And I Love Her (Paul McCartney/Beatles fanfiction)

The Drugs Don't Work

 "Now the drugs don't work. They just make you worse. But I know I'll see your face again"~The Drugs Don't Work-The Verve

New York, 17 October 1966

Lily smoked a cigarette, leaning on the kitchen counter as Mina sipped a coffee.

There was a retching sound coming from Charli's room, they both grimaced at the sound.

Eddie stepped out of the room with a waste bin and took it into the bathroom where they could hear the sounds of him washing it out before he brought it back into Charli's room.

Eddie stepped out of the room again, closing the door quietly behind him.

"She eat anything?" Lily asked.

Eddie shook his head.

"She's pretty sick," he advised "withdrawal from that shit is terrible at the best of times, she had a heavier dose than she used to...If I ever see Max again, I swear I'll kill him"

"What happened?" Mina asked. "I mean...why'd she do it?"

"Not sure," Eddie shrugged "My guess, since she's sporting a shiner it's to do with her fucking parents...she isn't talking much yet, she's in a lot of pain right now"

Lily hung his head sadly.

Mina lit a cigarette.

"How's Sophie?" Eddie asked. His room was next to Mina and Toni's where Sophie had stayed the previous night, she had been in and out of panic attacks the entire night, sobbing and screaming from nightmares.

"Sleeping right now," Mina exhaled her cigarette "Toni called in for Sophie, she's with her now. Sophie is pretty pissed off."

"Pissed off?" Eddie said defensively "Why is she pissed off?"

"Well, Eddie..."Mina said coolly "She spent all last night in a panic because she found someone she cares about overdosed on heroin, it brought back some bad memories."

"She doesn't get to be pissed off, dammit!" Eddie yelled.

"She can feel however the fuck she wants" Mina yelled back "You weren't there. She found her brother dead! She found him. Not her mother. Not her dad. She found him. She was 16! She was afraid to even be friends with Charli when she found out she used..."

"Charli didn't mean to do it!" Eddie said slamming a fist on the counter "Fuck! She's been my best friend since high school, her dad beat the shit out of her and her mom doesn't care...she can't help it, there's so much hurt.."

Eddie didn't stop the tears from falling as Lily cut into the argument.

"Enough!" Lily said stepping in "Both of you are acting like children! Mina, Charli has some demons she needs to put behind her, okay? She didn't do this in spite of any of us. Eddie, Sophie is valid in her feelings, she was very close to her brother. We could have lost one of our family last night, but we didn't. I refuse to let this destroy my friends, what both of them need right now is our support."

Eddie and Mina were silent. They both knew Lily was right. Lily had always taken it upon himself to act as the parent figure of the group when necessary, he was older than the rest by a couple years but took it upon himself to care about each of them, it was a quality they loved about Lily.

"Now, I'm going to see how Charli is doing," he said sternly "When I come out, I don't want to hear any arguments."

They heard the door to Charli's bedroom close as Lily disappeared.