Riley Brooks appears to be leading a charmed life on the outside. On the inside, she's spiraling as a result of a toxic relationship. Once the relationship comes to a tumultuous end, she loses very nearly everything, her sanity included. As an effor...
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"For the third time, I'm telling you, I don't have to pee!"
From where I leaned up against the kitchen counter, I pursed my lips skeptically as I watched Meadow.
She was rocking back and forth on the couch, her shirt drenched in sweat and clinging to her body. She was withdrawing, that much was certain, but she was still stalling.
"Well, it's been nine hours," I said with a quick glance at the stove clock. "So you're either lying or you're really dehydrated."
"Yeah, I'm dehydrated!!" Meadow exploded, her eyes wild. "I'm shitting and puking my guts out. FUCK! What do you want from me?!"
For you to just pee already, goddamnit.
I would normally feel sympathetic towards her, but she had been so agitated and snippy that it wasn't difficult to keep my resolve. After all, I'd given her chance after chance after chance. I had shown her plenty of kindness.
I did not want to be here. I wanted to be with Landon. Coming back to Seattle from my parents house was like finally waking up from a nightmare and being with him was like basking under a warm sun. In my darkness, he was the light.
God, I loved him. Finally, I could admit that without cringing. He soothed me in ways I could not summon myself. He made me laugh until it was painful, until I had to beg him to stop. He showed me there were more than two sides to everything. And for someone who could not see some colors, he seemed to show every one of them. He never let me get consumed by my sadness, by my darkness. At this point, he had a keen sense for it, no matter how well I thought I was hiding it. He'd see me starting to sink and yank me back out into the light.
Even though I could admit that I loved him now, I still wasn't sure what to do about it other than agonize over it. This start of my weekly babysitting of Meadow sucked royally, but keeping my mind occupied with thoughts of Landon definitely helped.
Sometimes I felt Meadow glaring at my back and I knew it was because I was making her kick, but a small part of me worried she was somehow reading my mind.
"Well," I said, heading to the fridge and pulling out a cold bottle of water. "Drink two of these so we can be done with this."
I tossed one to her and she clumsily caught it in her shaking hands, almost dropping it in the process. She mumbled some colorful curse words under her breath as she uncapped it and hesitantly sipped it down.
After several more hours of Meadow vomiting, me giving her more water, sighing heavily, and constantly checking the time—it was getting dark out now—I noticed Meadow kept squeezing her legs together and ushered her into the restroom with me.
From there, I ordered her to get on the toilet as I pulled the cup from my purse. It had eleven panels on it, and I unfolded the instructions, reading them carefully. Then I flipped it over to read the key on the back. It told me the one red line in the control region was what I was looking for. I thought distantly that Meadow might try to sabotage the test and I made sure I would recognize the invalid result too; one red line at the bottom.
