Eye of the Storm

6 Months Ago

I grab the bottle, not even bothering to read the name. It’s all the same in the end. My brain is too fuzzy to read, anyway. I swig the sweet syrup, feeling it enter my body, burning my throat on the way down. I think I hear a knock at the door. That or my pounding headache. I turn to the pills on my bedside table. Soon. My door flies open and an unfamiliar man steps in.
“Sh*t, sorry, thought this was the bathro…” he stops his sentence as he notices me, surrounded by bottles with pills on the table next to me. Tears on my face and blood dribbling down my arms. “Sh*t are you ok?!” he closes the door behind him and comes up to me, grabbing the bottle out of my arm.
“Who HIC are you?” I ask drowsily, trying to claw my bottle back out of his arms.
“Leo, but that’s not important right now,” he stands back, seemingly overwhelmed. “F*ck, should I get your cousin? Lorenzo, right? He’s just out at the party he’s only a minute away,”
“Noo, no, not hiiiim,” I can’t even think, my thoughts feel like an unsolved puzzle that’s missing a few pieces.
“Well, I… I can’t leave you alone,” he hastily sits down on my bed next to me. “Let’s just… deal with one thing at a time,”

He grabs a few tissues, blotting the blood off my arms.
“What were you trying to attempt?” he asks, noticing how the blood slowly reveals cuts, self-inflicted cuts. He grabs the pills. “Suicide?” he asks so calmly, like it’s nothing. I stare at him. Noticing his light blue eyes, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I shrug. “How sober are you?” I shrug again. “Not very…” he answers for me. “You’re Esme, right? I remember beating you at soccer a few weeks ago,” he smiles a little, almost devilishly.
“Hey, no, you cheated HIC,” I explain, my voice a slur. He giggles, peeling off a few band aids and coating my arms.
“Whatever you say,” he stands up, gathering the bottles and the pills.
“Hey no gimme!!” he turns to me and shakes his head, making me angry. I push myself off the bed, making the world spin around.
“Hey, no, back to bed,” he walks up to me, grabbing me and hauling me back into my bed.

I grab his arm tightly, fearing I may fall if I don’t. Softly he lays me in my bed, with my blood stained sheets that reek of alcohol. I grab his arm and pull him down too.
“Hey, wait-!!”
“I’m sleeeepy,” he sighs and hops in next to me.
“I’m staying here until you fall asleep,” my mind relaxes, but at the same time races as I realise there’s a guy sitting on my bed. “And then I’m going to tell Lorenzo,” I sit up.
“Tell him and you’re dead,”
“It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re wasted,” he smiles. I realise quickly how close we are.
“I’m not wasted,” I argue, staring at him.
“Then why does your breath stink?” is he teasing? He better be!
“Does not!”
“Does to,” I reach my face up to his and breath onto his nose. “F*ck!!” he laughs. I frown. He stops laughing and we stare at each other for a quick moment. “F*ck…” his eyebrows arch. He leans a little closer.
“This is bad,” I whisper.
“I know,” his breath hits my lips and I can’t control myself.