AUTHORS NOTE
I am going to be using a drug called ampakines in this story. I have done a hell of a lot of research for any other drugs that would correlate with this storyline but I couldn't find any.
This drug isn't what it is in real life. I am going to just be using the name of it and changing the way it works.
ALYSSA
It turns out I'm living with Ezra. It had been nearly a week since my mom decided on asking Jennifer if we can live with them and what did she say? she said yes.
And now we're on our way to Arizona. 13-hour drive. Fuck my life. My dad thought it was easier to drive and to be fair my dad loved driving, but me on the other hand, I can't sit in the same seat for too long, so only 3 hours into the drive I made my dad stop at the nearest diner so I can stretch my legs.
My dad handed me my food and my eyes lit up instantly.
"Thank you." I grin.
"It's okay munchkin." he smiles back.
We continued our drive and after many pit stops and many naps, we arrived in Arizona at 7 pm the following day. I jump out of the car and my legs were numb.
"I am exhausted." I breathe out, stretching my arms.
"Exhausted how? What did you do?" my mom laughs.
"if you must know, sitting in the same seat cramped up with suitcases gets uncomfortable." I defend myself.
"Let's go," my dad says coming up from behind us.
My eyes widen as I look up to the huge, grey, modern house. This was not what I looked like before.
"Oh wow." I mutter under my breath.
If the outside looks like this, what the fuck is the inside going to look like. I walk up to their door and my mom knocks, my eyes studied the ground whilst we waited for a response. The door creaked opened and my eyes shot up to the door, Jennifer stood there with a massive smile. Her almond-shaped blue eyes stared back at mine.
"Oh my God," she whispers in shock, tears glazing in her eyes.
"I missed you guys," she greets, instantly grasping us into a group hug. I tried my hardest not to flinch but if Jennifer noticed she didn't make any attempt in showing it.
"I missed you too." I say back.
"Come in, come in, it's cold out here, we'll get your bags in a bit," she orders, wiping her tears.
We walk inside and warmth filled me. The house was an elegant stylish house with a connected living room and kitchen. We walked into the kitchen and she poured us drinks, mine was non-alcoholic whereas my dad drank a bourbon.
"Nice house." my dad compliments, looking around. My dad was a real estate agent so he had a lot of experience with viewing houses.
"Thank you, let's just say after John left, we decided to change the place. Ezra did most of it."
I look up at her, at the mention of Ezra's name.
"So where is Ezra?" my mom asks.
"Ezra took Maddie out, she was a bit upset earlier on."
"So how are you guys? What was the reason for the sudden move?" she questions.
My eyes widen. I look up at my dad, who looked just as shocked as me.
"Uhm," I start.
"Just wanted to come back, we missed our hometown." my dad interrupts.
"I'm glad." she smiles.
"Also Justin, I have heard you're free of cancer."
My dad nods his head with a proud grin.
"I'm so happy for you, honestly I prayed for you every day since you left until Ezra told me you won your battle."
Could I even be shocked that Ezra knew my dad had recovered from his cancer? He didn't visit. He doesn't care.
"Thank you, Jen." my dad says sincerely.
I clear my throat, "Where is the bathroom?
"Upstairs the first room on the left." she replies with a smile.
I nod my head and stood up and made my way upstairs, there was a long corridor with 2 rooms on the right-hand side and 2 rooms on the left. There was another staircase along the hallway. How many rooms did this house have?
I follow Jennifer's directions and went into the first room on the left. I walk into the bathroom and used the toilet, then sat on the edge of the bathtub.
I took my phone out of my hoodie pocket and read the message.
I have the drugs you wanted, where do you wanna meet?
My eyes enlarged. I completely forgot about that.
After the therapy appointment, I reached out to a dealer in my area and asked for the memory drugs which I now know are called ampakines. A drug that will help me remember everything from that night.
He said he would get back to me when he got a hold of the drugs, which I guess he did.
I briefly typed a message back.
Me: fuck I'm so sorry I've moved states due to personal reasons. Is there any way you can send it here?
The grey 3 dots began to appear, my leg began to bounce out of anxiety.
Dealer: Yes I can, what state are you in?
I let out a deep breath I didn't realise I was holding onto.
Me: Arizona
dealer: That's actually perfect, I have business down there in a week. I'll see you then.
Me: okay
This will be the last time I ever make a deal with a drug dealer.
I stand up from the bathtub and made my way to the sink. I looked into the mirror, sweat shimmered on my forehead.
"I didn't think it would be that hard to make a deal with a dealer." I muttered to myself.
I washed my face with water to freshen myself up then tapped my face with a towel.
I inhaled a deep breath in and left the bathroom. As I opened the door and walked out. I walked into something hard, I let out a yelp and my eyes shut tight as I waited for my body to hit the ground until I felt two warm hands gripping my waist tightly.
I gradually opened my eyes and looked into a familiar pair of ocean-blue eyes. I ripped his hands away from my waist and stood a few feet away from him. I slowly looked up at him. He looked as shocked as I did. My eyes roamed over his appearance, His body frame towered over mine, which made my 5'8 frame feel small, his chestnut brown hair messily sat on his head, His face structure was a whole lot more defined than it used to be, and he wore a red basketball jersey which had 23 imprinted on the front and I presume the back.
After what felt like ages of us just checking each other out, he broke the silence.
"What are you doing here?" he mutters.
No hello? This is just getting better and better.
"Your mom didn't tell you?" I question.
