The Morning After

“Hey, Ev! Wake up!”

Everett slowly opened his eyes.

Tionne stood at the window, taking in the sun’s rays. “The room’s only paid up for one night, so we have to be outta here by eleven.”

Everett blinked. “You’re leaving already?” he asked in disbelief.

She nodded and began stuffing things into a suitcase. “We’re supposed to be in Miami this afternoon.”

Everett sat up and rubbed his head. “What happened last night?”

She glanced back at him. “Well, after you passed out, I decided we could both use a rest.”

His eyes widened. “You mean?”

She grinned. “Sorry. This is the 90s, Ev. Some of us girls have common sense.” Then she paused and added, “Of course, under other circumstances...”

“What?!” Everett asked desperately.

“You might have gotten to first base,” Tionne replied, snickering. “But it’s fun to see you cling to false hope.”

He sighed and stood up. “I should be getting back home. Could you give me a ride?”

“No need,” she said. “Nate stayed the night, too. He’ll give you a ride.”

“He WHAT?!” Everett asked in disbelief.

“So you just passed out?”

Everett glared at Nate. “She said I was a gentleman, and I got a kiss on the cheek. What did you get?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Nate replied, cracking up.

Everett mumbled something under his breath.

“Don’t feel so bad,” Nate said. “You saved her life. Not many people can say that.”

“She was an empath!” Everett exclaimed. “She knew what I was feeling!”

“You also passed out,” Nate reminded him. “If you hadn’t, who knows? Maybe you’d be making fun of me.”

Everett sighed and stared at the business card Tionne had given him. It flipped out of his hand and landed on the seat. As he picked it up, he noticed something scribbled on the back. There was a telephone number, and a note that read, “Call me sometime. -Tionne.” For the first time that day, Everett Thomas smiled.

“So you still don’t know what your power is?” Lisa asked.

Rozonda shook her head. “Nate said I’d have to wait and find out.”

Tionne stared thoughtfully out of the window of the plane. “Maybe it’s got something to do with boys crawling all over you.”

Rozonda smirked. “That’s natural, T, and it’s called charm. Try again.”

The cell phone beside Lisa beeped, and she snatched it up. “Yeah? Oh! Hi, Ev!” she said loudly, making kissing noises into the phone.

Tionne snatched the phone away. She listened in silence for a few seconds. The she smiled. “Really? Thanks, Ev. Talk to you later.”

“So what did lover boy say?” Lisa asked, grinning like a maniac.

“They figured out what her power is,” Tionne said, giggling.

“What is it?!” Rozonda asked.

Tionne burst into a round of giggles again. “You remember that guy in Seattle?”

“What about him?”

Tionne finally stopped laughing. “Well, as it turns out, he wasn’t drunk. It’s part of your power. Apparently, men find you irresistible. So all that talk about charm was bull.”

Rozonda frowned. “But that’s not fair!” she whined.

“Tough cookies,” Lisa said, laughing. “This means I can still beat the crap out of you both.”

Tionne looked at Rozonda. “Maybe, but we never teamed up before.”

Lisa stopped laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No matches to help you this time,” Rozonda added with a smirk.

“Oh, you’re going down for that one,” Lisa promised, rising to her feet. Before she could make good on it, Tionne tackled her from behind. Rozonda grabbed a tuft of hair and yanked on it.

“You’ll pay for this!” Lisa screamed, grabbing Rozonda’s foot and tossing her to the ground. Then she spun around, wrapped an arm around Tionne’s waist, and threw her in the same direction. She and Rozonda collided, and both slid to the floor. Lisa mounted the mass of humanity and declared, “Me, 47; you guys, nada...again.”

The End!

Don’t fret, I’ll do another story that goes into the full scope of TLC’s powers. Just...later.  Until then, I'll take any comments/questions you might have.  You can reach me at XMAN0123@aol.com. I always check mail!