Shot Up

ch. 1

Leo's pov
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"You got a light?" Elle looked up at me.
We both leaned in as I lit my blue and gold lighter to her cigarette. My grandad had given it to me. It was his lucky zippo.
"Thanks." She smiled.
It was about 3a.m . We were on the roof of our building. We had climbed the old rusty fire escape ladder to get up there. We always kept a blanket up there on the roof to sit on. It was sprawled out over the cement, torn up in some spots, but we didn't care. We laid out on the blanket. Bodies right next to each other, but nothing intimate.
"Leo, would you be mad at me if I tried drugs?"
I wasn't too sure where she was going with this..
"Well it depends I guess. Why?"
"Oh no reason. I got offered some pills the other day to try, and I wasn't sure what you would say. But I took them. Not like, in my mouth, but like with my hands. I have them down in my room."
"What are they?" I was really curious. I'm sixteen, a guy, living in the big city, and I haven't tried any drugs yet. Unless weed counts.
"Well Sophie told me they was called 'Xanax' whatever the hell that means."
I didn't know what that was. I didn't know many drugs in fact. I was more familiar with weed, cocaine, meth, heroin, and steroids. I hadn't been around too much of any of those though.
"Do you wanna take some with me?" She asked me while she ashed her cigarette. I hesitated a little bit, but I wanted to.
"Sure. But can we tomorrow? I'm getting kind of tired." I tried to sound tired, but I wasn't really. Just not in the mood to pop one right now.
"Leo, tired?? I don't think so. It's only 3 come on!!" She sat up and put her hands on my chest. She has always been a touchy person. Which I liked a little, sometimes it was too much though.
"Yes I'm tired I know I know. Come down with me it's getting late. My mom is Trenton for the weekend. Spend the night with me."
Elle often spent the night, but she slept with my mom. I had always been trying to get her to sleep with me. Not sex, but just in the same bed. She had always known better than to sleep with a man other than her father or a sibling. I like to think of myself as the brother she never had.
"Oh alright I will. But can we go by my place before so I can grab some stuff?" She asked me so politely. Of course we could.
Eleanor's mom is an alcoholic, and her father is dead. He died from a drug overdose about five years ago. We were only eleven at the time, but it was still hard for her. Her mom has bipolar depression and smokes like a fish, so Elle can basically do what she wants. Her mom doesn't pay too much attention to her.
My mom is a flight attendant. My father left her about around the time Elle's dad died. My older sister lives down south, in Georgia. She moved down there with her fiancé and two kids. She's 30 now. My mom trusts me to stay home by myself. I'm old enough. I mean I drive, smoke, drink. But I go to school still. I ain't no dropout.
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Eleanor's pov
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Leo and I went down to me and my mom's apartment so I could grab some things. I kind of figured I would stay at Leo's until his mom came back. Nothing would happen though, of course. He's my best friend. I couldn't possibly mess that up. We climbed in through the window of his living room, and went to his room. Leo has always taken good care of me. He took my stuff and neatly put it in the spare bedroom for me.
"Alright I'm gonna hit it. Night Elle." Leo pulled me into a big, warm hug. I hugged him back, resting my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beating. It soothed me. It always has for some reason.
I headed into the spare bedroom and put on my night clothes. I didn't have a fancy night gown like all the rich girls at school did. I slept in my flannel pants and a tee shirt. I found it quite comfortable though. I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. It too me a while to fall asleep, but when I did, there was no waking me up.
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Two hours later (5:30 a.m) I woke up screaming my lungs out. Leo rushed in to see what had happened, but it was just a nightmare. It was about my dad again, and my mom. I had terrible nightmares about my parents leaving me to die somewhere, or me alone surrounded by a gang, with Leo's mutilated, dead body lying next to me. They were vivid, always.
"Are you okay?!" Leo asked me calmly, but also a bit worried.
"No. Can I sleep with you?" I hadn't ever asked him that before. I was desperate though. Terrified.
Leo walked me into his room, and we laid down in his bed. His arms were wrapped around me tight, securing me from anyone, and anything.