Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

This is so fucking stupid. Why did I get in his stupid car? Why was I so stupid to forget my stupid purse at Daisy's? This is what's going through my head as I walk, totally drenched alongside the road. And why did I wear these stupid shoes? four inch wedges are not ideal for walking long distances. Of course I wasn't planning to walk like this today. Oh shit, I just remembered I have to work in like, two hours, that will never happen, the boss will just have to understand.

If one more car drives by me and splashes stupid water on me I will probably scream, and won't that look cute? Drenched girl screaming at no one on the side of the road. Great. Not one single car has even made an attempt to rescue me, kind of disheartning. I start to wonder how long I've been walking when it happens, brake lights. A mini van is going to save me. At this point I don't care if Jack the Ripper is in this car, ok, maybe I do, but, I doubt he drives a mini van. The van rolls down it's passenger window, and I'm mildly horrified at who I see. My stepfather, Greg.

He looks a little confused, "Hey, do you need a ride?"

"Yeah!" No, I just walk on the side of the road because I like it.

I get in the car, instantly soaking the interior. I look in the backseat and see my half sister, Ashley, who's eleven and a total know-it-all.

"Hey, Ash."

"Why were you walking in the rain?" Thanks Ash.

"Um, it's a long story." I look at Greg.

"There's no chance in hell that Mom won't find out about this, is there?"

He dosen't say anything which gives me my answer.

"You said a bad word, you said hell." Ashley pipes in.

"Sorry Ashley."

"Where do you want to go, back to your house?" Greg asks.

"No, will you take me back to the Sturgeon Woods apartment complex?"

"Sure."

We drive the rest of the way in silence, which is fine with me. Greg and I have the type of relationship where you don't speak unless spoken to. When my mom first came back it was like we didn't know what to say, so we said nothing. Not a lot has changed.

We arrive at Daisy's and he pulls up next to my truck to let me out.

"Thanks sooo much, Greg."

"No problem."

"Well, I'll see you around. Tell Mom I'll call her."

"OK."

"Bye Ashley." I get silence in return.

I run into Daisy's building and up to her door. This time I knock, I know she had man plans and I don't want to walk in on anything. She answers with a confused look on her face. Not the first one of those I've gotten today.

"What in the hell?" She asks. I walk straight into her, shivering cold.

"Honey, why are you wet? Where have you been?" She says, wrapping her arms around me.

"He left me again, on the side of the road this time."

"Oh my God, baby!" I look over her shoulder and notice Dave, sitting on the couch.

"Hey Dave, I'm sorry for coming like this. I'll just get my purse and get going, I'm late for work anyways." I sniffle.

"No you will not!" Daisy yells, "you will not leave here in wet clothes, until you tell me what happened."

I tell her the whole story, while changing into some of her clothes, that are a little too small on me. I grab my purse and leave. I drive back to my house where Mike is not home. Fine by me, I couldn't handle the lecture he'd give me. I look at the clock, only fifteen minutes late so far, not bad. I change into work clothes and dry my short hair. Thirty minutes late. On a roll.

Today is Friday. I didn't get fired, if you were wondering. Apparently working overtime pays off. Mike and I don't have a washer and dryer, so to save money, we take our clothes to my parents house. Billie usually makes us food when were there too, so thats a bonus. So today is laundry day. Yip.

At lunchtime, Billie makes us food and while were eating, I get a call from Daisy.

"Hello."

"Hey girl!" She yells so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear, so I have a perfect veiw of my eardrum flying out of my head. Surprisingly, it stays put. Mike and Billie are laughing.

"Whats up, Daisy?"

"Well, it's Friday and you know what that means, right?"

I look at Mike and Billie, whow are acting like they can hardly contain their excitement. Apparently they can still hear her.

"Uh, no, what does that mean?"

"It means we can party all night and we have all day tomorrow to sleep it off!"

Billie starts jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Mike rolls his eyes.

"You want to party tonight, I take it?"

"Well, duh!"

"Ok, where and what time do you want to meet?" What the hell, after the last couple of days, I could use a fun time and a whole day to sleep it off.

"The Rainbow, meet me at my place at like, Seven thirty-eightish."

"Ok, I'll see you later."

"Love you!!"

"Love you!"

I get off the phone and look at Billie and Mike, who are now acting like they weren't listening.

"Well, at least I'll know where to send Dad to pick you up tonight." Billie says.

"I think not! There will be no picking up happening tonight."

We finish our laundry and head back home, where we find Austin waiting in the driveway for us. He puts out the cigarette he'd been smoking when we pull in.

"What's up, man?" Mike says, getting out of the car, grabbing a laundry basket and handing it to Austin.

