Gateway Drug | Volume I

Gateway Drug | Part Sixty-Five

Warning(s):
Explicit language
Mentions of drug abuse

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I blink my eyes open to see Izzy standing over me, my brows furrowing at the sight of him, confusion filing into my mind.

"Izzy." I croak out, closing my eyes again for a moment.

"Viv." He replies.

"What're you doing here?" I groan, tiredly.

"A girl I hooked up with last night lives in this neighborhood." He tells me. "Karen let me in."

"Of course she did." I mumble, sitting up with another groan, and he sits on the floor next to me, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it.

"So, like, what happened?" He asks me, looking around at the shithole mess I made last night and I lick my cracked lips, feeling the tightness of dried, mascara coated tears that have glued to my face, and let out an exhausted breath.

"You ever walk into your house and wonder 'exactly how many surfaces did my husband and his mistress possibly have sex on'?"

"Nope." He replies, blowing out smoke, and I glance at him.

"Well, that's what happened." I reply, sighing. "I thought I was doing good, Izzy. I really thought we were getting better. And we weren't. It was all bullshit."

"Trust me, Viv, I've fucking been there." He mumbles.

"I gave her a key to my house." I repeat what I told him earlier and he looks at me for a moment, looking as if he doesn't quite know what to say. "I might as well have just handed him over to her and said, 'he's yours, have at it'." I add, letting out a chuckle, although it's not funny. "I'm not like her. I act nothing like her. I haven't accomplished as much as she has. I'm not established like she is. I look nothing like her--"

"--She's a ten but the drugs make her a five. And her being batshit crazy knocks her down to a solid two...on a good day. You're a ten. Your niceness adds two points, your patience adds two more points, and your crazy is hot, which adds five more points. So technically you're a seventeen. Don't compare yourself to a fucking crack addict when there's barely anything left of her to compare to." He orders sternly, and I push a strand of hair behind my ear. "And the only thing she can say she's got on you, is screwing your husband, and she brags about it because strung out Nikki Sixx is obviously a prize." He sarcastically states and I smile a little. "He didn't cheat because you weren't enough, Viv. He cheated because he's fucking stupid and the drugs just add to it. I assure you, if you were ugly or something, none of us would wanna fuck you. But we do."

"Gee, thanks, Izzy." I flatly say, furrowing my brows slightly, and he nudges me with his elbow.

"You're a seventeen." He reassures me, smiling.

"See, this is what I would've appreciated hearing the other night." I inform him.

"I was an ass the other night." He admits. "I'm sorry for yelling at you...and there's nothing wrong with you not picking up on our hints that something was wrong. You just see the best in people sometimes when they're fucking shitty, is all."

"Trust me I've learned my lesson." I scoff.

"No, don't let this bullshit ruin a good thing. You can still see the good in people and try to be positive about them, just use a little discernment from now on." He shrugs and I wipe my eyes as he takes another drag of his cigarette.

"Did we just have a moment, Izzy?" I ask, and he furrows his brows and looks at me.

"No."

"I think we did."