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Casey heard the door close; she then rolled over and got Abby’s attention. “He’s going out again.”

Abby sighed, “I heard.”

“He’s been getting drunk every night for the past week.”

Abby nodded. “Are you ok?”

“To be honest it’s scaring me. I watched as my drunken father threw my little sister down the stairs, and now I’m temporarily living with a man, whom I don’t know that well, and he’s drunk more than he’s sober. And not to mention hungover whenever he isn’t drunk. I don’t know him well enough to know that I’m not in any danger while he’s drunk.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“I think I want to go home. I mean, I’m not heartless, I know that he is going through a lot right now, but I’m afraid of what he’ll do to us.”

Abby nodded again. “When Nick sobers up tomorrow we’ll tell him that we want to go home.

They heard the door open, and looked at each other in confusion.

Downstairs, Brent entered the house surrounded by his luggage. He dragged it upstairs and left it right by his bedroom closet. He threw himself on the bed and starred at the ceiling. He changed his clothes so that he was comfortable. He was lying on his back and almost fell asleep when he realized that something wasn’t right.

The house, it was just too quiet to be housing 3 people who should still be awake. He looked at the clock to make sure it wasn’t as late as he thought. Nope, only 11:30, which meant the other 3 occupants, should have been awake. He rolled off the bed and padded barefoot over to Nick’s bedroom.

He knocked and received no answer. Not knowing what to expect, he opened Nick’s bedroom door, and was shocked to find out that Nick was not in the room. He walked to the bathroom, seeing that the door was open; he quickly noted that he wasn’t in there. Now he knew something wasn’t right.

He walked out of the room and stood dumbfounded in the doorway. He didn’t know where else to look. Casey and Abby stepped into the hallway. “Are you looking for Nick?”

He didn’t hear the girls come out, so he jumped. “Yeah where is he?”

“He’s not here.” Casey remarked kinda bitterly.

“Where is he?”

Casey went back into the room. Abby took a deep breath. “Probably a bar.”

“What?”

“He’s been getting drunk every night for the past week.”

Brent starred at Abby blankly. “Do you have any idea what bar he went to?”

“No. He didn’t say anything to us, he just left.”

Brent ran into his room, quickly changed clothes, grabbed his car keys, and ran out of the house.

He searched every bar in the area, until he finally found Nick. He stayed hidden in the shadows watching Nick. He was dancing with a busty blonde. They were practically having sex on the dance floor. Brent groaned in frustration. He could tell Nick was very drunk. He was amazed that Nick could still stand.

Brent made his way over to the bar. He knew Nick would be back to the bar eventually. Or at least he hoped Nick would be back to the bar and not leave the club with the current slut on his arm.

About a half hour later, Brent got his wish; Nick made his way back to the bar. Brent watched as Nick ordered another drink. Brent could hear him hitting on another girl. Nick was no longer making sense.

Brent decided now was the time to get Nick out of there. Brent quickly approached Nick and grabbed the drink out of his hand.

“Hey. I wazt dwi…dwi…thash mine.”

Brent looks to the bartender, “No more drinks for him.” The bartender nodded.

“I shay when I hash enough.”

Brent turned back to Nick. “No, you are too intoxicated to make decisions. So therefore, I will make all the decisions from now, until you’re sober.”

“Yous nots the boss of mez.”

“Until you’re sober, I am. Now let’s go.”

“No.”

“Yes.” Brent gently pulled him off the barstool. Nick was too drunk to keep his balance. He fell to the floor almost immediately. Nick started giggling as if falling was the funniest thing in the world. Brent helped Nick up and supported him out of the bar.

The fresh air hit Nick hard. Within seconds of being outside, Nick threw up. And it went everywhere, all over Nick, and Brent and the sidewalk.

Brent gagged at the smell and almost threw up himself. How was he supposed to get all the way home with the horrid stench? He tried not to think of it. He pulled Nick to the car and placed him in the passenger seat.

Brent walked to the driver side of the car. As he was getting in, Nick urgently flung his door open. He threw up for a second time on the pavement. Brent silently thanked god that Nick was still coherent enough to open the door and throw up OUTSIDE the car rather than inside.

Brent started the car and waited for Nick to close the door again. Once the door was closed, Brent sped home. He didn’t want to take any chances that Nick might get sick in the car. It was bad enough that they were both covered in vomit when they got in.

Brent heaved a sigh of relief when he pulled into Nick’s driveway. He looked over to Nick who appeared to be passed out. Brent groaned. He got out of the car and started to walk around the car to the passenger side.

As Brent neared the passenger side, Nick flung the door open. Brent was about to come help Nick out of the car but Nick waved him away. Before Brent could comprehend what was happening, Nick got out of the car quickly, dropped to his knees and threw up.

When he was sure he was done, Nick leaned back on his heals. Brent stepped over the mess and helped Nick up. Brent supported Nick into the house and up to his room. Brent started leading him to the bathroom.

Nick was starting to struggle against Brent. “No. Bed. I’m not going to be sick anymore.” Or at least I hope I’m not going to be sick anymore. Nick thought to himself.

Brent looked at Nick. “I’m not putting you to bed until you’re cleaned off.

