Night in the Ruts

Milkshakes - Charlie

Nicky had hit the floor like a ton of bricks.  The worst part was, nobody did anything about it until I told them to!

        And what's more, they wouldn't allow me to go with them.  Steven made me go back to their apartment with Tom, where I sat not-so-patiently waiting for an hour.

        When they returned, Steven told me Nicky was fine.  But how does he know?  Is he there right now waiting for him to wake up?  No!  He's back here with me!

--

Steven took me home at around eleven.  Joe and his nice friend, Annie, weren't back yet.

        After a reassuring kiss, Steven left me to attempt to sneak into the house unnoticed.  Naturally, that wasn't expected to go well.

        The door creaked opened like the sound of a banshee screech, number one.  Number two, nearly every light was on in the kitchen.  Three, my mom was standing in the kitchen.  I made quick to move out of her line of vision, but it turns out she wasn't looking at me.  In fact, her eyes weren't open at all.

        Okay, it's one thing to see your parents–you know, mom and dad–kiss, but when it's your mom and her frickin' not-so-client Arthur, well...

        It's all I could do not to choke.

        I tiptoed quickly and quietly up the stairs and into my room, where I shut the door and proceeded to collapse onto my bed and bury my face in the pillow, suddenly very weak.  Something about knowing for certain that your mom is over your dad... it's a kind of crushing sensation.

        The night's events came crashing down on me then.  I had a thousand questions.  Why did Nicky overdose?  What caused it?  Why were there five girls and four single guys?  Why does Joe have two girlfriends?  Why wasn't I allowed to go with Nicky?  Why hasn't Nicky called?  What if he's dead?  Why is Arthur here?  Why did my dad have to cheat?  Why can't I have a normal life with two parents and only two parents?

        All those questions and more.  I didn't have a single answer to any one of them by the time I finally fell asleep, my eyes admittedly a little damp.

--

At six in the morning my clock rang and buzzed itself right off my night stand.

        Monday.  Awesome.

        I picked up the clock and slammed it to shut up, then shuffled to the bathroom, where I damn near had an aneurysm.

        I didn't think anything of the light being on; maybe Arthur left it on last night.

        But nope.  There, sitting on the counter looking like hell, was my best friend Nicky.  I gasped out a, "Holy shit!" before putting a hand on my heart that was going at about a mile a minute.

        "Charlie, Charlie," Nicky said quietly, trying to shush and calm me at the same time, "it's me."

        Yeah I fuckin' know it's him!

        I leaned against the wall behind me, sinking to the floor, still trying to catch my breath.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

        "Not really," I managed to choke out.

        He helped me to my feet, nearly falling over.  "What're you doing here?" I whispered.

        He shrugged.  "I... I dunno, really," he then said with a frown.

        "Does my mom know you're here?" I asked.

        Nicky nods with a smirk.