AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The door is cracked open. Trey is standing in front of the sink wearing a towel around his waist. He reaches into a small baggie with a few pills in it. I recognize them right away from health class sophomore year; the highly addictive drug Vyvanse. My heart starts racing and I want to leave, to pretend I'm not seeing him pop one of the pills into his mouth. If I didn't know what it was, I could live in ignorance.
But I can't. Not anymore.
I push the door open. It creaks, alerting Trey of my presence.
"Trey, seriously?" I say. "You're an addict."
I start to walk out of the apartment, but he runs after me. "Monika, it's not what you think."
"I think you're addicted to illegal prescription drugs," I say. "Actually, I know you are. What if you get caught? You could be arrested. You don't even know what's inside the pills. They could be laced with something that could kill you."
I can feel the tension between us, like a cement wall. "I'm sorry," he says, shrugging. "I don't know what to say. This stuff... it makes me feel stronger and alert. It's not gonna kill me. And I'm not addicted."
I hold a hand up as tears well in my eyes from the finality of it all. "I can't date you, not like this."
He lets out a frustrated breath. "I'm already dealing with so much pressure. You have no clue what I'm going through. I can't slow down. You're going to say it's all about the drugs, but it goes way deeper than that."
I get a chill up my spine that makes me shiver. "Are you going to stop and try to fix yourself and our relationship or are we going to break up?"
He leans his head against the wall. "I need to do this. It doesn't mean I don't care about you, Monika. Things have changed. I've changed. We've changed."
"I knew things were different these past few months," I admit. "I guess this is the end of a great thing."
"We've been falling apart for a while now. I just didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to hurt you, but this is my life now."
"You know I can't be a part of your life if you're doing drugs."
"I'm not going to stop, so spare me the lecture." As I back away from him, he grabs my elbow. "We're still going to homecoming Saturday night, right?" he asks.
I blink a bunch of times in disbelief. "I'm not going to homecoming. It'll be too weird."
He leans in and his face softens. "Listen, I know you have a dress and our friends have already planned the entire night. I want to go with you, Monika. Whether or not we get voted king or queen, it's our destiny to go to homecoming together."
"Our destiny? Why?" I ask, confused.
"Truth?"
I give him a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. "Duh. I always want the truth."
"I know you hate me right now."
"I don't hate you, Trey. We've been together for so many years, I couldn't hate you even if I tried."
"I'm not deserting you," he says. "Just go with me. Okay, it's not destiny. I just need to focus. We don't have to tell anyone we broke up until after the dance so there's no drama. Cool?"
Lie to my friends?
Pretend we're fine when we fell apart?
"I don't want to lie to them," I say.
He sighs. I can feel the stress permeating off him. "Can you just do me this one favor?"
He doesn't say it, but it hits me. I know he wants to focus on the football game because scouts will be attending. He doesn't want drama or rumors to impact his concentration.
I take a deep breath, then swallow the despair welling in my throat. "Okay, Trey. I won't say anything."
I can tell by the way his leg is shaking that the drug is starting to kick in. "I don't want to hurt you," he says. "I'd never want to hurt you. I'll always love you."
I gaze at the bag of pills he still has in his hand. "Just so you know, by taking those drugs you're playing a dangerous game. Stop now before you kill yourself, Trey. Please. I beg you. I'll always love you and want the best for you, even if we're not together," I add, then turn on my heel to leave. "But it's not my job to protect you anymore."
"Just promise me one thing. Don't tell anyone about the drugs," he says, practically begging. "Take it to the grave. Please, Monika. It'll ruin me."
I nod slowly. "I promise, Trey. I won't tell a soul. Ever."
Chapter Twenty-one
VICTOR
Isa is standing over the books, shaking her head. "I'm in trouble."
"With what?" I ask.
"Money." She turns the pages over in her bookkeeping log and uses her calculator to add stuff up. "It's not enough," she says. "Hell, Vic, it's never enough."
"How much in total do you owe?"
"Thirty-five g's."
I walk up to her and wonder how she got herself into this mess. "How much are you short?"
"Four hundred for this month's mortgage payment," she says. "I'll figure it out. Maybe they'll let me extend the loan if I give them more interest."
"I'll give you four hundred dollars," Bernie chimes in from the back of the garage. He's been working silently for the past hour on soldering some old parts together so they'll fit the vintage parts Isa has stored in the back.
"I don't want your money, Bernie," Isa calls out. "Besides, I fired you. Remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. How about you go on a date with me, then you can fire me afterward. Deal?"
"Nope. I don't need your money." Isa walks back to her office. "I'll just ask the bank to cut me some slack."
