READ THE WARNING

Chapter five

TW: Mentioning of abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, non-consensual touch

It wasn't the first time Alex entered his house to see someone sleeping on his couch, but it always surprised him for a second and he figured it always would.

Caroline had been his best friend since fourth grade. She was one of the kindest people alive.

Almost a year ago, Caroline finally talked to him about her abusive parents when she finally ran away and didn't have anywhere to go. Her dad, like Alex's, was an alcoholic, but instead of walking out like Alex's dad did, hers stayed and beat the shit out of her and her mom.

Alex had been looking for something to read because he couldn't sleep, and Caroline tapped on his window (in case his mom was home). 

He'd let her in and asked what was wrong and she told him everything while she broke down in tears. He let her stay in his room that night because his cousin was there and he didn't want him getting the wrong idea.

He told Caroline to go to his house anytime her father got that way. Now, she was here almost every night.

She rolled over in her sleep and mumbled something. Alex hoped she wasn't having nightmares again.

He noticed a bottle of beer on the coffee table. She'd told him she wasn't drinking anymore because she didn't want to be like her father, but it appeared she was lying.

He emptied the bottle in the sink and threw it away. The loud noise woke Caroline up.

"What are you doing?!" She asked, running into the kitchen.

"You told me you don't want to drink anymore." He answered.

"I changed my mind!"

"You also told me that if you changed your mind, you wanted me to keep you from drinking, so that's what I plan on doing. I don't want you becoming like your dad."

"As if you aren't exactly like your mom; I've seen what you hide on your bookcase." Said Caroline.

Even though Caroline was normally kind, she got very aggressive and toxic when she was drunk, so she was pretty likely to turn out like her dad if she didn't put the bottle down.

"That doesn't make me like my mom. It means I have a similar habit. She doesn't even do cocaine anymore." Said Alex, staring at his feet.

Caroline suddenly stumbled and almost fell.

Alex grabbed her hand and barely managed to keep her on her feet.

She started laughing and he shook his head.

She's drunk, he reminded himself.

"You should go back to sleep, Caroline." He said.

She shook her head. "I don't want to." She said, very flatly.

"Why not? It's late, we should both be asleep."

"I'm not tired."

He sighed and started walking to his room. There was no point arguing with drunk Caroline.

"Wait!" She shouted, grabbing his shoulders.

"What?" He asked, quickly stepping a bit away from her.

"Can you please....stay with me? For now?" She asked, hopefully.

"Why?" He asked.

"I had a nightmare about my dad. I don't wanna be alone." She answered.

Alex instantly felt bad and he nodded. "I'll stay with you for a bit." He said.

They sat on the couch and binged through Netflix for a bit. Alex gave Caroline the remote to find something while he got her water and pain killers for the next morning.

She picked Stranger things and the two stayed awake for hours, watching it.

After a while, she seemed to have fallen asleep laying on Alex's shoulder.

Alex started to stand, but Caroline instantly grabbed his arm.

"Please stay." She mumbled.

"Caroline, I need to go to bed." He mumbled.

"Just stay here, you said you'd stay tonight." Whispered Caroline, moving closer to him.

He gently pushed her away and stood up.

"I told you I would for a bit. I'm sorry, I have to sleep." He said.

"Just stay for one night!"

"There's not enough room on the couch." Said Alex.

"We can make room." Said Caroline, standing up abruptly and grabbing his shoulders, quickly pushing him back onto the couch.

Alex didn't want to have to touch her because he knew he'd instantly hate himself if he accidentally hurt her, but he knew he'd have to if she started taking things too far.

"Caroline, this is your warning that if you don't get away from me on your own I'm making you, so get away from me." He said.

"Don't be so dramatic." Said Caroline.

Well, that's that.

He quickly stood up and shoved Caroline off him and onto the floor and quickly ran to his room, locking her out.

This is literally Adam all over again.

He heard her shouting downstairs, but he ignored her.

He grabbed a small bag off his bookcase. He'd tried to get off cocaine a few times, but he felt like he needed it in order to survive.

He was snorting lines even after Caroline gave up yelling and went to sleep, he continued until he could barely stay awake.

The next morning, like normal, Caroline apologized and asked if she'd done anything weird when she was drunk and Alex told her that she just slept the whole time he was home and she had nothing to apologize for.

He knew he should probably tell Caroline the truth, but he didn't want to upset or worry her.

Alex and Caroline were all each other had. They couldn't even think about losing each other. Alex knew it would destroy Caroline to know she was hurting him, so he just left it. It wasn't a good idea and he knew it wasn't, but he'd rather just forget it than know he was the reason Caroline was upset.

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading this, I don't know how anyone could take the time out of their day to read this, I genuinely appreciate it so much!                                                                      You guys are amazing, I love you all so much, have a good day/night. I'm sorry if I take way too long to post chapters, I don't imagine anyone is actually keeping up to date with this book though, so it doesn't really matter lol. Again, I love you guys, goodbye