Washed Away (Brandon Rogers)

Chapter 3

Brandon's POV

Cat walked in to join me in the kitchen, right as I was finished brewing the coffee. She looked uncomfortable, gobbled up the fruit and gulped the coffee and walked out. Maybe I should've just let her sleep on the couch. She looked so warm though. Next thing I knew I was asleep too. I decided to draw her another bath. It seemed to work yesterday. As I went through her bag for some clothes, I found a bunch of white powder all over, I brushed it off the clothes.
"Must be baby powder." I assumed, and set the clothes on the laundry basket.
"Cat, wanna bath? It's ready for you." She shrugged and pushed past me to the bathroom. I left her be, about 30 minutes and she walked back out. She was stunning. A beautiful yellow mini sundress with daisies all over it, her curly black hair poofing out with great volume. Despite her beauty, she looked empty. Lacking emotion.
"What's wrong?" I walked up to her, and looked into her eyes with concern. She stared back, her face relaxing and her pouty lips parting ever so slightly. I leaned in and hugged her, and she hugged me back. She buried her face into my neck, and began to sob. I almost started crying, I don't know why. She held onto me and cried for about 5 minutes, and finally spoke up.
"Can I have some water please?" I nodded and walked her to the kitchen where I got her some ice water. We sat down on the couch and I adjusted the coffee table. She drank a generous amount before setting it down,
"Why are you so nice to me?" I sat for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not sure what it is about you, but you're captivating. You know I only had one intention when I first met you, but now I want to help you in any way I can. It's sudden, I know but I think you're amazing. I just want to know why you're so shut down." She listened intently, nodding lightly as I spoke. She sucked in a breath, and began speaking again.
"I've never had a friend like you. Everyone always pretended to be nice for a while, then turned on me. My ex, Wes, hit me and I left. You know that, but I've just been thinking that maybe I deserve to be treated like that. I have serious issues, so isolating myself is the only way I know how to avoid being abandoned." I can't believe she feels like this. She continued and said had been betrayed time and time again, and when she left an abusive relationship she felt like she's the one who did him wrong. I looked at her with pain in my eyes. She ended with,
"but it's whatever, I'll just live in the now I guess." I nodded, and got her some more water. After a couple hours of talking and drinking water, she got tired and went to sleep. I covered her with a blanket and went to lie down. For some reason, talking seemed to knock both of us out. Good thing too, I had some work to do the next day.

Cat's POV

I snorted as I woke up, snuggled up on the couch and surprisingly well-rested. I searched the apartment for Brandon, but he wasn't there. I walked into the kitchen for some coffee and noticed a sticky note on the fridge.

Cat,
I have somewhere to be today, I'll most likely be gone all day. Please take care of yourself.
-B

"Huh.." I thought for a moment while sipping my coffee. You could say I had a look of "I wonder what kind of trouble I'll get into today" on my face. When I finished my coffee, I put the mug in the sink, and shuffled to my duffel bag. I unzipped it, and swore when I was met with white powder all over.
"Fuck!" What if Brandon saw it when he had me take a bath? I removed my belongings from the duffel bag and did my best to clean up the cocaine, while preserving the untouched stuff in a new plastic bag. I swore over and over as my drugs were everywhere. I found Brandon's vacuum, and cleaned it out of his carpet. I returned my clothes bag to the bag and held up the coke in front of me. I shouldn't...but I really should. I dug through my bags for a card, settling with a target gift card. I scooped some of the coke onto the dinner table and organized it into 5 thin white lines. I rolled up a dollar bill, and snorted the powdery substance. Euphoria and relief flowing through my veins, it strengthened with every line, and by the 5th line I was so high I couldn't remember how to swallow. I sat in the chair for hours, maybe even minutes before the high wore off. I heard the door unlocking, and scrambled to my feet, wiping my face and the table with a wet rag. However, I wasn't as quick as I thought because there was Brandon, staring at me from the doorway in pure horror.
"What..the fuck?" He managed to push out a few words. I stood like a deer in the headlights, thinking of what to say.
"I..it's sugar.." I wiped up the rest of the coke off the table and my face and shoved past Brandon. Why did he have to come home so early? I grabbed my phone and purse, stormed out, and began my walk far away from here.

Brandon's POV

I stood in the doorway, staring at Cat as she rushed to clean up her drugs. She looked at me in terror, her upper lip with traces of the coke on it.
"I..it's sugar.." she lied blatantly and wiped the rest up leaving the rag on the table. I didn't move, as she grabbed her purse and left. Was my Cat on drugs? Had I really just called her my Cat? What the fuck is going on? I opened her contact on my phone and called her, expecting her to ignore.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cat..can you please come back? I just wanna know what's going on." With that, she hung up and soon enough she had come back. I opened the door when she knocked and hugged her. She stood still, but I didn't let go. I led her into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As I did this, I asked her why she started doing drugs.
"I started years ago, Brandon. I've gone days without it and when I saw it all over my duffel bag I had to have more." So that's what that white stuff was...definitely not baby powder. She undressed right in front of me, so I covered my eyes and made my way out of the bathroom.

"I'll be in my room when you're done."

"Wait..can you stay? Just sit on the toilet maybe." I replied with a quick "sure" and sat on the toilet as she sang under the hot faucet. Her voice was heavenly. I almost fell asleep when she turned the water off and asked for the towel. I handed it to her and she stepped out wrapped up. She smiled lightly at me and walked out toward my room. I followed shortly after  and sat on my bed next to her.
"So.. can you please stop?" Stop what?

"Stop what?"

"You know, the whole 'I care about you' business."

"But I do. I care about you deeply, Cat. It's only been a few days but I really care." She shrugged and leaned in to hug me, said a quick goodnight, and laid down under the covers. She was fast asleep in just a few minutes, so I kissed her forehead gently, and laid down next to her, being sure to keep my distance by placing a pillow between us.
"Goodnight, Kitty," I whispered. She must've woke, she turned over and gently grabbed my hand before going back to sleep.

• • •

Gah! I don't wanna move them along too fast but I don't want to make the build super long. I think this part was pretty hard, with my sensitivity to drug use and how if I went through it again I'd most definitely swan dive into Brandon's arms. Anyways, please enjoy, I'm gonna attempt to post every day or so <3 all feedback is highly appreciated

~Aya