A Quite Awkward Breakfast

It took the group another good thirty minutes before they all began to shuffle into the kitchen, ready to get some food, hungover or not, they were all hungry. Rachel decided to head up the cooking, knowing the best foods to make when it came to hangovers, having learned this secret a long time ago now. "Hope no one has a problem with eggs and orange juice," Rachel called out to the others who either sat at the island or table.

JJ, Eric, Anna, and Zoey all grunted back, the three still holding the worst of the hangovers. Rachel almost found it surprising that Zoey and Anna would be affected, but she reminded herself that those two more than likely never drank hard liquor before, so their few cups did them in just fine. Kenny, having mostly shaken off his hangover from sex and a long shower, kept his head down, both Mindy and Nicole continued to give the teen their fair share of concerned glances.

Mindy continued to panic that she destroyed everything between her and her friend, and given the fact that Kenny couldn't even seem to look at her, it looked unfortunately true. The young Asian girl decided that she'd need to wait, just find the time where they could get a moment alone, and she could explain herself. Mindy nervously bit at the inside of her cheek; maybe she could lie? Tell him that she was so drunk she didn't really know what was going on either. Or should she be straight up, tell Kenny the complete and whole truth, that she want's him more than anything in the world.

Nicole, on the other hand, continued to battle her own mind. The red-haired teen couldn't stop thinking that she royally screwed things up for between Kenny and herself. Yesterday, things were going damn near perfect, but ever since she told him all they were doing was hooking up, things felt different. The more Nicole thought about it; she realized that she wasn't even fully sure about that fact herself. Was she just trying to hook up with Kenny? If so, why does she feel so hurt that he and Mindy hooked up?

The girl let out a sharp exhale, as her other side of this argument resurfaced. Nicole reminded herself that she didn't need to be in a serious thing with Kenny and that she didn't want that anyway. Once you're in a relationship everything changes and usually it's for the worst! You've seen it, people get controlling, possessive and everything you do with someone else is scrutinized! For god sakes, that what you're already doing to Kenny! I need to get some distance from him and switch my focus away; I can move on to someone else, I don't want anything with Kenny...I don't...I know I don't. Nicole weakly thought, these shallow thoughts sounding more foreign than ever before. __

Meanwhile, Eric and Anna couldn't even bring themselves to look up from the table, in fear that they may catch each other's gaze. The kiss that Eric gave Anna last night hung in their heads like a heavyweight and every time the pair noticed poor Zoey, they only felt worse. Anna hated that she wanted Eric, she hated that he had moved on while still caring about her, but to make things worse, Anna hated the idea of hurting Zoey almost as much. Zoey had been nothing but kind and understanding since the moment Anna met her, and now she couldn't move on from her past relationship and show the girl some honest respect.

Eric was thinking very much the same, only asking himself if the kiss was something he wholly regretted. When he kissed Anna, it wasn't out of anger at Zoey, or lustful want or even some thrill to be cheating. When Eric kissed Anna, it was all about the connection that he still shared with her. The honest to god truth that he should never have been separated from her in the first place. Eric moved on to Zoey, someone he did care about, without ever fully putting his last relationship to rest. Anna, no matter which way he sliced it, still held a very real place in his heart.

This led to the final three teens at the table, Kailyn, Brian, and JJ. JJ was still quite hungover, so luckily for Brian, he hadn't even thought about last night when he was looking for him and his sister. JJ had his suspicions, but he wasn't able to prove them, and he didn't want to act all paranoid about it either. Kailyn, however, was becoming paranoid over her younger brother. The law major absolutely loved hooking up with Brian, every time it was the perfect sexual release that she had been neglected for so long, but she was stupid. If JJ actually found out, if he knew that Brian was only fucking his sister casually, just using her, then he'd blow up. Despite being three years older than JJ, JJ had always acted like the older sibling, protecting and looking out for Kailyn until she left for college and she doubted that would ever change.

So the whole group sat in silence, no one able to bring themselves to speak, "Pretty quiet over there, what, everyone wake up with some regrets?" Rachel asked from the stove, more teasing than trying to air everyone's dirty laundry,

"My head hurts," Zoey weakly replied while rubbing her temples, "I regret drinking so much,"

"You didn't drink that much," Eric softly said to his girlfriend, "You had, what, maybe five by the end of the night,"

"Five too many, right Anna?" Zoey asked with a little groan,

"Huh? Oh yeah, should have stopped at two," Anna weakly agreed, muttering her words down on the floor,

"Lightweights!" Rachel laughed, "Don't worry, the eggs will soak up the ****, and we have some aspirin around here somewhere. You'll all be fine in a few hours,"

"You...you want some help?" Kenny suddenly asked while getting out of his seat, unable to sit next to Mindy and Nicole any longer, the constant glances finally getting to him,

"Sure, thanks Ken," Rachel warmly replied, "Why don't you start making the toast,"

"You got it, Rachel," Kenny nodded back, sighing in relief slightly. This, of course, not only granted a dirty look from Brian and Nicole but surprisingly Mindy. The three hating the fact that Kenny was choosing to spend time with the blonde college student immensely.

"Eric?" Zoey lowly asked, "Are we leaving soon? Or are we staying here long?"

Eric's eyes widened a bit, and he immediately glanced to Anna, the blonde now looking at him intently, "Uh, well...it's not like we were actually invited to stay longer," Eric replied while rubbing the back of his neck,

"Stay as long as you like!" Rachel instantly called back in a chipper tone,

"Oh! Uh, thanks!" Eric called back, internally wincing as he was now fully granted a choice, "I guess we could stay, but then again, we don't have any change of clothes and-"

"Borrow some of my stuff, man," JJ interjected, "It's fucking great to see you, and I'd be totally down to hook you up if it means I can hang with you for a bit longer,"

"This is pretty fun, Eric," Zoey agreed, "I wouldn't mind staying for a bit longer if you don't."

Eric swallowed hard and let out a small breathy laugh, "Sure...if that's what you want," He nodded back, Anna let out a small smile from his words,

"Awesome, I honestly like spending time with all of you, you're all nice," Zoey said aloud with a smile,

"Aw, isn't she just adorable," Rachel remarked before glancing over to Kenny, "You gonna try for her next, stud?" She whispered out causing Kenny to blush ever so slightly,

"Well if you're staying, then we need to do something fun today, let's not waste the time." JJ said with a little sigh as slowly rolled his head, trying to ignore his headache, "Bry, got anything fun we could do?"

"Huh? Oh, uh...well let's see," Brian hummed back as he thought it over,