A Piece of Me

49

Colby's pov

Even sleeping on the couch I hardly got any sleep.

I was too anxious, thinking about what the meth could be doing to my baby.

Right now, it is my baby. The meth-consume Elizabeth would have to wait to be a mother.

Once she came down from her high and got clean, then I would think of it another way.

But as I see it right now, that might not happen.

Even recovery from substances is a struggle, every day is its own battle.

Doctors say that it takes about two years of being clean off substances before your brain starts rebuilding itself.

Elizabeth probably only made it halfway there. Would she ever stay clean, for my baby and I?

Probably not, and I wanted to be there to support and help her.

I wasn't going to go out of my way to embarrass her, so none of the roommates besides Jake knew that she relapsed.

That's because I took her to her house the next day, forced her to choose something for me to make for her to eat.

She chose Ramen noodles, simple enough.

"They're done," I called as I pulled the steamy bowl out of the microwave, quickly setting it down as the hot temperature came into contact with my hand.

"I know," Liz muttered, and I glanced over to see her rotating her fork in her fingertips aimlessly.

"Here," I said after ripping a paper towel, holding it around the bowl so I could pick it up and set it on the island for her.

She stared at it, and I waited patiently for her to take a bite. I knew that she was very reluctant to eat, since meth forces you to believe you aren't hungry.

No matter what, I would try my best to keep her healthy.

"Are you going to eat?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as she glared up at me.

She twirled a couple of the noodles on her fork, blowing on them before slipping them into her mouth.

Her jaw hardly moved, signaling that she wasn't chewing before swallowing.

Two pitiful bites later, she set the fork in her bowl and left it there.

"You hardly ate," I observed before taking a sip out of my water bottle.

"That's because I'm not fucking hungry," She grumbled, grabbing the fork before setting it back down again.

"Well you need to eat something," I sang quietly, "I can make you something else if you'd like,"

"Do you not fucking understand? I'm not hungry," She snapped, her glassy eyes meeting mine.

"You need to eat, babe. I get that you're not hungry but I'm not going to let you starve yourself," I said, leaning on the island with my arms.

"You're not my fucking dad. You don't have the choice on what I do," She said.

"Yeah, well I'm it's dad," I said, nodding down at her stomach, "And I don't want that poor baby to go through anything else,"

"I'm in control Colby, I'm not a fucking child," She snapped, "I make decisions for myself. And I decided that I'm not eating," swiping the bowl off the island and onto the floor.

The bowl and its contents hit the hardwood floor with a crash, and I glanced over to see that the bowl was broken, the side of it smashed into peices.

"Well you sure are acting like one," I sighed, rolling my eyes while grabbing a roll of paper towels.

I bent down, setting the bowl upright with all the pieces inside along with the fork.

I cleaned up the noodles, finding disinfectant wipes so the floor wouldn't be sticky. By the time I finished, I glanced up to see that she was gone.

"Dammit, LIz," I said, throwing away the soggy paper towels and walking upstairs, hearing her before I saw her.

The bath water was running, something I advised that she did before I made her food.

It took me a while to find which bathroom she was in, but it was one adjacent to her bedroom.

I couldn't be certain, but it sounded like she was puking. The water drowned out a lot of the noise, but once it shut off I could tell that she was heaving.

Between being high and still dealing with morning sickness symptoms, I know she was struggling a lot.

The meth was starting to get out of her system, now that it's been two days.

Hopefully I could help her get back on track now that it was. I didn't like this Liz, the mood-swinging, unapproachable one.

I still refused to do most things with her, keeping my more affectionate side of me at bay.

It wasn't easy, and opening the door to see her bent over the toilet made it harder.

"You alright?" I asked gently, shutting the door behind me even though there was nobody else in the house.

"No, I'm not fucking alright," She said, not lifting up her face, "Do I look alright? No? Then why did you even ask?"

I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Oh my god I can't take you. Get in the damn bath,"

"Shut the hell up," She said quietly, and I acted like I didn't hear it as I slipped off my shirt.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked, staring at me warily.

"Helping you," I said, continuing to undress myself. She still had most of her clothes on, as if she started taking off her clothes before feeling sick and puking.

"Why?" She asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Because I'm here for you, always," I said, "Even when you piss me off,"

She didn't answer, didn't look at me. She didn't acknowledge that I spoke to her.

I helped her remove her gross, puke-splattered clothes, tossing them to the side before helping her into the bathtub.

Under any other circumstances, I think this would have been a very romantic, relaxing moment.

It was far from that right now, and I don't know if anything like this will ever be.

At least, not for a while.

Elizabeth was everything to me, but this monster that was controlling her would not be welcome in our future family.

That piece of her would have to find its way out of her life before we went any further.

If I didn't love her, I'd think differently.

THE END.