Viper House

Moving Forward

Two Years Later

I stood in the empty apartment, looking at the place where I had spent the last twelve months in. There were so many good and bad memories. Sitting on the couch and watching the weirdest digital streaming movies I could find. Crying on the floor by the door because it was a shitty day and all I really wanted was a high I knew I couldn't have. Eating lunch with Lauren and Elijah. Spending an entire day hashing out our history with Spencer. Maia decorating because she couldn't stand it being so bland. Smashing the mirror in the bathroom when I couldn't get a grasp on my feelings.

I'd ended up having to stay in rehab for six months. Before I'd felt comfortable and stable enough to leave, I needed to have a firm grasp not just on the addiction, but on the trauma and everything associated with it. I'd spent another six months in a halfway house of sorts, where I finally got my driver's license. I worked to save up to buy a cheap, shitty car that did what I needed it to do.

Now, after a year of living in a sober community, I was moving in with Lauren and Elijah until I started college in the fall. Eight hours away. I'd held down a job for eighteen months. I'd been tempted to relapse so many times, but I managed to keep it under control.

The real challenge was going to be college, where drugs were even easier to get than they'd been on the street. Lauren and Elijah were helping me get an apartment off campus to remove any risk of getting a roommate who could easily persuade me to relapse.

Maia was going to school seven hours away. In the opposite direction. It was okay, though. We'd been through worse. Besides that, we'd never put an official label on what we were, so I figured that we would just play it all by ear.

"You ready?" Spencer asked. He stood in the doorway behind me, jingling his keys. He'd gotten his license a week before me, something he was never going to let me forget. I'd failed the maneuverability the first time.

I nodded, turning my back to the apartment. "I am so ready."

He stepped back so I could shut the door one last time. I'd already dropped my keys off.

"Hey," Spencer said as we walked down the stairs.

"What?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with my math homework. It just doesn't make any sense to me," he said. "I mean, why do they put letters in it? It's not fucking English class."

"To make it interesting," I replied as we reached the bottom and walked over to where our family was waiting. Maia pushed off of the car and wrapped her arms around me.

"I am so proud of you," she whispered, kissing me softly.

"I was thinking we'd order out tonight," Lauren said, holding Elijah's hand. "I really don't feel like cooking if we have to unpack all of this stuff."
"We could just put it on the curb with a free sign," Elijah added with a wink.
"We totally should. People love free shit," Spencer said with a grin.

"I'm down," I said with a shrug.

"Hell no," Maia said as she drew away from me, frowning at all of us. "I worked hard to pick all of that stuff out and he's going to need it in Bloomington."

"Nah, I think he can get some new stuff. New place, new stuff," Elijah said, waving her off.

Maia gave him a look. "He'll need stuff he's familiar with in a new environment. Hush."