Play No More (Player Next Door sequel) ✓

103 | Mildred

Welcome to the final chapter.

And for one last time, this is our weekly check-in. Who's here? :)

Beautiful poster made by @Silverstarrx.  And thank you @anniemagus111 and @alessandra.oropeza for the PNM tiktoks. 

The ice cube scene caused a meltdown in the last chapter ;) Pun intended.

Chapter 103: Mildred

The pill bottle was hollow. It fit in the palm of my hand and left me wondering how much damage something so small could cause. What were the pills for? The medication on the label read like kryptonese to me.

I turned the bottle slowly, re-reading the black printed letters, hoping I had mis-read who it was prescribed to. Luke stood quietly in front of me and waited for me to process the sad information. He wasn't usually patient, but this was an exception.

He was standing like a model for a jeans campaign: muscular, shirtless and wearing nothing but his jeans with the button open that showed the black band of his boxers. Waiting for me to react.

"Austin, Texas maybe?" I asked, refusing to accept the words on the bottle.

Luke usually has a comeback for my comments, but this time he didn't have the heart to make fun of me. It was heart breaking enough to see his best friend's name on the pill bottle.

A u s t i n    T a y l o r

I hope Austin is ok. Forget the blackmailer situation. If this medication is real, the boy is probably suffering.

"Maybe there's a clue in the fine print," I said, reading the tiny disclaimers at the bottom.

Only part of my brain was making sense of the medical language I was reading. The rest of me was trying to piece together the how, the why, the where...

It just wasn't adding up.

"Luke," I asked, looking at my boyfriend for his input, "Is this real?"

"You're not dreaming-"

"No, I meant the bottle," I said and rephrased the sentence, "Does Austin need to take medication in real life? Maybe the bottle is fake."

It must be easy to buy an orange tube and glue a fake label on it if the blackmailer wanted to frame Austin.

I wish Oma was here. She's head of the chemistry club and I bet she'd know what this medication was for.

Luke has never told me much about Austin's history before and now he said the words I dreaded to hear, "It's real. That's Austin's medication."

He's always protected his best friend's privacy and, even now, he wouldn't reveal more. I knew Luke well enough to understand that he would not tell me Austin's story. Austin is his best friend and the dark thought lay like a gulf between us:

Was Austin the blackmailer?

I stretched my arm out to give Luke back the bottle. I didn't want it anymore.

Austin had been the first of Luke's friends to ever accept me. He was our ombudsman. He's supported us as a couple long before we were ever even a couple. What would his motive even be?

I remember Austin's cheeky smile as he ate bowls of my fruit loops in apple cabin this summer. Or the first time I ever saw him, emerging out of the ocean with a surfboard under his arm. He lights up every place he walks into.

Luke took the medication from my hand and walked to the kitchen's island counter. He dropped the pill bottle onto the wooden surface and gripped the countertop, leaning against it like it could carry the weight of our problems.