Live Again // Bradley Simpson

Chapter 20: Explanations

"Well, since you're no longer the single pringle of the group. You can come on our group date night tommorow." Tristan suggested.

"You've been having group date nights?" Brad pauses. "Without me?"

Tristan laughs and pushes Brad off his lap. "Well, you were single."

Brad picked himself up off the ground and awkwardly brushed off the crumbs on his lap. "Thanks for excluding me."

Connor couldn't hold in his laugh any longer and covered his mouth as he began to laugh.

"What's so funny Ball?" Brad hisses at his band mate.

"We've never been on a group date. Our girlfriends don't even know eachother. I don't think I've even met half of James girls." Connor bursts out.

 Brad doesn't listen to Connors comment. "I can't go tomorrow night anyway." 

"Why not Braddles?" Tristan frowns.

Brad sighs. "I've got things to sort out."

Tristan laughs, and pats his leg for Brad to come and sit back down again. "Is this about Charlie? You've been spending every single day with her"

Brad gulped. "What else."

"I'm sorry Brad." Charlie whispered to him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were still taking drugs." Brad breathed. He didn't know what to do, he was basically lied to.

"I never said I stopped. I said I took drugs when I was younger, didn't say I stopped." Charlie replied.

"You said took." Brad gritted his teeth.

Charlie shrugged. "I guess I did."

Brad was angry. He couldn't believe that this was no big deal to Charlie. She was snorting illegal drugs in a University dorm where being caught would be very bad and the fact that they were storing tonnes of it there.

The door to Charlie's dorm opened and in walked Casey and Hanny. Casey gasped and turned around, walking out of the dorm.

"What the fuck is Brad Simpson doing in my dorm?" She says, very loudly.

Hanny rolls his eyes and grabs Casey's hand and drags her inside and closes the door behind himself.

"He was here yesterday." Hanny reminds her.

"What the fuck." She spits accidentally. Then walks over and sits next to Brad and puts her hand on Brads shoulder. "Sorry you had to see me like that."

Brad seemed disgusted by her, remembering what state he saw her in yesterday. "It's okay."

"Good." She smiles, showing off her surprisingly still white teeth.

Brad was by far taken back by the fact that Casey and Hanny looked like normal University students now. They didn't look one bit hungover or at least look like they had gotten high the night before. But from what Charlie had said, the party was extremely low-key all because of him. Apparently Hanny had called off most the people because he couldn't risk Brad ratting him out when he finds out what some people can get up to.

Charlie placed her hand on Brads leg and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry you had to find out about what goes on in here."

"How do you get away with it?" Brad asked, it was one of the many things that were on his mind about this situation. 

"There's no patrols or cameras or anything here. They expect us to follow the rules. They rely on students to rat eachother out. We're lucky the whole top level is either empty, crack-heads or people who are never home. The first floor to second is full of the nerds. But most of them are on E-block. Because there's more room. These are the more expensive dorms, that's why no one really stays here." Charlie explained.

"I just can't believe this sort of stuff goes on in University dorm. Let alone, get away with it." Brad sighed.

Hanny laughed, he was very proud of his drug business and took the opportunity to boast. "Welcome to the life of the crack-heads Brad. The business isn't that easy. It costs alot of money to keep people ratting us out. It takes alot of organizing to get people in and out without anyone noticing. It also takes a lot of effort to pass class and make my parents happy." 

Charlie could see Hanny was going to break down, the coke was taking a toll on him. "Brad we should go, I don't want anyone seeing you here."

"Wait. Are you going to tell me why you lied?" Brad asks, stopping Charlie from getting off the couch.

"Lied?" Casey giggled all of a sudden. "Charlie is full of lies."

Charlie hesitated before saying anything. But she had to let it go. "I lied because I was scared you wouldn't like me. It's not every day I have someone who actually wants to talk to me, but everything I've told you is the complete truth. I just didn't elaborate on the drug thing. I mean I said I started taking drugs, I didn't say I stopped."

"You could have atleast told me. Drugs kill people Charlie." Brad worried, grabbing ahold of Charlie's hand and squeezing it.

"Wish they'd get me. I've been doing this shit for the past 3 years and I'm still hanging loose. Someone needs to kick the bucket already." Hanny interrupts.

Charlie sighed. "It's hard to wake up every morning, knowing that tomorrow's going to be the exact same. Go to class, study, get high, sleep with a stranger and wake up the next morning only remembering the fact that you went to class. I've been like this since I was 16. It's hard to ween it out now."

Brad took in a deep breath. "I'm going to try everything to get you back on track."

Charlie squeezed Brads hand back. "You can't Brad. My dreams are down the drain. I'm a hopeless cause." 

"What about Australia? What about changing the world? What about me?" Brad suggested, he could see Charlie was going to cry. She needed hope. She needed help.

"I lie a lot Brad." She sighed. "My dreams are hopeless cases. I'm addicted and can't go back."

Brad didn't know what to say. He was angry, but he knew he couldn't be. But he knew, it was entirely his fault for falling in love with a drug-addict. It sounds cliché, but if it was anyone else, he would have broken up with them.