check on you.”

“I feel like hell,” Tricia said. “Talk quieter.”

Jaime laughed. “Come on. A cup of coffee will help. Just for the record you look like hell too.”

“Well thank you so much!” Tricia said with a snort.

Jaime chuckled. “You’ve no doubt looked in a mirror. Do you want me to lie to you?”

“Yes!”

“My Tricia you look ravishing this morning.”

Despite herself Tricia laughed. “Ok. That’s too far. I never look ravishing and I know I sure as hell don’t this morning. Did I embarrass myself last night?”

Jaime shook his head. “Not at all. You just celebrated maybe a tad too much.”

“I’m too old for this shit. How do you all do it?”

“Practice,” Jaime said. “And I try not to do it to that extent very often.”

“You look like you didn’t party at all,” Tricia said sourly. “It’s not fair.”

Jaime chuckled. “Trust me I’ll pay for it. It wasn’t very bright I suppose. I got six hours sleep and got up and went for a run. I felt like crap when I got up and I wanted to just kill myself the whole time I was running but after that and a shower I feel human.”

“Well I’m not going running even if that is the cure. I might take a slow walk.”

Jaime chuckled and nudged her toward the coffee bar.

“I am almost afraid to ask but how did I get to bed? I mean I don’t remember going to my room.”

“I should tease you but you’d believe it.” Jaime said.

“Oh God please tell me I was not too much of a jerk!” Tricia said. “Please tell me the truth!”

Jaime smiled at her and then reassured her. “You were at no time a jerk. You were feeling very happy but what the hell you’d just had your best tournament cash ever and had done better than you’d expected for the whole trip. I was very happy to see you so relaxed and having so much fun.”

“So I didn’t do anything stupid?”

“No, of course not. You remember dancing with just about everybody in the bar don’t you?”

Tricia’s eyes widened. She was not normally a party type, preferring to sit and talk quietly at parties. “I was dancing? I don’t remember that. I don’t remember a lot though. Please tell me I kept all my clothes on.”

Jaime chuckled. “Other than your shoes you did. And I was teasing about the dancing. Kevin, Rick and Sandy tried to get you to dance but you wouldn’t have any part of it.”

“How about you?”

“I danced some. I’d had enough to drink to make that possible,” Jaime chuckled.

“I mean did you ask me to dance?”

“Oh boy, there is a loaded question,” Jaime said with a smile. “If I say yes then you’ll point out that I know you don’t like to dance. If I say no you’ll ask why not. For what it’s worth I didn’t ask anybody to dance. I only danced when pulled onto the dance floor.”

“And who pulled you onto the dance floor pray tell?” Tricia asked, wishing she could remember all this.

“Sandy was first, then Carolyn. Apparently it’s close to the anniversary of her divorce and it brings back bad memories. She was really putting them away last night. Then there were two people I didn’t even know.”

“Well it sounds like you had yourself a good time,” Tricia asked, feeling a little jealous even while she told herself it was silly. “Did you go to bed alone or did one of them want company there too?”

Jaime just looked at Tricia and she knew she’d crossed a line. “I’m sorry Jaime. I’m not myself this morning yet. Maybe the coffee will help.”

“It’s ok,” Jaime said, sounding to Tricia like he meant it. “Besides I was the one who put you to bed. You insisted. Carolyn even volunteered but I’m not sure she would have been much help. I’ll be interested to see how much of the evening she remembers.”

“I insisted you put me to bed?” Tricia said. “Oh god did I make it sound like I was trying to drag you off for sex?”

Jaime chuckled. “Absolutely not. You kept insisting to anybody around that you were too drunk to have sex but you wanted me to put you to sleep because I was your best friend.”

Tricia looked upat him. “You’re not kidding about that? I really said that?”

“Several times to several people, including one couple in the elevator.”

“And you don’t call that making a fool of myself?”

“Well you were pretty drunk. Probably you were too drunk to have sex. I figured you might even mean the best friend thing. Even if you didn’t it didn’t make you look foolish.”

“Of course I meant it!” Tricia said. “Even if I don’t remember saying it. It’s true I suppose. But to say all that to perfect strangers even. God!”

“They seemed amused,” Jaime said. “I also don’t think they believed you.”

Tricia had to chuckle thinking how it might have looked. “I can’t really blame them. Was I hanging all over you when I said it?”

“Yep.”

Tricia shook her head and drained her coffee cup. “And when we got to my room did I behave myself? I didn’t try to drag you in with me did I?”

“Well not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“You insisted that if I wanted to be just friends the least I could do was tuck you in.”

“And did you?” Tricia asked.

“You weren’t going to let me leave until I agreed.”

