Smoked Success

24.

"Jessica! Can we talk?" Andrew asks, what on earth is he doing in here, I've got no fucking clue. He's not an alcoholic. I swear if my speech goes viral at campus, I'll kill him.

"Katherine, this is Andrew. Andrew, this is Katherine, my sponsor." I introduce them to each other, hoping he doesn't blabber that he's the student I just talked about. They shake hands.

"Katherine, will you mind if we talk, privately?" Andrew asks her, pacing his hand between both of us, trying to seem polite.

"Of course not. Jessica are you going to be fine?" Katherine smiles. I nod and she leaves.

"What do you want? To judge me? Blackmail me?" I snap, looking at him directly in the eyes.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I prejudged you these previous months, I thought you were doing this because of that bastard who cheated on you, but apparently you have so much more going on. I'm so sorry." He apologizes, I'm surprised.

"Apology accepted." I smile at him, drinking my coffee.

"Would you mind if I hug you?" He asks, nervously smiling. I nod, and he does hug me. Just as I notice his hands on the low of my back, I raise them up. It feels nice, hugging someone you were very upset with.

"Want to go for a little walk together? I wanted to talk to you, about everything." He confesses, pulling out of the hug. I nod, I was really speechless, I'm surprised, shocked, amazed, I don't know how to describe this.

"So, your brother told me he was going to visit his girlfriend, in New York." Andrew admits, and I'm very shocked. How dare he? He tells Andrew but not his sister? "He told me not to tell you, but it'll only be fair to do so."

"He needs a lung transplant." I blabber, I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have. "I'm sorry, never-mind that."

"He told me that too, that's why he wasn't excited for the doctor's appointment today, he didn't want you to know." He continues, I'm so pissed. "Look, I know it's not fair of him to tell me but not you, his sister, but you were too drunk or hungover to talk to him."

"Oh my god, I was so horrible." I say, looking away. "Anyways, don't talk about it in front of my mother, she doesn't know. I'm supposed to be the one to tell her, the doctor bailed on me."

"And are you going to tell her?" Andrew asks.

"Until I find a donor, no." I reply honestly, lying leads to shit.

"But that's going to be so hard. Where would you find anyone willing to donate their lung, with the same blood type as him?" He states. Okay he's right, but I will find someone, I'm positive.

"Look, I'm willing to donate my whole body when I die, the problem is we don't share the blood type." I declare. He doesn't say a thing, he just keeps on walking.

First two weeks of summer are over, eight left, oh my god. I got an extra job at this company, as a translator, it's all I could find. I'm not doing it for the money, I'm just doing it because I get bored if I don't work. I can't believe this school year passed so fast, I'm shocked. I was so proud to see that all my seniors have passed my class, seen its difficulty with a new teacher and all. My shift's four hours a day, from nine to one p.m., six days a week, it's okay, really. Angelina goes to daycare till two, by the time I sort of relax from work and all. Andrew, apparently got an internship in his father's company, yet he still drops by Angelina's daycare to see her. It's really sweet of him, they're so close. Andrew and I are good friends, we just sort of keep it professional because university and all. Today, he's the one picking up Angelina, since my parents wanted to meet Tyler and I today. I couldn't say no because it will be the first time I see my father for about a year now. And that's where I'm on my way to, that restaurant they suggested.

I stay in my car for two extra minutes, to breathe a little, I'm sort of tired. I'm proud of myself though, today I complete three months of sobriety, this is taking so much effort but it's getting better. Katherine's such a great sponsor, and Margaret helps too. We also are friends with two other women, Penelope and Maxine, both alcoholics, but sober. We're like a little group, of alcoholic women. That reminds me, my current boyfriend is a British alcoholic. Matthew, who's hated very much by Andrew because of the fact that he always talks about the United Kingdom, is two years older than I am, an executive producer for a show no one watches and he's pretty nice. He's been thinking a lot of leaving Los Angeles and going back to his native country, which means we might stop dating soon.

Okay, time to get in. I walk out of the car, and get in the restaurant, I see my father, who's sitting next to another guy, but mom's not there, Tyler's probably late. I wave at him, more of them, and sit down. I glance at my phone one last time for notifications, an I love you from Matthew, a good luck from Katherine and a picture from Maxine. I look up after locking my phone.

"Jessica, I've missed you so much." Dad says, oh my god I've missed his accent. It's nothing like Matthew's since he's from Nottingham, unlike dad who's from Cheshire.

"So much more dad, care to introduce?" I ask, my eyes on the guy next to him. There was something about him that made him look familiar, but I can't put my fingers on it.

"Peter Thompson, I'm a friend." Peter smiles, it looks so much like mom's but they don't even have the same surname who am I kidding? His eyes are blue, really dark brown hair, seems very tall. His accent isn't american, at all, it's sort of British but not the one I'm used to, he skips too many r's.

"Jessica Styles." I shake hands with him. Mom finally appears and sits next to dad, on the other side for sure. Tyler's still not here.

"So, Jessica, how have been your AA meetings?" Dad asks, he has a lot to catch up on.

"Great, they're really helpful." I uncomfortably smile, knowing there's a guest in here that shouldn't know I'm an alcoholic.

"I'm here fellas!" Tyler gets in and sits. "Did I miss anything?"

"Don't try to act American, please." I roll my eyes.

There's something that's still very suspicious about this guy, why would dad bring a 'friend' to lunch with us? Why do I think he looks like mom, am I that stupid? Maybe I should get an eye check, ugh.

"But I am, unlike you." He smirks, causing the others to laugh. "Okay, mom, dad, whoever you are, I've got something to say."

Tyler had agreed to be the one to tell mom about the lung transplant, I feel so bad for them. I have been looking all around California for anyone who's willing to donate their lung, but no one seems to want to. Believe me, I've offered huge amounts of money, but apparently nothing. I attempted getting a little help from other states, but that was a colossal fail. I'm still hopeful I'll find someone, I have faith in myself, but Tyler said he'd to tell them either way, so I let him. Andrew calls, maybe this is about Angelina, let's hope he can pick her up, or else I'll have to leave and not spend the only time I might get with my family so far. I'm not moving out of here just because Mr. Thompson over here is doing nothing, I'll just answer it.

"Please tell me nothing came up and you can pick up my daughter?" I blabber, sometimes I wonder how I'm that stupid.

"Your daughter's safe and sound, with me, don't worry. I just wanted to ask if Angie and I can go to my flat and watch some sports together?" Andrew asks, and that relieves me. Angelina and I have never been to Andrew's flat, but he's not going to eat her, I don't think anything stops me from accepting.

"Fine, just text me the address." I roll my eyes as I hear them cheering, I can also hear Angelina shouting best mommy in the world, which makes me happy. "I gotta go, love you Angel."

"Sorry about that, single parenting can be tough sometimes." I apologize. "Back to where we were."

"You keep your daughter with strangers?" Peter asks, narrowing his eyes. None of your business, bitch.

"First, I guess mom and Tyler both know Andrew very well, second, he's never hurt my daughter, not a scratch, unlike her father, so why the fuck should I be worried?" I glare at him.

"Okay Jessica, you need to chill now. Tyler, I'm sorry, but before you say anything, I need to tell you who Peter actually is." Mom says.