OooOOOooO

Not So Crash Hot

Chapter Thirty

Hangover Remedies

OooOOOooO

“Avoid hangovers: stay drunk.”

“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.”

I had my head on the kitchen table when James dragged himself into the room, having woken up at the extremely early time of… twelve o’clock!!

“What’s up with you?” he grumbled as I made no move.

I let out an irritated groan.

“Fine. I was only being nice. You look like you have a hangover. Which I know you don’t have, because you’re you.”

I peeked up and saw him downing half the carton of orange juice. I wanted to grin, but it would hurt my head too much. Orange juice was his hangover remedy.

“And because I bet you were at all the parties last night,” I mumbled as my head dropped back onto my folded arms.

I heard him laugh softly.

“So? What’s up?”

“I feel like crap. Like Adele has raked her vicious claws over my eyeballs, then her little minion Steph has dragged me onto the highway where fifty ten tonne trucks have run over me, then the wolves and vultures ravaged my carcass,” I snarled.

“Aren’t we peachy this morning?” he muttered, and proceeded not talk to me.

It was only a few days into the holidays and I’d yet to do anything other than watch reruns of Supernatural and The Simpsons on the TV. You know how they do those marathons? Well quite a few channels are doing it at the moment. So basically, I’d done nothing yet I still felt like crap.

I let out a harsh cough as Tori came into the room, equally as hungover as James.

“Ew. Don’t you dare cough on me, hag. And James, you better not have drunken all the orange juice,” she said fiercely, then sighed in happiness before she proceeded to guzzle down the rest of the carton.

“Mad party last night, hey?” I croaked, as I transferred my face from my arms to the tabletop. Much colder and nicer.

“I’m not too sure James thought it was that good. Or were you too drunk to remember?” Tori asked slyly.

“Shut up,” he muttered steely.

I lifted my head wearily again, eager for gossip.

“What happened?”

“Don’t you dare say a word,” James hissed.
“You can’t do shit. I bet you’re still partially drunk!” Tori said, laughing half heartedly before clutching her head and moaning slightly in pain.

“That’s karma for you, witch,” James grumbled, lying on the countertop and propping his feet up on the wall.

“And it’s not gonna stop me telling Regan. So suck it up. Anyway, as you can probably imagine, James got pretty hammered last night. And what was that song that you were singing non-stop a few days ago? Oh yeah, The Bad Touch. So, he told the DJ to stop playing music because he had an extremely important announcement to make. He got the microphone and said something like ‘I would like to dedicate this to my darling sister Regan, who couldn’t be here tonight because she’s a widdle shy’. Then sung that song about sex, which he knew every word of. Some random stoners joined in, and at the end of it he put the microphone near his bum and farted. Then passed out.”

My mouth dropped open, and I forgot all about how terrible I felt for a moment.

James glared balefully at Tori. “I’m gonna kill you.”

“No way! How could you get that hammered? You softie! That’s freaking hilarious!” I clutched at my stomach as I laughed extremely hard.

“I’m not a softie!” he whined. “And it’s not like you can talk.”

“Don’t try and drag the spotlight to me, mister. You farted into the microphone. Holy moley!”

By this time, tears had started leaking out of the corner of my eyes and one hand had seized the table to keep myself from falling.

I heard stumbling footsteps and saw through tear filled eyes Logan. He was holding the side of the doorframe for support. He started cracking up as well.

“Oh man. Last night!”

He started laughing almost as hard as I was, and even Tori was starting to giggle. James scowled darkly at us all.

“I hate you all,” he hissed. It was extremely hard to take him seriously when he was in such a funny position. He turned his head towards the wall sulkily and mumbled something.

“What was that dear?” Tori asked.

“I’m never doing that many tequila shots again. My head hurts not to mention my teeth hurt like hell.”

Logan walked, slightly unsteadily, over to the fridge.

“That my good friend is what you get for taking me on at shots. You know I can outdrink your sorry arse any day.”

He opened the fridge, searching.

“Don’t you guys have any orange juice in this joint?” he mumbled.

It was James’s turn to laugh.

“It’s all gone! Now look who’s laughing bitch,” he cackled spitefully.

“Don’t be a cow, James,” I croaked. “You deserve every ounce of pain and humiliation that you caused.”

“God, what happened to your voice?” Logan asked, peering at me through slightly blood shot eyes. “You sound like a hag.”

“I’ve been told. And I’m sick, genius.”

He was silent for a moment, thinking.

“I have an idea. Lets walk to the corner store, and I can get my orange juice and you can get some cold and flu tablets. You sound like shit.”

The thought of some relief from this awful feeling was heaven. Not to mention the thought of spending some quality alone time with Logan got my poor, weary heart a-racing.

