POV Steven
As the weeks of summer passed thing because more and more of a daze. I used cocaine at least once a day and managed to hide it from everyone. I spent most of my time with Sophie and most of the the time I was high. I didn't know how I was hiding it from her but I was. I would usually smoke pot in the mornings and do cocaine at night. One night as I laid in bed, I looked up at the ceiling. Paul was asleep. I had tears in my eyes. I hadn't done cocaine tonight and I felt so much guilt. Hiding this from everyone I loved was hard and I worried about what would happen if anyone were to fine out.
"Hey," Paul said as he faced me from the top of his bunk bed. "Are you ok?"
I jumped slightly. I had been so deep in my thoughts and didn't even notice when Paul faced me. I dried my eyes.
"Yeah, I'm great." I answered. Paul was unconvinced and jumped down turning on the lamp next to the door.
"Could have fooled me."
"I'm fine, I promise. I just get lost in my thoughts sometimes." I replied as I sat up and looked at my little brother.
"Look when I go through my stuff with Christine you are always there for me, let me do the same for you." Paul said.
"If something was wrong, you'd be the first person I would go to but honestly Paul I'm fine."
"You're not convincing me." Paul said looking at me.
"You don't have to worry about me, I'm doing great...sometimes I just miss mom and dad. I don't think they would be proud of me if they saw me now."
Paul frowned. "Are you kidding? Steven, they've be beyond proud of you. You're a talented musician and we our band is going to be famous one day, I know it, I believe in us."
"All I know how to do is play drums, other than that, I'm just a nobody." I said.
"That's not true."
"How do you know?" I snapped.
"Because you are my brother and I've known you my whole life and you are one of the most talented people I know so enough crazy talk. Get some sleep you look tired." Paul said.
"When did my little brother gain so much wisdom?" I asked.
Paul shrugged and then smiled. "Learned it from my big brother." Paul said before hugging me. I hugged him back. I felt so blessed to have incredible siblings like Paul and Emily.
The next morning I woke up early and sat up. I got up and walked out to the patio. The house had been occupied by me, Emily, and Paul since my cousin had been away for a business trip and wouldn't be back for a couple of weeks. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a joint. I lit it up and started smoking. I didn't do marijuana just to get high. It took away some of my pain from when I got shot and it also made me forget about my problems for a little while. It had been months since I started smoking pot. Cocaine started for me a couple of weeks ago. It was a recent thing for me. After I finished smoking I got in the shower to hid the scent of it. I also brushed my teeth so all the traces of its scent were gone. I went for a walk around town and found myself sitting on a bench near the bay. I watched couples stroll by and people having fun on jet skis. A couple of minutes later I felt someone sit next to me on the bench. It was David and Sherrie.
"Hey there drummer." Sherrie said with a smile.
"You ok man?" David asked.
"I can see why Paul gets annoyed when I constantly ask that question." I said. "Sorry, I'm fine."
"Baby, can you go get us some drinks from the vending machine?" Sherrie asked.
"Sure, want something man?"David asked me.
"Pepsi." I said. David nodded and walked off.
"I know what's wrong. You're smoking pot and Sophie doesn't know?" Sherrie said. My eyes widened as I looked at her. If only it was just pot.
"How did you k-"
"I saw you doing it in Paris." Sherrie said. Shit. I had been caught.
"I don't mind, I know that a lot of people do it because of physical pain and you got shot so I understand. Just don't abuse it."
If only it were that easy. At least she didn't know about the cocaine. That was something I kept well hidden.
When I got home I went to my room. Paul wasn't there. I sat on the bed and whispered to myself. "Fuck, I should have checked if someone was watching." I knew Sherrie wouldn't tell Sophie but the fact that someone knew meant I had to be more careful because if someone caught me smoking pot, someone could catch me doing cocaine. I walked to the den and sat by my drums. Whenever I played my drums it was an escape for me. I played one of the songs I wrote when I was in high school and tried to clear my mind. I was so lost in my drumming that I didn't even notice when Emily and Paul walked in. When I finished I finally opened my eyes and saw them standing there. For as long as I could remember I had been the rock in the family. The person everyone went to when they had problems. I was always there when people needed me and I rarely had problems of my own or at least I never talked about them openly. For the first time in a very long time I found myself feeling lost and broken. A crackle of thunder from outside took me out of my thoughts and I jumped. I could see the concern in my siblings eyes. They didn't say anything. All they did was walk over to me on either side and hugged me tightly as I cried softly.
POV Joe
I had seen my mother only once since she's been in the hospital and I still couldn't bare to look at her but I needed to go back if I was going to find any answers about my father. I walked to the hospital and got into the elevator. Just as the elevator was about to close someone came running and stopped it. I held the doors open for him.
"Thanks man." The guy said as he looked at me. I looked at him for a minute and the resemblance between us was uncanny. We both had that 80s hair band look except his hair was jet black like my mother's.
"Dude, your look is sick." I said smiling.
"Ditto." The guy said laughing.
"Who are you here to see?" I asked.
"My mother, I have some questions for her."
"I'm here to see my mother too. What floor?"
"Second."
"Same here." When the elevator doors opened we both found ourselves walking into the same direction. We ended up outside the same room. When we stopped Ryan's eyes widened.
"You're him?"
"I'm who?"
"You're my little brother."
I felt my heart sink into my stomach. I have a brother?
"We're brothers?" I asked in shock.
"Are you Joe?" he asked. I nodded and he wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back but was still so confused. I have an older brother that I never knew about. After we hugged a man in his forties exited our mother's room. The man looked at us both directly in the eyes. I knew it our father. There was no mistaking it.
