Will's POV
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
I couldn't focus at all. The sound of the clock ticking blended in with Dr. Joseph's meaningless words. Wild thoughts of this morning ran through my head and several times I found myself pinching myself to try to make myself focus. It wasn't until he mentioned her name that I finally snapped back to reality.
"So how have you and Natalie been?" he looked at me innocently and leaned back against his chair, folding his hands together on his lap.
I studied him closely, thinking about Natalie and her lying, drugging, and manipulating before snapping, "I'm great. She's great. We're fantastic." Dr. Joseph only gave me a strange look and then nodded.
"I'm glad to hear that. You know what else I'm glad for?" He set his glasses on the top of his head and smiled.
"No."
"Did you know that Natalie stopped by the other day? She was here to-" I cut him off almost immediately.
"What for?" I tried to sound nonchalant, like I could care less, but anything that involved Natalie could never be good. I could only think of one thousand and one reasons why she was here. None of them resulted in happy thoughts. My fingernails dug into my closed palm as I waited for his answer.
His smile was clearly fading away but he ignored my outburst and answered casually. "She was here to refill your medication. I'm so proud that you have finally decided to start taking them." He seemed like he was in the midst of saying more, but I cut him off again.
"When?" My voice came out flatter than usual.
"Just two days ago." His eyes narrowed at me and he pulled his glasses back off his head and onto his eyes. "Is there a problem?" I counted backwards in my mind. One week ago, more or less, I found the pill bottle half full. But if she came for a refill...
I suddenly felt sick.
I stood up quickly to leave, but ended up falling right back into my chair when something that felt like electricity ran through my head the same time I felt a cramp-like feeling in my stomach.
"Will, are you alright?" Dr. Joseph looked up from his notes to see me wincing and pressing a hand into the side of my stomach.
"Yeah, fine," I grunted and got up again, slower this time. "I need some fresh air," I mumbled before making it out the door. For some reason, instead of exiting the building, I aimed for the elevators around the corner and impatiently jabbed at the elevator button. My head felt like mush, and even though it wasn't the world's smartest idea, I pulled out a cigarette and a lighter from my coat pocket.
"Excuse me," the lady at the counter called after me as I stuck the cigarette between my teeth. "You can't smoke in the lobby." Her voice faded as I stepped into the elevator and the doors closed shut. By the time my cigarette was clumsily lit, I was already making my way towards the balcony.
Smoking a cigarette didn't help my stomachache or my headache. It probably made it worse but by this point, I couldn't care less. My life was a mess. Louis was mad at me for all the right and wrong reasons. Harry was back against all odds. I didn't even know where that left Chance. Natalie was up to her old tricks again and I hadn't even talked to her after I had found out about her drugging me. Ayden hadn't come after me in a while, but I didn't know whether to feel relieved or not. And Kaylee... I didn't even know where to begin with her. I hadn't even seen or heard from her after her birthday party which was weeks ago. She was never outside in the therapy waiting room either anymore. It was like she had ceased to exist in my life. And after everything that Brandon had said to me that night, it left me wondering just how well I actually knew Kaylee.
I was still pondering over my problems when someone came to stand close to me. It wasn't until I looked over that I took a double take. It was Logan from the bar. He noticed me the same time I recognized him. "Will!" He grinned and came over to where I stood, leaning his arms over the railing as well.
"Logan?" I didn't think I'd actually ever see him again. Especially here in all places. Besides, didn't he live over in the next county? "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged and nodded his head in the direction he had come from. "I came for the food." We were on the tenth floor which not only was the highest floor in this building, but it was also the kitchen floor for the patients who actually lived in this building. Surprisingly, I found myself chuckling at his words. "Nah, I'm just here for a friend." Logan turned back over to me as I exhaled a lungful of smoke into the air.
"Got one to spare?" he asked.
"Do you even smoke?" I asked.
"Why not start now?"
