Then *Poof* I'm Always There: Book 3 (Final) #Wattys2014

Chapter 3: The Happy Couple

Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious. -Unknown

~Lexi's P.O.V.~

Mark walked out of the room and my friends walked in to replace him. It was obvious they had all been doing something before they got here. The loopy look in their eyes expressed it all.

"Okay I got the stuff you guys!" One of them, Connor, pulled a bag out of his pocket and lit up one of the small rolled up papers in it. He took one small drag and handed it over to the next girl, whose name always slipped my mind.

"Come on babe." My boyfriend pushed me to the couch, wanting me to sit down with him, but I restrained. "One little drag won't hurt."

"Zach, I've told you this before and I'm telling you again. I don't want to."

"And like I always say. You don't always get what you want." The paper was passed to him and he blew out smoke from it before he handed it to me. I didn't take it.

"But if I do have some, then who's going to drive you all home?" He stepped back once and looked back at the paper.

"Good point. More for us guys!" He plopped down on the couch and breathed in the powder that bounced into the air. I walked away before I too could breathe any in. I was not willing to get a loopy head any night. Tonight especially.

I sat in my chair the rest of the time the group decided to stay there and watched them ruin their brains and bodies with whatever they decided to smoke, inhale, or snort. Disgusting pieces of shit. I still don't know why he decided to get into this crowd. It was the reason I stopped liking him, other than him becoming a jerk. He wasn't the same person I knew back in high school. None of them were.

But what was more mind boggling was how the hell Mark found this place. I thought he didn't listen to music much. Did he know I was here? How could he know? I haven't been on any sort of social network for a long time. I vanished off the face of the earth to all of my followers and everyone I loved. I left them all. How could he have found me?

I almost had a panic attack when I saw him looking at me in the audience. He was the last person I expected to see tonight, yet there he was. Sitting right in front of the stage and watching me perform my crappy cover. How did he even know it was me? I look so different from back then. How?

I have some questions of my own for him.

 "Baby, I think it's time for us to go." Zach walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it just a tad too hard.

"Okay. Clean up a little bit and I'll drive the car around."

"Don't worry about the car. Just clean this up. We need to go outside and air out." With that, he let go of my shoulder and left the room with Connor, the girl whose name I couldn't remember, and the other two people I had never met before. I looked around the room at the mess they had denied to pick up, and sighed. Wrappers from their joints lay scattered on the tile floor and white powder that could only be one thing was spread around.

I dug into my purse and found my surgical mask so I wouldn't end up breathing any of the crazy drugs in while I cleaned up after them. Again.

A good half hour was spent trying to get as much cleaned up as possible before Zach came back and demanded I take everyone home.

"How the hell are you not done?"

"You guys made a little more of a mess than usual. It's kinda hard to pick up every little particle you dropped."