...Johns POV...
"uuggghhh"
'My head is killing me still.' I clutch my head and taste my mouth.
"Bleh."
'Tastes like a putrid trashcan. Gross. Where's that water she left?'
I roll back over to the nightstand and finish the glass she left me. I look at the clock and see she's been gone now for a few hours. I sigh and slowly get out of bed, drink another glass of water, and drag my aching head to the shower.
I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again, except for the dull ache behind my eyes, once I'm out and dried off.
'Last night is fuzzy, I remember the fight and going to the offices... doing paperwork and drinking from the flask...'
'OH. Damn, I hope I didn't finish the whole thing off.' I groan and make my way to the kitchen, filling up the carafe with more water. I look down into the sink and see the flask.
'Well that explains the headache...'
I'm trying to remember last night past doing paperwork. I get a flash of the bar by the mess hall at HQ, food...with Suites.
'"Come on man, you need to eat."'
Suites voice speaks in my thoughts, concern on his face. I remember eating something, puking after that and nothing else.
'I can't believe she doesn't know that I am her John. I thought we had moved past all that?'
I grip my chest through my shirt, wishing to claw away the pain my thoughts are causing me.
'She looked at me as if I was a stranger suddenly. She was afraid of me yesterday.'
Leaning over the kitchen sink, now gripping my throbbing head, I grimace at the memory of her face when she pulled away from me.
'I would never hurt her... I thought we had put this in the past already.'
The sound of my phone going off drags me from my thoughts. I head back to the bedroom and answer the call, being blinded by the screen.
"Hello?" I didn't bother to check the caller ID with the light so bright on my screen.
"Hey John, how are you feeling today man?" Suites asks me.
"Like shit. I don't remember much of last night either." I say laying back down on the bed, arm tossed over my eyes.
"Well, you better get to remembering." He sounds disgruntled.
"I'm sure it will come back to me eventually. Why do you say that though?" I ask, noticing the sound of my heavy heart.
"You'll never guess what Sin just did to me."
"Uh, you're right. My brain is hardly functioning. I can forget trying to guess something." I give a half ass-ed laugh, making myself groan with the pressure in my head.
"She snapped me, without warning, to her office. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, except for the fact, I was in my boxer briefs. I also had Janet here too, who freaked out cause I disappeared, but I already explained the situation to her before I called you."
"Okay.... Why did she snap you to her office without a warning?" I ask quizzically.
"She wanted to know what was happening between you and Rosie. She saw the footage of you two at the bar last night."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah dude. I think she may have realized she jumped the gun on her accusations after talking with me, but she still didn't seem to be happy the way Rosie was hanging on you. Rosie seemed a little tipsy to me when I showed up and told her to leave, that I had you."
"Shit, I don't remember hanging out with Rosie at all. Rosie doesn't even like men though, why would she be upset?" I scratch my hair roughly and sit up, trying to remember any of it.
"That's what I told Sin after she drilled me over who Rosie was. No lie though, when Sin first started asking me who the blonde was from last night, I thought she was talking about me and Janet. By the way, just to let you know, we were in the storeroom last night if anyone says something. We were...you know... and knocked some stuff over on accident. We cleaned it up, but had to throw some stuff that was broken away. I forgot to write down what it was and how much."
"Okay Suites, I'll sign off on whatever it was in the storeroom. No worries man. Thank you for having my back with last night. I appreciate it. I owe you brother." I tell him, knowing he probably saved me from a large who knows what from Mary.
"Don't mention it, what are friends for anyways? I'll let you go man. Bye."
"Bye."
Hanging up, I put the phone on the charger and drink some more water.
'Did she really think I would cheat on her? With Rosie of all people? What the hell? She doubts me being myself first and now my faithfulness?!'
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I force out my frustration through gritted teeth.
I flip through my phone and look at my calls and messages, hoping for some more clues about last night. All I find is a couple texts from Suites and some of the others under me trying to get a hold of me for various reasons.
In the calls lists of my phone, I see that I called Mary last night around one in the morning.
My headache was clearing up, so I resigned myself to go and handle whatever this was with Mary. 'We need to do something to fix us. I can't believe that she would actually think I'd cheat on her though.'
The thoughts alone, they disappoint and offend my ego with how she reacted to the situation. I snap my self to my separate office first and gather myself. I see a stack of paper work already on the desk again and some notes.
Picking up the notes and reading them, I see some condolences for Futere's death but there's a few that make me sit down.