I walk in the house, put my laundry away and get in the shower, preparing for my night out. I choose faded jeans with a rip in the left knee and a black vee neck tee shirt as my party outfit. When I get out, I flat iron my short hair and walk into the living room in my floor length, black bath robe. I see that all the Hinder guys have gathered in the living room. I walk up behind Blower and wrap my arms around him.

"Hey, darlin." He says to me.

"Hey, where are you guys going tonight?"

"No idea, how about you?"

"I have plans with Daisy at the Rainbow."

"Gotcha."

"Yep, I have to go get dressed now, you guys be safe tonight."

"You too, darlin'." I love it when he calls me that.

I go to my room and get dressed. When I'm done, I take a final look at myself in the mirror and grab my purse and head out.

"See you guys, don't get too crazy tonight." I say.

"BYE SOPHIE!" They all say. "Love you." Mike adds.

"Love you too, don't be stupid tonight. I'll text you later on."

"BYE." He says.

On my way to Daisy's, I text her to tell her 'I'm on my way.'. She texts me back 'Dave's coming with us.'

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, maybe he can be our designated driver. On the other, Dave sometimes creeps me out, the way he looks at me makes me feel like he wants something more than friendly for Daisy's sake.

"Ok, that's cool." I text back.

I arrive and walk up to her door, which she whips open before I get the chance to walk in.

"Ha! I got to it before you could scare me!!" She says. She is wearing some small pink outfit, that makes me feel overdressed.

I laugh at her. We all troop out of the apartment to Dave's car. By the time we get to the club and wait in line, It's nine o' clock. Dave gives me a twenty when we get inside and I go to the bar and order vodka tonics.

"Cheers." I say when I give them their drinks.

***************************************************************************************************

Several hours and several drinks later, I'm feeling a little tipsy. Daisy is beyond blasted, dancing with Dave. I walk to th bathroom and on my way there, I notice Adam at the bar, talking to some girl. I haven't seen him in awhile, but, I'm still surprised. When I come out of the bathroom, I look and see him kissing this girl. Whoa, didn't see that one coming. I walk over to the bar near them, they've stopped kissing and she makes her way to the bathroom. I order a drink, Adam looks at me, He looks like hell.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey." I say, turning and walking back to where Daisy and Dave are still dancing and join in.

A couple minutes later, I feel a hand on my shoulder, I turn around and see Adam.

"Whats up?" I ask.

"I need to talk to you, I need help."

I nod and turn towards Daisy. "Hey!" I shout to her over the music. "I'll be right back!"

"OK." She says, still dancing.

I follow Adam out of the backdoor and down a dark alley, holding his hand. We stop, I can feel his hand shaking.

"Whats going on?" I start.

"I have a feeling that I'm fucking up, and I need your help."

"Adam, what are you talking about? What are you fucking up?"

He reaches into his jeans pocket and pulls out his cigarettes, He stuffs one in his mouth and trys to light it, but his hands are shaking so hard he can't hold the lighter still long enough to light the cigarette. I reach out and take the lighter from him, our eyes meet for a split second and I cup my hand around the cigarette and light it for him. He takes a long drag off of it, it's the first steady thing he's done since I've seen him tonight.

"Now, tell me what happened so I can help you fix it."

He shakes his head "Your going to hate me, I don't know why I called you out here. I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to hate you, Adam. And, now that I'm out here, you arent getting rid of me. So you might as well tell me whats wrong, honey"

He sits on the curb, "I won't blame you if you run like hell. You wouldn't be the first"

I sit beside him "I'm not going anywhere."

He lets out a shaky breath and says without looking at me "I'm a drug addict."

"What?"

"I was a drug addict. I went to rehab and I've been clean for about a year now"

I'm in shock right now, I never would have guessed this about Adam.

"Well, honey, thats the past right? What happened tonight?"

"Heroin, was my drug of choice for about five years, in those five years, I ruined any relationship I was in, ruined my already weak relationship with my parents..."

"What happened tonight, honey?" I interupt.

"I was bored at home so I decided that I would go out and have a few drinks. I've never claimed to be sober, because I never had an addiction to alcohol, it never did anything for me."

I nod and continue to listen, because I figure thats what he needs right now.

"I was sitting at the bar and was just kind of people watching, when this girl I didn't know came up to me and asked me if I remembered her."

I nod again, urging him to keep talking.

"She told me her name was Vivian and that we knew each other back in the day or whatever. I told her I didn't remember and that she had the wrong guy."

"What did she say?" I ask him.

"She said that way back when, I bought drugs from her employer, and that," He pauses "we slept together, after we got high."

"Her employer?" I ask.

"She's a hooker, her pimp is a drug dealer."

