Scream of Sorrow [ON HOLD]

FOUR

Sunsets had always been calming and peaceful for Reagan. 

After a shower in the motel's half-good bathroom, Reagan called Austin and decided to walk towards the band house instead of spending money on a cab. It was a forty-five minute walk but she decided that she needed it. 

So she changed into a black T-shirt on top of a black, baggy long sleeve that had thin white stripes on it along with some cuffed mom, blue jeans, a black belt and her boots. She pulled her hair into a half-hearted plait and left with her contract in a hand and her phone in the other. She called Austin and he answered instantly, having been informed of last night's events. 

"Reags? You're okay, aren't you?" 

She laughed. "All good, tough guy. I'm walking to the band house, actually." 

"Is the street full?" he asked. 

"Damn crowded," she muttered, glaring at the woman that bumped into her shoulder roughly. 

She proceeded to tell him about the weird symptoms that she had experienced during the photo shoot. 

"It's the withdrawal symptoms," said Austin. "I remember Jason had those when he was detoxing. He used to throw up a lot, too." 

Jason was one of Austin's friends that he hung out with when he wasn't with Reagan. She had met them a couple of times and even liked some of them but they never made any effort to get to know each other better than a small chat during Austin's company. 

"Thanks for the heads up," she said with a grimace. "How long has he been clean for?" 

"Around a year if I remember correctly," he answered. "He's been clean clean, though. Nicotine-drugs-alcohol clean." 

"He doesn't drink anything?" said Reagan suspiciously. 

"Well, he does. But not enough to get himself drunk." 

"Damn, some motivation he's got," she muttered, feeling her stomach churn. 

"You've been clean for nine days today?" asked Austin, his tone daring her to say otherwise. 

"Austin, I'm different than Jason, come on. I still smoke and I bought a couple of joints off some guy... And I'm still drinking, just today I had two beers in less than an hour." 

"Nine days, Reagan?" he pressed. 

She rolled her eyes at the sky. "Yes, Austin, nine." 

"You need to stop joints." 

"Look, we said baby steps, okay? I can't just cut it all out at once and you know that." 

"You've never even tried—" he began to argue. 

"Did you see Carter?" she swiftly changed the subject. 

"Yeah, just an hour ago, the bitch," said Austin, not bothering to hide his dislike for her boyfriend. "I mean, do you even like him?" 

"Well, I used to." 

"Fuck me if you ever did." 

She laughed. "I don't know, he asked me out, I couldn't say no." 

"But now he's a bitch so break up with him," said Austin logically. 

"Nah," she said. "I'm used to him being around now. It's been, what, nine months?" 

"I thought it was a two years."

"You have trouble with a calendar," she said, smiling to herself and putting him on speaker to check the location.