Famous Hangover Soup

"I shouldn't have had that whiskey when Christian told me to." I grumbled to myself for the ten thousandth time today.

I've been through three classes today, and in all, I've learned nothing.

Isn't that a great way to learn?

I'm sleepy, I'm tired, and I have this nerve wrecking headache that won't seem to go no matter how many doses of aspirin I use.

"Lesley?" Michael sits beside me as yet another class which I learned nothing in ends.

"Hey Michael." I give him a small smile. "How are you doing?"

"Good. Are you okay?" He asks, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

I pack my books in my bag and stand up. "I just have a bit of a headache."

He also stands. "Stressed?"

I nod. "A bit."

If gulping down more glasses of whiskey than I can count is being stressed, then yeah, I'm more than stressed.

We both walk out of class towards the entrance of the building.

"Want me to get something to treat that headache for you?"

"It's fine. Thank you though but-"

"Yo Les! Over here!" Christian waves from across the street and I roll my eyes.

Even doing that hurts.

He walks to me and smiles while at it. Although it falters a little when he sights Michael.

"Matthew." He nods to him and turns to me.

"Still have that headache?" He asks as he towers over me.

"Thanks to you, yes."

He chuckles and ruffles my hair. "I said you shouldn't come for classes today, but you just had to be a grade A student didn't you?"

I sighed. "I regret my choices now."

"Uh Lesley?" I turned to Michael. "I should get going. Are you going to come for today's study session?"

"Nerd." Christian coughs out.

"I-"

"She can't make it." He interrupts me. "I'm sorry, but Lesley here had a rough night, hence the headache." He placed his hand on my head. "She's terribly sorry she can't make it to your nerd session today, because she'll be having quality rest."

"Rough night?" Michael raises an eyebrow at me.

"Like I said," Christian continues, drawing the attention back to him. "She's sorry." He takes my hand. "And if you'd excuse us." He smiles and pulls me away from Micheal, walking me towards the car.

"Bye." I wave at him but he just gives me a small smile.

Christian opens the passenger door for me and I get in. He walks to his side and enters but not without waving goodbye at Micheal first.

"Do you actually don't remember his name or you call it wrong on purpose?" I ask when he starts driving.

"What?" He glances at me.

"I'm talking about Micheal. Do you actually not remember his name every time you guys meet or you just like calling him different names?"

He glances at me again. "Who? Milo?"

"It's Michael." I corrected him.

"That's what I said." He says innocently. "Marco."

I sigh. "Nevermind." I look out the window. In my two years of college life, I've never been on this road before. "Where are we going?"

"We have you treat your headache. You obviously have a hangover, so you need a hangover soup. Hence, the trip to a famous restaurant that serves the best hangover soup. I've tried it more than a few times and I can gladly testify to that theory."

While Christian who hasn't been here up to six months already knows this place like the back of his palm.

I don't say anything after that, so we just ride in silence.

After what seemed like endless driving, he finally parks in front of a restaurant. The restaurant looked deserted, and it looked like it hadn't had customers in days, weeks.

"I thought you said this is a famous place." I ask Christian as we get down from the car.

"It is." He rounds the car.

"Then why isn't it buzzing with people?" I turn to him with a questioning look.

"Honey," He begins, "Just because a place isn't filled with people doesn't mean it isn't famous. Take a look at me." He takes a step back and holds out his arms. "I'm famous, but there isn't anyone occupying my heart. It just belongs to one person. Just like how the restaurant doesn't need many people to make it famous. It just needs one person to stay true to their food and they're fulfilled when-"

"You know the owner of this restaurant don't you?" I interrupted him. His little speech was already getting boring.

"Dan's cousin owns the place. His wife actually. She runs the place." He explains.

"Now I get your devotion to it. You get free food?" I ask as we walk inside the restaurant.

"Only when I have bad days or when Dan is with me. Other times, I get discounts."

There were two other people in the restaurant having food.

"No wonder you drove for almost an hour. Just to get a discount on your food."

