Pick Your Poison (Lashton)

2.5

It had been almost three weeks and it was scary how comfortable Luke had grown at the centre. He was surrounded by six of the most damaged people he'd ever met, yet he'd never felt so normal. Luke just wanted to be a part of their dysfunctional family. They were currently all skipping breakfast to hide out in  Finn and Luke's dorm.

"So is the loverboy Finn told us about coming this weekend?" Dylan wriggled his eyebrows, stretching out so that his legs fell across Katrina and Travis's laps who sat cross-legged on Finn's bed.

"Hopefully! Dr Khan is deciding in our session today," Luke beamed.

"So, what's his poison of choice?" Johnny asked, sitting on the floor with his back against Finn's bed.

"He's never experimented with more than weed," Luke shrugged. 

He was grateful for these guys, he really was, but he was still getting used to how they approached these topics. Addiction was obviously dominant in all of their lives right now, and in a way, the only thing some of them had. Luke usually found it comforting how openly they could discuss and joke about this stuff, but sometimes it made him shift uncomfortably. Could he really last the next 5 weeks with people that considered someone's addiction the most interesting thing about them?

Luke was so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't realised the awkward and hesitant stares exchanged between his friends. 

"What's wrong?" Luke probed, worried he had said his thoughts out loud.

"It's just that having a relationship in recovery is always going to be hard, but it's even harder when it's with someone that can't understand what you're going through," Rosie spoke up from beside him, resting a hand on his leg to soften her bold words.

"It's your relationship, Lu, we just want to see you get out of here," Finn reached behind Rosie's back to rest his hand on Luke's shoulder comfortingly.

They were all very affectionate with each other, which Luke found ironic due to their relentless teasing and banter. He spent the first week trying to figure out who was dating who until Finn explained that the love was nothing but platonic. Luke was starting to understand why they all kept coming back. From what he had learnt about them, no one had more on the outside than they did in rehab.

"You guys don't know him, he is the reason I'm gonna get out of here," Luke knew they meant well, but he felt the need to defend his relationship.

"So did you hear about one of the nurses sleeping with a patient?" Katrina piped up, sensing that Luke was uncomfortable.

"And who told you that? I swear you pull this stuff out of your ass,"  Travis rolled his eyes

"Fucking hippy flipper," Johnny chimed in teasingly.

"It's true," Kat rolled her eyes, "the nurse was that blonde chick that always wore two buns, she slept with marc!"

"Actually, I haven't seen that nurse all week," Dylan admitted.

"Hey, didn't you sleep with a nurse?" Travis pointed out.

"No!" Kat exclaimed, " we just hooked up."

"I didn't mean to cross a line earlier, I know we can be really full on. It's hard not to when you spend 24/7 with the same people in a place that encourages you to face everything head-on," Rosie whispered to Luke while the others bickered in the background about Katrina's promiscuous adventures. 

"Don't stress about it," Luke shrugged, "I'm sure I'll cross plenty of lines myself."

"Okay, recreational time would have started by now, let's roll out. There's a new girl that came in last night and I'm gonna talk to her," Dylan stood up, ushering everyone out.