I stumble through the darkness, barefoot and piss drunk until I make it back to the carriage house. Jackson and I are howling with laughter at Gus's expense.

"Y'all suck. I ain't comin round no more," Gus complains as I poke him in the shoulder while piping down my laughter.

"Oh, come on Gus. We were just jokin'. Don't be mad at us buddy," I give him my best puppy dog eyes and I see a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Jackson pushes the carriage house door open and all four of us stumble over the threshold. I immediately plop face down onto the couch while Gus and Annabeth fill the floral-covered chairs next to me. Jackson hesitates at the door and Annabeth notices him lingering.

"Close the door, Jackson. We don't need to be invitin' the bugs in." I catch Jackson's eye and I understand his hesitancy. It's hardly appropriate to have him in here with me far from sober. It feels a little too much like old times and I'm not ready to walk down memory lane with him.

"Uh, ya know what? I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed. Y'all better not be driving anywhere so come on in for breakfast tomorrow morning," Jackson tells us before nodding to me and leaving back out the front door. I grab a pillow from behind me and stuff it under my head before saying, "I can't sleep upstairs in that bed so if one of y'all want it... go on ahead."

"That's all me then," Gus says before pushing himself off the chair and stumbling all the way upstairs. Annabeth pulls her feet up so they hang off the arm of the chair and I watch as she bobs her foot up and down.

"Man, whatta random day. Who woulda thought all four of us would be drinkin' wine in Jackson's library again?" A light laugh escapes me before I reply, "I know. It didn't even feel that weird. 'nd that's what's weird." Annabeth giggles a drunken giggle that ends with a snort. The room is swirling around me and I pull my hands up to my face to try and slow it down. I hear a loud buzzing sound coming from the kitchen and Annabeth snaps her head toward the sound, "W'as tha noise?"

I groan and mutter, "My phone. But it's soooo far away. So far." Annabeth pops up and out of her chair and stumbles into the kitchen. She finds my burner phone on the counter and flips it open. My drunken brain didn't allow me to process what a terrible idea Annabeth answering my phone was. When my brain does inform me of the massive mistake, it's too late. Annabeth has already answered.

"Who's this?" I hear her say as soon as she has the phone to her ear. I push myself into a sitting position but I am too drunk to walk across the kitchen to stop her. I hear her reply, "Yeah, this is Annabeth? How'd you know that? Who are you?" She looks to me and then giggles again. She snorts before saying, "Ooooooooooooh, Ryan. Are you with Austin? Can you tell him somethin' for me? Can you tell him I think he is a bodacious babe and he can tap this whenever he wants? I am open for anythin', anytime baby." For some reason this makes me burst out laughing and Annabeth tells me to shh! She looks to me as she says, "Yep. Sawyer Sweeney is sitting right here sir. Man, that was a lot of s words. I just said so many s's." Annabeth starts laughing again and she thrusts the phone out toward me. I moan over having to get off the couch and I slowly walk into the kitchen to snatch the phone away from her.

"This is Sawyer," I answer, trying to sound completely sober.

Ryan immediately snaps at me, "Why is Annabeth with you? According to your phone, you are at the carriage house. Which no one is supposed to know, so why pray tell, is Annabeth with you?"

"Oh silly Ryan, it was a total accident," I slur, throwing sobriety out the window. "I went to steal wine from the Hemming's and also some books and turns out Gus an Annabeth were also at the Hemming's. They found me! I swear, total co-winkie-dink my dear Ryan."

"Gus knows you are staying at the Hemming's too?" Ryan asks in complete disbelief and I giggle, "Yeah, he sure does." It's quiet on the phone for a few moments and then I suddenly hear Austin's voice, "Dear lord Sawyer, do you not understand the situation you're in? Do you not understand the severity of it? No one, and I mean no one but the Hemming's were supposed to know where you are," he snaps.

"Oh Austin, they ain't gonna tell no one. It's Gus and Annabeth. They'll keep me safe."

Austin scoffs, "Sawyer, you are so drunk right now that I realize this conversation will go nowhere. I will call you in the morning and so help me you better be in that carriage house alone and sober. No more wine." The phone goes dead and I look to it in my hand as I whine, "Boo. No wine?" Annabeth has already sauntered back into the living room and is back lounging in her chair. I toss the phone on the counter and stumble my way over to the sofa. I pull the quilt hanging off the back of it over me and snuggle up on the cushions. I hear Annabeth mumble, "Sawyer, do you think I have a chance with Austin before he heads back to South Carolina?" With my eyes closed, I reply, "Nuh uh, Austin won't sleep with you cuz you're my best friend. He never slept with Whitney either." I hear Annabeth pout but she doesn't say anything else. I pull the quilt closer to my face and it only takes seconds for me to pass out.

