Come Back to Me

Chapter 7 Present Day

Ugh, holy shit.

I peeled my face off the cold, hardwood floor of my Dad's den, wincing as things started spinning.  I flopped onto my back, immediately regretting moving at all and threw an arm over my face while trying to take deep breaths to avoid throwing up.  Someone was snoring behind me on the couch and in the brief moments my eyes had been open, I think I saw Mark passed out on top of the desk.  It must be Joshua snoring.

Beth's hot pink sock-covered feet stopped next to my head, the divine aroma of fresh coffee coaxing my body into a sitting position.  She crouched beside me and held out a palmful of pills.

"I've made breakfast if you can make it to the kitchen."

I could barely stay steady enough to take the mug of coffee and swallow the pills.  "Give me a few hours.  I'll crawl my way there."

"I could get your mom's old wheelbarrow?"

"Riley's skateboard might be better. Closer to the ground if I fall."

Before I could flop back to the floor, Beth was dragging me to my feet, somehow keeping the mug of coffee from spilling.  Thankfully she gave me a second to get control of the spinning room and then slowly led me down the hall.  She didn't loosen her grip until she had safely deposited me into a chair at the table with the mug held tightly between both hands.

"I'm worried about you," she said softly, poking at something in a pan on the stove.  "Maybe you should take a break from all the drinking."

"I don't need an intervention, thanks."

She set her shoulders back and tilted her chin up as she turned toward me with a plate of food.  "The liquor cabinet says otherwise."

I jabbed a finger in the direction of the den where Mark and Joshua were still passed out.  "It's not just me."

Being pissed at Noah was easier to deal with when I had Mark and Joshua hanging around.  It was like all my anger at the two of them was now focused on Noah.  I knew it was pretty shitty of me. They seemed fine with it.  Probably because we were drunk all the time. 

"You've been drinking them under the table every night.  Even they're getting worried about you."  She wasn't gentle in putting the plate down in front of me.

She had a point.  It had been days since I had been not drunk.  Which sounded like an excellent plan right now since I was getting too close to sober for comfort and my head was not on board with this. 

"Give me a break.  I just lost my brother. I'm allowed time to deal with it."

"Except you're not," Beth mumbled. "Dealing."

Glowering at her, I shoved a forkful of eggs into my mouth and was tempted to spit them out at her satisfied smile.  Except then I realized how delicious they were so the rest of them were quickly finished off. Without bothering to ask, she went to the stove and retrieved a pan containing the rest of the eggs, dumping them onto my plate. I grudgingly kept eating.

"I don't know what else to do." 

She must have picked up on something in my voice because she immediately came over and sat down across from me. "You want to talk about it?" 

I let out an exhausted sounding breath. "Where should I start, Beth?"

"Where we always start. Noah."

"He fucked another girl.  While I was dealing with a broken heart and still hoping he'd come back for me, he was with another girl."  My breakfast was fighting to come back up.  I swallowed with some difficulty and forced another sip of juice down my throat.  "I think it might be better if he never came back here."