Alex takes a deep breath. The vile feels good in his hand, even though what's inside is not good for him. It's comforting. Alex stands up and tells Lear to take a seat.
"Are you ok?" Lear asks.
"Uh, that's what I'm here to talk about." Alex says.
"I can leave." Aaron says and starts to get up.
"No, stay. I need you here. It seems less intimidating." Alex says. Aaron nods. Whatever he can do to help.
"I'm concerned. What's going on?" Lear says.
"I haven't been fully truthful with you. In fact I haven't been truthful with anyone. I have a drug addiction dad."
"WHAT?!" Lear looks at Alex.
"Calm down please. I'm begging you to. It's the only way that I'm going to get through this. I've been on steroids for about five months now. It was right after Aaron got out of his coma. I got the first dosage from Grayson and Ethan. It was way before the whole situation but I started to take it seriously when I needed a boost. I did it occasionally but as summer came I started heavily doing it. I didn't think it had much effect on me until I started becoming dependent on it. I started working out and going back to football practice. I upped my dosage and it had horrible effects. Acne and slight hair loss are the least of my worries. I developed even worse anger issues then I already have. I previously was in an abusive relationship. It went both ways, but it was mainly my fault. It got worse when I started abusing drugs. Last week I lost my temper and hit Lauren. It was harder than I have ever hit her before. I don't have any idea of what damage it did, but I'm sure it's a lot. I'm not proud of it, but I'm being straight forward about it. Today I took my last hit. I got for cheap from some kids on my team. Before I was getting from one guy on my team that was reliable, but I spent more of my allowance money this week and couldn't afford that. What I have here....." He holds up the vile. ".....is laced. I didn't know and Aaron found me knocked out in my room. I'm scared this addiction could lead to a bigger addiction to harder drugs. I need help." He said that the best he could without getting emotional. It lifted a heavy weight off of his shoulders.
"I-I don't know what to say" Lear stutters. He's overwhelmed and shocked. He knows that Alex has done a lot of mischievous things but this is serious and not one of the things that he would expect from Alex.
"Before you get mad, I told you because I need help. I wouldn't have told you otherwise. I trust you and respect you more than you think. I really can't handle much criticism right now and I want help before I get punishment." Alex pleads. Aaron stays silent.
"Let's go talk to your mother." Lear says. Aaron pats Alex on the back for comfort. As Lear and Alex get up, Alex signals for Aaron to come with. It's a sense of comfort to have him there. It's a less feeling of judgement. He knows he's there and wants to help and wants him to get help. Aaron follows along.
The car ride is dead silent. Mariah is asleep and so is Kian. It's a school night so that's what they would expect. Sherry looks like she was awoken from this. Alex goes through his whole story and apologizes for waking her up. She looks as though she's seen a ghost. She and Lear walk off to get a minute to talk about it.
"I'm proud of you." Aaron says and rubs Alex's back. For the first time in a long time, Alex walks over to him and gives him a hug. Not a side hug, but a real one. Aaron's taken back a little, but hugs him back. It takes him back to when they were kids. Alex hugged Aaron when they found out their parents died. That's the last time this has happened. Alex breaks away from the hug when his parents comes in. They ask him to take a seat.
"We're extremely disappointed in you but we're not mad. We heard your ask for help and we respect that. We want to do all that we can to help you. We want you to have a future though. It's going to be hard for you to proceed through life if you go to rehab publicly. We're going to do this the best way we can. That starts by clearing out your room and making sure you have weekly checks. Can I have the dosage you have on you now?" Sherry asks. He hands over the vile. She stuffs it in her pocket. They'll talk about the rest later but right now they ask Alex to stay at Sherry's until they can get a full inspection of his room. Lear drives himself and Aaron back home so that they can get rest. Aaron hadn't said much, if anything at all. He can tell how stressful this situation is. He doesn't even want to even think about what Alex is going through or what's going to happen. It's a little overwhelming for him. He can feel himself feeling like he did when the found the dummy of Andrew. He can't let himself get like that so he goes to bed for the night.
Alex lays awake in his bed. He just can't believe that he did it. He finally did it. He would normally take a shot of steroids, but he doesn't do it. He doesn't have anything to do. He so glad that Sherry took it away. He knows he would have done it if she didn't. He's going to have horrible withdrawals. He knows it, but right now he's glad he got help. Next up is making it up to Lauren.