I shrugged and pulled another cigarette out and handed it to him. He put it between his lips and I lighted it for him. I was just turning away when he started hacking beside me. He spit the entire cigarette out and leaned over, coughing his lungs out. When he finished, I raised my eyebrows at him and easily blew out another lungful of smoke.
"Now you're just showing off," he grunted and wiped at his mouth with his sleeve.
I shook my head at him and dropped my cigarette on the floor, stamping out the lit end. "You're supposed to inhale it and keep the smoke inside your chest not lungs. Unless you're trying to hack yourself to death than that's the way to do it." I turned to leave but he grabbed me by the arm.
"Hey, I was just heading back to town. Want to come with? We can go back to that bar we met in. You look like you can use a drink."
I considered his offer. "Sure."
We were just about to head back to where the elevators were when a pretty girl with dark hair and her friend walked past us and waved flirtatiously at Logan.
"Hey, Logan! I'll see you at my party Friday, right?"
I raised my eyebrows at Logan who just smiled easily back at the girl and said, "Yeah, of course."
The girl turned her attention to me and then returned it back over to Logan. "And bring your friend, yeah?"
I punched Logan in the side, willing him to say no because parties weren't my thing, but Logan just casually smacked my arm away from him and ignored me. "Yeah. You can count on it." The girl grinned and waved goodbye before disappearing with her friend.
"What the hell was that?" I whispered loudly, thinking that the girls could hear me from where I stood.
"Does it matter? You're not dating anyone are you?" I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly continued on. "And even if you were, it doesn't matter. A party once in a while never killed anyone."
"Yeah, but-"
He patted me on the back and pushed the elevator's down button. "Don't worry, you can be my date." He flashed a devilish grin before slipping into the open elevator.
The crowd in the same bar this time was packed. Everyone seemed to breathe the same air. Drunk girls were hanging out by the tables where groups of guys were betting and playing poker. The lighting was so dim I had to try hard not to trip over anyone's feet.
"Can we leave now?" I called over the music at Logan. He pretended not to hear me and slipped out of his jacket, pulling up a stool next to the counter. "My usual, please," he said to the bartender who just nodded and poured a bunch of alcohol together.
Logan patted the stool next to him. "Drinks are on me today," I just sighed at him and dropped myself onto the seat.
The bartender finished mixing the liquids together and slid the drink across the table to Logan. "And for you?" he asked, wiping his hands on a white cloth.
"Uh..." I looked at the fizzing liquid Logan was downing and shrugged. "I'll have whatever he's drinking." The bartender nodded and turned away.
"Cheers," Logan announced when my drink arrived. Our glasses clinked and Logan downed another third of his drink. I took only a tiny sip and already I could feel the bubbles fizzing in my brain. I fought the urge to spit it back out. "So how was it?" Logan was laughing at my expression. I nodded enthusiastically and forced the burning liquid down my throat.
"So great," I ended up croaking before I cleared my throat. Logan shook his head and continued with his drink. He finished and waved over the bartender for another. I stared in amazement as he finished all of it.
He finally noticed me staring and raised his eyebrows. "What? Have you never seen a guy drink before?"
"Jeez, you drink a lot." I noted.
He smirked. "I dare you to finish the rest of yours."
"What? This?" I stared at the still fizzing drink. Bubbles were still floating to the top. My head was still killing me as was my stomach. What was there to lose now? "Fine. But you have to answer just one question after I'm done." I picked up the drink. Right before I brought the glass up to my drink however, I slipped in a stomachache pill from my pocket. And an aspirin pill for good measure. One more wouldn't hurt. I lifted the glass at Logan.
It took a whole painful minute before I forced all of it down my throat. Logan applauded with an amusing look on his face. "Ask away." he grinned, slapping me on my back. Alcohol almost came back up my esophagus.
I choked down the bittersweet tasting and thought long and hard on my question.
"Why do you drink so much?"
