Just a little snippet with a hangover

Just as the title says, basically!

Mara

What's happening: Daphne and Roy attempt to recover from a night of over-indulgence at a strip club. 

Current NaNo Word Count: 13, 545

“Oh, bugger me,” Roy groaned, pressing a cold compress to his forehead. “I don’t think I’ve been this dreadfully hung-over since the Nile Party back in ’08.”

            I groaned in response from where I was draped across the opposite lab bench with my head against the microscope. I’d flung myself there when staring at the soil sample we’d brushed off of one of the tiny broaches had started to give me a bit of tunnel vision.

            “And there’s really no one else who could have done this analysis today?”

            “Nada.”

            “And we couldn’t have done it tomorrow?”

            “No dice.”

            “Frank can be really sick sometimes.”

            “You’re telling me; I came in after a buck’s night once and Frank handed me a stack of bulk samples to shift through and said I had until 3.57pm to do it.”

            “Why 3.57?” I asked, moaning from the pain my look of confusion gave me.”

            “He wanted to come back and check through the results at 4 for something.”

            “Right.”

            “Best boss ever, but hard task master and little sympathy for the drink impaired.”

            “Makes sense,” I passed a hand over my eyes, shielding them from the light of the lab. “Frank isn’t really one to go crazy himself. He’s so English, sometimes.”

            Roy chuckled, and then whimpered as the motion must have made his head spin.

            My head began to ache too when the sound of heels click-clacking in the hall outside grew louder as they headed towards us. I really just hoped to god that it wasn’t Inna checking on our progress.

            After all it was around morning tea time and we had accomplished a grand total of nothing. Nada. Zilch.

            The problem with lab work was that there was so little and so much of it.

            And after the crazy night that we’d had, I was leaning towards the ‘too much’ end of that scale.

            Roy, who had now begun to sweat a little despite the ice pack he held against his face, looked about as bad as I felt. He’d also consumed gods knew how many glasses of champagne before Eric and I had even made it to the strip joint last night, and I was the one who had a sketchy memory of the whole thing.

            The mummy thing, though, that I remembered.

            How I ended up half-naked in Eric’s bed – not so much.

            The clicking of heels finally stopped only to give way to the sound of the heavy lab door creaking open, and Gloria stuck her head around the door.

            Roy lifted the compress from his head to see who’d come in, then dropped it back with a moan of “oh hell”.

            “Working hard, I see, compadres?”

            I just stared at her in mock-offense while Roy flipped her the bird. In response she laughed a light, musical laugh.

            “Oh my dears, you simply kill me. Red, can I speak to you, por favor? I have some wonderful news!”

            I had a sudden dim recollection from the night before, but couldn’t remember it all. “Er, sure. Buy me a coffee? I think my head needs the caffeine.”

            “What about me? My swollen head needs the caffeine, too!”

            Gloria sent him a long-suffering look. “Red and I need a girl chat. I trust you can cope a little longer?”    

            I shrugged at him in sympathy, glad to be headed to coffee myself. “You can go when we get back, Roy.”

            He sighed in acceptance and tapped his lip thoughtfully. “Oh, okay, loves. Bring me back a strong macchiato, at least.” Beat. “Pretty please?”

            “Cyanide, no sugar?”

            “Funny, Glory, every time. Just don’t you forget how I held your hair back after the Nile Party!”

            “And tried to feel me up,” She snorted, then raised a hand to silence the onslaught of protest before Roy could even start. “Alright, alright, I’ll bring you a latte. Sangre de Dios.” Gloria shook her head in exasperation then turned back to me and smiled. “Shall we? There’s a Starbucks not too far from here, and I know how you love them!”

            “Oh, Glory,” I murmured with a faint smile. “Key to my heart!”