the Secret Life of Damien Carmichael

2. AdamHimself31 (part III)

"I think we should see other people," Maddie announced rather suddenly during lunch on Friday. Damien sucked in a deep breath and simply nodded.

"Okay," he said. The writing had been on the wall for weeks, and he had told himself he was prepared for it.  A small part of him was even hopeful. Yet, however much he had thought he was prepared for the inevitability of their breakup when it finally happened, he couldn't help but feel like a failure. He had tried so hard to just be straight, and as with so many times before, he had failed miserably.

Rain poured down overhead in thick buckets, Damien had decided to skip his only class that afternoon and have a drink behind the school instead. Disappearing behind a thicket of trees that overlooked the lake, Damien pulled the bottle of vodka he'd stolen from his parent's liquor cabinet and a pack of cigarettes and settled onto the cold, wet earth beneath him.

A shiver ran up his spine, as he sat in the rain. He was mostly kept dry by the leaves, but occasionally a gust of wind pushed the rain into his face, as though mocking him. He didn't care. Westlake was suddenly cramped and overcrowded and he just needed a little bit of space to himself, to relax.

Lighting his cigarette, Damien settled against a tree with a sigh and opened the bottle of vodka, drinking straight from the bottle. Warmth seeped through his veins immediately, and within a matter of seconds, he felt marginally better. Less anxious, more calm. He took a drag off his cigarette and another sip of vodka, feeling all at once as though everything was going to be alright with the world. At least as long as he had this small ounce of freedom.

Closing his eyes, Damien listened to the sounds of the rain on the lake, and several birds flittering through the branches. It was quiet, and Damien thought he could almost fall asleep beneath the tree.

His peaceful retreat was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps on the muddy ground not far off. Growling, Damien snubbed his cigarette in the mud, burying it quickly, and stashed his alcohol. He was a good student, and he knew so long as no one saw anything he wouldn't be searched. Exhaling a breath of cold mountain air, Damien closed his eyes again and waited for the footsteps to pass, hoping he was hidden enough that someone would have to be determined to find him...

"Damien?" Carrie called. He might have known. He would have laughed, were it not for the fact that he had just snuffed out a perfectly good cigarette for nothing. Bugger.

"Over here," he said with a resigned sigh. There was no sense fighting it, she would find him sooner or later, and at least if he told her where to find him, she might allow them to sit in silence, and not give away his hiding spot. Carrie appeared beside him, almost instantaneously. Damien squinted an eye open in her direction.

"What are you doing sitting in the rain?" she asked, holding up a navy blue, Westlake umbrella.

"Dorms were too crowded, I needed fresh air," Damien said.

"I see," she said simply taking a seat on the muddy earth beside him. "Would this have anything to do with your breakup with Maddie?" she asked. Damien groaned and pulled out another cigarette. If everyone was going to know about his breakup, he might as well drown his sorrows in cigarettes and booze, he thought morosely. "Can I have one?" she asked.

"You smoke?" Damien replied. Carrie merely rolled her eyes, Damien chuckled and handed her a cigarette before lighting his own, then hers and took out the bottle of vodka again. "And you have vodka? Well, well, well, Carmichael, I never realized you were that kind of boy."

Damien smirked, taking a swig of vodka and handed it to her. "You have no idea."

Carrie nodded, and took a drag off her cigarette, "I'm impressed. Why'd she break up with you?" she asked taking the bottle and a mouthful.