Tell Me When I'm Good Enough [Scrim Fanfic]

XIV

LORELEI

📍 Los Angeles, California

July 16th 2016

three months later

The day we thought Scott was dead, he had turned back up at home like a house cat that had been mistakenly buried, he had told me that he never made it into the rehab center and I told him that was okay. He told me that he had been on a bender with drugs, selling and taking it. I told him that we would be able to work on it together. Scott was trying and I could see that and some days he would use heroin more than he would've liked to.

Ruby had checked in a few times, but he couldn't check every day, he had his own life to attend to. He had finally met someone, but he was keeping it quiet, until he knew she was there to stick around. The way he described her made her seem like she was genuine, nice, and really down to earth, I was happy for him- the only thing I knew about this girl was she had been living in New York City and would come to Los Angeles here and there to see him.

I decided to take Cora to the park, giving us both the fresh air that we needed. My dad was doing a lot better financially. He was now working as a banker in the Burbank city bank. He was loving and hating the job, loving that he was making more money and being able to provide for me and Cora, although he didn't need to do that for us, but hated the fact he was spending less time with his granddaughter.

I often found my head wandering to the phone call I had gotten that day. I never asked Scott why someone else had his license especially when it had my number on the back of it. He barely spoke about the days that he was away, using. I think he thought it was better if I didn't know. Sometimes I would get home to find him high, locked away in the bathroom. He smoked heroin a lot, Ruby was also now hooked on heroin too.

Cora's whines pulled me back to this moment, taking her out of her stroller and gently kissing her head. I carried her back to the car, strapping her into the car seat as she began to fuss more, I placed the pacifier back into her mouth as she started to calm down.

She passed out within minutes, gently closing the door on her side of the car before packing away her stroller to place into the trunk, climbing into the driver's seat. I took this time of her nap to run some errands, needing to fill the fridge and cabinets. We drove to the closest target near our home, parking in the mother and child spot. I grabbed Cora's car seat and carried her to a shopping cart, placing it on one made for baby car seats.

I pushed her into target and walked to the cereal aisle. I really fancied fruit loops, placing the box into the cart before browsing all the other aisles, a voice pulling me from my thoughts as I turned around.

"Lorelei!" I glanced up, turning my head to see Coco heading towards me. She was in LA still? I thought she'd be back in New York.

A huge smile plastered onto her face as she hugged me tightly. "Where have you been girl, you're disappearing on me." She gave a light laugh.

"I needed time to myself and Cora." I motioned towards the seat; Courtney peeked into it with the biggest smile on her face as she gently stroked her cheek.

"She's so beautiful. A lot of Scott's features." She commented, she was right. Each day she was looking more like Scott and his attitude too, Cora was definitely her daddy's double.

"I know right?" I laughed a little, looking towards our little girl then to Coco. "The audacity to carry her around for nine months for her to look like her dad is insane."

"You should come over tonight, I'm having a girl's party." It's been three and a half months since I had left the house, that was the last time Scott was out of rehab to support me for my father's funeral. Courtney was best friends with Ruby's sister, Sophia.