“Okay,” I said, dragging myself up. I grabbed a jumper, but couldn’t be bothered to get out of my blue and white dotted pyjama pants. Logan had on a pair of shorts and a shirt that both looked the worse for wear. We were too lazy to put shoes on, and it wasn’t that far to the shop anyway. We walked in silence, but thankfully it wasn’t one of those tension filled, uncomfortable silences. This one was nice.

Like his face…

I caught that extremely corny thought before it could go any further. How would my rep suffer if someone knew?

When we got there, to my immense surprise, Tay was there paying for a carton of apple juice also in what looked to be his pyjamas.

“Let me guess… Another hangover remedy?” I asked, indicating the juice. Logan nodded at him in greeting before disappearing off to grab his orange juice.

“So it would seem. How’s your brother doing? What a legend. Fucking-A.”

I laughed, even though it ended up in a hacking cough.

“Facing the humiliation bravely. Well, seeing as though he won’t be able to live this one down. Ever. It’ll be so easy to just bring up in a conversation in fifty years time: ‘Oh James, remember that time you sang that raunchy song and farted into the microphone? What a hoot!’”

He laughed.

Logan appeared again and saw the apple juice in Tay’s hand.

“Aw mate, you’ve got it all wrong. Orange juice is the best for hangovers. Definitely not apple juice.”

Tay smirked. “Don’t diss till you try. I gotta head back before I pass out again.”

He gave a funny salute and headed off.

Logan handed me the tablets.

“Oh thanks, you’re a life saver. Did everyone go to this end of term party?” I inquired as we payed.

“Just about. It was pretty awesome. Open bar too! Totally made it worth it.”

I smiled as we grabbed our stuff off the counter and left.

“You doing anything next week?” he asked.

I felt butterflies start up in my stomach and quickly stamped them down.

Stop being stupid, just because it sounds like he’s asking you on a date doesn’t mean it is one!

Great. The annoying voice is back. Let’s throw a welcome home party.

I know you missed me. Deep down.

“Why?”

“Me and a few other mates are heading down to my beach house for a couple of days. Do you and Duffman wanna join?”

I smiled slowly. “Is James going?”

“Given.”

“Well, Duffman can’t come ‘cause she’s in New York, but I’ll ask Caz.”

“Cool!”

“Just make sure that dickhead of a friend isn’t coming… what’s his name? Oh yeah, Josh.”

A shadow passed over his face. “He’s not my friend.”

“Okay then, yeah! I’m sure it’ll be awesome!”

OooOOOooO

Once I was alone in my room, I called Caz. She picked up on the fifth ring.

“Mmm…‘ello?” came the sleepy answer.

“Don’t tell me you’re hungover to,” I said bluntly.

I heard her yawn.

“No, not too badly.”

“Did everyone go to this party? I didn’t even know about it!” I whined.

“Almost everyone. And I love parties. So, why’d you wake me up?”

“Logan invited me and someone else to his beach house next week, and I thought I’d ask you to come.”

Silence.

Then, “Are you effing serious?! This is awesome!” She then squealed, and I quickly pulled the phone away from my tender ear.

“If you don’t stop being so weird and crazy, I’ll hang up and you won’t be able to come with.”

She immediately stopped.

“Do you have any idea how sought after a place at his beach house? Highly sought after! I’ve heard it’s beautiful, not to mention they throw the hottest parties! Even better than last night with your brother! This is fan-fucking-tastic!”

“So I take it that’s a yes?” I said dryly.

“It’s a hell yes, to be precise!”

I filled her in on all the details, and then hung up when she started to squeal again. I padded downstairs and into the living room and flopped onto the only spare armchair. Tori was sprawled across one couch, and James and Logan were entangled on the other. When I glanced at them I saw them munching on bacon and egg rolls.

I immediately shot up, ignoring the increased pounding in my head.

“Hey! What the hell! How come you three have yummy sandwiches!” I protested.

James smirked at me.

“Susan. Suck shit.”

I threw him my most wounded look as Susan entered the room, carrying a heavenly roll and handing it to me. I immediately got stuck in.

She gave James a stern look.

“Don’t be cruel James, and don’t swear either! Remember I bought these rolls out of the generosity of my heart, because I know they’re the cure to any hangover.”

“Bar orange juice,” Tori muttered, holding her head.

“Amen to that,” Logan mumbled, his mouth stuffed with food. A few bits flew out. Yick.

I turned my attention back to the TV as Susan disappeared off somewhere. We were watching Die Hard 4, one of Tori’s favourite movies. In total contradiction to her character, Tori had a secret love affair with action movies. I know, strange. She especially liked the extra gory ones. Kinda scary.

