Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Chapter 23 | The captors

Chapter 23 | The captors

When Lou spat sudsy toothpaste into the sink, blood splattered on the porcelain. He'd been brushing his teeth too hard and too often.

Going to that party the day Dominic and Cara had married was a mistake. A terrible, atrocious type of mistake that latched on him and getting out of it was the equivalent of tearing his skin.

They'd offered him drugs. He remembered refusing. For the first few times, he'd fought the temptation. But it was the sadness that cut off the restrictions. He just wanted to forget. To forget that Dom changed. That he owed Cara. That they'd married the day their father died.

And he'd said that to the girl who'd managed to make marijuana sound like the peace he'd been seeking.

He remembered, in that moment, as he watched her mouth shape the words—it'll make you forget everything—he'd given in. He'd stepped on everything Dom had ever taught him and sat silently as she brought the joint up to his mouth.

The first time he'd tried it, he experienced his first ever high. And in that despicable daze that consisted of him hallucinating and slurring, he'd found both solace and destruction.

Lou didn't realize how easily he could get addicted until it happened. The process was slow but strong. It started with "I just wanna try another one," then "I need more," to lastly "I can't live without more."

He was destroying himself and he was very well aware but he couldn't stop it at this point. He watched his bloodshot eyes in the mirror, the black shadows lurking just beneath them.

"Lou? What's exactly taking you so long?"

Lou froze. He finished up brushing then walked out of the bathroom. It'd been easy to hide the fact that he'd become a borderline addict, but now, standing in front of Dom, one scrutinizing look away from getting caught, his hand shook behind his back.

"Nothing," Lou quickly explained.

"Did you just brush your teeth? Right before dinner? Why the hell would you do that?"

"Yellow teeth aren't pretty."

Dom gave Lou a weird look. He'd sensed there was something wrong with Lou but Cara had been dismissing it incessantly. Maybe he was paranoid. Maybe he was still stuck up in the phase were Lou was a child and he needed to guide him into every step.

Dom walked to the kitchen and settled on the table beside Cara. Lou joined, eyes set on the two empty seats to his left. He looked back at Dom. The scrutiny directed at him was hypocritical. If Dom was assuming he'd gotten into drugs, did he have the right to yell at him for it?

Weren't tranquilizers types of drugs too? So, in the end, now they were both addicts.

Lou didn't exactly eat. He just fiddled with the food in his plate, bit off less than what a baby would consume, then stood and walked to the threshold.

"Where are you going?" Dom asked. "You didn't eat anything."

"I'm full I swear. I'm going over to my friends—"

"Who the hell are these stupid friends?"

This had Lou's heart dropping. He swallowed. "Just... people I know from school, obviously."

"You're not going anywhere."

Lou frowned. "But Dom—"

"I said you're not going anywhere. End of it."

"You can't force me."

"Oh really?" Dom raised a brow, this time with a tinge of amusement. "I dare you. Try to go out now."