Stepdad

THIRTY-NINE

"Allie, where are you going?" Rook shouted when he watched her walk past the cafeteria. He quickly got up to his feet and ran after her, Rena following right behind, shoveling the rest of her pizza in her mouth on her way.

"Allie!" Rook reached out and grabbed her by the elbow, her turning around to face him with a blank stare. Rook was genuinely concerned, he hasn't seen Allie like this before. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you leaving?"

"Did you know that Colson was doing Molly on top of the drinking?" Rook's face fell, he did know about it. That's the one thing that Rook did keep from her. He didn't even tell Colson, and he was the one that took them.

"Yeah, the doctor told Colson and I heard every word he said. He said Colson could have died from this." Allie took a second to blink back tears that she didn't want to fall, and took a deep breath.

"What the fuck, Rook?" Rena let go of his hand, giving him the coldest glare. Rena couldn't believe that he didn't mention that part to anyone. That was very important information.

"I know. I should have said something. I had completely forgotten before you said something." Allie rolled her eyes to the back of her head, another deep sign escaping from her lips. She was exhausted from all of this.

"Rena, I'm going home. If you want to stay in the hotel room until checkout and stay with Rook, you still have the ticket. I'm getting a bus ticket." Allie headed straight to the exit, ready to get away from this ridiculous situation.

"No, I'm coming too!" Rena shouted before she shoved Rook away from her and followed after her new best friend. Rena was out of breath from all the jogging she had to do to catch up with Allie.

"You didn't have to do that. I appreciate you having my back, but you could have stayed with Rook." Allie explained as she googled the walking directions to the nearest bus station.

"Fuck that. He knows he fucked up. Now he can sit on that guilt for a while. He will be fine." Rena responded as she looked over Allie's shoulder to see the directions. "Holy fuck, that's like three miles."

Allie didn't know how much more she could take before she quite literally lost her mind. This was the worst trip she had ever taken. She was over it, she wanted to go back home and live her normal life.

"Okay. We're going to get a cab. After all of this shit today, I told myself I wasn't going to cry over him so I'm damn sure not going to sweat in this humidititty weather by walking." Rena wanted to laugh so bad but she was scared to. She was kind of afraid of this new Allie right now.

"Yes, ma'am. Lucky for you, your day just got a little better. There's one parked over here." Allie followed Rena over to the cab and watched as she reached out to knock on the car window.

"Hey, my friend has had a terrible vacation. Would you mind taking us to the bus station?" The woman in the drivers seat smiled and nodded, both of the girls climbing into the backseat shortly after.

"You girls are okay, right?" Rena did all of the talking for Allie, which she appreciated. She wasn't in the mood to socialize, afraid that she would sound rude. She took this time to send her mom a text, saying that she was coming home early.

Back at the hospital, Rook was sitting at the same table in the cafeteria with his head in his hands. He couldn't believe the dumpster fire that had been spreading lately. Everything was fine one minute and then before he knew it, everything went wrong.

"You good, Rookie?" Slim took the seat next to Rook and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I ain't gonna lie, bro. He's pretty pissed but I think you're good. I think he's more mad at the fact that he don't remember any of this shit."

"I know. That's what makes this so fucked up. I don't remember much either. I know he took something but I didn't know it was Molly. I didn't know when he got it or who he got it from."

Rook lifted his head to look over at Slim, who was listening to his every word. "He was fine the first two hours we were there. He wasn't drinking a lot. I guess he blacked out at some point and just kept going."

"The one fucking time I tell y'all I'm going to fucking bed and he ends up in the hospital." Rook had to laugh at that, nothing ever happened when Slim was with them. It was like Slim was the babysitter, and the others were the toddlers.

"I don't even know if Colson can get himself out of this one. I knew he could before but weed is one thing, you know? I don't know what to tell him this time." Rook let out a deep sigh, Slim shaking his head and throwing his hands up.

"I don't know, bro. Colson gets himself into dumb shit all the time. Some girls just might not be cut out for that." Rook slowly nodded, completely agreeing with him on that.

"Yeah, especially a mom."

"She got kids?" Slim turned his head more toward Rook, giving him a confused look.

"One. A two year old boy."

"The fuck is she thinking? That shit ain't gonna work. Casie is mostly with her mama. That's why Colson gets dumb when she's not with him." Slim explained, shaking his head yet again, a light laugh escaping his lips.

"Colson is gonna have to grow up before he can be a dad and a step dad. This isn't a game. There's a baby involved. What kind of example does that set for that boy for when he becomes a man?"

"Go tell him this shit. I feel like I'm being lectured." Rook let out a laugh as well, Slim standing up to his feet and patting him on the shoulder once more.

"Oh, I'm going to do that right now. Believe that."