Waiting for Never - Post Malone

Enemies

Marli is woken by thumping sounds coming from the kitchen at 4 am. Austin. She lays in bed waiting for the telltale signs of Austin stubbornly trying to climb the stairs but then it goes quiet. Too quiet. After a while of hearing nothing, she gets a nasty feeling in her gut.

Something is wrong.

Very wrong.

She gets out of bed and can hear men talking when she gets to the top of the stairs. Austin and Jonas. Ok, this is good, they are talking. So she sits midway on the stairs and listens. At first, their voices are normal and nothing to worry about but as their conversation goes on they get louder and louder. "Please, Austin. Just hear me out. You are killing yourself, man," Jonas begs.  Austin snorts. "Shut up Jonas. I am a grown man. I can have a drink or two if I want," Austin responds. "One or two drinks?! You have lost your fucking mind man. You are practically sucking on that cognac bottle in your hands. You have an addiction. You are an alcoholic," Jonas challenges him. Austin is living in denial.
Austin starts laughing, it's a nasty callous laugh. One meant for mocking. Marli hears the scraping of a chair and the banging of cabinets. "I always knew you were jealous of me. You are so pathetic. Following me around like a lost puppy because you can't stand up for yourself. You had no one and attached yourself to me. Now I have made a name for myself, found better friends, and have a good life. But you are so fucking desperate to hang on to a friendship that died long ago," Austin throws at him. His voice is cold and his words are nasty. "You don't like that I am one of the few that can see through your bullshit and call you what you are. You are a fraud, Austin. Selling a dream to millions, a dream that both you and I know never existed in the first place. That girl up there -"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!!"

Marli jumps at the rage that is practically punched out of Austin as he shouts. Austin has been a tortured soul, but never violent. This is not Austin. She moves to the bottom of the stairs and looks into the kitchen. She can see Austin standing at the kitchen island. He has a bottle of cognac and a glass in front of him. Jonas is standing across the kitchen near the arch to the dining room. both men are locked into each other and Marli knows that this is not going to end well. Whenever they fought in the past Jonas would say his piece and then back down. Austin would feel bad after a while then they would make up. But this time it looks like neither man is prepared to cave. "Keep her name out of your filthy treacherous mouth," Austin all but growls. "Marli...Marli...Marli," Jonas throws back at him. Austin lifts his glass and takes a sip then hold out his hand and points at Jonas. "Stop, Jonas, I am warning you," he says.

"Why do you never want to talk about what you are doing to that girl? 

"Jonas!"

"What!? Are you afraid to talk about her because you know you will kill her eventually just like you did your father?!" 

It seems to happen in slow motion. Austin picks up the cognac bottle and hurls it across the room, Jonas ducks, and the bottle slams against the wall behind him. Jonas stands and turns to look at the wall behind him. There is amber liquid and glass peppered and splattered over the entire wall, including the floor. Jonas' mouth drops open and he turns slowly to look back at Austin. Then Austin and Jonas launch themselves at each other, they run full pelt at each other and Marli knows their collision will end poorly. There is no other way. Austin is drunk so Jonas gets the upper hand immediately, pushing Austin to the floor and punching him square in the nose. Austin pushes Jonas off him and gets two punches in before Lou appears and yanks Austin off him. "Get out! I don't ever want to see your fucked up ass again!" Austin shouts, kicking his legs and trying to go for him again but Lou has a firm grip on him. Jonas picks up his jacket from the floor, brushing off the glass from the cognac bottle as he glares at Austin.