Piece By Piece Chapter Eight: Date Night

Staci and Ned decide to take a leap of faith and go on a date.

Staci’s View

I woke up in a daze. The night before seemed to be a distant memory; slowly, I got out of bed.

“Ow,” I said as my head pounded.

I hadn’t had a hangover in years. Then again, I hadn’t drunk that much in years. The memory of celebrating and having a good time came to me like water rushing through a floodgate.

“Never again,” I told myself, slowly getting to my feet.

With each step, my head felt like a jackhammer was working its way out of my skull.

I reached the bathroom, and the sight that greeted me was worse than the feeling. There were puke stains on my shirt, and I didn’t look good from what I could see through my wincing eyes.

“Shower, definitely need a shower.”

After showering and putting on clean clothes, I felt almost human again. I hoped Ned was still in the house. I had to thank him for caring for me and putting the kids’ worries to rest. I left my room and heard people talking in the kitchen; one of the voices was Ned's.

“No way,” Robert said as I entered the kitchen.

“Morning,” I said as I walked towards Ned. I wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you,” I smiled as I held onto him.

“You would have done the same,” Ned said as he patted me on the head.

“Ow,” I said as I retreated to one of the chairs.

“Here,” Ned said as he passed me a tall glass of orange juice.

“Do I have to?” I said, looking at everyone.

“Yes!” Robin said as she looked at me. “He took his medicine, now it’s your turn.”

“Fine,” I said, looking at the slimy orange liquid.

The kids liked orange juice; I hated it. But they were right; I had to drink something to get rehydrated. I slammed it down as fast as possible, then looked at them. “There,” I smiled.

“Now eat,” Ned said as he passed me breakfast.

“You cooked?” I replied as I looked up at him.

“No, we all did,” Thomas grinned. “Jack helped with the pancakes!”

I looked at Jack sitting near me, “You did, huh?” I smiled. He still had a worried look on his face. “I am fine; my head hurts, that’s all.”

Jack smiled as we all sat to eat breakfast, except for Ned, who was still standing at the kitchen island.

“I got to call a cab or get an uber,” he said as he looked at his phone. “I drove your car here,” he explained.

“Sit and eat breakfast, and I will drive you back,” I said, pointing at the empty chair.

“Yeah, sit tall guy,” Thomas said as he put a mouthful of sausage into his mouth.

“Okay,” Ted nodded.

It felt good having a man in the house again. Ned had become more than a friend. I didn’t know what I would do without him sometimes. He learned a lot about me, some things even Tina didn’t know, especially about the ex. I was confident if Ned ever met Stan, he would gladly go back to prison with a smile on his face.

“So, what was the big No way?” I asked as we all piled into the large vehicle except for Robin, who had soccer practice.

She had joined her college team and was taking it seriously. Although she had never been into sports before, soccer had made something click inside her, and now it was all she talked about, even with her girlfriend.

“Can you believe Ned thinks that Call of Duty is better than Battlefront?” Thomas shouted.

“It is,” Ned said with a smile from the passenger seat. “There is no comparison.”

“Because you are wrong,” Robert chimed in.

“Mom? “Thomas asked.

“I do like Battlefront, but I never played the other one,” I shrugged.

“Traitor!” Ned said with a smile.

The argument went back and forth, and from the smiles, I knew they were genuinely having fun. I tried to stay neutral. I got out of the vehicle and walked Ned up to his apartment.

“Thanks again,” I said. “Not just for the help, but also for putting Todd in his place,” I smiled as I looked up at him.

“Someone had to, might as well be me,” Ned replied.

“Still, the rest of us appreciate what you did, and you made a great impression on Tina,” I told him, which was the most important of all. Tina bit her tongue most of the night, but she had already texted me asking when they could meet him again.

“Anytime,” Ned said, putting the key into his door.

I had been in his apartment before, and now it felt weird that I wasn’t going inside with him.

“I better go,” I said as I backed away. “The kids are waiting.”

“Right,” Ned said as he waved at me.