In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

37

I was feeling so good from the little half of a pill, but it was going to wear off soon, and I knew it. Then I'd be hurting again, and not able to enjoy myself. Maybe I should just take the other half. Just for tonight, so that I wouldn't be a burden to anyone. Yeah, that would be fine. I wasn't taking it for a high or anything, just to relieve my pain. The way they were supposed to be taken. I took the few steps back to the sink, and opened the medicine cabinet. When I closed it, I opened the pill bottle, and poured them out into my hand so that I could find the half one. When I glanced up, I saw myself in the mirror. Standing there, with a hungry look in my eyes, and a lot of pills sitting in my hand. I closed my eyes against the image for a moment, then looked at my reflection again. No. I was better than this. I wouldn't do it. I was making excuses, trying to make it okay that I was going to take this pill, but it wasn't okay. There was no reason for it. I wasn't in pain right now. No. I poured the pills back into the bottle and set it behind the box of tampons again. I could fight this and I would win. I was strong enough...I just had to remember that. I sighed, and leaned over the sink, staring at myself for just a moment. Towels. Where had I set them? I turned around and found them on the back of the toilet, where I had sat them. I grabbed them up, and walked out of the bathroom, never looking back. I found Amber still in my room, looking at her reflection while she posed in the yellow bathing suit that I had let her borrow. I had to admit, the color emphasized her tan skin, and made her curves stand out even more than they already did. She looked amazing, and I had to admit that I was a little jealous. I could never look that good in that bathing suit. "Hey, you ready?" I asked, grabbing my long t-shirt and sitting it on top of the towels. She glanced over to me, startled, and blushed. "Yeah, I'm ready. Just checking out how this suit looked." I grinned at her. "It looks amazing Amber. You're gonna have to beat the single guys off of you when you walk out there looking like that." She fidgeted nervously, and twisted a strand of her hair. "Stop it. No, I won't. But maybe I wouldn't mind Aryia looking at me." I bit my lip, thinking about how I knew that Aryia was a recovering addict as well. It was usually not a good idea to put two recovering addicts together like that. Plus, I had recently found out that Kenzie had the hots for him. Apparently, they had run into each other when she went to the Trap House to hang out with Katrina. They had struck up a conversation and she really wanted to see where it was going to go. "Hey, maybe Aryia isn't such a good idea. He's a recovering addict too, and you know how that goes. We usually can't be trusted on our own with another addict. Also, he and Kenzie just recently started talking." "Oh," she replied, pausing as she grabbed her phone off of the dresser. "Okay. That's fine." She didn't meet my gaze, but I just assumed that she was disappointed and didn't want to let it show. I knew how that was. When someone could tell exactly how you were feeling because your face and eyes would give it away. Eyes are the windows of a person's soul, right? When she looked back up to me, she had a big smile plastered onto her face. "Okay, let's make an entrance! We look H O T!" I laughed, as she did a little shimmy, and followed her out of my room. When we made it back to the back yard, I set the towels down on the table and looked around. We didn't make much of an entrance. No one was paying attention to us at all, since they were all still doing various activities. Sarah and Kenzie were in the pool with Aryia, Tavan, and Chazz. Sam and Colby were at the grill with Brennen, while Corey, Elton, Jake, Tara, and Devyn were laughing and talking near the other side of the pool. Someone was missing. I racked my brain trying to think of who all was here, concentrating so hard that I didn't even notice the shadow move closer to me. "Hey, you okay?" I jerked and yelped just a little, looking up at the face of the person who had snuck up on me. "Elias! You scared me," I replied, placing my hand over my heart. He chuckled. "Sorry. Didn't intend too. You were just so lost in your own world. I wanted to make sure that you were okay. Colby told me about what happened...the accident, I mean. He said that you weren't doing all that great yet, but you look fine to me." I shrugged and looked down so that he wouldn't see the lie in my eyes. "Yeah, I feel okay. Some days are better than others, ya know? I'll probably pay for this tomorrow but I'm determined to have a good time." I looked back up and smiled. "Hey Eli, you trying to steal my girl brother?" I glanced over to where I heard Colby's voice and grinned. Elias, stepped closer to me, and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me against him. "Damn right. She's too good for you," he said, winking at me but he smiled at Colby. Colby laughed and stopped in front of us. "You're right about that," he said smiling at me with that breathtaking smile that still never failed to make me weak in the knees. His eyes traveled up and down my body, making it hard to breath much less stand. "I love your choice of suits. How do you still have that?" he murmured, his stare so intense, I couldn't speak.  "How are you feeling?" I rolled my eyes at his worried glance, but smiled, recovering from my momentary lack of common sense.