About an hour later, Nick was in bed. Brent cleaned himself off and then walked to his room and collapsed on his bed.

The next morning, Brent made his way into the kitchen. The girls were already up. “Hey Brent.”

“Hey.”

“Did you find him last night?”

“Yeah I found him.”

“How bad was he?”

“Bad.”

Nick chose that moment to stagger into the kitchen. He was using the wall as a walking aid. He made it to the kitchen table and gingerly sat down. He placed his elbows on the table and placed his throbbing head into his hands.

“Breakfast Nick?” Casey asked. That remark was almost as sarcastic as it was bitter.

“No.” Nick croaked out.

“You feeling alright?”

“I feel like I have an entire construction team jack hammering in my head.”

“Well Nick, you have no one to blame but yourself.” Casey stated, and her tone was bitter.

Nick put his head back in his hands. “Can someone get me some pain killers?”

“Why? You deserve to be in pain.” Casey stormed out of the room. Nick didn’t understand what was going on. And at the moment, he wasn’t going to try and figure it out. He’ll figure out what’s going on when his head wasn’t ready to explode.

He sat in silence cradling his head and not looking at either Abby or Brent. He soon felt a gentle touch lower his hand. He looked up to see Abby placing two Tylenol in his hand and a glass of water in front of him. He gave her a small grateful smile before taking the pills. He pushed his chair back and slowly stood up. “I’m going to go lie down until my head feels better.” He slowly walked out of the room, and passed Casey. He didn’t miss the death glare that Casey shot him. He vowed to find out what her problem was as soon as he was feeling better. He continued out of the room and made it to his room. He lied back down and closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would take him soon and he’d be away from the headache that he was suffering from.

A few hours later, he walked back downstairs. His headache wasn’t fully gone, but now it was more of a dull ache rather than a splitting headache. He walked into the living room to see Abby and Casey watching TV.

“Hey.” Casey and Abby looked up. Casey stood up and left the room. Nick made his way over to the couch and sat down beside her. He stayed quiet for a few minutes then turned to Abby. “Is she mad at me?”

“No. She just doesn’t like you drinking so much.”

“I had a rough week.”

“She wouldn’t have minded that excuse for the first night, but you’ve been getting drunk for a week.”

“Why should she care if I’m getting drunk?”

“She’s afraid of drunken men.” Abby accidentally blurted out. She immediately slammed her hand over her mouth.

Nick looked slightly confused. “Why is she afraid of drunken men?”

Abby looked guiltily over to Nick. “I wasn’t supposed to say that, so just forget I said it.”

“Now that you said it, I can’t just forget it. Just tell me why. I won’t tell her I know.” Nick said as he sipped at his beer.

“Ok, fine. I’ll tell you. But you have to swear that you won’t let her know that I told you this.” Abby paused. She stood up and went to the entranceway and looked around to make sure that Brent and Casey weren’t around. She then went back to the couch. She was certain that the other two weren’t around, but she whispered the following sentence anyway. “Her father was an alcoholic and he was abusive.” Nick nodded in understanding, not realizing that there was more to the story. “Nick there’s more.” She took a deep breath. “Her father threw her little sister down the stairs resulting in her little sister breaking her neck and dieing.”

No Nick looked shocked. “Her father killed her sister?” Abby nodded. Nick looked down into his barely touched beer. He stood up and walked into the kitchen and dumped his beer down the sink. He returned to the couch and sat back down. He looked at Abby. “I’m not going to stop drinking all together, but I will stop drinking excessively.” Nick stood up to leave the room. “Abby?”

“Yeah Nick?”

“Can you do something for me?”

“Sure?”

“Can you tell Casey I’m sorry for drinking so much? I would tell her myself, but I doubt she’ll let me close enough to tell her.”

“I’ll tell her for you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

The next week passed quickly and now the girls are leaving to go home. Casey forgave Nick for drinking every night, even though she never found out that he knew about her sister. They said their goodbyes standing by the girl’s car in Nick’s driveway. The girls got in the car and pulled out of Nick’s driveway and waved to the boys.

Once the girls were on the highway, Abby turned to Casey. “So, what did you think?”

Casey glanced quickly at Abby. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll admit it. I had a good time.”

Abby gave Casey a look. “Is that all?”

“Nick isn’t as bad as I thought he would be. He was sweet and really nice.” Casey stopped.

Abby’s gaze didn’t falter. “And?”

“And he does have talent.”

Abby smiled. “See, I knew you’d come around someday.” Abby looked out the window gazing at the passing scenery. “I hope they keep in touch.”

Back at Nick’s house, the boys went inside as soon as they could no longer see the car. They sprawled out on the couch. “It seems really quiet here now.” Brent commented.

“Yep.”

“Are you ok Nick?”

Nick looked at Brent. “Why wouldn’t I be ok?”

“You just seem upset to see them go.”

“Well, we did have fun. I wasn’t really thinking about them though.”

“Oh, what were you thinking about?”

“I was thinking how empty this house is REALLY going to feel once you leave to go back to New York.”

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”

“Oh, what about?”

“Well, my office needed someone to transfer to Tampa, and I offered to take the job.”

“So, you’re saying what exactly? Besides that you are moving to Tampa.”

“So Nick, do you want a room mate?”