LABYRINTH | Scarlett Johansson x Daughter

47 | july twenty-first.

With my head against the cold car window, I watched as several cars passed by in the opposite direction and I clasped tightly on to the plush lamb resting in my lap.

After thirty days in rehab I'm finally going home, and whilst I'm happy to be able to get back to a normal routine and see my friends and family on my more than one occasion a week, I'm weirdly anxious.
I've had supervision twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the last several weeks, but now it's completely up to me to hold myself responsible, and not slip back into old habits.

"Is it normal that I feel nervous about coming home?" I turn my head to Ryan whilst he focuses his eyes on the road ahead.

"I remember feeling a little nervous when I left rehab, but you've got to trust that they would have kept you longer if they thought you needed it, so have some faith in yourself, Kenz. You've come a long way," he answers, quickly glancing at me with a gentle smile.

I nod and let out a deep breath. "That's true."

"Doctor Glassford gave me a list of all these different AA meetings that I can go to if I ever feel like I'm going to relapse, and I'm still seeing her every Monday, right?" I add.

"Exactly," he confirms. "You have me, Sam, and your Mom that you can come to at anytime too. Day or night. You're going to be fine, kid. We're all here for you."

I'm going to be fine. I can do this.

"Thank you," I breathe, relaxing my tense shoulders as I focus my eyes on the road in front.

The next several minutes of the drive home go by without any conversation, the only sound being the light music playing on the radio.
The street lights start to turn on as the sun slowly begins to set, as I very much look forward to having dinner with Sam, Ryan, and Scarlett tonight.
Only there's one thing that has been playing on my mind for the past few weeks and it's been disturbing my peace and I need to sort it out so I can truly enjoy being back home.

"Would it be okay if we stopped by CVS quickly? I'll be in and out in a minute."

"Sure, what do you need?" Ryan asks.

"Oh, uh, just...just tampons."

I'm hoping that he thinks the very sudden and obvious hesitation in my answer has to do with me being slightly uncomfortable talking to him about my period.
It's not, but thankfully the subject isn't talked about any further until a minute later when we're pulling into the parking lot of the pharmacy.

"I'll go in and get them, you can stay here," I say, unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching into the backpack at my feet to take out my phone.

"That's alright, I'll come in. You'll need my Face ID for Apple Pay anyway."

"Oh, right," I breathe, "I'll go get them tomorrow then. I have some money on my card, but it's somewhere in my bedroom at Scarlett's."

"Kenz, they're just tampons, don't worry about it," he speaks in a reassuring manner, "besides, we're already here."

I fall quiet and realise a little too late that I could have just gone along with my own lie and bought the tampons anyway. Instead, Ryan quickly picks up on my skepticism and I accept the fact I've dug myself into a hole.

"What's up, kid?" He questions, sending me a look as he unbuckles his seatbelt.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I answer in a mumble, dropping my gaze to my lap as I anxiously fiddle with the arms of my plush lamb.

It takes him a moment to respond, and there's an evident hesitation when he does. "Honey, you don't somehow have any prescriptions on you, do you? You're not going in there for drugs?"