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(-raises hand- I don't hate Elda. Her hangover cure sounds very interesting. xD)

Eric took a sip of coffee, too, when it was cooled down enough. It tasted better than the after-effects of alcohol, that was for damn sure. If he was lucky, he would start to feel better soon.
Even though he still chose not to participate in the Mommy and Me conversation, he looked up when both Skye and Paul suggested he call in sick. And, yes, to answer Terrence's question there was just no way he was up to go to work today. He was just concerned about the consequences he might have to face, with the reality being that it was a rare day that he did decide to call in sick. But maybe it was just his ego talking. Clearly, it was back in full force after completely leaving him last night after a few drinks.
Eric ran the hand that wasn't holding the coffee through his hair and nodded in consent, wondering once again where his phone was. He hoped there wouldn't already be irate calls from the boss, given that he had been supposed to start his shift two hours ago. He had needed the drinks too badly last night, after seeing Shayna, to care. And then even more badly after she kissed him. Did he regret it? Yes, obviously. The pain was almost unbearable.
And why did he smell like this? Had they made a field trip to the toxic waste dump that he couldn't remember?
He took another sip of coffee. What happened last night, after we left the bar?
Eric remembered what had happened in the bar itself, but it was once they left that was hazy and unclear. Certainly he didn't need to be reminded that he had done zilch about Shayna and her group.

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Eden winced as the voice continued to pound through her brain, but suddenly it was telling her something new.
The voice was telling her to end her life.
Why don't you do the world a big favor.
Maybe the hangover cure Elda was mentioning could help, Eden thought desperately.
She was afraid of death.
She didn't want to die.
This is who you are...
As long as the others were with her, she might be okay. Might be. She wasn't sure she could put much trust in them right now if she didn't know where they were or how they got here. Why did everything hurt so bad? Why couldn't the voice ever just leave her alone? Hadn't she given up so much of her life already for him?
"This will be our little secret," he said to her. "And if you ever tell..."
Why don't you do the world a big favor.
Eden, curled up on the floor in a shrunched up ball and with her skirt threatening overexposure, didn't care that her tough exterior left her as she began to cry. There was just too much pain.

It was only as Terrence described the details of last night that Eric began to remember, and even despite himself might have chuckled at the story if he hadn't learned through Mav and Paul that chuckling was going to really hurt right now. He couldn't deny that they got pretty crazy last night, though.
Thanks, Mom, he joked, referring to the fact that Terrence had to keep a good eye on him after his fifth drink or so. Apparently, he was so sloshed last night that he could neither stand on his own nor get into the passenger seat of his own car without help.
"Is this my car?"
He had been chuckling and laughing to himself at that point, the alcohol making him think that something as mundane as getting into a car was absolutely hilarious.
He smiled crookedly in the place of a chuckle, not wanting to risk more pain than he was already feeling. Singing off tune in the back of the car, crashing at Mav's place... it was actually a relief to know that things hadn't gone completely to hell even after what had happened in the bar, Eric thought as he took another sip of coffee. Grimly, he was kind of hoping nobody was going to ask him what the hell he was thinking last night when he let Shayna walk right up and kiss him. Because the truthful answer was that he hadn't been. He was barely even thinking right now, waiting for the invisible fog around his head to clear up.
Even when the five of them arrived at Mav's place, Eric still seemed to think something was funny. He was even forming his own chorus as he began to hiccup and chuckle at absolutely nothing. He threw the contents of his pockets (his wallet and his phone, somebody else had his keys) somewhere in the distance that he paid no particular attention to, and after taking off his shoes collapsed onto the couch laughing like a teenage schoolgirl.
"Eric, shut up."
He couldn't remember who had said that to him anymore, and he couldn't remember how he had reacted, because all he did remember after that was falling asleep...
Shayna.
Shayna.