“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Aaron’s arm went flying up stopping Abbi from her attempt towards Ashley.
“Listen, Ashley. I suggest if you don’t want your ass sitting in jail for making threats against someone’s life, you shut your mouth now. Do you understand me?” Aaron took a step forward, his body rigid and tense. Damn Abbi had never seen him actually get angry. “I asked you if you understood me Ashley. I want you to answer.”
“Yeah, I got you.” Tears were glistening in the corner of Ashley’s eyes.
Judy helped her up before Ashley snatched her arm away and made her way out from the cooler. By the time they made it back up front she was gone. The spot where her bag had been was now sitting empty and her phone gone from the counter. Abbi’s head spun, how long had Ashley been doing drugs? Had she always been on them and Abbi just never knew? Thousands of questions flooded into her head. She wondered briefly if Judy was doing them as well. The two were together a lot and they had a good reputation for partying. As the bar died down and the last of the customers were leaving out the door Abbi turned to Judy.
“I need you to be honest with me and if you give me bullshit, Judy, I swear I will never speak to you again.” Abbi eyed Judy intently.
“You’re going to ask me if I do drugs. The answer is no, I used to. A lot.” Abbi saw as Judy let out a big sigh before she settled back against the counter top. “When I was younger I got in with some pretty bad people when I first moved here. I would do anything, just for a high. I stole money. I used people. I lied. There was one night that I had taken so much stuff that I couldn’t see straight and decided I was going to try and go home that changed all of that.” She took a deep breath, looking away towards the back corner as if being transferred back to whatever had happened.
“I left this house that we had been at partying. No idea who I was or where I was going. I remember ending up in this alley. It was a dead end and I couldn’t for the life of me find my way out. Every time I turned or thought I was turning, I would end up at a wall. I was so afraid and confused that I just laid down, right there on the dirty concrete and passed out.” Abbi could see a look of disgust on Judy’s face. “I mean could you imagine if you had been walking past that alley what I must have looked like bouncing from one wall to another; like a lunatic. Needless to say, I had passed out behind a pizza parlor and the next day I awoke to the cops checking my pulse. I had no idea what had happened at the time or where I was. I was filthy dirty. They even told me that if it weren’t for my designer handbag that they would have believed I was homeless. I still don’t’ know if that’s really what happened, but over the years those are always the flashbacks that I recall.”
“Judy, I’m sorry.” Abbi felt like a total ass bag now.
“Abbi, you didn’t know and it wasn’t something that I thought I would ever need to share. I probably should have. I have been drug free for years. I drink and party but I have never taken any drugs since then. It was seriously the worst moment of my life.”
“So what is going on with Ashley? She has been acting so weird the past few months and then tonight, openly doing drugs on the back counter.”
“I don’t know, I have suspected that she was using for a few weeks, but I never asked her. I think I was too afraid of what her answer was. But she needs help that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, but if she doesn’t want it, how do we help her.”
“I don’t know really. I don’t think there is a lot we can do other than support her. I will go by her apartment tonight when I leave here to make sure she’s good.” Judy grabbed the towel she had sat down and began wiping down the counter again.
“Ok, just let me know how she is.” Abbi began sweeping.
“You know I will.” Judy smiled over her shoulder.
*****
“Abbi, you seriously punched her in the face?” Ryan smirked over at her as they lay in bed.
“Yes, she was going to hit me. So I hit her first.” Abbi smiled as she held up her bandaged hand.
“Holy hell babe! How many times did you hit her?” Ryan grabbed her hand slightly inspecting around the bandages on her hand.
“Only once, but I busted my knuckles all up. Can I please ask why no one ever really tells you how bad it hurts when you hit someone?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a lose-lose.” He smirked over at her. “My little Rocky Balboa. I can’t believe you hit her. Remind me not to piss you off.”
“Ha! That’s what Aaron said. He wasn’t too happy with me about hitting her. But then she smarted off and he got all angry and turned Hulk on her.”
“Well, I will have to remember to give him a bonus.” He leaned down and kissed her. “So, my parents are flying back this morning, Gabe is coming home. Trish is going to be back in a day or two. I think life is going to be back to normal again.”
“Babe, can I talk to you about something?” He saw her eyes turn concerned.
“Sure love, anything.” He maneuvered himself onto his side propping his head up on one hand.
“I want to quit the club.” She peered up at him through her lashes.
“I think that’s a great idea. I know how exhausted you have been over the past few months and it would give us more time to be together on the weekends. I know our schedules have been a little off lately. I am sorry that I have been working so much.”
“It’s ok, I know you have a job that you have to do. But I agree, I want a normal job. Where I can work during the day and come home at night and have the weekends off. I called George Patton.”
“Oh yeah?” Ryan was intrigued.
“He said he would be more than happy to let me work part time whenever I wanted to start. Though I think I want to take a few weeks off to reboot before I start working again. But that job would be fun and low key.”
“Babe, you don’t have to sell me on it.” He smiled as he brushed the hair back out of her face. “If that’s what you want then I completely support you.”
“How did I get this lucky?” She smiled before rolling him onto his back. Her lips flew towards his as her hair spiraled down around him.
