Sugar in the Engine

Adelade had been in huge trouble. Her mother realized what had happened, and Adelade couldn't lie to her own mother. I just....it was disrespectful in their house. Lies were unwelcome and horribly punishable.

She was put to work that weekend. Spencer was allowed over, but once she found out what happened, she deserted her friend for the weekend. Her and Jeph were staying at her house while Adelade was locked up in her own home.

However, the ever generous Adelade accepted her punishment. She washed every inch of her house-even her younger siblings' rooms. She had to. She wanted to impress her mother and earn her father's trust back, even if he only know what her mother could tell him over the phone. Plus, she felt like she should. Guilt had set into her veins and ate away at her heart.

Casey kept a close ear on Adelade all day. He walked around her house, looking at the pictures of their family. The Marks were a wealthy family, and they had everything Casey's family never did. Steady money, reassurance that their children wouldn't go without food, clothing, and home.

He just didn't understand what drove Adelade to drugs. She had everything.

Adelade sighed and straightened out the shirt she folded, before placing it on the top of her brother's pile of clothes. "That's the last of that load," she told Casey. He nodded sadly and followed her up the stairs to her brother's room. "My parents call him a mini-Addie. He get's literally everything from me," she said.

Casey smiled. Adelade's brother had all four Fall Out Boy action figures lined up in front of his band-biography books on one shelf. The next shelf down had a few candles, pictures of Casey, and a C shaped cookie pan. "I see," Casey said, smiling with sorrow down at the shrine for him.

Adelade put away the clothes, then started picking up some of her brother's things. She flinched when she found the razor on his floor-covered in blood and still wet. Casey came over and saw what Adelade had in her hand. "He-it's all my fault," she started crying. Her baby brother was cutting, and it was because she wasn't his perfect sister anymore. It was her fault.

"No, Adelade, it's not. He just........he needs someone to talk to. Talk to him," Casey told her. She cried, shaking her head back and forth. Casey wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "Adders, your brother loves you. He doesn't blame you, he just wants you to talk to him," he said. Adelade still shook her head, holding the razor in her hand.

She was now holding onto her brother's blood.

Casey held tighter and watched as she shook. "Please, Adders. If you talk to him, he'll listen to you," he said. Adelade sighed, getting control of her shaking. She fell limp in Casey's arms, and she was glad, once again, that only she could feel him.

"Maybe I need someone to talk to," she said. Casey turned her around in his arms and brought his face close to hers.

"I'm here for you to talk to. That's why I'm here, Adders." She looked into his blue eyes and sighed again. Why couldn't she talk to Casey? Why couldn't she listen to Casey? He knew what was right for her better than she did, obviously.

"I know. And I love having you for it, Casey." She was lying about knowing that. But she was telling the truth about loving Casey for it.

She really did love having Casey with her, for her.