Chapter Six
I woke up around one in the afternoon the next day. My head wasn't feeling so bad, and I wasn't as sore as I had been the night before. I washed up and headed down to the cafe for something to eat. I knew if I didn't get something into me I'd pass out.
When I walked into the cafe' I got some stares, which I figured I'd get since I was a pop star that had bruises all over. After looking around for a moment, I spotted a good place to sit and went over.
I had just gotten my food when I saw Lance, Justin, and Jc come in. They spotted me and came over to my table to sit. I sat quietly as the waitress took their orders, taking a bite of my taco. Once the waitress walked away I looked up.
"Any word on him?" I asked.
"I talked to Lonnie this morning, he said Joey got a bit rough late last night, but was pretty mellow when he woke up this morning," Jc said, picking apart a napkin.
"Did he say what kind of drug it was? I mean I know the fact that he was using a needle for it narrows the choices, but..." I trailed off, not really wanting to continue my thought.
I knew that all drugs were bad, but the two that I knew you could use needles for both had horrible lasting effects along with them. Both of them cause depression, among other things, but I really didn't think we needed to worry about that. Just a little rough patch, and then he'll be fine. He's strong, he just needs some help.
After we all finished eating, we headed back upstairs, and decided we'd try a visit with Joey. We asked Johnny if he thought it'd be alright, and he said he figured it'd be good for him, so we went to the room Joey and Lonnie were in.
Justin knocked, and Lonnie yelled for us to come in. When we walked in, I couldn't help but smile. They were playing cards on the bed, and even though Joey looked like he'd been through hell, he looked better then he had. He looked up at us when we walked in, and when he saw me he frowned and stood up.
I watched as he walked towards me, and kept myself from panicking. He put his arms around me and hugged me tight. I put my arms around him, too, not caring how we looked at that moment. It felt so good not to be afraid of him.
"I'm so sorry Chris... I'm so sorry..." he whispered softly.
"It's okay Joey, really," I said, pulling away slightly to look at him.
"I'll live... And you will, too," I said, and I guess I must have missed the look in his eyes when I said that.
I pulled away totally and let the others hug him, too. Lonnie stood up and excused himself so we could have some time alone to talk to Joey. Once we were all situated, I looked around at the guys, then at Joey.
"Joe... why did you start using drugs?" I asked softly.
He ran a hand through his hair and scratched his arm slowly.
"I just wasn't feeling like I could handle things anymore... I ran out of the energy I used to have to deal with the way things are. I thought that maybe if I just tried it once, I'd get that energy back and I wouldn't have to keep doing it. But I guess it just didn't go the way I planned it would...
"I went to a club, and I found someone who deals. He gave me some Cocaine... I tried it that night at the club, the guy showed me how to fix it up so I could inject it. It felt weird at first, but it felt good. When the high started to go away I found I wanted more of it, so I bought enough to last me a while. It was easy to hold off for long periods of time before I shot up again, but the more I did it the harder it became to wait for the next time..."
The guys and I sat and listened as Joey talked, and we could tell by the way he kept fidgeting that his body was screaming for more of the drug.
"The last couple weeks... I don't really remember what I've done. I do know that I hurt you, Chris, and I can't say sorry enough. Like you said though, it's okay. I'll be okay."
As Joey said the last part, I got a strange feeling inside. Like it was trying to tell me something wasn't right about all of this. I ignored it, and we all just hung out in Joey's room for the rest of the day.
The feeling I had that something wasn't right kept growing in me all afternoon, and by the time we were all going to go to bed, it had grown to the point that I actually felt I was going to be sick. I took some aspirin and laid down, trying to push the feeling away. When I did get to sleep, I didn't have any dreams, just emptiness.
| Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight |
