This Way Comes (Lesbian)

Crash

Laura woke up at noon, with little to no memory of what had happened the night before. Lately, her brain didn't seem to be working correctly, and whenever it did work, she did everything in her power to stop it from keep going. She was never sober enough to process the life choices she'd made or how long she'd been avoiding the consequences. She rubbed her eyes and turn to the other side of the bed begging God, or the universe or whatever to please not find a naked woman next to her. For once, the universe obliged.

She sighed with relief. She had another look around. Her room was a mess, there were empty bottles everywhere, broken furniture, sheets and cigarette butts scattered all over. Not to mention that something smelled rotten.

She reached out for her nightstand,  grabbing bottles and throwing them on the floor if they were empty. She finally found a bottle of vodka with about three fingers left, picked it up and took a swig. She got up. She was wearing pyjama trousers and a sports bra, which confirmed her suspicions that she hadn't spent the night with anyone, despite the party being a totally shit-show.

She finished the bottle of vodka while walking down the stairs, then threw it away without as much as thinking where it'd land. When she walked into the kitchen, Lock was already there eating cereal.

"Good morning, bro," Laura said heading for the fridge.

"Good morning? Have you seen this place?"

Laura snorted as she poured herself some orange juice. She then looked for more alcohol on the cupboards, but when she couldn't find any, she said, "We out of vodka?"

"We're out of everything if you haven't noticed. This is a fucking mess." Lock replied.

He was beginning to annoy her with his little speech every morning. 'Laura, what the hell are you doing? Laura, this isn't healthy. Laura, you're not okay. Laura, why don't you call Colbie? That's it, Laura! I'm calling Colbie!' As if Colbie were the solution. Or even more to the point, what made him think Colbie would want to walk to her? She'd had royally fucked up, and if Colbie wanted to know anything about her, she'd just pick up the phone... right?

She'd managed to stop Lock from calling by breaking his phone. Unfortunately, Lock had also gotten his shit together, so he now had a job at a Fish and Chips shop and was going to art school. Which meant he could buy himself a new phone without help. But Lock was afraid Laura would break his new phone again so he decided against calling Colbie. That and he also felt ashamed about calling Colbie because he couldn't deal with Laura anymore.

"Oh, please, please, don't come nagging. I can really do without your nagging."

"You think I'm nagging you? I'm worried Laura!"

Laura sighed. She understood his point. She really did, but she didn't feel strong or motivated enough to fix things. At least not permanently. So instead, she just put a band-aid on the problem. She pulled out her phone and called the cleaning lady, asking her to come in today. Then she called the liquor store disappointed that it wasn't opened yet.

"There, I just called the cleaning lady. I promise I won't throw a party today."

"I'll tell you what. A party a week. I can live with that."

Laura sighed. The last thing she needed was pushing her brother away, so she agreed. But it didn't mean she wouldn't go out for a couple of bottles of vodka. She took a quick shower, got dressed and got on her bike to go pick up some alcohol in a grocery store.

As she walked in, her eyes couldn't avoid the magazine stand. No magazine mentioned her. At least not in the cover, so she felt a bit better about that. She bought a bottle of vodka, a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of Blue Curacao and a six pack of Sprite. That should last her for the week. She paid without even counting the money and left without waiting for change. As she put the bottle on the small motorcycle bag, for some reason she couldn't completely understand, she looked up. Across the street, she saw a figure that looked way too familiar.