“I’ve been asking that same question all along.” His hands traveled to her waist as she straddled his growing erection.
After the passionate sex session they had this morning after they woke up and again while they were in the shower, Ryan felt completely sated. He finished dressing before he made his way back into their bedroom. He looked up to find Abbi turning from side to side in the full length mirror in her closet. He came up propping himself against the door frame.
“Babe, does this dress make me look puffy?” She eyed him through the mirror.
“No, I think you look beautiful.” He smiled. He knew better than that. That was a loaded question. But honestly, she would look beautiful in a potato sack.
“I feel puffy.” She turned one last time looking at her ass.
“I think you look great, honestly. And don’t worry we are just going to drop the old folks off at the airport. You don’t even have to get out if you don’t want.”
Being physically self-conscious was a side of Abbi he wasn’t used to. They had been together enough at this point that most of the time when she made it into their bedroom she was naked for the rest of the time.
“Ok, if you think I look fine then I will just go with it.” He watched as she popped the tags off of it immediately throwing them into the trash can. “Gotta remember to throw that bag out before I get nosey.” She smiled.
“I think that one was only a few hundred.” He laughed.
“You’re impossible.” She rolled her eyes towards him as she came back towards the door.
“Come on, my queen. Let’s get downstairs before they think we forgot about them.”
“Ok let me just grab my phone.” She made her way over to the side table and grabbed her phone removing it from the charger.
He watched as she turned on the screen making it a few steps before she collapsed onto the ground. “R
yan!” she gasped out.
He ran over grabbing her, checking to see what had just happened. “Babe, what’s wrong? Are you ok?” His heart was pounding out of his chest, what was going on?
“It’s not me. It’s Ashley, she overdosed last night. Judy has been trying to get ahold of me but I had my phone on silent.” Her body was shaking from the sobs.
“Baby, it’s ok. Breathe just breathe. We will go to her now. I will call a car for my parents and we will head straight to the hospital. Where is she?”
“She’s at the UCLA Medical center. I don’t even know where that is.”
His heart was breaking. He could see the pain and guilt building in her eyes. “I know where it is, we’ll go now.” He stood helping her up. She took another step sniffling as the tears continued to fall down her face as she stopped. “Babe, are you ok?”
She didn’t answer. She just turned and ran straight into the bathroom heading for the door to the private toilet area. He took a few steps towards the door when he heard the sounds of her retching coming from the bathroom. He immediately rushed into the room, pushing the door open to the toilet. She was kneeling over the toilet shaking. He took her hair up into a pony tail before gently rubbing her back and flushing everything down.
“Ryan, you don’t have to be in here for this.” She said dry heaving again.
“Hey, for better or for worse right?”
“You haven’t made that vow yet.”
“I will be right back.” He ran back out into the bathroom, dampening a wash towel and bringing it back to her. “Here, wipe your mouth with this.”
“Thanks.” She rocked back sitting just in front of the toilet. “I don’t know what happened, my stomach just turned and I knew if I didn’t run I was going to get sick all over the floor.”
“It’s alright, getting that kind of news will fry anyone’s nerves. It’s a common reaction. Take a minute to brush your teeth and we will leave. I am going to go down and call a car for my parents and explain to them what’s happening.” He leaned over to her kissing her temple. “Are you going to be ok?” He eyed her as she shook her head, then he left the room giving her some privacy while he headed downstairs.
After fighting with the traffic on the way to the hospital, they found themselves walking into the doors of the emergency room. The smell of sanitizer blew into their faces with the rush of cold air as the doors closed behind them. He glanced around the waiting area. After not finding anyone they knew, they made their way to the desk with a small petite lady behind it.
“Excuse me, ma’am, we are looking for a friend who got brought in here last night. Could you help us find her please?” He smiled over at her.
“Well of course, I can help you find anything.” He had to calm his irritation of her open flirting.
“Her name is Ashley Mannings. Do you know if she is still in the ER?”
The lady typed the name into the computer, reading the screen before looking back up. “No, she has been admitted into the Medical Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. You can find her on the fourth floor. Head through that door to your left, there will be elevators to your right at the end of the hallway, fourth floor, room 434. The nurse’s station should be able to guide you from there.”
“Ok, thank you for your help.”
He turned, grabbed Abbi’s hand and led her towards the elevators. He could feel her hand shaking as they climbed on, bunching together as a number of people crowded in behind them. He reached over hitting and illuminating the button numbered four, taking his arms around Abbi and holding her to him. It broke his heart to see her going through this much pain. Every fiber of his body wanted to take that from her, but he knew he couldn’t. Softly he kissed her temple as she rested her head against his chest.
“She will be ok baby I promise. She is in good hands.” He whispered down into her hair.
“I hope so.” She sniffled against him.
As they unloaded onto the fourth floor they made their way up to the nurse’s station. A dark skinned round nurse offered to show them down to the room. Opening the door they found Judy passed out in the chair next to Ashley’s bed. The room was dark except the flickering of light coming from the small TV in the corner of the room. He led Abbi into the room as the nurse came up next to the bed. The sounds of the monitoring system beeping steadily against the quiet that blanketed the air.
