Julien staggered down the streets of South Beach trying to figure out where he had parked. He wasn't as much drunk as he was exhausted. It had been a heavy night of partying and he was drained. Just moments ago he realized it was past 3am and decided to call it a night. He parted company with his friends and exited the smoky confines of a nightclub, into the open streets of the early morning. The south Florida air was unseasonably cool; the winds coming off the water rushing against his face were a great refresher. Squinting his dark brown eyes, Julien breathed a sigh of relief as he recognized the side street where he had parked up ahead.
He made his way along the street admiring the wonderful scenery that was the South Beach strip at night. Just as he approached the side street he took notice of a young girl sitting on the sidewalk. She was sat on the curb in front of a restaurant which, by the look of things, had closed up hours ago. Julien also noticed that this section of the strip was unusually desolate. The girl had her head hung between her knees and as Julien made his way past her, he could clearly hear her sobbing. Julien had reached the corner. He looked down the street and saw the parking lot where he had parked. It was the opposite direction however, that he headed. His good conscious kicked in and he walked back over to the girl. Standing in front her, he looked down and saw only her brunette hair. He cleared his throat to announce his presence,
"Umm, excuse me Miss, is everything okay?" he asked in a soft voice.
The girl slowly raised her head and looked up at the stranger. Julien's stared down at the face looking back at him, tears streaming down her face. His eyes immediately widened.
"Anna!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
The girl's eyes also widened, bewildered at the sound of her name coming from this stranger.
Anna, was Annabelle Stravinsky, the younger sister of Julien's best friend Luka. Julien being twenty-three years old made Anna twenty. He had known her since they were kids, when he first met Luka, but hadn't seen her since he left his home state back when he was nineteen. He didn't even know Anna was in town.
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Julien tried to explain.
"It's me. . .Jules."
The nicknamed jogged her memory and Anna replied with a faint smile.
"What are you doing here?" he blurted out.
Anna's smile quickly disappeared and she erupted into hysteria. Tears flowing, she rambled off a babbling story of going out clubbing with her friends and being separated. She waved her phone around pointing out that the battery was dead. Anna's state of extreme upset conveyed to Julien that she was drunk beyond her normal limits.
He knelt down, coming face to face with her,
"Okay Anna, calm down, everything's going to be fine. Do you know where you're staying?"
She replied with the name of a hotel.
"Okay good, I know where that is, I'll give you a lift. Just please stop crying, everything's gonna be okay," he responded, gently wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Julien stood up and extended his hands to Anna. She reached out and placed her dainty palms in Julien's and he pulled her to her feet. They began their way to Julien's car. Julien immediately noticed Anna could not make it on her own. She only went two steps before her high heels buckled and she tipped sideways. Julien was swift to grab her, saving her from hitting the asphalt. With her arm across his shoulder, and his around her waist they slowly made their way. Julien opened the passenger door of his black MAZDA3 and gently placed Annabelle in the seat. He secured her seatbelt and then got into the driver's seat. The engine roared and they were off. The drive was quiet. Julien looked over to Anna; she could barely keep her eyes open.
Fifteen minutes later Julien pulled into the parking lot of a quite posh hotel. He parked the car and looked over to Anna. Her eyes were shut.
"Anna we're here," Julien announced.
There was no response.
Julien nudged her gently but there was still no reaction. After a harder nudge and calling her name Julien gave in, she was out cold. He looked to the roof of his car despairingly, regretting not asking what room number before they left. He decided to go check the lobby and ask around. There was an old lady sitting behind the receptionist's counter but it was no use. Julien gave Anna's full name but apparently the room was in her friend's name. Without knowing the name, the lady couldn't locate the room. Julien thanked her and headed back to the car.
Getting back into the driver's seat Julien was shocked to see Anna had thrown up all over herself. Her shirt was covered and a little was dribbling from her mouth.
"Anna. . . . Anna," he tried again to wake her up but it was no use, she was passed out again. Julien reached over and retrieved a tissue from the glove compartment. He wiped Anna's mouth and looked down at her shirt; it was way too much for a simple tissue. He made the only decision he could and headed home, Anna would be able to call her friends in the morning and he'd drop her back to the hotel.
Julien's house was a quick twenty minutes away thanks to the lack of traffic at this hour. He pulled into his garage and shut the engine off. He tried again to wake Anna but his attempts were futile, he would have to carry her in. He opened the front door to his house and then went back to the car for Anna. Her petite frame was difficulty-free for Julien to lift. As he walked towards his front door, Julien chuckled to himself imagining what a neighbor might think seeing this scenario. As he entered his house, Julien kicked the door closed and headed to the guest room.
Julien laid Annabelle down on the bed. He was really surprised that she was so out of it; she must have drunk alot, he thought to himself. He looked down at her and saw her vomit covered shirt. He couldn't let her sleep like this, and there was the added bonus of not having her roll around his sheets getting puke all over them. He began unbuttoning her black fitted shirt, feeling somewhat guilty even though he was acting with the best of intentions. Sliding the shirt off her body Julien couldn't help but notice Anna's wonderfully petite breasts held in a rather sexy looking purple demi cut bra with black vertical pinstripe lines. He immediately forced any carnal thoughts out of his head, reminding himself that this was his best friend's little sister, a best friend that he had known since before Anna was born and that he in fact always looked at Anna as a little sister of his own.
Julien exited the room with Anna's shirt still in hand; he rinsed it out in the laundry sink and then tossed it in the washing machine with some of his own clothes he was meaning to wash. Julien retrieved and clean old t-shirt from his room and went back to the guest room. It was quite a struggle but he managed to get the t-shirt on Anna's motionless body. Lastly, he leaned over and undid the straps on Anna's black high heels. Holding Anna's delicate feet, he slipped the shoes off and placed them at the side of the bed. Julien positioned Anna in the middle of the bed and covered her with a blanket. He placed an empty waste basket next to the bed hopeful that Anna would not need it. Julien looked Anna over a last time before leaving the room.
As he entered his bedroom, Julien retrieved his cell phone and dialed Luka. After a few rings, a familiar deep, but groggy, voice answered,
"Somebody better be dead Jules."
Julien laughed, "Yeah, sorry to wake you man, no one's dead. I just thought you should know, I was out clubbing and came across Anna on the street," Julien began to explain.
"Ohh yeah, I was meaning to tell you that, she's on spring break or something, she's been there for the week, I think she leaves in a couple days," Luka interrupted.
Julien went on to explain the whole ordeal of the past hour.
"So I just wanted someone to know where she was incase her friends thought she was missing and called your folks or something," Julien concluded.
"Wow, so she was pretty plastered huh? Ahh well, nothing we didn't do at her age right?" Luka asked rhetorically, "So she's alright?" he continued.
"Yeah, she's fine. She'll probably have a rough morning though," Julien chuckled.
"Well thanks for the call man; I'll let her friends know if they call. Sorry the squirt wrecked your night, but thanks a lot, you're a lifesaver."
"You know it was nothing. Talk to you later I'm gonna crash."
The two friends said their goodbyes and hung up.
