Junkhead

It's Your Decision

They were in the cafeteria, seated at one of the many tables within the tiled room.  It was located on the first level of the hospital, three floors below where Mike was being treated at.  It had been close to a week since Mike had been in there.  He was still undergoing a methadone treatment for heroin withdrawal.  Briana was sipping on a coffee and picking at her chicken Caesar salad, glaring out the window anxiously.  The both of them were on edge, knowing very well that Mike was the elephant in the room that HAD to be confronted.

Layne just sat there, thumping his leg anxiously, trying to weigh out their options.  "He can't go to rehab." Layne stated.  He nervously picked at the napkin dispenser on the side of the table.  His face burned when he caught a look of disapproval from Briana.  He bit his lip.  "Bre, I know it won't help him.  I mean, rehab didn't help me at all.  Every time I got so called 'treatment' from those doctors, I shrugged them off like they were just know-it-all bastards.  I was too ill to take them seriously."

Briana sighed.  "But you're not Mike.  You guys are totally separate people."

"The other patients in there are ALWAYS smuggling in drugs," Layne pointed out.  He narrowed his eyes at her.  "And I've known Mike for close to sixteen years.  He would DEFINITELY join in with those kind of people."

"Maybe it'll be different this time," Briana argued.  She raised an eyebrow at him while she took another drink of her mocha.  "You're not a fortune teller, Layne."

He groaned and tore out one of the napkins from the dispenser.  He began tearing the soft paper apart, his face now scorching red with irritation.  "He's my best friend, Bre.  I don't want to see him continue to slowly KILL himself."

She shook her head at him. "We're not allowing Mike to stay with us."

Layne tore out more napkins.  He balled them up and started tossing them into the trash bin next to them.  Briana placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a pointed look to try to calm him down.  Instead, he got up from the table, pulling out a cigarette.  "If you refuse to help my BEST FRIEND, then FUCK YOU--"

"Layne!" Briana shouted at his back.  He was speed walking towards the exit door.  She ran after him, pulling him back to look at her when they were both outside.  She sighed when she took in his morbid expression.  "Layne...  I'm just scared.  I'm scared he's going to influence YOU.  I can't let that happen again."

"I've been sober for five months now, Briana!" Layne shouted.  He lit his cigarette.  "Are you assuming that I don't have the strength to resist it?!"  He groaned when he scanned the worry pinched on her face.  He walked over to the bench a few feet away from the door, sitting down.  He rubbed his temples, frustration coursing through his veins.

"I'm not saying that you're not strong enough, Layne," she reassured him.  She took a seat next to him, rubbing his shoulder.  "It's just...  The temptation will always be there.  And five months might seem like a LONG TIME to you, but it really isn't...  It's taken me until now, FIVE YEARS into recovery, to finally be able to RESIST the temptation.  I still get the thoughts, but I don't act on them anymore."

"I don't act on it, either," he argued.  He took a huge drag from his smoke.  Those blue eyes studied her.  Sadness overwhelmed him, thinking of the state Mike was in the first night he was hospitalized.  "...he tried to commit suicide, Bre.  He doesn't believe anyone cares about him anymore.  I can't just leave him to fend for himself in a hospital, surrounded by other SICK people.  He'll end up dying.  I know he will.  I can't fucking LIVE with that, Bre.  He's my best friend."  A tear rolled down his cheek, making him quickly wipe it away with the collar of his t-shirt.  "He saved my life.  Yeah, we relapsed together, but he saved my life...  You remember how bad I was.  Heck, you were there the minute they transferred me to the detox wing.  I was weeks or even DAYS away from dying.  He fucking saved my life.  He deserves to have someone do the same for him."

Briana sighed.  She swiped the blond hairs away from her face.  Looking back at Layne, she couldn't help but to kiss him.  Her heart dropped to her stomach as she wiped away another tear from his face.  "Alright..." she muttered, ultimately defeated.

Layne's eyebrows raised in shock.  He gazed back into that emerald haze.  "Really?  You mean it?"

She nodded and wrapped her arm around his broad shoulders.  "Yes...  When he gets through detox, he can stay with us."  She watched his expression change from despair to hopefulness.  She couldn't help but to smile and kiss him again.  When she let go, her brow curled in concern.  She couldn't help but to remember the time when they were at Nicole Garder's funeral.  When they went into Mike and Erica's SUV...  The way Mike was pressuring Layne to relapse...

"There's going to be rules he has to follow though," Briana said, her mind finally made up.  "If he breaks ANY of them, I'm kicking him out.  Do you understand?"

Layne nodded his head vigorously.  He still had a sloppy grin on his face.  He was just relieved that Briana was willing to give Mike another chance.  "Yeah, yeah, that's fine, babe.  I get it."

She raised her brow at him. "Did you even tell him you were thinking about doing this for him...?"

Layne smirked.  "I know he'll want to go with us, Bre.  He's been lonely."

She sighed and got up from the bench.  She curled her brow at Layne when she noticed he continued to just sit there and stare at her.  She gave him a look like he was stupid.  "Well, come on.  Let's tell Mike the news."

They both headed back into the entrance of the hospital.  Layne was more than enthusiastic about all of this.  He had felt like a prayer had been answered. Briana, on the other hand, was extremely concerned.  She was frightened about the decision...and worried that she had made the biggest mistake in her and Layne's entire relationship.

Will Mike even ATTEMPT to take sobriety seriously?  Or will he continue to fall?  Briana had no idea what was in store for them.  All she knew was that she had to keep her guard up.  She would never allow Layne to fall again, even if that meant possibly risking him losing his best friend...