Normal | Rhekker

Chapter 57- Sobriety

She was making him pay, he knew that. Hemlines got shorter and her new favourite outfit consisted of legging and a Lululemon half zip. With no bedroom Connor found himself in the joint office often. Ava always preferred to work from bed anyway. She was home alone, throwing on some sweatpants and a hoodie, becoming bored with trying to torment Connor with her outfit's.

Her eyes fell to the flowers on the kitchen table.
Taking them carefully into her arms she cradled them. She laid back on the bed, placing them on the bedside locker she turned into them.
Ava closed her eyes, felling the soft petals between her fingers.
She stayed there at peace for a little while, engrossed in the scent of the flowers.
Her eyes fluttered open. She spotted Connors bedside table.
Something caught her eye, tucked under a novel.
She flipped it in her palm, it was a sobriety chip.

A chill washed over her suddenly. The flowers were returned to the vase and she crept back into the bedroom, chip between her fingers. She laid back on the bed, the plastic between her fingers she ran over it in her mind.
The front door unlocked. "Ava, I'm home" he called out.
She didn't reply.
She listen out, for what? Like he was going to announce something. She'd catch him on the phone to his dealer?
She listened carefully, he was.....doing something? Cooking maybe. She couldn't really make it out. Dam the kitchen being so far away. This was stupid, she decided, finding her feet,

She walked down the hall, he was cooking at the stove, the radio on.
"Oh hey. I didn't know you were home" he turned off the radio. She wished he hadn't,
"Yeah, I was napping" she lied.
They stood there in silence and he turned to her. "I'm making pasta"
She nodded, "sounds good" she held his gaze, did he look high? What did Connor look like when he was high?
She didn't want to think about that.
"Is everything alright?" He asked. Looking at her as she stood there.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just still a bit sleepy" she said slowly.

She moved behind him, getting a glass from the cabinet and setting it down. When he wasn't looking she knocked it with her elbow.
"Woah" he caught it before it fell.
"Careful" he chucked, setting it down before go in back to the dinner.
"Why don't you get some more sleep?" He suggested. "Or rest a little. I'll call you when dinners ready" he smiled. It was the same Connor smile he always had.
"Okey" she agreed, passing her chrysanthemums.

Ava took a cold shower, the chip on the bathroom sink for her. She drieded her skin and changed into her pyjamas. She brushed out her hair, her gaze on the chip on her bedside table. Ava laid in bed, playing with the chip between her fingers in the dark. She exhaled, and threw back the covers. She turned on the light in the living room and Connor jumped awake.
"Are you using again?"
"What?" Connor furrowed her brows.
She held up the chip.
"Ava"
She turned, dropping the chip and rushing back into her bedroom.
"Ava" he shouted through the door.
"Ava" he knocked.
He exhaled, her forehead on the door.
"Ava, I'm not leaving this time. Not until you talk to me"
There was silence.
"Are you high?"
"No, Ava" he rubbed his eyes.
The lock twisted and the door opened.

He looked her in the eye, "I am not high, and I am not using again"
"Why do you have a sobriety chip"
"Or did you have someone here while I was gone"
He didn't rise to that.
"I wanted to relapse. But I didn't."
"I rang my sponsor and found a meeting okey?"
"Ava I would never bring drugs into this house"
He touched her cheek but she flinched away.
"Why do you have a sobriety chip?"
"He gave it to me to remind me everything I worked for"
"Was surprised he remembered me"

"I do love you Ava"
She closed the door in his face.
Connor exhaled through his nose. It would take time. He knew that.
Connor made his way back to the sofa and pulled the blanket over himself. Waiting until he saw the light at the end of the hall go out before closing his eyes.