Logan looked taken aback by my question. He took another sip of his drink before spinning on his stool to face me. "It really doesn't matter since I'm going to die anyways." he said it so casually that I might've missed the most important word he said. It might've been a minute or five before I found something to say. He interrupted before I could get so far as an apology for even asking him the question in the first place though. "Please don't bother feeling bad for me. And as for the drinking part, it's easier to feel nothing at all than something. It helps with the process anyways."
"So at therapy today, you weren't there for a friend—" I began, starting to catch on.
"I was there so they could 'prepare me for the day it happens.'" he mocked.
He brushed it off so easily so I figured I might as well say something worth his while. "If it helps at all, you should know that thanks to your drink I'm seeing things now." I tried to joke and change the subject.
"Oh? And what's that? Me looking extremely sexy without a shirt on?" he grinned.
I didn't even bother resisting a retort. "Psh, who said anything about a shirt? I was thinking pants."
We both burst out laughing but the minute I did, something began gnawing at me in my stomach. A feeling of pain shot through my stomach so hard that I felt off balance all of the sudden. The stool I sat on felt tilted and I could feel the drink slipping out of my hand. A haze-like substance settled over my eyes that made everything seek blurry all of the sudden. Logan's voice was faded as I somehow regained my balance enough to ask where the bathroom was. Bile rose in my throat and I could feel Logan's arms around me as he guided me towards the bathroom.
He propped me up against the bathroom wall and turned around to lock the door so we could have some privacy. "Will, are you alright? What happened?"
Suddenly everything I've had this past week seemed to want to come up. Everything meaning everything I had to drink today and the pills I had been taking. I leaned forward to retch in the toilet in front of me. It took all of my energy to just wipe my mouth on my stained sleeve now.
"I think you should see a doctor." was all Logan said. "Here, c'mon," he reached a hand down for me to grab to help me out but I just shook my head at him.
"I'll be fine," I shifted so I could pull the pill bottle out of my coat pocket. "I'll just take another one of these." I screwed open the cap and dumped another pill into my hand.
Logan decided to sit down next to me in the cramped bathroom stall. It was barely big enough for him to stretch his legs out. "Let me see that," he put out a hand and nodded at my bottle of pills. I tossed it over and put the pill I had taken out into my mouth.
I swallowed it dry without water. For all I knew, the water would just come right back up as did everything else.
"That's strange," Logan was saying when I finally was conscious enough to look at him. He had the bottle held at eye level with the label facing me.
"What is?"
He started scratching at the label with his fingernails. When the edge of the label started peeling, he peeled the whole thing away slowly as to not leave a sticky stain mark. There was another layer underneath it from what I could see opposite of him.
Logan's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion when he turned the pill bottle with the label side facing me and asked, "Does this mean anything to you?"
I took the bottle from him and forced myself to concentrate. In tiny purple-inked handwriting, scrawled the words: took you long enough. Natalie's handwriting. A dry laugh escaped my lips. Of course it was her. Of course she somehow got me sick enough to take pills on my own, only to switch the labels on the different pill bottles. These pills weren't for my stomachache or headache. These were the medication she had gone to get refilled two days ago. She couldn't drug me herself so she got me to do it on my own.
"Will?" Logan looked worried. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm sorry." Using the wall to help myself, I picked myself off the dirty bathroom floor and unlocked the door. "I got to go. But I'll uh," I put the bottle back into my coat pocket for safe keeping, "see you Friday, yeah?"
I opened the door and closed it behind me without waiting for an answer from him. Leaning against it I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. Natalie was going to have to pay. I was done playing her games and it was time she got a taste of her own medicine.
~A/N: Hey guys, yes I know it's been 4 months since I last updated. I've just been brain-dead this whole time and since it's summer (thank god), hopefully inspiration will come to me a lot easier than it has during school days. Please don't forget to COMMENT, VOTE, and FOLLOW :)
~Forever_Yours_Too