“But when I woke up I was naked and there was a trail of clothes from the door to the bed.”

“Yeah I know. I closed the door and you started stripping, then you climbed in bed and I think you were asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow.”

“You’re telling me that right there in front of you I took all my clothes off and made you tuck me in bed naked?”

Jaime nodded, grinning.

“And you didn’t join me?”

“Don’t think it wasn’t tempting.” Jaime told her. “I came close. I figured though that if we woke up together in the morning you’d never believe nothing had happened.”

“I’m not sure I believe it now.” Tricia admitted, shocked. She could tell that he was telling the truth though.

“Well its true. I really wanted to make love to you in the worst way but I knew that even if you somehow stayed awake for it you would either not remember it or you’d regret it. I’d had a lot to drink but not enough to make me make that big a mistake. Maybe some day it will happen again but I’d like it to be because we both knew what we were doing at the time.”

“Yeah,” Tricia said. “God Jaime I’m sorry. That was a pretty cruel way to treat you.”

“I thought about that,” Jaime said. “I prefer to think that it meant you trusted me as a friend on a lot of different levels. I wouldn’t recommend trying it too much though. I only have so much will power.”

“So you think it might happen again?” Tricia said, feeling an odd mixture of hope and fear in her belly.

Jaime shrugged. “Well I’m no less attracted to you than I ever have been. I can’t say. You still seem willing even after what you went through the first time. Who is to say that one day down the line opportunity and readiness won’t cross again? Does that mean that I should try to stay away from you so it won’t happen again? That’s the only way to guarantee it. I don’t want to put you through what you went through the first time.”

“The last thing I want is for you to stay away from me,” Tricia told him. “I’ve enjoyed the time we had this past week or so. We’ll just have to try to be adults about it I guess.”

“Adults don’t have sex?”

Tricia laughed. “You know what I meant!”

“I do and I agree. That’s what I told you before when we talked.”

“Yeah I know,” Tricia said. “If you’re waiting for me to say you were right then consider it said.”

Jaime smiled. “I’m afraid there is no real right or wrong. We’re just going to have to muddle through. I look forward to seeing you when you get to tournaments. I would think for the time being we should still not have contact between times unless you can assure me that Matt isn’t reading your email or going through your cell phone bills any more.”

“I don’t know,” Tricia said. “he’s acting weird. I can’t figure him out right now so I guess maybe we’d better leave it at that. If I think it’s safe I’ll email you.”

“Last night you gave out your email address and cell number to several people so be warned you may get some mail or calls.”

“It should be ok,” Tricia said. “I can just tell him it was people I met here which is true. For that matter you could make up a new email address he doesn’t know and use that.”

Jaime shook his head. “I won’t do that. If you and I are going to have contact outside of these tournaments then I want him to know it. I won’t go behind his back again and take a chance on it backfiring on you when and if he finds out.”

Tricia sighed. She knew he was right. She also knew she wasn’t ready to tell Matt she’d seen Jaime again. “I’m not planning to tell him you were here I don’t think.”

“I sort of figured. Do you think he will go through the event results lists? Luckily we never placed close together. He might see my name though.”

“I can’t see him doing that but if he does I’ll deal with it. We behaved ourselves.” Tricia said with a shrug.

“Well except for a kiss or two and then you stripping last night.”

Tricia laughed. “Well I can honestly say I don’t remember last night. I’m really sorry Jaime. That really was inexcusable.”

“It’s ok,” Jamie assured her. “Have you decided when you’re leaving? Last night you said you were missing Matty and were going to go home tomorrow morning.”

Tricia didn’t remember telling anybody that but it was what she’d been thinking, she nodded. “I told Matt I’d call him first. Why that matters is another thing that bugs me. He says he wants to make sure the house is clean first. I can’t help but wonder if he’s up to something else.”

“Maybe he’s cooking up some kind of surprise for you.” Jaime said.

“Yeah right,” Tricia said. “I believe that he wants to clean the house more than that he is planning some kind of surprise.”

Jaime just shrugged. “Well now that I’m sure you’re alive and well and I got enough coffee in you to where you look human again I need to get going.”

“Thanks for everything Jaime,” Tricia said giving him a light friendly hug. “I appreciate you not taking advantage of the situation last night.”

“You’re welcome. It was my pleasure,” Jaime said, then he grinned over his shoulder as he walked away, “Besides it was nice seeing you naked one more time. It kind of refreshed my memory like.”

Tricia felt herself blush deeply but she couldn’t help but chuckle. “Go away you dirty old man!”

“I’ll be back.”

“I hope so!” Tricia said to his retreating back, pulling out her cell phone to call Matt.