Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Tension

"Are you sure?" Albert's sudden interrogation spurt made me quiver with nerves. He knew something was up.

"Positive." I said with a forced smile.

Julian looked at the two of us quizzically. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Jules." I said to him, before turning back to Albert with an obvious death stare. He had his arms folded as he looked down at me with a frown.

"I sense tension." said Julian as he stood up and started to slowly back away out of the room. "I'll be in the, uh...shower."

As soon as we heard the bathroom door shut, Albert scowled at me disappointedly.

"I only had a few!" I whined.

"Why?!"

I shrugged, reverting my gaze to the floor.

"Jade," Albert sat down next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "...why?"

"You can't expect me to completely abstain from it immediately!" I said defiantly.

"That's doesn't really answer my question."

"Can we not do this when Julian's around?!" I hissed, pushing his hand off of me.

"He can't hear us."

I frowned. "You don't know that."

"If you keep talking like that, then yes, he's gonna fucking hear us!" He raised his voice quite threateningly.

"I-I'm sorry." I squeaked, backing away a little. I hated when Albert yelled at me, even if I really did deserve it. It always hurt.

His face quickly softened when he noticed my sudden hesitance toward him and he sighed.

"It's just so hard." I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Drinking makes everything go away for a while."

Albert said nothing and stood up. He then made a B-line to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He grabbed a few beers from it and placed them on the counter, turning back to grab a few more until the fridge was rid of alcohol.

"What...what are you doing?" I watched him confusedly.

With a bottle opener that he'd taken from our cutlery drawer, he quickly popped off all the lids from the bottles with an exasperated sigh. He then started pouring the beers in the sink, bottle after bottle. I watched him with an emotionless face the whole time.

After tossing the bottles in the trashcan, he walked back over to the fridge and reached up, grabbing a small bag of cocaine off of the top of it that we'd always save for parties.

Knowing what he was gonna do next, I jumped up and jogged over to him. "Aw, Albie c'mon!" I whined. "That shits expensive! Can't we just sell it or give it to Nick or somethin'?!"

He looked me in the eyes as he emptied the bag into the sink and turned the water on to flush it down.

I sighed, biting my tongue. I wanted to yell at him, but I knew he was doing it for the sake of my health and wellbeing. It would've benefited Julian too.

After he flicked the bag away I enveloped him in a tight hug, fighting back tears. "Thank you." I whispered as I rested my head on his shoulder. "You're too good to me."

"Remember how I told you to tell me whenever you felt like you needed a drink?" he said, stepping away. "I'm disappointed that you didn't."

"I hate to be a burden all the time."

Albert rolled his eyes with a soft smile. "You know you're not." He walked over to the counter and picked up the phone.

"Who are you calling at this hour?" My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. It was almost 10PM.

"We need something to lighten the mood," he told me, dialling a number. "...let's see who's in!"

I laughed to myself at the fact that I knew exactly who he was calling. I was getting kinda tired, but a visit from a few of my other best friends would lift my spirits. Since it was quite late, I knew they'd be staying the night if they came over.

I zoned out for a bit so I didn't quite hear Albert's phone conversation.

"Turns out one's asleep, and one is at a party, so that leaves...?" Albert paused for me to guess as he put down the phone

Nikolai usually went to bed early when he had work the next day, and Nick would've for sure been partying. Fab usually liked staying in some nights to work on art projects, so I nodded to myself with a smile when I finally pieced it all together. "Fabrizio!"

"Correct!" laughed Albert. "He'll be here in twenty minutes. I'm gonna go tell Jules to get outta the shower, because I don't feel like working extra shifts to pay for the fucking water bill again."