We watched for a while before Tori sighed loudly.

“I know this is weird, but I totally rate that nerdy computer guy. Yum.”

I immediately cringed. “Ew Tori no! No way! He’s not even the hottest guy on the stupid movie!”

She turned to me and glared. “He is so. Who do you think is hot? I bet you find that gross FBI guy hot, you know the one with his eyes too close together?” She laughed at her utterly lame joke.

Logan.

He’s not on the movie, retard.

Oh.

I thought about it for a second.

“Definitely that evil guy. Those muscles! That is my definition of yum.” I closed my eyes, imagining it.

I heard a choking sound and then a round of harsh coughing ensued. I twisted around and saw it was Logan. Once he was finished – with a few, unhelpful smacks on the back by James – he gave me a watery smile.

“Bit of bacon went down the wrong way,” he rasped. I laughed at him and turned around to keep watching the movie, and the totally hot evil guy.

“So you’re a muscle kinda girl?” Tori asked.

Images of all the times I’d caught sight of Logan’s muscles flashed through my mind, and I could almost feel my mouth watering.

“Mmhmm. And I take it you’re into the thick glasses, acne, and high pants look?”

She threw me a disgusted look and sneered, “I don’t like all geeks; I like that geek.” She pointed at the screen as his face appeared, twisted into a very strange expression. She frowned. “Not when he does that though.”

OooOOOooO

The week flew by and suddenly I was staring at my empty bag, wondering what the hell to pack. Well, it wasn’t exactly empty. I had my swimmers, a towel, and some flip-flops in there. What else would I need?

I began rummaging through my closet and came up with a pair of shorts. Actually, they were those cute chequered ones I’d bought when I was with Tyler. With a smile, I threw them into my bag. A few of my baggy t-shirts were tossed over my shoulder next.

“Regan! Hurry up! We’re almost ready to go and we will leave without you!” James yelled, ever the caring brother.

Did I mention that I always leave packing to the last minute? Yeah, oops.

“I’m coming! Hold your horses!” I hollered back.

Did I need something nice? Caz said there were parties being held… so that meant something nice, right? Definitely not my usual shorts and shirt combo, that’s for sure!

As I was nibbling my lip, my saviour banged into my room in the form of Tori. I know, weird right?

She glanced at my bag. “Yep, I knew it. You’ve packed nothing nice. At all.”

I threw my pride away. “I know and I need help! What am I supposed to wear if there’s a party? I have nothing nice! I would make the biggest fool of myself if I show up in what I feel comfortable in! Do I need a dress? Wait, no, I hate dresses. Where are you going?” I screeched as Tori dashed out of my room. Had I scared her away? Wouldn’t surprise me!

I paused. What had come over me? Since when did I care about what other people thought? And since when had I even thought of wearing a dress?!

I realised the answer with a start. No, I still didn’t particularly care about what other people thought of me. However, I did care what Logan thought of me.

Tori trotted back into my room with a pile of clothes that she dumped on my bed.

“Alright. There has to be something in here that’d look good on you.”

Was that an insult? I didn’t have time to ponder this as Tori quickly began throwing clothes around. She held up a pale yellow dress, shook her head and threw it away. Multiple other dresses were held up until she was interrupted by another yell by James, this time nicely informing me that they were leaving. In James language, that meant ten minutes to go.

Tori ended up stuffing several dresses into my bag.

“Okay, there’re a couple of dresses in there for the beach and for parties. If you get one stain on them, I’m gonna rip you into little pieces.”

And I didn’t for one second doubt her. Her nails were like talons.

I quickly dashed into the bathroom and around my room to gather the other bits and pieces and chucking them into my bag.

“Thanks heaps for the help Tori!” I went to hug her but she stepped away.

“Ew, no thanks. I just don’t want to be known as the hot girl with the sister that has no fashion sense. At all. Trust me, I’m doing it all for me.”

She turned on her heel and walked out of my room, and I heard her go downstairs to greet Logan.

Now that was the sister I knew. Her being nice… freaked the crap out of me!

I slung my bag over my shoulder and ran downstairs, grabbing my sunglasses on the way.

“I’m ready!” I called as I passed Logan and Tori chatting next to the door and threw my bag into the boot of Logan’s car.

“It’s about damn time…” James grumbled from the passenger seat as he leant over and beeped the horn. I slid into the backseat as Logan came jogging down the drive and jumped into his seat.

“Can we go now?” James said, his voice whiny.

“We still have to pick up Caz,” Logan said, and James groaned. I punched him in the shoulder and he shut up.

