"SHOULD I EVEN ask what happened?" Lindy said as she and Kurt walked into her apartment.
They were both drenched from the rain, their hair matted against their faces and their clothes sticking to their bodies. If she had not just witnessed such unfathomable insanity back at Lake Washington, Lindy would have suggested to Kurt that they take a hot shower together.
Kurt pulled his sopping t-shirt off and tossed it on the ground, exposing his bare chest. Lindy looked away so he wouldn't see her reaction to how deathly skinny he had become.
"You already know. It's the same old shit. It only got worse when I realized I hadn't called you and I got upset in front of her."
"Okay . . . so how does this help anything?" Lindy asked patiently. She genuinely wanted to know what resolution Kurt saw in leaving his house with her, right in front of a watching Courtney.
"Because I needed to be with you anyway. Your dad's funeral was today."
"We've got to be more fucking careful than this, Kurt."
"I'm tired of being careful. Fuck it. If she knows, she knows. She's doing the same damn thing."
Kurt stomped forward and pulled Lindy against him, kissing her lips with breathtaking intensity. He pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes.
"I'm going to quit, Lindy, I promise you. But I need you to be there while it happens. It's going to be so fucking hard but I need you."
Lindy, alarmed by Kurt's blunt announcement, grabbed both of his arms and tried to look into his eyes by lilting her head downwards.
"What are you saying? You're quitting?"
"I'm giving it up," Kurt enunciated. It was an unyielding mechanism that allowed Kurt to skirt around the actual word, 'heroin.' It was so much like him to avoid even a simple word.
"You want to be here for that?" Lindy reiterated nervously. Heroin withdrawal was no joke. She was entirely aware of what would happen to Kurt once his body registered that it wasn't getting its daily dose of heroin through his bloodstream. It was a sight unsuitable for the faint-hearted.
"Yes because you're the only person who can get me through it."
Kurt gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyelids even more tightly shut. Lindy inspected his face and felt a cold slap of realization.
"Fuck," she whispered. "You're already withdrawing."
"I'm fine!" Kurt snapped. "Courtney fucking found my last stash and flushed it this morning. So now's the perfect time to start. I've just got to stay here. Don't send me back."
"I would never send you back," Lindy said. She wrapped her arm around Kurt's waist and led him to her bedroom, helping him down onto the mattress. He was breathing hard, holding his stomach. She hadn't even noticed that the rain had dried on his face, and it wasn't water coating his forehead; it was sweat.
"Do you need anything?" Lindy questioned, pulling the sheets up Kurt's chest as she saw a shiver ripple down his body.
"No. Can you lay with me?"