“She’s unconscious at this time. We managed to flush most of the drugs from her system, but she hasn’t woken up yet.” The nurse whispered.
“Can she hear me?” Abbi looked at the nurse with tears rolling down both cheeks.
“We don’t know for sure, but it’s very possible. We encourage visitors to speak to the patients, even when they won’t respond.” The nurse patted Abbi’s shoulder before leaving out of the room.
Ryan watched as Abbi made her way over to the chair Judy sat in. She gently pulled the blanket up over her chest before sitting up onto the edge of Ashley’s bed taking her hand. Quietly Judy’s eyes flickered open as she tried to stifle a yawn.
“Hey guys. I didn’t hear you come in.” She sat up in the chair before taking in the devastated look on Abbi’s face. “Oh Honey. Abbi. It’s ok. She’s gonna be ok.”
Ryan made his way over trying to show Abbi as much support as he could. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder letting her know that he was here.
“I feel like this is my fault.” She gasped between sobs. “I was such a bitch and I punched her. Jesus.” She put her head into her hands.
“Baby, this is not your fault. Ashley made a choice and it went too far. I am sure she didn’t intend for this to happen. Please don’t blame yourself.” He knelt down in front of her as Judy came up next to her wrapping her in a hug.
“What happened?” Abbi looked over at Judy who had positioned herself next to Ashley but could still look at them both.
“Well, I called her when I left the bar. She didn’t answer. So I decided to head to her house. If anything we could talk it out, decide a plan of action. When I got there she wouldn’t answer the door and when I check the handle it was unlocked, which is unusual for her.” Judy took a deep calming breath. “I walked in and called for her and she didn’t answer. Then I walked into her room and I saw her lying on the bathroom floor. There was coke on the bathroom counter, a bottle of pills spilled everywhere, and a bottle of vodka next to her.” A tear rolled down Judy’s face as Abbi took her hand. “I tried waking her up but she wouldn’t move and she felt so cold. So I dialed 911 and wrapped her in towels. I checked her pulse but she wasn’t really breathing so I tried doing CPR until the paramedics got there but I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
“I am so sorry I didn’t answer when you tried to get a hold of me last night. I turned my phone down when I got home and I had no idea until after I woke up this morning.”
“It’s ok, Abbi. When I couldn’t get ahold of you I figured you were sleeping; so I called Jace and he came up and sat with me until this morning. She crashed last night while they were working on her and I was panicking, but she pulled through. They took her breathing tube out this morning. They said it was a good sign that she was breathing on her own.”
“So what did the doctor say last? Do they know why she isn’t waking up?” Ryan asked.
“Well, they wouldn’t tell me everything because I’m not family. I tried getting a hold of her parents with no answer. I think they travel a lot, but the doctor said most of the time in these cases they will wake up when their body is ready. He has seen it take hours, days, even months.”
“Are you bitches talking shit about me again?” A raspy voice came from the head of the bed.
In unison they all turned to find Ashley’s eyes open with a small smile on her face. Judy and Abbi immediately took her into a hug.
“Ok, ok. I’m not dying, but you two are about to smother me.”
“Damnit Ashley. You scared the shit out of us.” Judy sniffled as another tear rolled down her
face.
“What exactly happened? I don’t really remember shit. I assume I am in the hospital.” Ashley looked around the room, her eyes growing concerned. “Was I in an accident?”
“Well sort of. Ashley, you OD’ed.” Abbi whispered.
The beeping on the machines grew quicker as Ashley’s heart rate accelerated.
“Hey, Ash it’s ok. Let’s call the nurse. Is there anything you want?” Judy rubbed her arm trying to calm her.
“Water would be great, my throat is killing me.”
“I will go get the nurse and ask about water.” Ryan chimed up as he headed out of the room. “Nurse, Ashley is awake and she’s asking about water.” He said to the nurse that had led them to her room.
“Praise Jesus. I will be there in just a moment and I will bring her some water.” She walked briskly down the hall.
“Ok, they are coming in just a moment and she’s gonna bring you something to drink.”
“Great thank you, Ryan.” Ashley could barely make eye contact with him.
“Ashley, please tell me you didn’t do it on purpose.” Judy looked at her.
“No, I would never do that. It just seemed like over the past few weeks everything that’s been going on at work and with Gabe and everything. It seemed like I kept having to do more and more to numb the pain and ultimately it didn’t do anything. I just went too far I guess. I don’t really remember what happened, but I know I would never do that.” Ashley stared down at her hands.
“With Gabe?” Abbi looked at her as if she were trying to connect two points.
“Yeah, we hadn’t talked and I tried calling him, but I never knew what to say. I messed it all up. I just felt low, like I had hit rock bottom.”
“Grief Ashley, I wish you had said something to me.” Abbi reached up grabbing her arm in reassurance.
“Well, we weren’t really talking.”
“Hey listen, you girls need to chat, so I am going to leave you three to your gossip and give you some privacy.” He smiled down at the three of them. “Ashley, I am glad you are doing better. If you ever need anything at all you know we are just a phone call away.” He came up hugging Abbi to his side as she sat on the end of the bed.
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