I Never Planned On You

45- I'll Cover You

(for the sake of this story, we're gonna pretend that josh is 21.)

9:18 am

My head pounds as I open my eyes, watching the sun spill into the small room. I hear the toilet flush, and moments later the door opens and a sleepy Ben comes into view. I close my eyes again as the bed dips next to me, Ben's arms pull me in, making my head press against his chest. I let Ben hold me as I recall the events that took place last night,

"I don't know what to do! My parents are dead, my own brother won't answer my phone calls!" I cry, running my hand through my hair. "My whole family is gone!"

"Hey," Ben places his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down, "you still have family, Josh, my family, everyone from Newsies, and you have me. We're all your family now, no matter what."

"You promise?" I sniffle.

"I promise. We're family, and that means we don't give up on each other, even when things get tough. We support each other." Ben says, kissing my forehead.

The rest of the night was full of grieving, and my tears, but I think I'm finally done crying. I don't see how I could humanly cry anymore.

Ben's POV:

10:27 am

When I open my eyes, I notice Andrea isn't there anymore. I look around my room and there is no sign of her. I peer the living room and Josh is sitting on the couch with Andie, pouring a clear liquid into a glass for her.

"Are you sure this will make me feel better?" Andie asks hesitantly, lifting the cup up to her lips.

"I don't know," Josh says picking up and examining the bottle, "Everyone in movies do it."

"Okay. Let's do this." Andie breathes deep and takes a swig, finishing every last drop. Her face scrunches up as if she just ate a whole lemon and she starts coughing.

"That's so gross!" She says, sticking her tongue out.

"What's going on?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.

"Nothing!" Josh and Andie say quickly, as Josh stuffs  the bottle under a pillow. I raise my eyebrows at them, letting them know they're not getting away with this.

"What are you trying to hide?" I cross my arms.

"Nooooooothing." Andie says, smiling innocently.

"Hand it over, buddy." I say, sticking my hand out.

Josh reluctantly places the bottle in my hand. I look and see that it's vodka.

"Dude, it's illegal for you to drink this." I say to Andie.

"I know." She looks down, "It was Josh's idea!" Andie exclaims, pointing at Josh.

"Thanks for throwing me under the bus, kid." Josh pats her shoulder.

"Drinking isn't going to help anything. Instead of being sad, you're just gonna be drunk and sad."  I say, rubbing Andie's back.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to make it stop hurting." She says, leaning her head against me.

"It's not gonna just stop hurting overnight. It takes time." I say kissing her forehead.

3 days later

Andie's POV:

"Hey." I say, grabbing Evan's hand.

"How are you doing?" Evan asks.