While Craig and Brent did all within their power to get stinking drunk, Mandie sat home and watched TV. She had the cordless phone sitting next to her so she could make calls or answer them. She called her mom, her sister. She even called Craig's mom and dad to make sure they got home ok. By ten she had fallen asleep, the TV on in the background. At the bar, the music was blaring, people were milling about, talking, laughing, singing, drinking. Craig and Brent found a few friends and invited them to join them while they talked about old times. Pretty soon they were a party of eight guys. They closed down the bar at two. Craig and Brent stumbled out into the cool night and, after finding Craig's truck, climbed in. They sat there a moment, Craig shook his head trying to clear his vision.

"Maybe we should just walk home." He said, slurring just a little. Brent belched.

"How far is it?" He asked squinting out the window. Craig shrugged.

"Uhhh, about two miles." He guessed. It was more like four or five ... Brent drunkenly waved his hand at Craig.

"No fucking way, man, I'll never make it. Just drive. Drive slow, but drive." He leaned back on the seat. He closed his eyes and everything started to spin. He opened them right up and held onto the dash board. "Holy fuck!" He said. Craig watched him and giggled.

"You are drunk!" He said and giggled again. Brent turned his head slowly and looked at him. He tried to focus, blinked, and tried again.

"And you aren't?" He asked. Craig shook his head.

"I'm no lightweight, Brent, like you are." He started the truck. In the shadows by the building he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and looked. He didn't see anything. He put the truck in gear and began to back up, saw something move again, stopped and stared.

"What the fuck are you doing? If you're too drunk to drive Mr. Heavyweight, I can do it. I've driven drunk puhlentee of times!" Brent said. Craig waved him away.

"No, I thought I saw someone, near the building, in the corner." Brent turned his head to the side window, misjudged the distance and smacked his face into it. He backed up, swore, and rubbed his nose. He tried to focus on the building, couldn't and turned back to Craig.

"I didn't see anything." He said. Craig shook his head and then began backing up out of the lot.

"You couldn't see the broad side of a barn right about now, man." He put it in drive and drove away, slowly. It took them a half hour to drive four miles back to Craig's apartment. They helped each other up the stairs and into the apartment. They had just shut and locked the door behind them when the phone rang. Craig scooted over to it as quietly as he could and told the phone to 'shhhhh.' He watched the caller ID screen to see who it was and it came up as 'unidentified.' He felt anger welling up inside. What the fuck good was this thing if he couldn't find out who was pranking them constantly. He picked up the receiver and let the caller hear a long stream of obscenities that would have made a truck driver blush and then hung up the phone. Brent watched the scene, swaying back and forth. One healthy breeze and he would have toppled over.

"You got a real problem, man." He slurred. Craig looked quickly at him.

"You think I don't know that?" He snapped. Brent held up his hands in a questioning gesture.

"Hey, I'm just sayin ..." Craig sighed and then turned the phone all the way off for the night.

"I know, Brent. I'm sorry, I'm just sick of it." Brent made for the bathroom, tripped, stumbled, caught himself and finally went in. He peed for what seemed like an eternity, brushed his teeth and stumbled back out to the couch. Craig poured himself a glass of milk, drank it down, rinsed the glass and then said goodnight to Brent. He slipped into the bedroom silently. Brent lay down, felt the room start to spin, and then quickly sat up. He would sleep sitting up tonight, he decided and relaxed against the side of the couch. Even drunk he missed Rory ...

Craig closed the door quietly and got undressed.

"It's pretty late." Mandie said, not moving. Craig jumped at the sound of her voice. "And you stink." She added. He smiled to himself. Yeah, he was drunk. It felt great and he had a great time with Brent.

"I know." He whispered. "Brent is worse off than me." He thought about Brent banging his head on the car window and started to giggle. Moments later the whole bed was shaking from him laughing. Mandie kicked at him.

"Knock it off!" She chastised. He covered his mouth with his hand but it didn't stop the giggles. He stood up. "And please, Craig, brush your teeth before you come to bed." He did as he was told. A few minutes later he crawled into bed beside her and lay back against the pillows. It felt wonderful, the sheets were cool, the bed inviting. Mandie rolled over and crawled up onto him and asked for a kiss. He was happy to provide her with one. "I hope you had a good time." He smiled at her.

