Afterwards: An "After" Fanfiction

Chapter 17: Drag Me Down

Hardin barely had time to bemoan the fact that Tessa had dragged him to his step brother's home. All he could manage as Landon helped Tessa carry him out of the van was an eye-roll and an annoyed scowl. Seconds later, Hardin sprinted to the bathroom and got sick with his head in the toilet.

"Welcome to my house..." Landon sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as Tessa reluctantly stepped into the foyer. The sounds of Harden retching in the other room echoed uncomfortably from down the hall. Eventually, Landon led Tessa into the kitchen to give his step brother some space. "Thanks for calling me. I assure you, he hasn't don't this in a very long time. It used to be a once-a-week event for Hardin back in the day."

"What do you mean, 'once-a-week'?" Tessa's eyes grew wide as her stomach churned. Had Hardin just been hiding this side of himself from her? Is this who he really was deep down? From a distance, she heard him throw up once again. "Is he going to be okay?"

Landon rubbed his chin. "I'll explain later. How bad are we talking this time? Do you know what he took?"

Reaching into her purse, Tessa placed each item of confiscated paraphernalia onto the kitchen counter. With each additional item, she noticed Landon's face growing paler. "This is all of it. I stopped him before he could get to the rest of the pills, though."

"Holy shit."

She watched as the other hurried to one of the cabinets under the sink, throwing several cleaning products aside until he pulled out a small locked box.

"I think we're gonna need the Narcan." His tanned hands ran over a small bottle of nasal spray. "His dad, Ken, kept this close by in case Hardin ever overdosed. We never had to use it, but judging by the amount of drugs you just put on the counter we shouldn't take any chances."

Tessa's heart pounded forcefully in her throat and her delicate hands were clenched into fists. She was utterly torn between anger and worry. Part of her thought that Hardin deserved this, that he had done it to himself and should face the consequences. The other part desperately wanted him to be okay.

"Let me take care of him, maybe you can take all that stuff to the upstairs bathroom to flush it while I administer this." Landon instructed. He watched the girl's hands shake as she picked up a bag of cocaine, and he made his way over to put a hand on her shoulder. "I know this can't be easy for you. It definitely wasn't easy for me to see my brother like that the first couple times. But we will help him through this. The only reason he stopped doing all this in the first place was because he met you. Just don't give up on him...not yet." He left to go check on Hardin after that.

After releasing a shaky breath, Tessa nodded and headed to the guest bathroom with her arms full of illegal items. When she had first met Hardin Scott, she never imagined she would be in his step father's house flushing drugs down the toilet. She could have walked right out the door and called a car, never to think about Hardin again. For some reason, unlike her father, she saw some kind of hope behind Hardin's eyes. Unlike her father, she somehow believed Hardin could kick his old habits.

Noah's warning buzzed around her head like a distant echo: "As much as you want to try and change everyone for the better, you have to know that you can't." It was true. But at the same time, Landon's admission made her believe that she could. If  that was also true, that she was the reason Hardin had stopped doing drugs in the first place, maybe she could be the one that would stop him for good.

"I'm fine I don't fucking need your help!"

Hardin's voice jolted Tessa out of her memories. Without considering the consequences, she hurried back down the stairs and let her feet carry her into the powder room.