𝙈𝙍. 𝙉𝙄𝘾𝙀𝙂𝙐𝙔

WE NEED TO GET REAL

The next day was quiet between us, none of us bothering to speak about what had happened last night.

Scott was back in his usual long sleeve, 'G59 RECORDS' is what it read.

I decided to break the silence between the three of us, "We obviously need to talk." I spoke specifically to Scott.

Scott rolled his eyes letting out a scoff as he got ready to say something, "I know you don't want to but we need to." I interrupted him before he even started.

Aristos looked between us, picking up his spoon as he scooped his cereal into his mouth.

"About what?" He got up to place his bowl in the sink, the sink that I would eventually have to clean out.

"Scott, stop acting like a delinquent teen and fucking listen." Aristos began to get fed up on his behavior.

Scott practically snapped his head around to look at us, "Fine."

Anytime Ari told him something, he knew to get serious.

I put all my weight on to my elbows as I leaned my upper body against the table, straight across from Scott.

I glanced at Ari who looked like he was waiting for me to speak; however, I was way more unprepared than I thought.

I glanced back at him a second time to let him know that I didn't know what to say.

He took the hint as he began talking, "Scott you need to start taking your drug shit seriously," Aristos sighed, "you're gonna end up killing yourself and me and Ivory don't want to watch that."

Scott slumped down into his seat dramatically, "Oh God." he groaned as he rolled his eyes.

"I know what I'm doing! Stop trying to parent me and act like you fucking know what's best." I hadn't realized how much his words slurred until now.

His voice deep and raspy, "You can't keep using drugs to fill the fucking void Scott!" his response made me grow angry.

"Everyone has shit that they deal with and they find a way to cope! Using coke and fent isn't fucking okay, Scott." I frowned.

He stared at me, "Well Aristos does it too, you're not going to tell him shit though are you?" he snapped.

"Cause Aristos is just some fucking angel!" he yelled.

"Yeah well at least he's not trying to fucking kill himself by inserting literal heroin into his veins!" I was done with him not understanding.

"I get that you're anxious and shit and that you take Xanax, but there's absolutely no good reason to why you're doing everything else! I'm not going to watch you slowly kill yourself off when you know that I care about you, that Aristos cares about you. You made a promise to protect me, how are you going to when you're six feet in a fucking grave!" I pushed myself up, slamming my hands on the table.

I could see Aristos flinch out of the corner of my eye.

I took one last look at Scott before walking to my room.

— MAJOR TIME SKIP —

JANUARY 2018

It had been at least three months since me and Aristos had talked to Scott and he seemed to have realized what he was doing.

However this week he seemed like he was back down again, I wasn't expecting him to be using drugs like how he was but I knew something was off.

He had agreed to cut his dosage and that was that.

Scott had been awfully touchy this past month, I almost thought that he was trying to fuck me in front of Ruby once.

Yeah, that touchy.

I assumed that everything had been good since then, but oh how I was wrong.

"Hey." I smiled at Scott as he sat next to me on the couch.

"Hi, Scott." His hand rested on my thigh as I closed my book.

"Whatchu readin?" His eyes directed towards the book on my lap.

How could I tell him.

"Nothing." I squinted my eyes at him.

"You guys come up with some new music?" I desperately tried to switch the topic.

He looked suspiciously confused but ignored it, "Yeah, you tryna hear?" he asked as he rubbed up and down my thigh.

"You know I always do." I had a cheesy smile on my face.

The warmth from his hand quickly went as soon as he did, coming back shortly after with his laptop in his hands.

"We came up with an album cover too, it's this one here." He pointed to a red and black cover, their graduation pictures in the bottom left corner.

The words on the black side read 'I WANT TO DIE IN NEW ORLEANS' and 'IS THIS OUR GRAVE?' underneath it.

"Ruby looks so happy." I laughed as I looked over their pictures.

"His mom forced him to smile, said if he did she would buy him a new comic." he laughed with me.

"Seriously? I didn't know that he was even into that." I asked.

"Mhm." I leaned closer to Scott to get a better look at the songs on the list.

He clicked on one, 'Long Gone (Save me From This Hell)'

He began to sing along once it reached his verse, as I focused on the lyrics I really felt bad for them.

I could see why so many people listen to their music, it was relatable. Many people out there felt like them, every single day. It's nice to hear that people have similar problems, well not really but you know.

I really listened to the mention of his family, did he ever speak to them? Now that I think about it, he was rarely ever on his phone.

"Wow, do you guys ever make bad ones?" I spoke.

He let out a chuckle, "Oh trust me, we have." he reached an arm over my shoulder.

I gained the courage to ask about his family, "Do you still talk to your parents?"

I squeezed my arm around my knees as I waited for his response.

"Barely, it's been a while."

I hummed, getting the hint that he really didn't want to talk about that.

"Is that the last song that you needed to finish the album?" I sat up.

"Not yet, need one more I just haven't been feeling like writing nothing." He sighed confirming my suspicions that something was up.

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