THE INEVITABLE │ t.h

EIGHT

"What's up?" Venus questions Jocelyn as the girl storms into her apartment a couple days later. "Joss?"

"I'm fucking losing it," she huffs.

"Joss?" Venus questions once more, hoping she'd elaborate.

"Michelle — I just came back from hers." She pauses, quickly swallowing the sobs back down her throat before they could surface. "I think she's using again, Vee."

Venus's breath hitched, tears welling in her own eyes. She shook her head and denied the assumption.

"I have proof, Venus," she growls. She whips her phone out of her pocket and unlocks it, showing her best friend the pictures she'd swiped before fleeing her apartment.

One contained a zoom in of Michelle's eyes in a picture with a friend that was posted on the friend's Instagram recently — they were more than bloodshot.

Another showed new bruises and sites of injections that speckled the inside of Michelle's arms and thighs. The veins around them seemed to bulge a bit.

The last one was of Jocelyn's chipped nail polish fingers holding up a needle and a spoon, an open drawer in the background, a lighter found in it if you looked closer.

"Joss-"

"Don't tell me she fucking isn't," she barks. "Don't cover for her. She's using again! And I don't know what to do."

"Jocelyn," Venus frowns, pushing the phone back toward her best friend, "maybe they're old — she might have a hard time tossing those."

"Venus," Jocelyn grits, "she tossed her old equipment before she went to therapy." Venus heaves out a loud sigh, biting her bottom lip. She embraces her best friend and lets her cry on her shoulder for quite some time.

"Joss," she finally speaks, softly, "you need to talk to her. If she denies using again, she needs to go back to therapy. If she admits to it, reward her for not lying. But give her the option to quit on her own or go back to therapy before she relapses again."

Jocelyn took a shaky breath in and out, nodding her head. "Okay, Vee," she gulps. "I will." Jocelyn unraveled herself from her best friend's grip and headed for the front door. Before she opened it, she turned back to Venus, giving a longing stare. "I love you."

"I love you too," Venus replies, feeling the weight on her chest continue to push down. It eventually snapped her ribs in half as soon as the door shut and Jocelyn was on the other side. She covered her mouth to hide the sob that attempted to escape from it, squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears, and gulped down the screams. Her head shook side to side slightly, not wanting to believe Jocelyn was going through this again.

Michelle was a kind soul who didn't know her worth at times. Drugs were her escape from the shitty world, and she talked of how safe and content she felt in the hold of the high. When Jocelyn came around, she'd found a substitute for the aftermath of her usage, but her body didn't enjoy cutting off the drugs. So she continued. A rehab center was called immediately — Jocelyn unable to watch the love of her life go through all this pain of trying to quit alone. There was only so much Jocelyn could do.

Michelle came back from rehab with a fresh attitude and a permanent smile. She never stopped giving Jocelyn affection, constantly thankful for all Jocelyn had done for her.

"You put me on the path of success," Michelle had spoken with a warm smile. "I will never be able to repay that debt, but I can sure as hell give you all the love, attention, and happiness you deserve."

Michelle eventually found her profession and applied for law school almost instantly. Both Venus and Jocelyn cheered her on and supported her throughout every exam, quiz, presentation, and lecture. They went to her debate meets as well as the practices and clapped every time her case won. She only lost once, and it was because she had forgotten one of her main points due to the lack of sleep the night before. Those kinds of things use to give Michelle night anxiety, making her unable to rest. Venus and Jocelyn took shifts to help her relax, it eventually working on Jocelyn's second shift.

Now, Michelle had felt worthless all over again. Her fingers had picked up the needle and paid for the drugs and injected it deep into her veins. Venus knew Jocelyn was feeling more than helpless in these horrible times, wanting to do everything to pick her best friend back up and remind her of how powerful she was. Same to Michelle.

But her phone ringing silenced her crazed thoughts, her reminiscing mind. She shook her head to clear it after reading the Caller ID and before answering with a cheery voice.

"Is this a bad time?" Tom questioned. Venus could hear the stress in his voice by how it strained and seemed to hold tension.

Venus cleared her throat, shaking her head as she repeated a few times, "No." She took a deep breath before continuing, "What's up?"

"I'm so sorry," he huffs, "but my daughter — Evelyn — she needs a babysitter."

Venus would've chuckled at the situation that had surfaced, but with the mood she was in, she couldn't find a single thing amusing. "When?" she questioned.

"In about an hour? I need to prepare for an unexpected meeting right now and then I'll be back a few hours after I leave," he explains.

"You are asking me to watch her, aren't you?" Venus questioned, wanting clarification as to avoid future embarrassment.

"If that's okay," he responds. "If you're busy, I totally understand. It's just- my usual babysitter canceled and nobody's answering my calls, except for, now, you-"

"Tom," Venus spoke, interrupting his tangent. He gulps, softly answering with a yes. "I'll be over in forty five minutes, okay? Get ready for your meeting."

"Thank you so much," he chuckles, relieved. "I owe you one."

"No," Venus interjects, "you really don't."

"Are you sure you're okay to watch her?" he questions. "You sound very serious and a little upset." Venus huffs out a sigh, deciding to keep this from him. It definitely wasn't her place to tell Michelle's story, and he didn't have time for her to vent anyhow.

"Y-yeah," she responds. "Tell Evelyn I'm excited." She tried her best to sound joyful, but she knew it had failed.

"I'm always here to talk, Venus-"

"Tom," she interjects once more, "go."

"Okay," he sighs. "Thank you again."

"Anytime."