Sinking Ships

Chapter Fourteen

            Fourteen

        “Eve, wait,” I call, running out the front door. She’s heading down the row of apartments, going towards the stairs that will take her to the parking lot.

            “Just let her go,” Kelsey mumbles from behind me. I turn around and meet her gaze. She appears to be jealous. “You have me now.”

            Ignoring her comment, I shut the door and start jogging towards Eve. I call after her but she doesn’t turn around until I grab her shoulder. I pull her towards me and turn her until we’re face to face.

            “What do you expect me to do, Fallon?” She asks, her eyes glassy. “Come in and join you? Be okay with the fact that you’re throwing away everything you’ve worked so hard to earn?”

            “It was just a little weed,” I mumble, avoiding her eyes.

            “Yeah, and then what’s next?” Her voice is getting angrier with each word. “Just a little meth?”

            I open my mouth to defend myself but close it without speaking. I have no idea what to say. Whatever reasoning I had given myself that it was okay to go back to my old lifestyle is completely gone. Now it seems stupid, and I hate the fact that I know Eve’s right.

            “I regret it,” I mutter, running my fingers through my hair. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

            “But you did,” she responds sternly. “You have a child, Fallon. What about Tyson? Do you want him to grow up in a house full of drugs? Do you want his childhood to be full of memories of you strung out on drugs?”

            I shake my head and Eve sighs. For a while, we stand there, avoiding each other’s eyes, not knowing what to say. Kelsey’s back only for a short time and already my new life that I’ve worked so hard to build is falling away in giant pieces.

            “All I want is for Tyson to have his Mom around,” I whisper.

            “You’re wrong.”

            Eve catches my gaze.

            “How am I wrong?”

            “You want Tyson to have his Mom. But Fallon, you also want Kelsey to love you again. You want her, whatever the cost is.” I start to object but Eve shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’ve seen the way you look at her, the way everything is different when she’s around. You’re doing everything to make sure she doesn’t leave again. It was never like that with me.”

            “Eve, I-“

            “No,” she snaps, holding up her hand as she cuts me off. “Save it. Whether you want to believe it or not, I’ll never be what Kelsey is to you.”