Terrible Habits

Safe to Sound.

Lenny

The music is pounding in my ears, making my head ache even more. Withdrawal is the fucking worst. I down the rest of the water that Luke had gotten from the bar after he left, I am eager for the alcohol to leave my system. 

I check the screen of my phone. Kylie still hadn't answered. She was the Hadley to my Rachel. I should have seen that one coming. I should have never opened my mouth and even muttered the words "cut off" to her, but I did. Because I thought that since she was my friend, she would understand, even help me get back on my feet. But I was wrong, she was Hadley and I fell for her façade. We are all the same, I hated it.

I snap out of my trance when I see Luke weave back through the crowd with someone behind him. I couldn't believe it was him when he saw me in the hallway. But I was surprised that I was happy to see him. He was wearing a white V-Neck and dark jeans and he smelled amazing. I try not to think about this as he joins me at the table.

"This is Jay, he's my roommate" he gestures to the blonde next to him. Jay is shorter than Luke, but he is bigger built, thicker. He has spiked blonde hair and a cute face.

"Hi," I extend my hand to him. "I'm Lenny."

It is then that I noticed a short brunette leaning on him next. I try to stifle a giggle.

"Tay," Jay responds, pronouncing his name wrong. I look to Luke and he just rolls his eyes, with a smile. I notice a dimple appear in the corner of his mouth and I laugh harder. Jay is what I used to call "waste of space" wasted. I hate that this makes me jealous. I hadn't been drinking long enough to reach my peak all because of my big fat mouth.

"Anyways, we are probably going to get going," Luke says and I feel the smile drop from my face.

"Right," I stand up straight and grabbed my purse. Now I have to find my own way home, to whatever home that might be.

"Do you have a place to stay tonight?" I hear Luke ask.

"I have uh-a ride- I mean yeah I'm fine," I mutter, pulling my phone out pretending that I have someone to call.

"Len," I feel his hand on my hand and I look up into his golden irises. "Do you have a place to stay?"

I should say yes and just left it at that, but I don't because I am weak and I know myself well enough to know that I can't make it on my own. So I just shake my head back and forth.

"Come on," he gestures with his head towards the exit and I follow.

Maybe some girls would have been more cautious getting into a strangers car after he offered you a place to stay for the night, but I wasn't one of them. I had spent the night at strangers houses more often than I had actually slept in my own bed, but then again I had been intoxicated and didn't know what I had been doing. I'm not drunk anymore and I feel the last effects of the drugs leave my system. Feeling more sober than I had felt in a long time, I am aware that I am going back to a strangers house, but he is a cop.

I turn around when I heard noises from the back seat to see Jay and the girl from the club on top of each other. I suppress a smile and I notice that Luke is doing the same.

"I can't take him anywhere," he shakes his head as he pulls off the highway.

"So what are you like his chauffeur?"

"It actually feels more like babysitting most of the time," he jokes and I laugh.

"He isn't a cop...is he?" I ask

He bursts out a laugh, "No he's not."

"Didn't think so," I smile, turning back to the back seat one more time, she is sitting on his lap now.

As we pull into the small parking lot of the apartment building, I grow quiet. I had done this many of times before, but for some reason this felt different. I quietly follow them up the stairs and into the apartment building and then as Lue unlocks the door I walk into the apartment and study its surroundings. It is small, right when you enter you are in the kitchen and living room area. There are two rooms in front of us and a bathroom between that I'm guessing they share.

It is small and quaint and I love it.

There aren't any fancy decorations or polished wallpapers. It looks like a home that someone lived in, not a museum which was what I was used to.

"You're place is..." I start but Luke cuts me off as he flips on the extra light.

"It's a shit hole, I know," he apologizes, trying to throw things away in the trash that is scattered around the table.

I am touched that he is trying to clean up for me. "I was actually gonna say nice..." I say quietly.

"Thanks," his eyebrows pull together as he finishes throwing everything in the trashcan.

I cross my arms over my chest, not knowing where to go or what to do next.

"Uh, my room is this way," he points to the door on the left. "I have shirts in the dresser if you want to change," he says, he seems flustered.

"Thanks," I say, I watched as Jay lay on top of the brunette on the couch. I make my way to the Luke's bedroom and shut the door behind me, exhaling as I lean against the door. I look up and study the small bedroom before me. His bed takes up most of the small space, it is pushed up against the wall with the window. The walls are covered with Seattle sport team posters, but other than that the room is bare. I wonder how long he has been living here.

I open his dresser drawer and pull out an old Seahawks shirt. I shimmy out of my dress, eager to get out of the constricting fabric and slip the oversized T-shirt on. I am about to pull my phone out and check to see if Kylie had responded when my eye catches a picture frame on the dresser. I step forward to get a closer look at the picture of a him as a teenager, maybe younger and his dad standing next to him on a boat fishing. I don't know what it is about the photograph of two virtual strangers that makes me smile.

I jump when I hear a knock on the door and sit on the bed when I see Luke poke his head through.

"You good?"

I nod and pull my knees up to my chest. "So I guess I'm not sleeping on the couch?" I ask, smiling.

"Trust me, even if they weren't here you wouldn't want to sleep on that," he grimaces and I laugh. I watch as he walks around the bed and grabs a shirt from the dresser, I am about to turn away when I see him push the photograph in the frame in the dresser. I give him privacy as he changes and then I realize I don't know where to sleep. I watch as he grabs an extra pillow and blanket from the closet.

"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor," he says, placing the pillow and blanket next to the right side of the bed.

I am touched again that he didn't even insinuate that I sleep on the floor. I roll over and tuck myself in under the covers. I place my head on the pillow and I inhale when I smell his cologne on the pillowcase.

"Thank you," I whisper as I hear him shift on the floor. It is the second time in a day that I muttered those words. I hope he knows how much they mean to me. That isn't a phrase I throw around very often.

"You're welcome," his voice is soft.

I roll over on my side away from him and I sigh a sigh of relief. I didn't know where I would have ended up if I hadn't run into him tonight. Hell, if I hadn't gotten arrested. I close my eyes and for the first time in a long time I fall asleep peacefully.