In This City

Chapter 23

IN THIS CITY 

CHAPTER 23

MCKINLEY P.O.V

After my stunt at Luke's birthday party, the guys took all of the alcohol in my apartment, downstairs to theirs. Luke had become concerned. He watched my every move no matter what I did. I hadn't drank in the two weeks since his birthday, not even when we went out to dinner. I was starting to get annoyed with them. Anytime Luke wasn't around for some reason, Ashton or Calum were. 

"What's the deal?" I asked Ashton as I cooked dinner. I hadn't mentioned them all sticking around. I knew that they were concerned but I hadn't done anything further to make them concerned. 

"What do you mean?" He sipped on a milkshake I had made him. 

"I mean how come theres always one of you in my apartment?" I asked stirring the stir fry I was making. "If Luke isn't here, either you or Calum are here up my ass." 

"I'm not up your ass." He rolled his eyes. "We're just worried." 

"About what?" I had been feeling great. I had been working more hours at the office. I was working out sometimes with Luke when he would ask me. I wasn't sure what they were all so concerned about. 

"We just think you drink a lot." I was totally confused by that statement. 

"What?" I hadn't drank since the party and they all drank much more than I did. "Why because I had to get my stomach pumped?" He nodded just as Luke and Calum came through the door with someone else I had never seen. I felt the need to attack him. How dare any of them accuse me of being an alcoholic when they themselves were borderline alcoholics. I only drank with them and every so often had a glass of wine. 

"Hi." Luke greeted me like nothing was going on. "We uh, this is Madison. She's a counselor." I was totally shocked that they were having an intervention. I shut off the stir fry and looked at all of them. 

"You're serious." I almost laughed by how ridiculous they were being. I couldn't believe that Luke just never said anything to me about it. He just carried on like everything was normal instead of bringing up his concerns. I would have gladly had a conversation with him about it. 

"Yes we're serious." He answered leading me into the living room and sitting me down on the couch. They all sat around me while Madison brought out a notepad. I suddenly felt so attacked and like I wanted to close in on myself. Thankfully Nicole, Michael, and Lynn weren't here or I would have probably had a panic attack. I kept my hands in my lap, keeping my eyes down. I had never felt so betrayed by them. Not even when Luke packed up his entire life, broke up with me, and moved. 

I tried to listen to what everyone was saying but I had zoned out. I knew that they had good intentions, but I felt like this was pointless and that they could have come to me first without bringing some stranger into my home. 

When Luke started talking I looked up at him. He was mostly talking to Madison, telling her things he had noticed. Then he turned to me. 

"If something doesn't change, we can't be together." The words ripped my heart out. The breath caught at the back of my throat and I nearly choked on it. Tears automatically sprung in my eyes, that was the last thing I wanted. Our fun drinking days had never been a problem before. I wasn't sure why all of a sudden they decided to get serious about it. All of the trust that we had started to build back up was knocked down with a few simple words. I couldn't help but feel like all of it was my fault. 

I didn't feel like I was an alcoholic. Hell my dad was, ruined most of my childhood from it. I had been careful enough to enjoy alcohol without it being a problem. I never relied on it to keep me going. I didn't need it everyday.