The Den: Chapter 5: The Morning After
#5 of The Den
Oh yeah, we've all been there...
As Lexter's consciousness slowly seeped its way back to him, the light through his shut eyes hurt tremendously. Super tremendously. Super-duper tremendously.
*POUND POUND POUND* went the throbbing pulse of his heartbeat through his hung-over head. Oooowww... Lexter thought to himself. What happened? Why is that pain bully hurting me?
Lexter vaguely remembered tossing back his third Roaring Zombie drink with Jamie at 'The Den'. (Third one?!? No wonder my body hates me! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'll never drink again PLEASE STOP!) They laughed about... something.
He said to Jamie (in a drunken loud manner) that 'I'm a rilly gooood hot shiiiit daaaancer!' Jamie said to him (in a wobbly alcohol manner) that 'I'ma betture doooggy woof-woof dancer!' Lexter responded (getting louder as the alcohol seeped into his brain) that 'I ken taaake on anyonebody in-a dancingo conteshhhh...' Jamie suggested a 'Tipsy turny dance off' or something. Something. So they went on the dance floor and did... something. But that was all that Lexter remembered. After that, nothing. Nada. Kaput. Zippo. That doggy had barked and piddled on the floor.
Lexter slowly opened his eyes to the painful world of light, despite what the pain bullies in his head said to him. A world of blur flooded into his eyes, until brain neurons began to fire to his eyes, and slowly brought the world to focus. He made out a female husky ballet dancer stretched out left to right, with one arm sticking straight up. To the left and right of her were a jumble of letters. Great, just great, Lexter thought to himself. Now, I godda read the letters. His mind played mental scrabble until the meaning of the works came through. To the left of the sideways ballerina read 'The beauty of dance' and to the right 'The Metro City Ballet Company'. However, the words were written sideways. I have a poster like that in my bedroom, 'Cept mine is right side up.
Lexter made the mistake of raising his head. His mind worked out a complex mathematical problem. His stomach took the computed results and tried to implement it. The result was that his empty stomach indicated that it wanted to puke.
Lexter reached for a waste paper basket near his pillow (Oh good, he thought to himself. Maybe I'm in a bed) and began to dry heave into it. "BLEAH! BLEAH! BLEAH!" He yelled into the basket. *POUND POUND POUND* went the pain bullies in his head. They did not like the maneuver one bit, but his gut overruled his discomfort, and he puked. Nothing came out, but his guts performed the action anyway.
After a few BLEAHs, his guts felt relieved, and he slumped back into the bed. Ah, mister softy, he thought. I'll just lay here and not move. You're my friend.
Lexter felt a movement behind him. From behind him he heard a weak and pathetic voice say "I'm... gonna... puke..." The movement behind him turned into full scale convulsions, and knocked Lexter out of bed, forcing him to hit the ground rather rudely.
*POUND POUND POUND* The pain bullies stepped up their assault on his brain as he tried to recover from thudding. "Oooowww..." he groaned out. Looking about himself, he recognized that he was on the floor of his bedroom. The poster he saw earlier was just his perception of it as he lay in bed. Looking down at himself, he also noticed he was naked. He nodded at this condition (as slowly as possible, since movement forced the pain bullies to pick up their dance). Naked. Check.
He heard the puking of the fur in his bed finally end. He grabbed the edge of the bed, and slowly pulled himself up to look at who was in his bed. He looked at the naked back side of a female husky, which he guessed to be Jamie. Great, he thought to himself. This is the first time in months I'm in bed with a naked female, and I'm in no condition to jump her body. Just great. In a weak voice of his own, he said "Hey... Jamie... oh fur... I hurt... are you OK?"
The husky very slowly turned onto her back, then rolled onto her side to face Lexter. It was definitely Jamie, as he got a full view of her frontal nudity. He also noticed that there were no sheets on the bed. Just the bed matress. What the...
Jamie held her eyes shut tight. In a weak and painful voice she said "Lexter... oh fur... I hurt too... gimme my cell phone..." She reached out her paw to the open air as if she expected something.
