Noah (Obsessions in Overdrive #1)

Fourty - eight | back in rehab

I'm surprised they didn't search for my phone when I entered here. They took my shoes because they had laces and my belt. They even took my glasses since they have, well... glass and I could cut myself.

"So... you're not Noah Duarnte?" Jasper ask, pushing himself off the wall and walking towards his bed.

I shake my head, tossing my phone onto my bed. "It's Duarte," I say. "I'm a brunette, I'm sixteen, six feet and I enjoy the occasional methamphetamine." His entire face drops once he hears me speak. "No ways, my friend is going to lose her mind once she hears I'm in rehab with the Overdrive creator!"

My head tilts to the side until I realise. "Listen, you can't tell anyone you met me, but if you really want to... don't say we met here." Jasper slowly nods.

My parents have told everyone that I won't be around the estate as I will be in Portugal to visit family. It's a simple white lie to keep our family name clean.

Only few people know what actually happened such as my friends and of course Nida. My parents didn't want any of them to know as it would've started rumours, but my friends know how to keep their mouth shut when they have to.

"What are you in for?" I ask him. "Opioids." He says calmly which gets a reaction out of me. He said it as if you hear that everyday. I guess you do considering that we're in fucking rehab.

I've become obsessed with time. I don't know how long I've been in here, staring at these four walls, listening to Jasper ask about Overdrive and answering them.

Holly comes in to unlock the door and let Jasper out while checking up on me as I suffer tremendous pain from the withdrawal. She usually brings me water to help with the dehydration and to bring me warmer clothes.

On the night when I'm was at my weakest, a nurse who wasn't Holly came in to check on me. When he saw me curled up into a ball on the floor, he helped me stand up. It was a lot harder considering that my leg was broken, but he quickly let go when I punched him in the face.

I grabbed his shirt and threatened to kill him if he didn't let me leave. I was quickly pushed to the floor with my hands behind my back. Apparently it's wrong to do such a thing.

Both Jasper and I are in the group therapy arts room as we create projects to describe our recovery while talking about it. I find it weird, but at the same time I enjoy it.

The rehab centre tries to keep people of the same age group together so we can easily get along, but for the entire time I've been here I've only made one friend.

I look around the room to see a girl who's hair is a big mess talk about how she started doing drugs at a house party. Whatever she's spewing out of her mouth is going into one ear and out the other as I'm only focused on perfectly cutting the colorful paper in front of me.

My fingers are covered in band-aids from all the paper cuts I've received, but I'm determined to finish my project by the end of this session.

This is the end of my fifth week in rehab and I've realised that in this time, I haven't been able to give Nida a single flower like I planned to do when I first asked her out.

She's my flower and she deserves flowers. So, I've decided to make her a flower for every week I've missed using paper.

I've already rolled up six green pieces of paper to make the stem of the flower while I cut different shades of pink and red.

I've also written her dozens of letters, but she's never responded to me. I'm not sure what I've done. It hurts to be ignored.

"That should be all for today," Our therapist, Meredith, says as she flips through her book. "You can now all go back down for lunch." Everyone stands up, leaving their artworks behind.

I stay put, glueing the petals together. Meredith notices me, standing beside me. "Come on, Noah." She says and I wave her away. "Just give me five more minutes, I need to finish this."

I put more glue onto the next petal before sticking it to the stem. "Now, Noah." She places her hands on her hips, tapping her foot as she waits impatiently. "Please, Meredith. I need to finish this for her."

She doesn't say anything, sitting down beside me. She lets out a sigh, picking up one of the completed flowers. "You get an extra minute."

I look up at her with my eyes wide, knowing that it won't be enough time. "Two minutes?" I question, slowly glueing more pieces of paper together. "One and a half."

"Deal!" I exclaim, counting the minutes in my head as my hands shake to stick the petals.

My heart slams against my chest as anxiety courses through my veins. Meredith stares at the watch on her wrist which makes me even more anxious.

I stick the last flower onto the stem, putting my hands up before the time is complete. "I'm done!" She smiles, making me stand up with her before we leave the room.

I hold onto my flowers tightly, smiling at them and hoping she'll smile just as much. As we reach the dining room, my eyes immediately land on Jasper who's eating the lunch they've served today. I take a seat beside him, my eyes still on the bouquet. "She's never going to respond to you, amigo."  I lift my head to look up at him.

He shrugs his shoulder as he takes a bite of his food. "I'm just stating the facts." I roll my eyes at him, knowing that one day she'll respond to me.

And I know that I'll see her today as I'm getting my knee brace off today. If she has read my previous letters, she'll know to meet me by the hospital for a good minute or two. I just want to see her pretty face even if it's just a glance.

"You don't know, Nida." I twist the bouquet around to ensure everything is perfect for her. "Dude, you've written her so many letters and she hasn't responded to a single one, I call that a breakup." It's true, but I know she'll respond to this one. I put my heart and soul into it.

Jasper continues to speak about how I'm waiting for nothing and how she isn't coming. He might've lost hope in Nida, but I haven't.

I know that she will come. Even if it takes them sixty days, ninety days or even a year. I know she will. "You didn't sleep last night." Jasper says.

"Why would I? I'm not even tired." I say. For the past week I've felt nothing but energy. The level I'm on is as if I've chugged fifty RedBulls in less than two minutes which should be impossible.

Happiness. Euphoria. Importance. The best time to be alive. I'm invincible and everyone around me wishes they could be me.

I'm a fucking perfect in every way. "Well, when was the last time you slept?" Jasper asks and I roll my eyes. "I don't know, six days ago. I don't need that shit." Jasper stares at me with concern. "That's not normal." He says.

I roll my eyes again. Like he would know what's normal and what is. He's probably using again and is only pretending to be sober.

He's told me that he's done that before and this is his third time in rehab. Must be nice to easily recover and relapse as his family will always be there for him. He's told me dozens of times how his family wants him to get clean, but he doesn't find fun in it. I can relate to a certain extent. "Anyways, while you're were making your girlfriend paper flowers, I made a quack quack." He pulls out half diamond shaped piece of paper.

He holds it out in front of me, indicating he wants me to play. "Blue." I say and he begins moving his fingers so the paper shows various numbers. "Uhhh- two, my lucky number." He counts to seven until it shows another set of numbers. "Six!" I exclaim.

He then opens the quack quack and reads the answers. "Two, you're a lovely person." I smile at the silly paper game. "Six, Megan Fox from the Transformers movie will never find you attractive." Ouch! Why did my heart hurt when he said that?

My heart pounds hard and heavy in my chest. I feel like I might be on fire. Denial. I'm sure Madison Fox would love me if we were the same age. "Bullshit." I say, shaking my head. "The quack quack never lies."

༄･ﾟ࿐ ࿔*:

A/N
I'm at a cricket game right now with my sister, my sisters fiancé and his sister who has the exact same name as me (my name is very uncommon). The teams are JSK and DSG and my team(JSK) is winning. Not sure how, but we're slaying away and my sisters fiancé is not happy (he's a loser who supports DSG) 😭