Loaded

Rehab

I'm tired, my body aches and my eyes are heavy. I want to be asleep in my comfy bed but instead I'm here stood in an empty airport waiting for my my cousin to leave his plane. I almost inhale my coffee I'm that sleepy, I really don't know why my mother insists I meet him at arrivals. He has a hotel room so there really isn't any reason for me to meet him. I have a feeling mother hadn't told me something.

I see Stephen heading towards me wearing a hooded top and bloodshot eyes. I kind of think he's drunk, as he gets closer I can smell the alcohol.

"You need this more than me" I say handing him my coffee.

I swear he growls at me, but he does accept the drink.

"It would be better if it were Irish" he says.

"By the look of you it you if you breathe in it it will be Irish" I say wafting my nose.

"You don't know"

"Know what" I ask.

"I'm here to check in to rehab, actually your checking me in"

Did he, I think he did. "Rehab"

"They were that embarrassed that they didn't tell you why I was here, it's no wonder I drink" he fumes.

"I didn't know, I had noticed you drank a lot at the wedding"

"A lot I woke up in your dads office with two teeth missing"

I shouldn't laugh but I can't help it, I so hope it was my mom who found him. I could just imagine his face.

"Your mother was not impressed"

"I'll bet" I laugh.

"We have until 9, can we go to a bar I need to get shit faced"

"No but I'll take you to breakfast"

The disappointment on his face is clear but he nods.

We get a cab to the facility and find a small diner just five minutes away. We find a booth and start to look at the menu. Stephen is shaking and looks annoyed, he must be desperate for alcohol. From what he told me on the ride over here he has been abusing alcohol for months. He tells me it all started when his wife left him, I don't know how he has been functioning with the amount of alcohol he's been consuming. Somehow he's been able to go to work each day and last his full shift. No one knew for the longest time, whether he was good actor or just no one paid attention. Stephen and I have always been the black sheep of the family so maybe they just didn't care. He's only being sent to Rehab because his life was starting to unravel and his family would hate the embarrassment of having an alcoholic son. Society would look down on them and that would just not do.

"So how did uncle Frank find out" I finally ask as Stephen tucks into his meal.

"Now that is a story" he smirks.

He says nothing else, he continues to eat his breakfast and I'm desperate to know the story.

"My father found me drinking his 35 year old scotch"

That's not really a big deal " I use to sneak my dads scotch all the time"

"It was 8am and I used the full bottle as a substitute for milk in my cereal. The fact I was wearing just my underwear and his braces didn't make him happy either"

The laughter gets louder until people start to look at us.

"I can't believe they sent you all the way out here, surely there's rehab back home"

"There is.,my dad donates and my mother holds a yearly fundraiser"

"So why not go there" I ask.

"If a Gilmore were in rehab word would get out and my parents couldn't handle the embarrassment." He sounds bitter and I can't blame him.

I eat as Stephen tells me more about his dependency. It's hard to believe no knew better. The fact that he was found in his childhood tree house with a shaved head, no clothes and lipstick smeared on his face and no one still noticed that he had a problem is crazy.

"I'm sorry for laughing, it must have been traumatic"

Stephen laughs " I don't know how I got away with it so long"

I look at my cell and see it's time for us to leave and get him checked into the facility.

Stephen suddenly looks anxious, he looks like he could bolt out of the place any second.

"I think your very brave" I tell him.

"I have no choice, I had to get it sorted or my dad will cut me off"

"I don't take a penny from my parents They can't hold anything over me that way. You have a good job you can take care of yourself"

Stephen looks surprised "you don't take money from them"

I shake my head " no, I have a job and a small apartment. It's different but it's possible"

"I wish I could do that"

"You can, I believe in you. I don't agree with a lot of things your parents have done but I do agree you need help. Let's go start the rest of your life"

Stephen looks so scared as he fills in the forms the nurse hands him. His eyes are large and glistening with unshed tears. They find alcohol hidden in his luggage which they confiscate, Stephen becomes Angry and has to be restrained as he taken inside the ward. I wave as he looks back at me , that look on his face will haunt me forever