Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 01:02:33 -0500 From: Melissa Puzio Subject: The Afternoon After (1/1) Okay, so Sandra thought that Urs' Big Idea ended too seriously and I should have kept it all humor, and she and maybe a few others wanted to find out what happened with Nat and her hangover. So, here is a quick sequel to Urs' Big Idea. As always, send comments, compliments, flames, Pulitzer Prizes for Literature, virtual beer, chocolate, red wine, and Pens Playoff Tickets to: miss68@pgh.net The Afternoon After (1/1) The Hangover Sequel to Urs' Big Idea By Cousin Mel 4:00pm "RRRRRNG!" Natalie Lambert awoke with a start. "Oh God, was that an alarm clock or just the buzzing in my head," she thought. She gazed down at the body on the couch that she was apparently sitting on. Nick was sound asleep. All she could remember from last night, after she and Nick passed out on the bar at the Raven, was Vachon dumping her and Nick onto the couch and leaving. No, "Are you guys allright? Can I get you some blood, some coffee? Just dump us and leave. Ungrateful pig!" Of course, both she and Nick were too far gone to remember what might have really happened. She couldn't remember what Nick had that got him tanked, but she sure did remember what got her smashed: zombies. She only drank two of them, but when the drink itself is half alcohol, and you forget yourself and down them like fruit punch, its easy to see why. "Ooooh! My head!" Nat thought as she grabbed her head and put it between her legs. Normally, one performed this little technique when one was about to throw up, but this time, it was done for the fact that she couldn't stand the thought of keeping it up. "Now now Nat, be brave. Get up and go get some coffee. You might feel better with some caffeine and some food in your stomach." She got up and walked over to the one cabinent in Nick's kitchen that she knew contained some coffee. In it, there was an old tin of Maxwell House Columbian Supreme. It was so old, there were little green and white specks in it and it permeated a strange odor. One whiff of it, and she quickly put the lid back on and threw it in the garbage. "Great." she thought. "Of all the days to have a hangover and no coffee. " And what coffee it was. Even LaCroix, who barely consorted with mortals, probably had fresher java. Since the only available drinks in the house were cow blood, which she was obviously not going to drink, and water, which she could get anytime, she decided to see if there was anything in the fridge to eat. Nat pried the door open and looked inside. The only food inside was a plate of sliced tomatoes and her leftover moo goo gai pan from two nights ago, neither of which would feel good on her acidic stomach. Okay, nothing in the fridge, so she opened the freezer. Nothing in there but a half full pint tub of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. She grabbed a goblet from the stack drying, ("does this man have nothing but fine stemware?") filled it with water from the tap, took her ice cream and a spoon and sat back down on the couch. Also, when she returned to the couch, she grabbed Nick's remote and flipped on the TV. At four pm, there seemed to be nothing but talk shows on. She flipped the channels until she found something she liked, which was The Richard Bey Show. The Richard Bey Show, if Nick ever found out she like that bit of television programming, he'd never let her live it down. He'd probably wonder where the hell they'd come up with these people. But that was the exact reason she watched it; sometimes you just needed your trailer park trash fix. With the advent of two large, stretch pant wearing, big teased hair and makeup chicks yelling at each other, Nick woke up. "ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!" He was never going to the Raven ever ever again for anything other than information. Lord, how much vodka did Alina mix in with his blood? Never mind, he didn't want to know He looked up with bleary eyes at Nat, who looked back up at him with bleary eyes. "Good Afternoon," she mumbled, before shoving another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Nick only "harumphed!" back. He padded over to the kitchen and pulled out a full and a half-filled bottle of cow's blood. He sure could have used a nice bottle of human stock today. But, he promised Nat he'd give that up......again. And he wished he hadn't drunk the whole supply of pig's blood Alina gave him the other night. The last thing he remembered, was doing the Time Warp on top of the bar with Nat and Alina. They sang the song from the infamous movie, drunk as a skunk, (I don't know any medieval proverbs so bear with me) all three of them. Then, he and Nat passed out and fell asleep, and the rest of the evening was a blank. So much for a vampire's photographic memory. Nick pulled the cork out of the half-filled bottle and chugged the whole thing. Instantly, he felt better. Within a half an hour, his headache would be completely gone. He wished he could say the same thing for Nat. He looked at the clock on the wall; the time read 4:20. In about two hours, both of them would have to leave for work. Work, UGGGH! Work would mean having to face Tracy, who would no doubt be talking about how they turned the Raven into a Karaoke Bar. Work mean having to listen to Tracy tell stories about Vachon and but not telling him the full story that he knew so well. Suddenly, he was feeling sick again. "Uhhh, Nat, do you feel like calling in sick, for a change?" he asked "YES!" she responded. "Well, I got the videos. Why don't you order in some food......." he suggested. Nick and Nat both called in their respective bosses and gave them the same excuse of some 24 hour bug. Both were a liitle preturbed at this sudden chickening out, (any boss knows that 24 hour bug thing is a cop out) but could only go "Oh well" since they were both lucky to have such good workers. Nick settled in with a glass of cow and Nat dug into a plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn-comfort food, and popped in their first tape of the evening: "The Bugs Bunny -Roadrunner Movie" (This contains the classic, "What's Opera Doc-the one with the "Kill the Wabbit!" and Bugs as Brunhilda. Good stuff). Yes, tonight was a good evening for a toon marathon with the one you loved. THE END You wanted a hangover sequel you got it! "Kill the Wabbit....Kill the Wabbit! ...Kill the Wabbit!!!!!"