"Nope, so why don't you tell me?" he says, picking up the ball that was on the ground.
"Uhm, we've moved back."
"Moved back?" he repeats.
"I'm pretty sure that's what I said." I say, rolling my eyes.
"Why?"
"Because my dad wanted to move back, you know since he's cancer free, did your congratulations card get lost in the mail?" I retort.
His eyes soften, "Alyssa." he began.
"No, I don't want to hear it." I dismiss him, turning around to walk back downstairs.
A second later, his hand gripped my wrist as he brought me closer. "I need to tell you why." he whispered in my ear. A shiver ran up my spine.
"I don't care." I grit before yanking my hand out of his grasp.
I didn't spare a second glance before I walked downstairs and saw my parents sitting at the dining table with Maddie and Jennifer. Maddie turned around to see me and immediately ran to hug me. I slowly wrapped my arms around her.
Breathe.
Its not Elliot.
"Alyssa" she whispers.
"You have grown up so much." I laugh.
"I missed you so much," she mutters.
"I missed you."
Maddie and I were very close when we were younger. We spent nearly every day together. I helped her ask out her crush when she was little, which didn't work because Ezra scared him away.
I let go of her and wiped a tear that fell from her eyes.
"Come on, let's eat." I smile.
She nodded smiling. We walked towards the dining table.
Jennifer was sat at the head of the table, my mom sat on her left and my dad sat next to my mom. Maddie sat opposite Jennifer and I sat next to Maddie, which left only one space between me and Jennifer. Ezra.
My parents and Jennifer were engaged in a conversation and I talked to Maddie.
"So, any boyfriends?" I ask with a smirk.
Her face heated up. "Uhm there's this one boy in my English class and he's nice to me and we've been partnered up for a project."
I smile as I cut a piece of lasagna for myself.
"What's the problem then?" I ask.
"Ezra." she rolls her eyes.
I laugh, "What he doesn't know won't hurt him, Ezra can't control who you talk to."
Maddie's smile dropped.
"I'd rather you not influence my little sister into keeping secrets from me, buttercup." a certain voice whispers in my ear.
The hairs on my neck stood up as I felt the heat crawl up my neck. I roll my eyes once I realized the word he used at the end of his sentence. I had forgotten of that word. The same word he teased me about for years. Buttercup. A simple word, which still pissed me off.
He took a seat next to me, my eyes roamed his change of clothes, he changed into a pair of grey sweatpants and a black shirt.
"Ezra." my dad greets.
Ezra had a smirk on his face and directed his attention from me to my dad.
"Justin, how are you?" Ezra asks with a smile, which made me scoff.
Ezra turned to glare at me, and I glared back until I turned my attention toward Maddie.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted." I spoke assuring Ezra was able to hear me.
"Don't let anyone stop you from being happy." I say before putting a piece of lasagne in my mouth.
God, I have missed Jennifer's cooking.
"What about you? Any boyfriends in California?" she asks. I swallowed the lump that set in my throat.
"Yeah, there was one." I mutter. "But we broke up," I mumble sitting straight in my seat and drinking my water.
Ezra's gaze stayed on me, his brows furrowed in concern. I cleared my throat and tried to change the subject to something less interrogating.
"So where were you earlier? Your mom said you were upset?" I ask.
Maddie sighed, "Just school, Ezra took me to his basketball game to cheer me up."
"Well... Did he win?" I ask.
Ezra cleared his throat next to me, gesturing that he was right there and I should ask him instead.
"Yes." Maddie replies.
"What a surprise." I mutter so only Ezra could hear.
Ezra never used to win his basketball games. Granted he was so fucking short back then, and now he's extremely tall. I always used to taunt him for losing his games.
"I'm going to get dessert." Jennifer announces.
"Ezra go show Alyssa her room." she requests.
Ezra had a wary smirk covered on his face. "Follow me, buttercup." he says in a teasing tone.
I roll my eyes and followed him upstairs. "This room is mine." he points to the room opposite the bathroom.
"The one next to the bathroom is Maddie's." he pointed.
"I'm sure your mom said show me my room not give me a tour, Maddie will help me with that." I mutter, rolling my eyes.
"You need to stop this smart ass attitude." he replies, clenching his jaw.
I scoff, "Of course Ezra. Whatever you want." I sarcastically reply.
He shook his head and we walked into a room next to his, "Here's your fucking room, do whatever you please with it." he turns to the door.
"Wait." I say.
"We aren't fucking kids anymore, you can stop calling me that."
He turned his head, so I could see his sharp jaw and annoyingly beautiful side profile. "If that's what you want..."
"Thank-" I sigh.
"Buttercup." he cut me off, before walking out the room.
"Stupid asshole." I murmur.
I walk out of the room and made my way outside to the car. I hear footsteps pursue after me, I stopped immediately causing Ezra to nearly trip over me.
"Fuck off." I huff.
"Just helping you out," he smirks.
I roll my eyes at that stupid smirk and continued to walk towards the car. I unlock the car door and began to take out a suitcase, Ezra stood besides me unsure what to do.
"Grab a suitcase if you want to help out."
He walks to the boot of the car and grabbed two of the heaviest suitcases at the same time, his biceps flexed as he lifted them. I shifted my attention to anywhere else.
Before I knew it, he was already walking towards the house holding a suitcase in each hand. My eyes widened in shock. I knew he was strong but I didn't know he was that strong. I cleared my thoughts and grabbed the other suitcase and rolled it towards the house.