"I'm Ryan and this is my little brother Joe. I'm pretty damn sure you already know who we are." Ryan said with an angry tone in his voice.
The man stared at us and then spoke. "I know, you are my sons."
"You don't get to call us that! After you left us!" I shouted as Ryan held me back from attacking him. I fucking hated him more than I hated my mother. I looked at him with rage and anger. I never felt such negative emotions in my life but this asshole brought out a whole new side of me and I didn't like it one bit. My eyes lowered to a ring on his finger. He probably left us for another fucking family.
"You left us for another fucking family, didn't you?" I asked enraged.
"I was already married when I met your mother, my wife and I were separated but one day my wife called and revealed to me she was pregnant and wanted to work on us and our family so I went back."
"You left without giving us a second thought!? You're wife was pregnant but our fucking mother gave you two children that were just as much your responsibility as your wife's children! I don't blame her anymore, I blame you!" I yelled in tears.
"That's fine." The man said. I felt my hand clench into a fist and Ryan tighten his grip on me.
"Don't think I didn't care, I've saved up money to give to you both one day, if I ever saw you again." The man said as he took out two checks.
"Are you fucking kidding? I don't want your fucking money, I wanted to look into the face of the man that left me and tell him how much I hate him and well now that I've done that you can get the hell out of here." I said clenching my jaw.
"I'll just leave these here." The man said as he placed the checks on the table beside us.
"Never try to contact us again, got it?" I said holding him by his jacket.
"As you wish." he said as I let him go and he walked away.
Ryan faced me and gave me a concerned look.
"You good man?"
"I'm fine now that he's gone...it was never our mother's fault, it was his." I said as I looked down.
We stayed with my mom for a couple of hours and then when visiting hours concluded we walked out together and I sat on the bench outside of the hospital. We finally figured out our fathers full name and realized what a dick he was when he was with our mother. That was also the last day we saw our mother, they returned her to the prison that night and we decided it would be best for our mother to clean up her act before we let her back into our lives. Ryan walked into the liquor store a couple stores down and returned with a bottle of vodka. Ryan offered me some and then pulled out what looked like a joint.
"Want some?" Ryan asked. I had never dabbled into drugs and at this point I felt so low in my life that I accepted. We smoked and drank for a little while. It started to get dark.
"What hotel you staying at?" I asked.
"The one that's like down the block, you?"
"Same, let's help each other get back, we're both crossfaded as fuck." I said helping Ryan up. I could barely walk straight and Ryan ended up helping me more than I helped him. I was new so the effects hit me drastically. Ryan had been used to the feeling so he was more aware than I was. By the time we got back to the hotel I was half conscious. Ryan helped me out of my worn clothes and got me in bed. I knew I was going to regret this in the morning but I didn't care. This whole day had been a nightmare except for meeting Ryan. I had a brother and that changed my entire life. I was pissed that I haven't met him until now.
POV Paul
One night as I lay awake I picked up my phone. I was thinking about Joe and how everything was going for him. We hadn't spoken since he sent me a text saying he landed and that was two months ago. I called him and heard a half drunk voice on the other line and it was definitely Joe. The minute I heard the slur in his speech I could tell things weren't going great for him.
"Joe, I'm sorry if I woke you." I said.
"No worries..." I could sense sadness in his voice.
"Are you still in Nevada."
"Oh yeah, and I met my father."
"How did that go?"
"Exactly how I expected, he's a fucking asshole that didn't give a shit about me and my brother. Oh yeah, I have an older brother, he came to see my mom too. I was pissed that they lied to me about having an older brother but him and I are getting along very well. We look alike, I told my mother I wouldn't forgive her unless she cleaned up her act so she agreed and they took her back to the prison tonight. My father will never gain my forgiveness, he's fucked up past the point of no return."
I listened to Joe with sympathy as he continued to talk in depth about everything that's happened.
"How's Christine?"
"Not good, she misses you. Why haven't you called or texted?"
"Because, I can't. My brother and I talked. I might move up to New York with him, his band is looking for a keyboardist and I'm thinking of going with him."
"What about The Runaways, we're waiting for you man."
"Paul I just found my brother, I want to know him and spend time with him."
"You're never coming back?"
"I didn't say never just not for a while, you guy will find another bass player, you play bass pretty well."
"Not nearly as good as you."
"I'm sorry Paul."
"Joe please come back, blood or not you are my brother and I fucking miss you." I said as I teared up.
"I miss you too man but I need to figure things out for a while, I'm gonna finish school up here in New York but I'll call you."
"Yeah..." I said as we hung up. I threw my pillow onto my face and cried into it. I felt like I was losing my best friend. I didn't know when I would see him. Or if I ever would again. I also stopped to think about how Christine would feel. Her heart would break just as mine was. Christine didn't deserve this. I had a scary feeling that Joe would not be the same if I ever saw him again. The things he had gone through in Nevada must have been hard on him. The voice I heard on the phone felt different. There was a sadness and darkness in his tone and it was something I'd never heard from him before. Little did I know that after that phone call things were just going to get worse for me and everyone involved with The Runaways.
I confronted Christine the next day to tell her the news I had received from Joe and she could tell it was over between her and him. I held her while she cried and I kissed her head. I felt like we finally had a shot but I knew she needed time and I would wait until she was ready. If we were going to do this, I wanted it to be on her terms, I can't lose her again.
School eventually started and Joe had made the decision to finish school in New York. Christine was still healing and I was with her in that process as much as she needed me. I had most of my classes with Christine and it made us both happy. The second week of school would prove to be a shock to every single person in Christine's life.