The story of us

The past-Chapter 3

There I was at church on Wednesday night and I had just gotten out of the service. Rosie and I were attending Grace church in Middleburg Heights, on and off. Which really meant, if we're all being honest, whenever we felt like it or whenever we both had a ride there. I had started walking to the parking lot cause I noticed a few of my friends down by the woods skateboarding. Next thing I knew Rosie was walking with me and our destination was still the woods, but just by ourselves. I had a good idea of what she wanted to do, but once we got down to the woods, I realized I was completely wrong. We sat down in an old cut down tree stump. She pulled this little baggie out of her jean shorts. It looked like it had weed inside of the baggie, this time I was right. "What is that?!" I said in a very concerned and disgusted voice, inching myself away from her. "Brandon, I've been doing this for a while. It's not like it's bad for you. I feel like there are many reasons for doing this, but really I just wanna let loose and forget about what we've been dealing with lately." I looked at her confused. She knew that I was slipping away. She knew that I didn't want to be apart of this relationship anymore and I knew she was hurt, especially if she was taking it this far. "What do you mean by 'many reasons' and if you love me, why are you implying that I'm one of the reasons you're doing this?" I said getting up off of the tree stump. "Rose, what has gotten into you? I'm sorry, I don't know why you brought me down here. I don't know if you think I was actually going to do this with you, but Rosie, this isn't what I had in mind when I told you that I loved you for the first time. This isn't what I have in mind every time we talk about our futures. Rosie, this isn't me and you know it. I don't know if it's you, and I'm sorry if it is, but if it is it's over." I said turning my back to her and making my way back up to the church. This woman, what was running through her mind? She was getting ready to light up a joint right outside the church. It was all downhill from there.
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Now I know I've totally bashed Rosie and I'm sure you're thinking "Why in the world were you even with this girl if you never even liked her?" Now it's not that I never liked Rosie. There were moments when Rosie and I had a beautiful relationship. We had something that I had wanted forever, but as the months went on, those moments didn't happen as much. Rosie and I became more distant the more we fought and the longer the relationship lasted. Near the end of the relationship I was doing things that I hated to do, and she loved to do just so we didn't have to fight. It felt like neither of us liked each other anymore and the only reason we were still together was because we didn't want to be lonely.
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It was a warm summer night in late may. I was working another late night at Perkins and it was nearly time for me to clock out. It was 8:55 and I was allowed to clock out 9. I was on my phone because it's dead as usual, when all of a sudden a text appears at the top of my screen. "Movie tonight?" It was from Rosie. "Sure, who with?" I responded. "Nick and Jaylen." Was her response. Nick and Jaylen were an older couple that had just gotten together. I also knew that they were very into doing things that they weren't supposed to do. They picked me up from work at 9:15 and we were on our way to see some movie that I had never heard of and I still can't even remember.

I got into the black Kia and we drove off. Right away I could tell that she was being way more affectionate than normal. She snuggled up right next to me and next thing I knew she was kissing me and Nick and Jaylen were in the front seat minding their own business. By the time we got there we were 15 minutes late for the movie but again Rosie didn't seem to mind that at all. Nick started grabbing drinks from the passenger side floor and one of them was a liquor bottle and the other was a two liter of root beer. I popped open the liquor bottle and took a big sip. Then he opened the two liter and took an even bigger chug. I could tell this wasn't going to end well. Next thing I know Rosie had both bottles in her hand and she was chugging from both. I was so nervous and I had no clue what to do. Whenever your parent says "Don't ever drink alcohol."
Or "Don't ever smoke." My immediate response was "I'll never do that." My grandfather passed away when I was 7 years old because he was a serious alcoholic. My other grandfather had been in and out of jail and homeless shelters his whole life because he couldn't control his alcohol addiction. My father had left my family multiple times because he would go out on a drinking binge and do whatever he wanted. Alcohol had ruined my family's life for a very long time and I knew that I never wanted to do it. I had never wondered what it tasted like or what it would make me feel like, until now.

I watched her take one final sip and then hand me both bottles. I took a ginormous swig of the alcohol, and that's exactly what it tasted like. It tasted like straight rubbing alcohol. Then next thing I knew my throat was on fire and I was taking another swig of straight alcohol. No root beer, no chaser, no nothing, Just alcohol. It tasted awful. I still don't remember anything from that moment on.