"Woah Georgie" she moaned leaning against the door.
George scrunched his face up in frustration. Had it been anyone else he would have left her out in the snow. But this was Gabrielle. He couldn’t do that to her. Besides he knew she would kick his arse if he did.
"Gab?"
"What…?"
"Exactly how much did you have to drink" George stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jacket and looked at her expectantly.
Gabrielle licked her lips thoughtfully and counted her drinks off on her fingers "UH.. one… three.. no… Paul gave me one… like six"
"Six what?"
"Six… gin and tonics" as if to make a point of this she slid sideways into a wall. "Wow, my head hurts."
"Too fucking right" George mumbled as he helped her to sit up. "Okay stay here I have to go get the key from my house"
She giggled "I’m not going anywhere Georgie"
George hurried next door to his house. He fount the spare key in the back of one of the Kitchen drawers and then practically sprinted back to Gabrielle’s house. He unlocked the door and helped her upstairs to her room. She let him help her until George tried to take her shoes off for her. "George I’m not a fucking invalid, I can undo my own shoes, mate" she muttered, kicking her shoes off into a corner.
He watched her disappear into her large closet and then come out in a nightgown a bit later. "You can leave now" she told him "I won’t be getting hit by any buses in my sleep you know"
George plopped down on her bed "I don’t want to go home yet" he said and leaned back on her pillows, smiling up at her appreciatively.
Gabrielle sighed "Well … where are you going to go then"
"Here"
She pulled a face "No you’re to big, you’re not small anymore I won’t get any sleep"
George reached out and grabbed her small wrist, pulling her down on the bed and sitting on top of her "George! Gerrof me!" she laughed wriggling around beneath him, but eventually gave up and let him sit on her. He just smiled down at her "George" she said, "You know this doesn’t work as well as it used to… We’ve got bits that get in the way now" She gestured to her chest and George laughed sliding off of her.
They sat in a comfortable silence, Gabrielle just leaning against his arm, both far off in deep thought about very different things.
"D’you remember" George said suddenly "when we were little and you didn’t like sleeping by yourself so I would spend the night all the time"
"Yeah, that was fun, we would never go to sleep"
"Remember Billie"
Gabrielle laughed and sat up "Billie the bulldog! Yeah I do" she settled back down against his arm "What happened to him?"
"He ran away didn’t he?"
She nodded slowly and let out a long content sigh "I miss being little" she said "You don’t have to worry about anything when you’re that tiny, now everything’s all weird"
"It is weird" he murmured "I never thought in a million years I would have to help you home drunk"
"I’m not drunk" Gabrielle protested
"No, but you’re all giggly and you might do something stupid" he countered. "Do you have a head ache?"
She shrugged "Kind of, I’ll survive though"
"Are you tired?"
She nodded and tried to stifle a yawn but it got out anyway. "I guess."
"D’you want me to stay then?" George asked.
Gabrielle yawned again, overcome with a wave of fatigue "You can…" she mumbled sleepily.
George stood up and kicked his shoes and jeans off while Gabrielle pulled her bed down and crawled under the covers.
"This isn’t so weird" George said as he crawled under with her
She rubbed her feet against his and giggled "You’re feet are freezing"
"Oh sorry" he smiled wryly and tickled her legs with his toes.
They giggled for a bit longer until Gabrielle felt sleep coming to her "Mmm Night Georgie" she mumbled
"Night Gab"