The next morning, I woke on the couch in my apartment, still wearing my suit. I felt like a rat had crawled into my ear, gnawed on my brain and died just behind my eyes. My tongue felt flame grilled, but I didn't have the strength to rise and get a glass of water.
Mercifully, I fell asleep again and woke just before noon. When I did, Goran Milic kicked in the back door of my brain and stormed inside, yelling and screaming that I botched his defence. In my weakened state, I was at his mercy.
After stomping about for a while, he disappeared and I mentally replayed big chunks of the trial - I seemed to have the full transcript stored in my head - and started second-guessing my decisions. Why on earth did I think that getting pissed and waking up with a hangover was a good way to blot out the trial? Very immature.
To slake my huge thirst, I stumbled into the kitchen and drank several glasses of water. I was wondering how I got home from the Grease Monkey Bar the night before when my mobile phone rang. Because I still wore my suit, I only had to reach inside my jacket to get it.
The caller was Adrian, who sounded ridiculously chirpy. "Hello, mate. Just calling to make sure you're alright. Jeez, I haven't seen you like that for a while. How do you feel?"
"Like shit on a stick. I'll survive, just. What happened last night? How did I get home?"
"We took you home in a taxi."
"Thanks. I hope I wasn't too much trouble."
"Not at all. Very friendly, as usual. You offered to marry Rowena. She says she's going to hold you to that promise."
"Tell her that, as soon as she dumps you, I will."
A laugh. "OK. So, tell me: we going bike riding this afternoon?"
On Saturdays, we often rode together around the bicycle track inside Centennial Park. "You must be fuckin' kidding. My brain feels like it's been deep-fried."
"Thought you might say that. But don't forget my birthday party tonight, at my folks' house. Try to make it."
"I'll do my best."
"Be there," he said and hung up.
After forcing down a sandwich, I had a short nap that almost restored my membership of the human race. However, Goran Milic kept ducking into my head to complain. Towards evening, I decided that going to Adrian's birthday party might bring some relief from Milic. Hopefully, he wouldn't follow me there.