Unraveled

Acceptance

I rolled a joint on the dash of Jase's car as the heat blasted from the vents. I'd already drank three bottles of water and devoured half a box of granola bars he'd bought at a convenient store. He'd bought the weed, too, from a street dealer I'd directed him to. It was all he was going to buy. Just enough so I could act somewhat human until we were done.

I lit the joint and took a drag, sitting back against his leather seats. I held it out to him, but he shook his head.

"Don't do anything you would do," he said with a sheepish smile.

I frowned. "What?"

"That day in Billie's apartment. The advice you gave me was to not do anything that you would do," Jase said as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "I'm not drinking or using anything now. Not even a cigarette."

"Sucks to be you," I said before I took another drag of the cigarette.

"You need to tell me what else you've been using, Shawn, so that I can get you a good treatment center. The best. Don't worry about getting your dad to pay for it. I was the one who came to you. I'm going to pay for it."

I snorted. "You're going back to school. What do you care?"

He was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "I dropped out."

"What?"

He shrugged. "You know me. School's not my thing. It was more your thing than mine. I'm taking classes to be a real estate agent and then I'm going to work with my parents."

I looked down at the joint in my hands. "You've always been set."

Jase glanced over at me. "Your family is fucked up, Shawn. It's not obvious to someone who doesn't know it, but it is fucked up. You're not the only one who needs help."

I nodded. "I know."

"Then fucking believe it," he said, reaching over and shoving me gently. "Let's do this shit together."

I took a breath before I took another drag of the joint. "You have a piece of paper and a pen?"

He reached into the backseat and pulled out a backpack, taking out a notebook and a pen. He handed it off to me and sat silently as I started writing what I could remember.

x.x.x

"This is so cozy," Marcy Fleming said as she walked over to the window of the rehab Jase had found. He stood with a backpack of newly bought clothes slung over his shoulder.

Jase had taken me back to his house that night where his parents had let me crash. Jase had flushed the little bit of drugs I'd had while I sat at the kitchen table with his dad. His mom had gone out and bought me decent clothes and necessities I would need in rehab. Some of the items would have been provided, but it was comforting to have the items she'd bought. Even if it was something stupid like deodorant.

Taking a shower had felt amazing even with Jase sitting on the counter while I did it. I'd crashed in his bed while he slept on the floor directly beside me, his dad in front of the door.

For the twenty-four hours I spent in their house with both of his parents, I felt like I had a home. His parents were firm, yet caring. Without them, I really didn't think that I would have been able to walk through the rehab doors after the five-hour car ride.