Still the One (Book 2 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

6 | Brick Wall

*warning: short section depicting drug use - no glorification and not too graphic.*

Rachel

The whole time we were with Luke and Miles' parents, I couldn't think about anything else except for Brooke and how the hell she got herself into this mess. Brooke wasn't a drug user... yeah, she'd smoked weed a few times and drank a little too much, but heroin? This was the biggest shock of my life apart from finding out that Luke and Miles were brothers and James' death. To see how quickly Madison got in her head was alarming. I had always seen Brooke as a strong, independent woman – not someone who would succumb to peer pressure so fast.

"Rachel?" a voice was calling. Miles was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh, sorry," I said sheepishly, shaking my head to try to focus on his face. "What were you saying?"

"Ma just asked if you wanted to go get some Diego's for dinner," he said gently.

"Oh..." Diego's was my favorite burrito place in the world, and PCB was the only place I could get it. But I was so exhausted... I didn't know if I could even get up off the couch.

"You guys go," I said. "Bring me back something?"

Miles tilted his head. "Come on babe, I don't want to leave you here alone. Please?"

I shook my head. "No. Really. You go; I'd just bring you down."

"That's not true," he protested. But when he saw I wasn't budging, he relented. "Fine. But I'm bringing you back a big ass burrito."

I laughed. "You better."

He leaned down to kiss me and I breathed him in – the scent I love so much... God, I couldn't imagine what I'd do without him. And I had thought Brooke felt the same way about Luke.

After they left, I lay down on the couch and fell into a fitful slumber, tossing and turning with nightmares of needles and deep, dark forests.

***

knock knock knock

I stirred awake groggily. "What's that?" I mumbled, before I realized it was someone knocking on the door.

I sighed and got up, padding to the door in my bare feet. When I swung it open, my heart stopped for a second.

Brooke.

"What are you doing here, Brooke?" I asked in disbelief. "I told you to meet me tomorrow."

She nodded. "I know, but I couldn't wait. I was hoping you'd be here when I didn't see the Jeep at your house." She shifted from foot to foot. "Look, can we take a walk?" she asked, stepping back so I could come on the porch.

I bit my lip. "Yeah, let me just put my shoes on. Hang on." I slid my feet into my Converse and grabbed Miles' long-sleeved t-shirt from the back of the couch.

As we walked, we were silent, at least for the first few minutes.

"Brooke?" I ventured.

"What?"

"What the hell happened?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Rachel. I guess I got mixed up with the wrong crowd."

"Come on, B," I said, stopping on the sidewalk and grabbing her hand so she would face me. "You've never been one to just go along with the crowd. You've always done what you thought was best for you. And I know you didn't just wake up one day and decide that heroin was what you needed in your life!"