Rock Bottom (Sequel to How it Happened is Irrelevant)

10

The last day of tour had slowly snuck upon me. I was happy to finally have some time to breathe, but still a little bummed out that it was done. The last week had gone over great. After the demands were met, everyone seemed happier. Because I was drinking less, my mood got a little better too. Unfortunately, because I was drinking less, I was resorting to other mediums. What had started out as two daily pills had quickly become eight. I could choke down three without water too. No one caught me with them though. In fact, it couldn't be less obvious that I was under any influence at all. 

Craig and I had tried to work things out on only one occasion. It didn't bode well at all. While I wasn't completely pissed at him anymore, I was still pretty upset about the whole 'breaking up with me the day I was going to propose' ordeal. It was honestly just bad timing. However, I'd become more of the emotionally silent type. I still cried myself to sleep, but no one really notices that I was upset. In fact, I was so outwardly enthusiastic that fans thought Craig and I were back together. We quickly shut down these rumors, mostly out of a feeling of obligation. It felt wrong to live a lie for them. God knows people would probably ask us to kiss.... 

As a traditional celebration for the last day of tour, everyone went out to drink until the sun came up tomorrow morning. What I didn't tell everyone was that I'd already packed my things and was leaving a day early. I'd caught a red-eye flight super last-minute. Because of that, I was only partaking in a few quick drinks before I left everyone high and dry. The plan was to sneak away so I wasn't questioned. Originally, I was also going to return the ring, but Thrasher found out and made a point about how I shouldn't do that. I wondered why, but he didn't give me a real reason at all. Strange, isn't it? Maybe he knows something about Craig that I don't. 

I finished off my glass of whiskey before asking for another, and someone put their arm over me. I immediately shrugged it off, thinking it was some random bar creep, too drunk to realize who I was, much less that I wasn't interested in them. "It's me, T!" The person said. 

Only one person in this world is allowed to call me T. If it's who I think it is, then I must be having another one of those lucid dreams. "Craig, you're drunk," I told him. 

"Drunken words are sober thoughts," he reminded me. "I thought you still liked me." He took the stool next to mine and gave me about the best puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen. His hand was already resting on my knee. 

"You can't." I shook my head, taking his hand and putting it back onto his own knee. "We're not together." 

"I was an idiot to leave you. Take me back."

"No. You're drunk." I drained my new glass and stood up. "And I have to go."

"You just got here."

"I'm leaving."

"T-"

"Stop calling me that." I rubbed my eyes, hating how cliché this felt, and how watery they were. 

"Please wait!" He stood up too, following after me. 

"Go away, Craig," I told him. "Please." He grabbed my hand and I pulled away, walking faster. He was too desperate to talk to me, and though every part of me wanted to let him, it was against my better judgement, even buzzed. 

"I'm sorry!" He called after me. I sighed and turned around. He'd been running towards me and practically slammed into me. He stepped back, rubbing his arm. 

"What're you sorry about?"

"That I'm a regretful liar."

"You were bored. What else would you have done about it?" I shrugged. "It's not a big deal, really. Now if you'll let me go-"

"I wasn't bored. I got too accustomed to something I didn't realize that I loved so desperately until it was gone!"

I closed my eyes. "It's barely been three weeks, Craig."

"It's only gonna get worse from here," He continued. "For both of us."

The water buildup in my eyes finally slipped out when I opened them. "I can't," I whispered, turning back away and rushing out as fast as I could. 

Craig's POV:

Kevin came up next to me. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked. 

"Trying to talk to him!" I responded, more aggressively than I'd wanted to. This was mostly out of frustration. "Now he's run off, God knows the next time he'll ever talk to me level-headedly." 

"Did you tell him what you told me yesterday?" He was referring to a conversation we'd recently had about why I'd stuck my neck out so far for TJ. 

"I tried. He thinks I'm too drunk! I guess I had a little too much liquid courage." I writhed my hands in shame. 

Kevin pressed a box that he'd had in his pocket into my hand. "I bought you probably five minutes. He's gonna look for this. Don't screw this up." I looked at it, recognizing it immediately. 

"Why would you-?"

"Don't worry about it. You're wasting time!" 

I opened the box up, seeing inside a silver ring that looked braded with a green gem in the center. "Oh my God," I covered my mouth. "How much-?"

"Two thousand." He pushed me. "Now get your ass moving!" 

I did as he asked, racing outside immediately to return the ring to TJ. It wasn't going to go down the way that Thrasher was intending for it to. I knew that, and honestly, I think he knew it too. I ran back to the bus as fast as I could, lucky enough to find that TJ was still there. He was standing over a sink, with a bottle of pills in one of his hands, and several of them in the other. He popped them into his mouth, took a large swallow of water afterwards, and then saw me. His eyes grew wide. 

"You're doing drugs?" I asked him, tone almost unrecognizable. 

"It's not what you think," He quickly tried to explain. 

"Don't bother." I took the ring back out of my pocket and threw it to him. "And take this back."

"Where did you-?"

"Don't worry about it. Good fucking bye."