*******

The next morning, I pull my face away from the sunshine pouring in through the window, but I can't seem to escape it. I peek one eye open and see the chair Annabeth was in is already vacated. With a groggy voice, I call out, "Annabeth?" It sounds strangled and hoarse but I don't receive an answer. My head is pounding and my stomach gurgles. How much did we drink? That was a whole new level of drunkenness I achieved last night. I hardly remember coming back to the cottage.

I search the window for a string to pull the blinds down and my head appreciates the darkness once I find it. I sluggishly walk into the kitchen and pour myself a large glass of ice water. My pounding head aches for aspirin and I moan as I slowly ascend up the steps. The brass bed is neatly made up and I'm surprised Gus took the time to remake it. When I step inside the bathroom, I scan the wall trying to find the medicine cabinet but Whitney replaced the old bathroom cabinet with a picture of sunflowers. I look around by the tub and am annoyed that I have to put so much effort into finding aspirin. I find a small set of drawers on the other side of the bathtub and am surprised to discover over a dozen prescription bottles nestled inside the top one.

Who needs this many prescription drugs? I pull the first one out of the drawer and it's prescribed to Whitney Carmichael. I pull out another and it also has Whitney's name on it. I continue to pull out bottles, reading the prescriptions and it seems to be a variety of different drugs. Why would Whitney need all of these? I don't even recognize half of the drugs in here. Large black X's cover the tops of over half of them and I pull all of them up until I find the aspirin bottle. Sadly, there is only one aspirin left and I down it in seconds after finding it. I toss the empty bottle into the trash and remind myself to tell Ryan about Whitney's pharmacy in the bathroom. The thought of Ryan makes my stomach flip but my brain doesn't understand why? I think back to last night and wonder if I had talked to Ryan. I run my hands down my face and quickly start a hot bath.

After a nice, long scalding hot soak in the claw foot tub, I trot downstairs and make my way back to the small kitchen. The burner phone is where it always is and I open the phone and scroll to the call log. I see Ryan's burner phone number called me around midnight last night and according to the log, I answered. I have no idea what I said.

I press "Call" on his number and Austin answers on the second ring.

"I was just about to call you." I'm thrown off by not speaking with Ryan and Austin has a very curt tone.

"Oh, I just got up and saw I had talked to Ryan last night. But I was um...a little drunk so I don't remember all that was said."

Furiously Austin says, "You don't remember telling us that Annabeth and Gus now know you are staying at the Hemming's?" Uh oh. I put my face in my hand as I reply, "No. Austin, I promise it was an accident-"

"Yes Sawyer, you explained that you went to steal books and booze from the main house and got caught by Gus and Annabeth," he reminds me and I groan in response.

"Austin, I'm sorry. I had no idea they were there. I was so bored, there is nothing to do here!" I whine and Austin scoffs in response.

"Sawyer, you lived at the Hemming's house for over a year. I'm sure you can find something to do that doesn't require the company of others." I don't reply right away because I know I used to occupy my time here doing chores for Jackson's mother or sneaking around doing inappropriate things with Jackson. Neither of which I can, nor want to do now.

"Is Ryan there?" I ask not wanting to be scolded by my brother any longer.

"Yep. But he's pissed at ya too." I roll my eyes at Austin's tone but he puts Ryan on the phone anyway.

"Hello Sawyer," Ryan says flatly and he's about as formal as you can get. And I don't think it's because Austin is in the room.

"Ryan, I'm sorry. Okay? I didn't mean to get caught and I certainly didn't mean to get so drunk. Both Gus and Annabeth understand the seriousness of the situation so they'd never tell where I am," I say quickly hoping he'll forgive me. He's quiet for a moment and then says, "You need to be careful. And I suggest you lay off the alcohol for the duration of your stay. You sounded like you were toasted and we don't need any mishaps to happen while you are there. Well, any more than there already has been."

I nod, "Okay, I can do that. The four of us drank our weight in wine last night and to be honest, just the word wine is making me queasy. I can stay away no problem."

Ryan suddenly asks, "The four of you? Who was the fourth, Jackson?" I'm quiet for a moment and realize he probably won't appreciate the fact that I got wasted with Jackson. But I certainly can't lie and say it was someone else because that would get me into more trouble. I'm sure he won't believe me if I said Jackson's mother.

"Um, yeah well we were drinking in his library. But don't worry he left after we got back to the cottage," I say quickly and I don't know how he'll respond to me drinking with Jackson.

"Austin and I need to get back to work. Stay inside Sawyer and Austin will check in on you later." The line goes dead and my stomach turns. Ryan is going to have Austin call me later. He doesn't want to talk to me. He's probably furious with me and I don't blame him. I broke a huge rule and got wasted with my ex-fiancé. Last night was surprisingly so much fun, so it sucks to know it was a huge mistake that never should have happened. From now on, I'm going to stay inside this cottage and figure out a way to deal with my boredom that can't get me into any more trouble.