Chasing Nikki

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

    

    "You're late. You missed most of the group and left me to staple massive amounts of packets by myself." Nikki stood with her hands on her hips, glaring over me with disdain. "And you're absolutely filthy! What happened to you?"

    "I hit some debris someone lost in the middle of the road. The rain was coming down so hard I didn't see it in time, and it punctured one of my tires. I've been putting the spare on and rolling around in all this lovely country mud you people keep up here." 

    I went into the bathroom and pulled a bunch of paper towels out of the dispenser and started wiping my face and arms down. I was drenched.

    "You need to get something dry on. Why don't you go home? I'll explain what's going on to Maggie."

    "I always carry spare clothes with me," I replied, nodding toward the backpack I'd tossed on the floor next to me.

    She gave me a puzzled look. "You do?"

    "While I'd love to tell you it's because I'm such a great Boy Scout, it's actually the product of waking up after vomit-inducing alcohol and drug binges," I explained.

    Her eyes went wide. 

    "Give me a minute, and I'll get changed—unless you want to help me get out of these wet things," I added, lifting an eyebrow in suggestion.

    "Shhh." Nikki blushed as she glanced around. "Someone will hear you."

    I shrugged. "So, who cares?"

     "I do. They'll think we're . . . that we're . . ."

    "That we're what?" I laughed, prodding her on. "Doing it? Weren't you the one who was begging me to stick around the other day?"

    She gasped and shut the door much too loudly, closing me into the small space by myself. I couldn't help the grin that stayed on my lips. She was so fun to tease. I quickly changed and did the best I could to dry rub my hair into some semblance of order before I joined her. 

    "That looks much more comfortable." She shoved a stack of stapled papers in my arms. "Go pass these to the group out there while I set up some of the packets for next week."

    "Yes, ma'am." I loved it when she was bossy.

    I followed her instructions, slipping quietly into the room and waited for Maggie to give me the okay to start passing to everyone in attendance.

    "Thank you, Chase," Maggie said when I was done.

    "No problem." I headed back into where Nikki was working.

    "I was wondering if you'd like to sit in on the group sometime?" Nikki asked, peeking over at me.

    I came to a halt, her comment catching me completely off guard, and she hurried to continue.

    "You don't have to talk if you don't want to. You can listen to the other's experiences and what they're doing to get past their addiction problems."

    Moving to the table, I picked up the first few papers and began stapling them together. "I'm not addicted to anything." I knew I sounded short, but I couldn't help it.

    "I'm not saying you are. I know you've used recently, though, and it's caused problems for you at home. I thought maybe you could learn some mental techniques—things to help talk yourself through situations when the urge comes up." She sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. This isn't coming out right. I know it's none of my business. I was trying to offer support—if you needed it."