Light and Dark

Chapter 25

"Where have you been?" Dmitry questions before realizing something. "You're drunk..." I set my hands on his chest, slowly running them up and down his chest and abdomen. He stares down at me. He can't help but smiling because he is also drunk, although much less than me. I slide my hands back up and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing up against him. His hands slide down my body, grabbing my hips tightly. We don't move, just stare at each other. A hand grabs my shoulder, pulling me back roughly.

"When did you become a slut, who hangs around low lifes?" Pierre drunkenly interrogates me with a tight grip on my arm. I try to yank away.

"Leave me alone." I slur slightly while trying to pull away.

"Hey." I hear Dmitry say behind me.

"What do they have that I don't?" Pierre continues to tightly grip me my arm and it hurts.

"Let go, you're hurting me..." I grab his hand and try to pry his hand off my arm. He jerks me close to him and gets in my face. I smell the beer on his breath. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dmitry steps in between us.

"Lay the fuck off, Pierre. She told you to leave her alone." Dmitry has a death grip on Pierre's wrist, up in his face. I hide behind Dmitry and Pierre finally let's go of my arm. Dmitry shoves Pierre back and turns, wrapping an arm around me and leading me through the crowd of people toward the door. The door is already open when we get to it and he helps me down the stairs because at this point I can barely walk. I look at my arm, seeing the bruise already forming. I lean my weight against Dmitry. Tears begin to fall, ruining my makeup before I know it. Dmitry leads me across the street to his car. As he unlocks the door, footsteps run up behind us and Dmitry turns.

"Hey, are you okay?" I look back and through my blurred vision I see the guy that was in the car with Detective Fields. Dmitry opens the car door.

"She'll be okay. I'm taking her home." Dmitry answers for me, but the guy does not listen to his answer.

"Are you okay, miss?" The guy questions again, wanting me to answer for myself.

"Yes." I reply and try to give him a reassuring look, but that is difficult to do while drunk and crying. He nods and begins to back off, looking back at us several times. Dmitry helps me into his car and shuts the door. When he gets in, he leans over and grabs some napkins from the glove department. He offers them to me.

"Y-You can't take me h-home." I tell Dmitry. "My parents will kill me." Dmitry nods, watching me and thinking. I wipe my tears with my hands. Dmitry pulls away from the curb. I struggle to pull off my jacket.

After long silence, Dmitry talks, "I thought you two were friends." I'm drifting a lot, not paying attention to where he is taking. The one time I do look out the windshield, I see Dmitry swerve out of the lines.

"He changed." I say and go silent for the rest of the short drive. We are outside of Chase's apartment complex. I open my door and stumble out of the car. Dmitry catches me when I trip trying to step onto the sidewalk. Dmitry practically carries me up the stairs and to Chase's door. He bangs loudly on the door and I lean against him heavily. After some time, Dmitry bangs again on the door. He looks down at me and moves hair out of my face. The door opens fast and Chase stands there in sweatpants with his hair dripping wet. I smile when I see him. His eyes immediately drop and look at what I am wearing.

"Chase!" I exclaim and Dmitry begins to help me inside, walking past Chase without saying a word.

"What happened?" Chase questions and goes on the other side of me, stopping Dmitry from taking me to the couch and taking me to the bed.

"She got drunk, obviously, and her old friend was being a dick." Dmitry responds and I flop on the bed, rolling over and grabbing a pillow.

"Pierre?" Chase immediately connects. Chase comes closer and pulls the blanket over me. He turns and faces Dmitry.

"It's hot." I kick the blanket off of me. Dmitry says something, but I am not paying attention.

"Are you drunk too?" Pierre leans down and pulls the blanket back up.

"Not as drunk as her." Dmitry responds and I wiggle out of my pleather tight skirt and throw it at Chase. He just flinches as it hits him and I laugh, rolling over.

"Can I sleep here tonight? I barely made it here." Dmitry questions.

"Sure."

The sun is way too bright and I smother it out with a pillow over my head. My head is pounding. I should never drink again. That was really dumb of me to do last night. I roll over to the edge of the bed with the pillow still pressed against my head. I move it a little and see a glimpse of messy bedding on the floor beside the bed. I pull the pillow back more and see Chase asleep in the mess of bedding. I drag myself out of bed from the foot to avoid stepping or tripping on Chase. I walk with my eyes barely open to lessen the amount of light shining in my eyes. I search the kitchen for aspirin, Advil, ibroprofen, or something similar to help with my killer headache. I turn and look around. From this angle in the kitchen I see Dmitry asleep on the couch. I wander into the bathroom and look around. I find a bottle of advil and take a few of the red pills with some water before leaving the bathroom. I run directly into Chase and jump, startled. He reflexively grabs both of my arms on each side of me, steadying me.

"Sorry, are you okay?" He questions and tilts his head, staring down at me. I take a step back into the bathroom which is darker than where I was standing.

"Yeah... I'll be okay."