We get a seat by the window and a woman walks towards our table.

"Diana!" Christian gets up and hugs her with a big smile on his face and she hugs him back. "It's been a while."

She nods. "It has. It's good to see you again." She turns to me, the smile still on her face. "And who's this?"

"Well," Christian stares at me. "This pretty little lady here got herself drunk early this morning and had like 30 minutes of sleep before she went for class. She's hungover and has a bad, terrible headache." He shifts his gaze from me to Diana.

"So I brought her here to calm her nerves down with your famous hangover soup."

She rolls her eyes and smiles at me. "Nice to meet you honey. I'm sorry about the headache."

"It's alright. It's his fault anyways." I nod at Christian.

She chuckles. "I'm Diana."

"Lesley." Immediately I said my name, she glanced at Christian with a smile and turned back to me.

"Nice to meet you Lesley. I'll be out with your soup soon and I'll make sure to have it extra hot for you."

"Thanks."

"How's John?" Christian asked her when she was done with me.

"He's fine."

"And the kids?"

"They're perfectly fine without someone to teach them outrageous things."

"They're boys. They're gonna find out all about it sooner or later."

"I'll very much prefer it if it's later."

"It's better for them to know about it sooner so they won't act like fools later."

"Fools?" She rests her hands on her hips. "Are you calling my children fools Christian?"

"N-no I-"

I just sat back in awe listening to her bickering. They seemed like siblings.

"Can you believe this guy?" Diana asks me. "He's teaching my six year old and five year old boys how babies are made and you're telling me it's better for them to know it now?"

"Really Christian? Six and five?" At this stage that I've known Christian, I wasn't even surprised anymore. It's what he can effortlessly do.

"What?! That's the age I was taught!" He defends.

"And look at how you turned out." I remind him.

"I know right! I turned out pretty great!"

Diana raises her hand in surrender and sighs. "There's no talking to this guy."

"Trust me, I realized that long ago. I don't even know why I bother anymore."

She smiles at me. "Let me go get your soup going. I'll be back soon."

"I can taste it already!" Christian shouts behind her.

"How come you're this close with Dan's cousin's wife?" I asked him when she was out of earshot.

"I've been friends with Dan for as long as I can remember. I practically know everyone. I was even there when she got married to John. I'm not new to their family." He explains and I nod.

After some minutes, Diana comes again with our food.

"Here you guys go." She says as she sets the bowl in front of us each. "I made yours extra thick Lesley." She comments. "You look like you need sleep too."

"A good long one at that." Christian adds.

"Thanks for the soup." I smile at her.

She smiles back. "Enjoy." And walks away.

After we were done with our food, we walked towards the counter to pay for the food.

"Thanks for the food. I really enjoyed it."

Diana smiles at me. "I'm glad you did."

"How much?" Christian asks as he brings out his card.

"Don't worry. It's on the house." She smiles and Christian fist pumps.

"I'll come by later with Dan then." Christian smiles and I roll my eyes.

"Bye again Diana. Your food was lovely."

"I hope you come by again."

We both walk out of the restaurant and towards Christian's car.

"I'm pretty sure you're going to be knocked out in no time." Christian states as he starts the engine of his car.

"Why do you say that?" I ask him.

"Well because the soup makes you sleep. A good one at that. You could be out for hours."

"Well thank God the study time is 8pm to 11pm."

"You're going?" He glances at me.

I nod. "It's been a while since I went for one." I explain. "What's the essence of joining a study group if I'm not going to be present?"

"Yeah, but things happen. I'm sure they'd understand if you've missed a few study sessions."

"I'm pretty sure I've missed more than a few."

The effects of the soup was finally settling in, and I found myself snuggling in the chair, making myself more comfortable.

"If I happen to sleep off, wake me up when we get home okay? This chair isn't really doing justice to my body. I need my bed." I sighed in content and closed my eyes.

The last thing I heard before I got knocked out was Christian's grumpy excuse for an affirmation.

"Sure."