I narrow my eyes, popping out the toothbrush. “You’re not pathetic. You should’ve seen me the first time I got drunk.” I turn on the tap, wet the toothbrush head, and top it with toothpaste.
She takes it from me and pops it in her mouth. “Teuw me dat shtory,” she commands around the toothbrush.
Fighting my grin at her ridiculous cuteness, I nod. “I blame Griff. He poured half a bottle of Crown into his camping canteen, and we drank ourselves sick in one of the store sheds.”
Hattie pauses the brushing. “How oud?”
I clear my throat and sniff, embarrassed. “Twelve.”
Her mouth, full of toothpaste foam, falls open. I laugh.
“Yeah. Old enough to know better, but too young to know when to stop.” I roll my eyes at the awful memory. “Once we stumbled back to the house, it took Mom and Pop about three seconds to figure out what we’d been up to.”
“Were dey mad?”
I huff. “Mad? Hell, yes, but even though Pop could chew us out when we messed up, when he was real pissed, he’d get quiet, and that was always worse.”
Hattie pulls the toothbrush out of her mouth, leans over the sink, and spits as delicately as possible. Then she straightens.
“Worse?”
I turn on the tap, nodding. “They took care of us and sent us to bed. Next morning, Pop was banging on our door at five a.m. sharp, fed us a breakfast of runny eggs without salt and we were in the fields planting slips by hand until the afternoon.” I curl my lip. “Fertilized that field with my puke. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die. To this day, the smell of Crown brings that memory rushing back.”
“Eww.” Hattie wrinkles her nose. So fucking cute. “You won’t wake me up at five to eat runny eggs will you?”
My laugh is like an uppercut. “No, sweetheart. Never.” I take the toothbrush from her and rinse it. She cups a handful of water to her mouth, rinses, and spits again.
I offer her the hand towel and she dries her face and hands.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I need to pee,” she announces.
I help her down from the counter. “I’ll leave you to it.”
In my room, I find her one of my softest T-shirts and a pair of sweats. When I hear the toilet flush and the faucet run, I head back to the bathroom and knock gently.
Hattie murmurs something that at least doesn’t sound like Go away, so I open up. She has her forearms braced on the vanity and she’s staring at her reflection in the mirror.
“Jeez… I look rough.”
Her face is pale and her eye makeup is a little smudged, but she’s still the most beautiful thing that’s ever been under this roof.
“Nah.” I step behind her and smile at her reflection. “You’re a knockout. You just need some rest.”
She snorts but lets me guide her across the hall to my room. I leave her to change while I hit the bathroom and brush my own teeth.
I check my watch. It’ll be two a.m. before I get to sleep, but I don’t fucking care.
Back in my room, I find Hattie’s dress in a puddle on the floor. It’s a sight I really like. But not as much as the one of her in my bed.
When I quietly shut the door, she squeezes her eyes tight and brings a hand to her head.
“You okay?”
“Mm… Room’s just spinning.”
