Gracy Featuring Stoey

Chapter 4

- 1 Month Later -

* Graser's POV *

I stared out the windshield, trying to concentrate on driving but overall failing.

Something about this didn't feel right. My brother? Going to rehab? Albeit the best rehabilitation center in North America, but still. Josh didn't seem at all like the type of person to be an addict. But hey, whaddya know, when I found a staggering collection of assorted illegal drugs at the back of his closet while looking for a pair of pants, I had realized anything was possible.

After I had been driving for some time, we passed a neon-green sign on the right-
California State Rehabilitation Center- 5 Miles.

I inwardly sighed. I wasn't going to get to see my brother for at least 2 months after this, and it was all his fault.

I shook my head at my juvenility, repressing the urge to bang my head against the dashboard, and continued driving.

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The trunk of the car slammed, making the car vibrate.

"Hey Zach, you have to sign me in," called Josh.

"Ok, coming," I replied distractedly, staring at the stark grey building in all of its depressing glory. The idea that my brother would have to spend 6 whole months in there vaguely nauseated me.

I pushed open the heavy metal door. The bored receptionist looked up. "Hi, I'm signing in a patient?" I said.

She looked at her computer. "Name?"

"Josh Graser."

She entered the name. "You're all set. Just go down the hall, up a floor, your room is the 6th on the right."

"Thanks." I called over my shoulder as we hurried down the corridor. We went up the stairs quickly, because I had heard some kind of loud noises from the floor below and I really wasn't prepared to face a bunch of loonys.

When we got to the 6th door on the right, we went in and started unpacking Josh's stuff. After a while of this, I got tired and went into the hallway to rest a little.

I slid down the wall to rest against the door, letting all the stress of the day flow out of me. Just then, the door to the room on the opposite side opened, revealing the tear-streaked face of... Stacy Hinojosa? Pause. What was she doing here?!

"Graser?" She said in her tentative voice.

"Stacy?!" I exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. I inwardly cringed. She thought I was a crackpot.

"I'm just helping my brother get his stuff unpacked, what about you?"

She sighed and slid down next to me. "It's a really long story." I froze. Yeah, yeah, I was overreacting to just the simple movement of Stacy sitting down, but I had had a crush on Stacy for so long that it was impossible not to think of this as a big deal.

She went on. "So you remember my boyfriend? Joey Graceffa?"

Yes, how could I not? I had been jealous of him and how easily he reeled in Stacy, always wishing I could have gotten to her before he had. "Yeah?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, one day I found out he had been struggling with alcohol/drug abuse. It was actually probably about a month ago."

She now looked on the verge of crying (again, from the looks of the dried tear stains on her cheeks).

"So I brought him to this place. It was the only place I could think of, and said to be the best rehab center in the country. When I get here, though, it's anything but. I just want to take him home, but he calms me down, saying that I'll be able to visit him."

She's actually crying now. Come on Graser, it's not that hard, just reach out and hug her. You can do it.
But of course I don't, being the scaredy-robot I am.

She goes on. "And today, I got a call from the center. They said-"

She is now crying too hard to stop. I mentally slap myself. Graser, just reach out and hug her!!!!

So I do.

She stiffens, so I pull back. I backtrack. "What did they say?"

She crumples. "They said that Joey had gone missing!"

Oh.

a/n: not much to say here!
comment your best memory!

♡•.*