Baby Fat

fifty-six

The bane of Corrie's existence is merely two words.

Group. Therapy.

If Corrie had to pick his least favorite part of rehab, it'd be group. Listening to everyone talk about their experiences involving depression, drugs, alcohol, bad parents. It just makes Corrie feel ten times more depressed.

He knows that he shouldn't make depression jokes, you know, considering everything. But, he's being so serious.

And of fucking course, the therapist running group is named the most basic therapist name ever. Fucking Adam.

The name alone is enough to piss Corrie off. Especially when Adam walks into the room with a cup of Starbucks coffee and donuts for the group. It's a pretty small group, actually.

It definitely defied what Corrie was expecting. There's only eleven of them, minus Adam.

Corrie's the last one to walk in, as always. He's only three minutes late this time, which is a lot better for him considering last week he arrived ten minutes late.

Everyone looks at him as he waltzes in, which he doesn't mind. It kind of reminds him of high school, when he'd show up to class late. That feels like a lifetime away. He doesn't even know the person who walked those halls. Maybe it's best that way.

"Corrie! Wonderful, you're here." Adam smiles at him. He gestures to the empty chair right next to him.

Everyone's eyes follow him as he takes him time sitting next to Adam, as always.

"Great, now that you're here, we can finally talk about your exciting news!" Adam claps his hands together.

Corrie's face contorts up. "What good news?"

Adam actually laughs. "Oh, don't play coy, Corrie. Go on, tell the group!"

Everyone looks at him expectantly, waiting for him to say his news. Fucking Adam. "Yeah, so I got a release date."

Nobody looks that thrilled for him. Five of the girls who took interest in him clap, though.

"C'mon guys," Adam says, eyebrows furrowed. "This is great news! Our friend Corrie is going home soon!"

One boy, Manuel, looks completely disgusted. "That's bullshit."

Adam looks at him with a frown. "Manuel, this is great news for Corrie. What is upsetting you?"

Manuel bites the inside of his cheek and shakes his head. "This is fucking bullshit."

Corrie rolls his eyes at him. Fuck Manuel. He's always been a fucking Debby Downer.

"Shut the fuck up," Manuel snaps. Oops, did he say that aloud?

"Fuck off," Corrie bites back. The tension is suffocating for everyone. Manuel and Carlos are always going at each other's throats. They have been since Corrie's first day of group. Manuel is always looking for a fight and lucky for him, Corrie can't resist one.

"You're such a pretentious little asshat. A true Daddy's Boy. Of course you'd get out of here before I do."

"That literally makes zero sense, but okay?" Corrie squints at him, like he's confused. "I don't know how me being whatever you consider a Daddy's Boy even correlates with me getting the fuck out of here."

Manuel rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest in a slouch. "You don't even try. You show up late to group every single day. You don't ever participate in the discussion unless Adam forces you to. We don't know shit about you. You probably don't even have an addiction to anything. Your daddy just made you come because he thought you did and he wouldn't give you your car back unless you came."

Corrie wants to laugh at how ridiculous that is. He looks at Adam as if to say 'Is he fucking serious?'.

"Manuel, stop it. You don't know what Corrie has gone through. It took you a long time to form trust here as well." Adam takes a sip of his Starbucks and looks at the others in the group. They are all avoiding eye contact, used to the fighting.

"You want to know about me, Manuel? You want to know my story? Well fuck you, first of all. But, I am addicted to shit. Vodka, that's a good one, but any alcohol will do. The main attraction is coke. Snorting coke, smoking coke, shooting up coke. I loved it. However I could get in my system. Not to mention the Molly. God hail the Molly. Not to mention, fighting. That's addiction all," Corrie grows louder with each word, "On. It's. Own."

"Woah, woah," Adam stands up. "Corrie, go outside. Now. Manuel, come with me."

Corrie scoffs, but stomps out of the room regardless. He feels so frustrated he could hit something. Someone. He could beat the fuck out of Manuel right about now. That would feel great.

He's about ready to scream when someone interrupts him. "Manuel is stubborn and an asshole, but he's mainly just jealous."

It's another girl from his group named Sabrina. Today she's wearing light blue jeans with a faded red t-shirt. Her mint blue hair is framing her face in curls. She looks cute.

"Doesn't give him the right to be a dickwad about it." Corrie huffs.

She laughs, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "You're right, but you can't act like you're perfect. You literally show up late every single day, don't try, yet you're still getting out before him. He's been here a long time."

"So have I," Corrie mutters pathetically. He was a dick, but he doesn't want to admit it, okay?

"I've been here a long time too," Sabrina responds. "Manuel is a good person. I promise. He just...he just wants to go home like the rest of us."

"Wouldn't kill him to be a little nicer." Corrie purses his lips into a pout.

"The same could go for you," she cocks an eyebrow up. "But you don't see me picking a fight with you every chance I get."

Corrie stares at her like she's crazy. He practically sputters out his response. "Wh-what? I'm picking a fight? With him? Really?"

"Manuel has always been rude and blunt. You always choose to engage with him about it."

"Do not."

"You most definitely do," Sabrina shrugs her shoulders. "Don't worry. When I first got here, Manuel and I were at each other's throats twenty-four-seven."

"That's because he's an asshole."

"I never said he wasn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said that first." Sabrina bites her lip, thinking about what she was going to say next. "Look, you just make stuff extremely painful during group. None of us want to be there. You don't have to make that much more miserable for all of us."

Corrie frowns. "Oh. Sorry. I...I didn't even realize that it was bad for you guys too."

"That's because you only give a shit about yourself," Sabrina smiles.

"I guess I do, don't I?" Corrie scratches his head, feeling a bit confused.

Sabrina only laughs again. She turns around and walks back into the room for group, leaving Corrie more lost than ever.

Fucking Adam. This is his goddamn fault. Ugh. Making him announce his stupid news.

__________

☒ - unedited

Questions of the chapter: How will Manuel impact the book later on?

Please tell me if you see any mistakes, I'm the queen of typos.

How are you?

Life update:
- by the time you're reading this, i'm officially done with school for the summer!!!!!!!!
- next update: neeeeext weeeeeeek

Notes:
- i have to say thank you so much. thank you for dealing with my shitty updating schedule and thank you for putting up with my shitty writing. there are some OG's still here since the book was published two years ago. so thank you.

Thank you.

— dreamfloats