Tony’s POV
I’m drunk.
Today was supposed to be my last day of drinking and I slipped up hardcore yesterday night. Smiley decided to reward me for all my drug routes and I got carried away. I didn’t do any drugs but as soon as the bottle hit my lips, I just lost it.
I don’t even know how I got home, but I feel horrible. I had my last bottle a little over an hour ago and I can’t think straight. The funny thing is, I didn’t even get the same high I normally did from drinking. Instead, I just feel like a sick failure.
Even worse, Evie is supposed to come over any minute—
"TONYYYYY! EVIE AND DONNY ARE HEREE!" Emi screams at me.
Crap. I try and sit up but the room is spinning and my vodka is threatening to make a reappearance.
"Tony! Evie is here! So you gotta get up!" Emi starts jumping on my bed and my nausea gets worse.
"Emi stop. I don’t feel good. At all."
"What do you mean you don’t feel good?" Evie walks into my room and puts her bag on the floor. What she does next surprises me.
Instead of sitting in my desk chair like she normally does, she climbs onto my bed and settles down next to me.
The room won’t stop spinning and I can’t help but think that the bottle I had only an hour ago was a huge mistake.
"Tony? Are you drunk?" Evie’s voice is sharp and full of dissapointment.
"Geez." I turn away from her and cover my eyes. "Emily’s in here."
"Do you mind if me and Tony talk for a minute?"
Emily is quiet for a moment. “I guess. But me and Donny want to go to the park.”
"I don’t know about the park Emily. I’ll let you know in an hour, okay?"
"Okay," Emily mumbles then shuts the door.
"Sometimes I wish you’d leave me alone," I say when Emily leaves. "I just need to sleep this off Ev."
"What happened to you getting clean?" Evie’s voice shakes. I turn back towards her and she looks like she’s about to cry.
I sit up slowly and pull her closer to me. She resists at first, then relaxes into my chest.
"I really hate seeing you like this, Tony. You have so much potential and I don’t understand why you insist on drinking yourself into oblivion." Evie looks up at me with eyes full of concern.
"I’m not drinking just to get drunk."
"Yeah you are." Evie shifts in my lap. "Every time something goes bad or you can’t handle it, you drink. And don’t say that I shouldn’t care, because I do."
I open my mouth to respond but I’m cut off by the wave of nausea that hits me. I bend in the other direction and puke all over my sheets.
"Oh Tony." Evie’s voice is soft and she starts running her hand through my hair.
"I’m sorry. I’m sorry." I keep repeating this until sleep takes over and the last thing I remember is Evie getting up to leave.
I wake up and my head is pounding. And there’s puke on my sheets. I crawl out of bed and go to the kitchen for water and Advil.
"Hey."
I look up to see Evie doing homework on my dining room table.
"Hey," I say back. I grab a glass of water then lay down on the couch. "Crap."
"What?" Evie stands over me.
"Can you grab me some Advil?"
"Yeah." She goes into the kitchen and returns with two pills. "I’m gonna make you a hangover cocktail too okay?"
"Sounds good mamas.”
A few minutes later, she returns with a red drink in a large glass. I take the cup from her and sip at the drink. It’s horrible.
Evie laughs when I gag.
"This is gross." I try to hand it back to her. "What the hell is in here?"
She laughs again and pushes it back to me. “Tomato juice, chili powder, lime juice, hot sauce, sparkling water and seltzer.”
"Crap Evie. You trying to kill me?"
This time she rolls her eyes. “Just drink it. I found the recipe online. I’m gonna go check on Donny and Emily then change your sheets.”
"Geez Ev. You don’t have to play housewife."
"I know." She walks down the hallway and I take a double look at her backside.
So freaking sexy.
"Your sheets are clean." Evie comes back a few minutes later with my old sheets. "Where do you want these?"
"Uh. Just leave them on the floor in my room. I’ll do laundry tomorrow."
Evie puts the sheets down then comes to sit next to me on the couch. I sit up and scoot closer to her. “Thanks,” I say. “For everything.”
"Just trying to help." Evie rests her head on my shoulder. "But why Tony? Why the relapse? You were doing so good."
I look at the ground. I can’t tell her that I partied with Pandilla. So I try to get around it.
"Did I even tell you how I started drinking?"
Evie sits up quickly and looks at me. “No. Are you sure you wanna tell me?” She plays with her bracelet. “Not that I don’t wanna know. ‘Cause I do. But I know that’s pretty personal.”
"I trust you Evette." I smile. "I’ll start from before Emily was born. My mom was dating this fool named Stefano and I was about 11. Maybe 12. It was right before Emily was born.
"Anyway. Him and my mom would party. Every night. All night. And they would leave me home alone. I was always scared ‘cause we lived in East Side San Jo. It’s a lot worse than here.
"One night I remember I was crying my eyes out. I just felt so alone. Then Stefano came home and it was just me and him. He was drinking a beer. When he saw me crying, he asked me why and I told him I felt alone. Then, he just gave me his beer. He said it would make me feel better and it did.
"So I started drinking. He said he would bring me beers as long as I didn’t tell my mom. And I felt good so I knew telling my mom wasn’t an option. I just got addicted.
"A little bit later, we found out my mom was pregnant and as soon as Emi was born, Stefano was gone. Never said goodbye. Nothing."
Evie interrupts. “So how did you get alcohol then?”
"Friends. It’s not that hard to get your hands on a bottle on East Side Ev. You just gotta know who to ask.
"And your mom didn’t know?"
"She knew. But she was so stressed. Emily was on the way and she wanted to get out of San Jo and she had no job. I wasn’t her biggest… priority I guess."
"Oh Tony." Evie wraps her arms around me. "I’m so sorry."
She holds me for a few minutes and I close my eyes. How did I get her?
She kisses my cheek then sits back a little to look at me.
"You’ve been drinking for six years Tony. The little rehab thing I threw together is not gonna help. You need professional help."
"Nah." I shake my head. "That stuff ain’t for me. I just need to get back on that schedule you made. I’ll be—"
"The Boys and Girl’s club has AA meeting on Wednesday nights. You should go. I can even go with—"
"You’re crazy Evie. Like I said. That stuff ain’t for me. "
"I’m not crazy Tony. I think it’ll be good for you. I can even go with you. And they have a child’s care room during the meetings so Donny and Emi can hang out there. Can we just go to one? If you don’t like it, we can go back to my rehab. But we have to try okay?"
"You’re the only girl I’d do this for Ev."
She smiles and hugs me. “So it’s a yes! It’ll be fun!”
"Mhm."
"I have a lot of faith in you Tony." Evie rests her head on my shoulder. "A lot of faith."