side job

14

⚠️ trigger warning: food related illnesses, drugs, self-harm, eating disorders. If any of these topics can trigger you, PLEASE do not read. You have been warned. ⚠️

Apparently recovering from substance abuse wasn't as entertaining as movies made it out to be. Jonathan felt extremely apathetic and nervous most of the time.

He would spend most of his time drifting in and out of sleep, tossing and turning in the shitty bed that Ted kept in the spare room. It was a 'just in case' bedroom, and it sure helped in this situation.

A bucket had been placed at the side of his bed, since Jonathan had reoccuring nausea from trying to eat more. He would take a bite out of a simple sandwich and feel knots twisting in his stomach.

Ever since Jonathan had frequently been doing every drug he could get his hands on without Ezra finding out, he had stopped eating. Some pills would give him a crazy high, but would make him too nauseous to eat. To him, it was worth it.

Today Jonathan had at least felt good enough to be out of bed. His eyelids felt heavy and sleep seemed impending despite sleeping a full eight hours last night. He was sat at the table, picking at a salad that Ted had bought him. It was a simple caeser salad, which only parmesan flakes, croutons, and some sauce.

A packet of pre-cooked chicken sat next to his bowl, untouched. Thankfully he only added a little sauce so it was mainly just lettuce and bits of cheese, so the taste was fine.

Lettuce seemed to upset his stomach less than soup, so he picked up a habit of eating salads twice a day. He had so much control over the contents that it made returning to eating seem so much easier.

Originally he had started with just lettuce and the tiniest bit of sauce, almost unnoticeable. Eventually he started using more sauce and adding cheese, and that seemed to make his stomach only want more.

Feeling full scared Jonathan. If Ezra saw him eating so frequently, he'd surely have a nasty comment ready to fire. Even though Jonathan didn't have his phone and didn't have a way to know what was going on with his ex, he'd still find himself wondering what the man was plotting.

Could he be plotting some attack on Ted? Or could he have a video in the works exposing Jonathan for being a sex worker. Either sounded terrifying to Jonathan.

"I need to talk to him." Jonathan spoke suddenly.

Ted pulled out his headphones, not really sure he heard Jonathan correctly. He tilted his head and squinted his eyes, urging Jonathan to repeat himself without opening his mouth.

"I need to talk to him."

"And why is that?" Ted asked.

Jonathan set down his fork, trying to not become agitated, which seemed to happen easier when it came to Ezra.

"I have to make sure he doesn't do some bullshit." Jonathan replied. His eyes were avoiding Ted's.

Deep down Jonathan knew this was stupid. Of course Ezra was going to be doing something stupid and crazy. It's Ezra. But he doesn't need to involve himself any longer.

And he knew that, yet he was still so terrified that doing nothing would be worse than doing something.

"If you're so concerned with it, we're going to the police station right now. Get him arrested without him knowing a thing." Ted stood quickly, grabbing a jacket and his keys.

Jonathan jumped up as well, eyes darting frantically as he got himself dressed.

His heart was pounding in pure stress. Ted seemed adamant about going to the station, and Jonathan needed to do something, even if it was sit at the police station and tell his story.

A folder laid in his lap as the drove silently to the local station. Jonathan was tapping his foot, not wanting to look at all the evidence that would incriminate Ezra.

Within a mile of the station, Jonathan began to breath harder and he gripped the door handle until his knuckles were consistently white. Ted had noticed and tried to reassure him, but eventually gave up and went into the station by himself.

Jonathan was tapping his foot as he stared at the door, eyes slightly burning when he'd foeget to blink after a while.

A buzz sound made him jump, and he looked around to see if Ted had accidentally left his phone behind. When he didn't notice anything obvious, he began snooping through the car.

"Oh." Jonathan breathed as he discovered his almost dead phone tucked in the glove compartment.

The urge to take it and look for messages from Ezra was overwhelming. He felt consumed by the little vibrations, his heart seeming to stop every time the phone vibrated.

He opened the phone and swiped down on the notification center, just wanting to take a peak. There were many texts from Ezra, ranging from seemingly sincere to explosive and hateful messages.

With a sigh, Jonathan turned his phone off and tucked it back into the glove compartment. It took everything in him to not answer Ezra, but Ted was right. He needed to stop allowing this behavior and get Ezra to understand that he was being abusive.

After around an hour, Ted returned to the car, having to wake Jonathan up. He needed to give a statement, which terrified the man. He didn't want to admit any of it; it was embarrassing.

The police officer was a younger woman, who looked like the most put-together person Jonathan had ever seen. Her makeup look amazing, and Jonathan resisted the urge to compliment her.

"So, you're Jonathan?" The woman asked politely, clearing her throat. She was trying to break the clear tension in the room.

Jonathan only nodded, avoiding eye contact with the beautiful woman. He hated this situation and hated the way hands trembled in his lap, and the way the woman's eyes looked at him with pity.

"Your friend, Ted, he told us what happened with Ezra. Is that how you pronounce his name?" The woman asked, clicking her pen to annotate anything that she felt needed to be written down.

Again, Jonathan nodded. He felt a lump in his throat even though the woman was trying her best to help him, and save him from all the future pain and suffering Ezra would cause.

As the interview went on, Jonathan cried. He cried hard as he truthfully answered every question. At one point the officer made him pause to sip some water. He couldn't help but think she didn't want him to get dehydrated, but he knew deep down she just wanted to let Jonathan have a break from speaking.

What felt like a full day was only two hours of questioning. It would have been less if Jonathan didn't have so many water breaks, but he didn't care. Describing everything in detail made him feel like his heart was bring shredding into two all over again.

As Ted drove him home, he turned to face completely away from him. His forehead rested just below the door window, and his knees were tucked in the corner. He felt dirty and ashamed and still a bit sick from recovery.

But as he slid his clothes of and buried himself into the bed, Jonathan felt a bit of relief. He slipped into a peaceful slumber, and for the first time in forever, didn't have a nightmare.

-

sorry ive been gone!! got really busy with work since ive been traveling for work now!!

thanks so much for taking the time to read my story. i haven't had the proper motivation in a while, but i tried real hard to pull this chapter together.

comments and votes would be heavily appreciated. :)