-John, Everyone saw you last night at the bar. How could you do that to Sin? Letting some woman hang all over you? I thought you were a better man than that.-
I skim the rest because it just continues to berate me without details.
"Of course, there's no name."
There's some more that mention the bar, some just talk about how I'm a piece of shit, blah, blah. Just a bunch of notes from some self-righteous, sympathetically-indignant, busy-bodies who are believing rumors or not knowing the whole situation.
There's a few notes though from the men who work directly with me the most. Saying they'll vouch for me, they know I didn't do anything, will start checking these gossip mongers if I want them to. The last notes is one from Suites, reiterating the story he told me on the phone earlier. The store room sheet paper clipped with it.
I sign the paper and snap it to him. He'll take care of the rest, I'm sure.
"At least I can rely on him." Muttering, I look through the other documents before snapping them to the shared office with Sin. Before going to talk to Sin, I decide to give Rosie a call.
'I need to find out what happened last night.'
"Hello, Lacroix Sir. I didn't know if you'd be up already. I was going to call and check on you, but I've been getting harassed all morning." She sounds irritated but not with me.
'That's a good sign.'
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that Rosie. Now, about last night... I don't remember a damn thing really."
She chuckles, "Doesn't surprise me, you were pretty deep into that flask of yours, sir. I woke up feeling like I slept in the desert with my mouth in the sand. I only had a few swigs off that flask too."
"Can you fill in the blanks of last nights events as much as possible for me? I'd like to be prepared when I have to face, Mary... I'm sorry, Sin." I ask her, nervously chuckling before letting out a heavy sigh.
"Yeah, I'll do my best. Let's see... I was taking some paperwork on your last mission to complete. When I got to your office, your eyes were already glazed over and glassy. You were not slurring though, so I figured you were just buzzed. Do you remember any of that?"
"Nope. Continue please." I feel odd, none of this rings a bell.
She hesitates a second before continuing. "Wow, okay. I asked if you were okay, even though I could tell you were not. You just shook your head no, so I asked if you wanted to talk about it. You handed me the flask and proceeded to tell me all about you and Major General Sin, or Mary is how you referred to her. Then you unloaded on me your guys issue that escalated into what we have now. Let me just add, if I could find a woman who loved me and talked about me the way you did about Sin... I'd be a satisfied and happy lady."
She sighs likes she lost in thought before continuing.
"Anyways, you couldn't do any more work and suggested we go to the bar. You wanted to have some more drinks, but since I couldn't handle anymore of that rum in your flask, to the bar we went. We were halfway there when you started having trouble walking straight. I told you to lean on me and gave Suites a call. I left him a voice mail and walked you into the bar, to at least sit you down. The bartender gave you an iced tea. Since you were drunk he refused to serve you alcohol, and I tried to cheer you up. You were just so deep into your own head, I couldn't help but give you some hugs. I kept my voice down and gave you some advice on the situation with Sin and B. I figured you didn't want that information to be overheard. I was just rubbing your shoulders, telling you to calm down when Suites showed up saying he had you. I asked him if he wanted help and he just waved me off, so I left."
I can feel her shrug her shoulders through the phone.
"Woke up this morning, come into the office and I have hate mail at my desk. There's even been a few individuals who have tried to confront me and start trouble. Don't worry, nothing has happened. The rest of our team knows better and they've either said something or kicked the trouble makers out."
Rubbing my face with my hand, frustrated at how the situation has escalated, I apologize to Rosie.
"Rosie, I'm sorry that you have been slandered on behalf of me. You shouldn't have had to deal with any of this. I'll handle this the best of my abilities, so if anyone does or tries to do something to you, get their name and rank. Once I've fixed this mess with Sin, we'll make sure that these people are reprimanded or punished for their actions, if necessary. I appreciate you being there for me last night. Even though I don't remember anything, I'm sure it helped me from going and doing something stupid while I was hammered."
She makes a smacking noise with her lips, "Man, don't think nothing of it. It's what any one of us would have done. I'm sorry if my concern and company causes you anymore problems. The last thing any of us should be worried about is personal relationship issues. We are fighting a war for the future freedom of the world after all."
Nodding my head in agreement, "Yes, you're right. Well, guess I better go reconcile the situation and salvage what ever I can. Thank you, Rosie. I'll talk to you later, don't forget to get me some names and ranks for anyone harassing you."
"Yes, Lacroix, sir."
Once I hang up the phone, I rub my face and ready myself to go speak to Mary. I have no idea how any of this is going to turn out, but I can hope for the best.
'Right?'