131

The next morning, I awoke with a heavy groan. Opening my eyes, my eyesight wobbled around a bit until I could focus on the bright sunlight shining in from the sliding glass door. This wasn't my bed, or my home. I was so confused until I heard Cassandra's voice enter the bedroom from behind me.

"Hey there, sleepy head," she said, wearing a silver-colored silk nightie. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."

"What happened?" I asked with an incredible grogginess. "Why do I feel like crap?"

"That's what's called a hangover. You usually get those from drinking, a lot."

"I was drinking?" I asked as she left the room momentarily.

"Yep!" she replied from the other room. "You had seven glasses of scotch!"

"Seven?" I wondered aloud. "Was I going for the high score?"

She laughed as she re-entered the room with an empty glass and a pitcher of water.

"That's what I said," she said, placing the items on the nightstand next to me. She poured some water into the glass, then helped me to sit. "Here, sit up." I groaned and lifted myself up. "Attaboy, drink some water," she said before handing me the glass of water.

As I drank, I started recalling the events of last night, which, coincidentally, also involved drinking. I groaned as I handed the nearly-empty glass to her before laying back down.

"Oh, no," I remarked. "I'm remembering stuff now. I acted like a complete idiot. I am so sorry."

"It's fine, really." She placed the glass on the table and smiled at me. "I had fun with you last night," she added as she sat on the edge of the bed next to me. "You're a funny drunk."

I wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. Instead, I noticed that my chest was bare.

"Why is my shirt off?"

"You were getting hot during the night so I took it off for you. It's over there in the corner."

As she pointed to the corner, I noticed a peculiar pyramid of teddy bears, balloons and chocolate hearts stacked up there with my shirt.

"Are you a collector of teddy bears or did you get a hundred early Valentine's gifts?"

She laughed. "Those ... were from you."

I had no idea what she was talking about.

"What?" I uttered.

"Last night, you wanted to give me a bunch of gifts. Then they started ... raining down from the ceiling like raindrops."

My heart sunk. Suddenly I realized why I should really, really stay away from alcohol. My mind is the catalyst for my powers, after all. If, for example, I were to lose my ability to think clearly I could accidentally shoot off my powers like a loaded gun. Sure, giving her a bunch of gifts was innocent enough but what if I'd thought up to accidentally tear the roof off the Apex building? That sure wouldn't have been as cute as a bunch of teddy bears.

I stared at her, my jaw hanging in disbelief. She just stared back with a knowing smile. I had no idea how I could explain it to her.

"It's funny," she said. "In the hallway, when I brought you up here, you called yourself a 'superhero.'" I was astounded at how goofy I was. "When we were drinking, you told me you had superpowers, but to keep it a secret."

My palm instantly hit my face.

"It's okay!" she reassured me. "I promise I will keep it a secret. I owe it to you anyway."

"Thank you," I said, muffled from behind my palm before my hand slid away.

"But, I just want to know ... how?" she asked. "How are you able to do those things? I saw you start to float away from your chair at the bar and, at first, I thought I'd been drinking too much... but now I see you did that yourself."

I sighed, looking down at my hands. "Well, I figured out how my powers work," I replied. "I can just think of something, anything  and I can make it happen. As for how I got them ... that I don't know. I literally woke up one morning and suddenly ... I had a bunch of superpowers."

"That's incredible," she remarked in awe. "Then again... you're incredible, Anthony. I knew from the moment we met that you were something special. You're without a doubt the most unique guy I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"I think you're something special, too, Cassandra," I said with a smile. "The way you're so cool and confident all the time is so…"

"Hot?" she quickly asked. "Sexy? You know, you admitted a lot of things to me last night about what you think of me. It was very interesting..."

Then, she slowly crawled atop me, a sultry grin on her face as she straddled my hips. I was shocked, but still very happy about it, to say the least.

"Are you sure you don't want me to ... go?" I innocently asked.

"Definitely not," she replied with a playful chuckle. "Don't you want to do what you said last night? Rip my clothes off and fuck me?"

Her eyes lowered into an alluring gaze as she gently rubbed my chest.

"What about your, uh, manager job?"

"It's fine," she quietly spoke. "We have plenty of time all to ourselves...."