"Thank you, I did." She rolled over again. It was only moments before he was sleeping and with the phone off in both rooms, the sound of snoring and deep breathing was all that could be heard.

Mandie woke up around 9 and wasn't a bit surprised to find Craig curled up beside her, still asleep. She couldn't believe he crawled into bed around 3. She got up, threw on her robe and padded out to the kitchen. Brent was snoring heavily on the couch. She clicked her tongue and began to make coffee. Even her banging around in the kitchen didn't wake him up. She poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen table with her coffee and breakfast. She ate in silence. She rinsed out her bowl, grabbed her coffee and then headed back into the bedroom. She sat on the bed, sipping her coffee, waiting for Craig to wake up. Around 10:30 she began to rouse him. She tickled his nose a little. He flinched and kept sleeping. She did it again. He mumbled, flinched but didn't wake. She sighed. She leaned over and stuck her tongue in his ear. He just smiled. She thought a moment and then reached down under the covers and began to touch him between his legs. He rolled over onto his back. He was stiffening up nicely.

"Hop on, baby." He mumbled but didn't even open his eyes. She wondered, for a brief second, if he was dreaming and talking in his sleep or he knew it was her. She decided it didn't matter and crawled on top of him. She stuffed herself with him and began to move up and down. It was a few minutes before he began to acknowledge what was going on and he started to moan. "Oh, wow, very good ..." He muttered and reached up to place his hands around her waist. As he was waking up he began to help her by moving his own hips in rhythm with hers. He came a short time later and followed it up with an audible "ahhhhh." She climbed down and lay next to him. He lay there, smiling. He opened his eyes and looked over at her. She smiled back at him.

"You sure know the right way to wake a guy up." He said groggily. She giggled.

"I tried everything else! It was the only thing left." He laughed too.

"I'm glad." He said. He eyed her coffee. "Ok, two things, first of all, did you get up and make that coffee? And second, is there any left?" She giggled at him.

"I had to get up and get it, no one else in this apartment was conscious two hours ago when I woke up and yes, there is some left but it's probably cold by now." Craig dragged himself out of bed, slipped on his boxers and headed out to the kitchen for coffee. His head was throbbing a little. He looked at Brent, still passed out on the couch. He poured the coffee and heated it up in the microwave. Brent didn't even stir. He went over to him to make sure he was still alive, he stuck his finger under his nose and felt him breathing. Craig poked his head into the bedroom and asked Mandie if she wanted some breakfast.

"No, I'm ready for lunch!" She said sarcastically. He decided he would make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. It sure sounded good to him. It was almost 11:30 in the morning by the time he finished cooking and Brent was still snoring. Craig decided to let him sleep and brought their lunch into the bedroom. A little while later they heard the toilet flush in the other room and knew the dead had risen. Craig went out to see how Brent was. He looked like hell. His hair was sticking up everywhich way, he had dark circles under his eyes and he was sporting peach fuzz on his face. He dragged himself into the kitchen.

"You got any coffee, bro?" He asked nosing around. Craig poured him a cup and tossed it into the microwave to heat up. Brent stood there staring at it go around and around, he couldn't wait for it to be done. When finished, he drank it straight up. It tasted good. He sniffed the air. "Do I smell food?" It was a hint. Craig made him a sandwich and heated up some soup for him. Brent sat at the table and ate. Craig snickered at him. He was funny, sitting there looking all ragged and eating like a pig. Craig laughed out loud. Brent looked up at him and frowned.

"What the hell are you laughing at ass?" He asked. Craig grabbed the towel off the counter and rolled it up preparing to snap him with it. "Don't you even think about it today you shithead, I'll kick your ass for sure." Craig laughed out loud and Brent ignored him. His head was throbbing and he was in no mood for Craig's games. He finished eating and then washed up his own dishes. "Thanks for making that for me." He growled and went back to the bathroom to get cleaned up. After the kitchen was cleaned up, Brent and Craig cleaned up the living room and put the couch back together. Brent stayed another hour before saying his goodbyes and heading back to Illinois. Craig and Mandie were finally alone for the first time in four days. They lay together on the bed and snuggled. They talked about moving, where and when ... and they talked about baby names ... and couldn't agree. They talked through dinner and then Mandie took a shower and curled up in her bed in her man's arms, nervous about the next day and her appointment with her doctor.

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