When All Else Fails (Mavin)

Chapter Three: A Painful Kiss

Chapter Three:
A Painful Kiss

Geoff forced Michael to come back to the apartment with us. He didn't want him alone after something like this, and I could see in his eyes that he was probably gonna do something stupider if someone didn't watch him.

It was going on two in the morning and Geoff let me settle Michael in. I didn't want to leave Michael alone downstairs so I joined him and curled up on the other couch.

I pulled the blanket over me and looked back at Michael. He was facing away from me, curled up in a tight ball. I listened carefully to be sure he was sleeping, and when I heard the deep breathes of sleep, I let myself close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

...

The next morning, Michael was talking to Griffon and Geoff about last night. I snuck away to the bathroom. I looked in the medicine cabinet, knowing Griffon and Geoff never left any pills in there anymore, but still checking just for the hell of it.

I blinked in shock.

There was a bottle of prescription medicine in there.

I took the bottle and shook it, hearing that there was about half a bottle left. Who left this in there? If one of them slipped up, I'd be quite surprised.

Before I could identify what sort of medicine it was, I heard a knock on the door and I dropped the bottle out of shock. I slightly cursed to myself, knowing that whoever was outside the door heard it.

"Gavin? That better not be what I think it is," Geoff growled at me.

I quickly picked the bottle up, trying not to shake it too much. I was about to set it back in the medicine cabinet when I realized, this is the first bottle of pills I've seen since I attempted suicide with them. I smirked a little crookedly and shoved the pills into my pocket.
I opened the door and looked at Geoff. He was giving me an accusing look but I just shrugged and walked into my bedroom.

Once I knew he went back downstairs I shoved the pill bottle into my secret spot and hid the spot up again. I heard footsteps and I quickly jumped on my bed and brought my phone out.
Michael walked in and eyed me for a moment before sitting down next to me. He looked over my shoulder at what I was doing, which wasn't productive in any way.

"Hey, Gav, I wanted to thank you for last night... If you hadn't been there... I don't even want to think about what might've happened," He told me. I smiled and looked back over at him.

"No problem, Mi-cool. But, I think you should be careful. You were obviously trying to drink your feelings away and got a little carried away. But, I don't want that for you," I told him. Michael nodded and smiled.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go get bevs tonight? On me," Michael asked. I felt my smile waver a bit.

The thing about that was I haven't been out to a bar to get bevs in months. Plus, when I was around alcohol now... I tended to have an issue with it. As in, I'd drink until I was completely wasted and couldn't see straight. Geoff tried to drink away from me, just so I wouldn't go into one of my episodes. I remembered one night I had come home from getting bevs and I scared Heidi with my drunken self.

...

I stumbled into the apartment, a bottle of whiskey still in my hand. It was around one in the morning and I knew the family would be sleeping. I tried to keep quiet but my drunken self didn't think that was a good idea. I ran into various things and I was sure I made lots of noise.

I noticed one of the kitchen knives hadn't been put away so I stumbled over to it and made a crooked smile. Just a couple before bed.

I angled the knife and slit a jagged line across my skin, watching the blood begin to bubble out of the open wound. I smirked at the familiar tingling. I made another slit and another until I heard a tiny gasp.