Thankfully, when we arrived at Caz’s house she was already waiting out the front so we didn’t need to waste any time. Soon we were out on the highway.

“What CDs do you have?” James asked.

With one hand, Logan reached down into the side pocket of the door and threw a CD case at James. My brother caught it deftly and began sorting through them.

“Okay, we have The All-American Rejects, Panic! At The Disco, or The Script to choose from.”

“What about all the others?” Caz asked, frowning.

“Didn’t like ‘em. You’re lucky I gave you any choice at all!”

“I say The All-American Rejects,” I called.

“I back that,” Logan said.

“Nuh uh. Panic! At The Disco thanks!” Caz declared.

“Yeah, I don’t think so. Majority wins, put the CD in James!” I said triumphantly.

“He hasn’t chosen!” Caz argued.

James gave her a sheepish look and she scowled at him, realising he wasn’t going to side with her.

“Fine, I guess my opinion doesn’t matter,” she said sulkily, but I could tell she wasn’t really upset.

“Sure it does,” I said soothingly, “maybe around people who also have extremely low IQs such as yourself.”

She screamed and slapped my arm.

“I’m smart enough thank you! I bet you in that last test in Art.”

I grudgingly admitted that she was correct, adding, “Yeah, but that’s Art.”

The rest of the car ride was pretty uneventful after that. When we arrived at Logan’s house, my jaw popped open. Even though I knew it would be ridiculously expensive looking, I was still astonished at how ridiculously expensive it looked! For a beach house, it was massive and not very beachy-looking. It was two storeys but it was very long and wide. It was made of brick with white embellishment around all the doors and windows. I immediately jumped out of the car, grabbed the keys off Logan and started my exploration of the Mammoth House, as it was now dubbed. The foyer was pretty big, with a winding staircase arching up to the next level in the middle of it. I took off up the stairs.

By the time I finished my adventure, these were my results: seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, one huge living room, one recreational room, one dining room, one kitchen, a massive pool (we’re at the beach, why do you need a pool?!), and an absolutely breathtaking view of the sea.

I was impressed.

“What do you think?” Logan asked as he emerged outside to where I was sprawled, half-dead, on one of the picnic chairs.

“Seriously… woah,” I breathed, my eyes darting across the view of the waves crashing onto the beach. “This is amaz—hey, did you see that guy just get dumped?!” I started laughing extremely hard as the guy somersaulted through the water, his surfboard flying up into the air.

Logan watched me with a amirk.

“You get distracted way too easily,” he commented, not even bothering to glance at the source of my extreme amusement.

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” I asked, arching my eyebrows at him.

“Definitely not,” he said, the smirk transforming into a small smile. His beautiful grey eyes caught mine and I could feel myself drowning in them.

“Regan!” Caz screamed, and I jumped a mile in the air. My gaze flew to where Caz was hanging out of a window above me. My heartbeat slowly calmed back down to normal. “This place is so effing magnificent!” she yelled, waving her arms around her head to emphasise her point. “I can’t wait to get down to the beach!”

I grinned back up at her, then glanced at Logan. “You coming?”

He smirked devilishly at me. “Race you down there,” he said, before he bolted off.

“Hey! I’m not even in my swimmers yet!” I shouted, barely resisting the childish desire to stamp my foot and pout. I felt two rushes of wind and both Caz and James whipped past me, racing down to the beach.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Caz called over her shoulder.

Then I really did give into my childish urge.

OooOOOooO

A/N: Okay, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Did you guys like it? Because I sure did!

Sorry it’s been ages (for all my stories) but I made this stupid pact with myself: no reading and no writing until I’ve finished my assessments (all five of them). So being my stupid self, I did neither.

If you see any mistakes, feel free to point them out!

Thanks to my reviewers!! : asianinvasion0530 , pbgurl , MintCcIceCream , HelgaBertoni , castiel89 , LaMeO1 , tashler , Liz , Love4Books04 , lo , JustAnotherLibroLover , ImmortalIncarnate , MarloCarlo10 , benozir!!!!! , cookiewolf , Broken Lies , buffyangelgirl , krazyreader , and ZeroComesFirst

pbgurl : er… oops? Yes, the will break up in the next sequel. Actually, I haven’t decided if they will at the end of this story or the beginning of the sequel. But it won’t be boring, I promise!! Or at least I hope. It won’t be set in America, and there will be quite a lot on Logan’s music career (I hope I haven’t spoilt anything for you… sorry!). thanks for the review!

Broken Lies : thanks for the review! And I agree, even I’m getting frustrated with the pace of their relationship! But hopefully something is gonna happen in the next few chapters. If I hurry up and write!

Oh yeah, and the name Crash and Burn definitely won. Thanks guys!!