"Yeah, because that always works," I say sarcastically.
"It's worth a try," she mumbles.
"I don't know why she won't take help from me," Bernie says to me. "I've offered to help her out a hundred times."
"Maybe she doesn't want to rely on anyone for help," I tell him. "Besides, I think she hates you."
Bernie waves a hand in the air. "Don't let her ambivalence fool you. I'm breaking her down."
"I can hear you!" Isa yells from her office. "And Vic's right, Bernie. I do hate you!"
"How can you hate me? I didn't do anything," Bernie says.
An exaggerated huff fills the air. "Your mere existence grates on my nerves, nerd," Isa says.
Instead of being insulted, Bernie winks at me. "She's weakening. Hell, I bet one day she'll even go out with me."
Isa comes storming back into the shop with her hands on her hips. "Keep dreaming, Bernie. I mean, look at you." She gestures to his entire body. "Your hair looks like Howdy Doody, your skin is so white I need fucking sunglasses to come near you, and you couldn't dress yourself properly if someone put a gun to your head."
"Bernie, don't listen to her," I tell him. "She's just a bitter woman."
"Fuck you, Vic," Isa says. "You don't know shit."
"It's fine," Bernie says, obviously amused by Isa's harsh words.
"Excuse me." A familiar female voice coming from the front door echoes through the shop.
Monika's here. She's wearing tight jeans and a white lace top that accentuates her honey-colored skin. Damn, she's beautiful. I can't help but stare and be stunned that she's standing in the shop.
Isa pushes past me and puts on a smile I've only seen used with customers. "Can I help you?"
Monika nods, then glances at me with those sparkling green eyes. "Hey, Vic."
"Hey," I say.
Isa has easily transitioned from bitch mode to business mode. "I'm Isabel, the owner of Enrique's Auto Body. Do you need an oil change? A new battery?"
"I need a job," Monika blurts out.
Wait, what? I don't think I heard right.
"A job?" I say, practically choking on my words. "You've got to be kidding."
"I'm not." Monika straightens. She directs her attention to Isa. "I don't know much about cars, but I can come by after school and on weekends. You won't even have to pay me much."
"No," I tell her.
Monika looks at me with daggers in her eyes. "I can do this."
Isa looks her up and down, like she's assessing her abilities just by looking at her clothes. "Do you have any experience working on cars?"
"I know how to drive them," Monika mumbles, then perks up. "But I promise I'm a fast learner. I need this.
Please."
I can tell Isa is considering it.
Oh, no.
"She can't work here," I blurt out. I don't want her here. It's dangerous. On top of that, it'll be torture working with her. She'll never be mine. How long can I pretend I don't want to hold her and touch her and kiss her? "Monika has cheerleading practice. She's obviously under too much stress and isn't in her right mind if she thinks she can work in a dirty garage. She's a cheerleader, Isa, not a mechanic."
Isa pushes me out of the way. "You can't tell me who I can and can't hire."
This is the one place where I can escape thoughts of Monika. With her here...
I point to the white lace top Monika's wearing. "Look at her, Isa. She's into lace and designer clothes, not cars and dirt. She's got diva written all over her. Besides that..." Time to go for the jugular. "She's got some medical issues."
"I'm fine," Monika snaps. "I'm not a diva. And my medical issues aren't going to be a concern. Don't listen to him."
"Why are you doin' this?" I need distance from her.
Isa seems very entertained by the turn of events. The smirk on her face is an indicator that my life is about to get much more complicated than it already is.
"Because you and the guys said I couldn't do it, and I'm going to prove you all wrong. Listen," Monika says to Isa. "If you hire me, I'll work for free while you train me."
Isa holds out her hand. "You've got yourself a new job."
Oh, hell.
I just got myself a new problem.
Chapter Twenty-two
MONIKA
Taking a day off school for my infusion treatments sucks, especially when I'd rather be in school. But this weekend is homecoming, and since my entire body has been aching, my doctor wanted me to fit in a treatment before the pain overwhelmed me.
So I'm sitting at the hospital, waiting to get poked and prodded by the nurses.
One of the nurses comes in the room with a cheery smile on her face to match the splattering of cherries on her top. "How are you doing today, Monika?"
"I'd rather be somewhere else," I tell her.
She laughs heartily as if I just said a joke.
My mom, who's sitting in the chair next to me, is frowning, and her brows are furrowed. It pains me to see her so worried.
"Mom, go to work. Your meeting with your client is in ten minutes. I've been through this a thousand times before."
Mom settles into the chair while clutching her purse on her lap. "I want to wait until the IV is in. I can be a few minutes late for my meeting," she says.