Lexter looked about his room and could not see a phone or any clothes. OK, we have a two for one missing special. He turned back to Jamie and asked "Where... is it?"
Jamie began to open her eyes. She said in a slightly miffed voice "In my purse, stupid." As her eyes came into focus, she asked "Where the fur are we?"
Lexter very slowly lowered himself back onto the ground and looked under the bed. No phone, clothes, purse or bed sheets revealed themselves to him. He mumbled out "We're in my bedroom", having already solved that mystery. He pulled himself up on the bed, grabbed the phone set and put it onto the bed near Jamie. "Here, you can use mine." As he leaned on the bed, he sank into Mr. softie by a few centimeters, the motion caused waves of pain. "Oh fur... please stop..."
Jamie stayed horizontal on the bed, picked up the phone receiver and dialed a number. She mumbled into the phone "Hello? Isn't this 'The Metro City Newspaper'? Srry..." She hung up and tersely said to Lexter "If you'd just give my cell, I could hit speed dial."
Lexter shrugged as he contemplated a life of no hang-over pain. That would be nice, he thought to himself. But the immediate concern along with no phone was the lack of clothes. And bed sheets. He distinctly remembered bed sheets. Where did they go?
Jamie dialed another number, and spoke into the receiver again. "Hello? Could I get the web department... please? Thanks..." She covered the mouth piece and said in a weak and pathetic voice "I'm sick... I'm really sick..."
Lexter very slowly nodded his head. He was in that same sick department. And naked too. He glanced at Jamie's naked body and hoped she didn't mind him checking her out. If I wasn't hung over, I'd totally want to jump her, he thought to himself.
Jamie spoke into the phone again. "Hello Joe? Hi... it's Jamie... I'm gonna call in sick today... yeah, I'm reeeally out of it... no, that project isn't due for another week... I will get it done on time... thanks..." and hung up. She rubbed her temples and spoke to Lexter. "My boss is such a sweetie."
Lexter put the phone back as his brain neurons began to fire in a structured manner otherwise known as 'Logical Deduction', despite the pain bullies beating him up. He knew of one other fur who worked at 'The Metro City Newspaper' in the coding department, which was his online friend James. And James said he saw Lexter in stretchy shorts, which Lexter only wore for his first day. And there's Jamie's reaction to him when they first met. Slowly, a goofy grin stretched out onto his face despite the pain in his head. He pointed a finger at Jamie while he grinned.
Jamie looked at Lexter's smile and finger. She slowly asked "What? Why are you smiling at me?"
Lexter responded. "You're my online friend James, 'cept you're Jamie, and a female."
Jamie groaned as closed her eyes and continued to rub her temples. "I'm in too much pain to lie to you. Yeah, I'm James on Jabber."
Lexter dropped his finger and asked "But why? Why didn't you tell me? I mean..."
Right then, a very loud and rude knock emanated from the door. Both Lexter and Jamie moaned from the pain the noise made. Barry's voice came from the other side. "Hey curly tail, what's with all the clothes in the living room? You got a female in there? About time! I thought we'd have to revoke your membership in the straights club, dude!"
Lexter's mind solved the mystery of the missing clothes. He figured that her purse and cell phone were there also. But where the fur are the sheets, he asked himself. He tried to raise his voice loud enough to be heard. "Barry... please... not so loud... I'm hung over..."
The door opened and Barry peeked inside. He saw both Lexter and Jamie on the bed naked, and his eyes went wide with surprise. He yanked his head back and closed the door. After a pause, he answered "Sorry about that dude... nice female..."
Jamie started to laugh, but the vibrations hurt her head too much, and ended up just moaning. In a pathetic voice she said "Barry... I'll give you a million bucks for something to drink... please..."
Barry's voice annoyingly perked up. "Oh, you had too much to drink? Well let ole Barry fix you a drinky mix that will fix you right up, curly tail... and whoever you are..." With that they heard Barry retreat from the door.
Lexter felt woozy. He looked at his small bed. Jamie occupied one side, but there wasn't that much room on it. How did we both sleep on it last night, he asked himself. "I... gotta lie down... uuuh..."
Jamie patted the bed. "Go... ahead..."
Lexter lay down on the bed very close to Jamie. Since the bed wasn't that big, he was pretty much pressed into her body, but she didn't seem to object. With their muzzles almost touching, he could smell the bad breath of after-'Roaring Zombie' breath from her. I must smell bad too, he thought to himself. "But... why did you make up an identity?"
Jamie stared at Lexter and grimaced. "Oh come on, you're great looking. And I know what I look like in the mirror. I'm not like her." She motioned to the ballet dancer poster.
Lexter smiled at that. "Actually, that's a poster of my mom. She used to dance for 'The Metro City Ballet Company' before I was born." He liked to tell others about his mother.
Jamie glanced at the poster then back to Lexter. "Really? That's your mom? Wow!" She smiled.
Lexter guessed that Jamie was trying to change the subject and tried to change it back. "Jamie, come on. We've been friends for months. You know what I'm like." He put a tentative paw on her hip, hoping she wouldn't mind.
Jamie didn't seem to mind at all. She gently rested her paw on Lexter's penis and began to stroke it as a diversion tactic. But her mouth forgot to shut up. "I'm just... sensitive about being... you know, not the type... who... you know..."
Jamie's stroking caused an immediate swell and arousal on Lexter which prodded onto Jamie's body. Unfortunately, it also caused the pain bullies in his head to pound on him in sync with his heartbeat. He grabbed her penis-holding paw and licked it. "I don't care about that. I really want to be with you. And we're already friends."
Jamie smiled at that reaction. She also smiled because his fully aroused penis prodded into her. "Really?"
At that moment, another loud and rude knock occurred on the door, causing another round of pain and groans. Barry spoke from behind the door. "OK dude and duddette, I got the Barry-fixer-upper drinky for you two. Uh... duddette? Can I come in? I'm like gay, so the one I'd be looking at is..."
Jamie whined out "Just gimmie it... I wanna it..."
Barry walked into the small bedroom and put two drinks on the bed between Lexter and Jamie. "OK, one drinkie for curly tail, and one for... whoever you are." The suspicious dark and foamy drinks each held a bendy straw so that neither Lexter nor Jamie had to sit up to drink it. And for once, Barry didn't leer at Lexter's naked body. OK, maybe he leered a little bit. More like a lot.
Both Jamie and Lexter held the drinks and worked on slurping down the wondrous elixirs.
Barry dressed in dress jeans and a polo shirt, or as Barry would say 'Work duds'. He spoke up as the two huskies drank deep. "Hey dude and duddette? I gotta go to work now. I hope you don't mind, but I brought your bed sheets in from outside, OK?"
Lexter's mind solved the mystery of the missing bed sheets as he drank. How did they get out there, he asked himself. Oh well, who cares?
Barry left the two huskies on the bed and exited the room.
Lexter and Jamie slurped and slurped and slurped the wondrous potions of hang-over cure. It told the pain bullies to take a chill pill, and changed their dance from a jitter bug to a slow waltz. Their stomachs stopped the upset hevey-heveys and switched to absorbing the lifesaving fluid being swallowed down. Their minds began to see light not as a pain enhancer but as a normal part of daylight. The pain in their heads took a sleeping pill and settled down for a long nappy.
After the two of them finished their drinks, they sat upright on the bed next to each other. They felt a lot better, almost normal. That is a good hang-over cure, Lexter thought.
Lexter took Jamie's paw and looked into her eye. "I really like you. I mean, we're already friends, and I think we'd do well together."
Jamie looked flustered as she glanced down. "I like you too, Lexter. I'm sorry I lied to you."
Lexter smiled as he squeezed her paw. "So, can we be a couple? Can I be your boyfriend and you my girlfriend?"
Jamie looked him in the face and nodded. "I would like that very much."
Lexter leaned into her and kissed her. Jamie kissed back. Lexter felt a lot better now that he had a girlfriend.