Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Withdrawal

The next day, stage 2 of Julian's drink and drug cleanse was hitting him hard. He'd been rolling around on my bed for hours, clutching his stomach. I rushed in every few minutes tending to his needs, much to his dismay.

"Thank you." Julian croaked, his forehead shiny with sweat as I handed him his fifth glass of water in an hour. "I think I'll be okay now. Please go take a break."

"No, Jules! You look like absolute shit!" I protested, folding my arms with a frown as I stared down at him. "I'm considering getting you hospitalised!"

"No, no, no!" he groaned. "I'm fine, I swear! It's just the withdrawal."

"You know I hate you for getting yourself into this mess." I said as I scrambled around my room cleaning things up. I hadn't had the time to do any cleaning due to the craziness of the previous days. I threw a few dirty clothes into the corner of the room with a frown.

Julian spoke muffled into a pillow. "I'm sorry." he whined in a sorrowful tone.

"I know you are, but that still doesn't stop me from hating you for it." I said. "Not exactly the best birthday present to find you all cut and drugged up in a hospital." I threw one of my hoodies into the pile with a clenched jaw. Just thinking of that night again made me angry.

"Birthday present?" he sat up and frowned. "It was your birthday?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well...it was like 3 hours after midnight when we found you so technically, no."

Julian mouthed a line of profanities to himself and stood up. He paced around for a bit looking like he was in deep thought, then he perked up as if he had an epiphany of some sort.

"Jules, lay back down you freakin' idiot!" I yelped.

Julian shook his head in refusal, wiping away forehead sweat with the back of his hand. "I have...I have to go out."

"What?!" I rushed over and grabbed his arm. "No, Julian! I won't let you get any--"

"Not for drugs," he pulled away, rolling his bloodshot eyes. "...for something else." His brow was furrowed as he pulled on his jacket, refusing to look at me.

"No!" I called after him as he stumbled out into the living room and stopped at the front door. "You're too sick!"

"I'm fine." He slipped on his tattered Converse shoes and opened the door. "I'll be back soon."

I stood dumbfounded as the door slammed in my face. I thought about running after him, but I didn't have the energy. I was surprised he had more fight in him than I did with how sick he was.

I sat down on the sofa anxiously chewing my fingernails, hoping he would come back and wasn't out getting drugs. I contemplated whether or not to call Albert and tell him, but I couldn't pull him out of work. I guess I'd have to do the next best thing.

"Hello?" Fab's voice sounded a lot more husky than usual, signalling he'd just woken up.

"Fabrizio! Did I wake you?"

"Uh, yea--No, no!" Typical Fab...always trying to be polite.

"I did." I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, man. It's noon! Why're you still in bed?"

"We had a late night." I could picture him shrugging with a soft smile.

"What'd you boys get up to?"

"A few of Nick's old friends invited themselves over and everyone got drunk." he yawned. "I didn't want to, but the peer pressure got to me!"

"Don't they teach you in high school not to fall victim to that shit?" I laughed to myself. "Well, anyways...do you think you could come over and hang?" I asked, playing with some loose thread on my T-Shirt. "Julian's just fucking left and I'm really worried because he's been so sick today! I could really use a friend right now to stop me from doing anything stupid." That was true. I really felt like jumping up to grab a beer or do a couple lines to lift my spirits, but I knew if I had someone to talk to, I'd be too distracted to even think about it. "Ah, fuck. It sounds like I'm using you. Look, I'd really like to see you as well, Fab. I still wanna catch up."

"You don't have to explain yourself!" I'll be right over."