I nod again, This is all so hard for me to believe. He starts again.

"I told her, I'm not into that anymore ,and she said 'Well, that's a shame, cause I know that he's got some good shit right now'. "

"Then she starts going on, asking me if I remember how good it feels."

"What feels?" I ask.

"Shooting up. I say no, I don't remember and she asks me if I want her to refresh my memory."

He lights another cigarette, a little less shaky this time, but not a lot.

"What did you say?" I ask him.

He sighs "I said yes, that I wanted it. In that moment, thinking about it, I did want it. She asked me what was in it for her, to do that for me."

"And, thats when you kissed her." I say. He looks at me, kind of shocked.

"Yes, I saw you kiss her. I'm alright, I just want you to be okay" I say. He starts talking again.

"I kissed her, I don't know why. In that moment all I could think of was shooting up, then taking her to some hotel room, because thats what I do when I'm high, everynight the same thing."

He looks at me again "Are you Ok?" He asks.

"Yes, keep going." I reply.

"So, she went to the bathroom to call her pimp, to have him meet me here, so I could cop. And, then I saw you and I knew that I needed to talk to someone, because this dealer is on his way to sell me shit. I don't know what to do"

"What is your heart telling you to do, Adam?" I ask.

"To get the fuck out of here."

He's still smoking his second cigarette, he takes a long drag from it.

"Will you take me home tonight?" I ask.

He looks at me, silent for a second, then nods his head.

"Ok, wait here for a second, I have to tell my friends I'm leaving."

"OK."

I get up, and start walking down the dark alley towards the backdoor to the club. When I get inside, I see Daisy and Dave sitting in a booth, having a drink.

"Hey guys, I'm leaving, I found another ride home."

"OK, where are you going?" Daisy slurs.

"Don't worry about it, are you okay to drive home, Dave?"

"Oh yeah, you go ahead. Don't worry about us."

"OK, I'll text you tomorrow, Daisy."

"Bye!" She says, kind of in a sing-song way.

I start to walk out of the club, sending Mike and text on my way back out to Adam.

"Don't expect me home tonight. Be safe. I love you."

I get one back seconds later "R U OK?"

"Yes." I send back, as I click my phone shut, walking down the alley. I look up to see Adam talking to some dude I don't recognize, he's showing Adam something. I walk up behind Adam.

"Hey, are you ready, babe?"

They hadn't heard me coming apparently, because the guy rushes to put whatever was in his hand back in his pocket, hiding it from me. I link arms with Adam.

"Ready?" I ask again.

"Yeah, let's go." He says to me, the other guy is staring bullets at me. We walk past him towards the parking lot, holding hands, his is shaking again. Once we get into the well lit parking lot, I stop and turn to face him.

"Are you ok?" I ask. He nods. I take his face in my hands and pull him towards me, and kiss him. I can feel him still trembling. I pull away and look at him.

"Lets go." I say. He leads me to his car.

"Where are your keys?" I ask him. He reaches into his pocket and pull out his keys, handing them to me. I walk around the car and get in the drivers side, he gets in the opposite side and leans his head back against the headrest, staring at the ceiling of the car.

"Ok, lets get out of here." I say.

We drive in silence, him staring and me driving. We pull into his driveway and I shut the car off. We sit there for a moment.

"Why are you being so good to me?" He asks.

"Your my friend, honey. You needed help, I'm glad I was there."

"You should have left me." He says.

"Don't you dare say that ever again."

"I don't deserve you saving me." I sigh and take his had, it's not shaking anymore.

"Ready to go in?" I say.

"Yeah."

We get out of the car and walk in the house. We stand in the foyer for a minute. He looks at me, takes my face in his hands and kisses me. Gently at first, but it feels great. We part for a short minute and then we kiss again. I put my hands in his hair, he has his hands on my back, pushing me slightly, moving me towards his bedroom.

"Are you sure you want this tonight?" I ask him when we get there.

"You are all I want tonight." He says, kissing me again, lifting my shirt over my head, running soft kisses across my neck and chest. I pull him closer to me by the waistband of his pants, unsnapping them. He looks down at me and smiles. I take his shirt off and he pushes me down on the bed gently, climbing on top of me.

"You are so beautiful." He says, kissing down my stomach.

When were done making love, I lay on top of him, my head resting on his chest, his hands are on my back.

"God, I don't want this night to end," He starts "Thank you for tonight, for saving me."

"Do you know how many times you've saved me over these last six months?" I say.

"Not enough to make up for tonight."

I smile "I think you just did a fine job of making it up to me."

He laughs quietly "Thats not what I meant."

"I know, lets just not talk about it right now. Later we'll get it all out there. But, right now lets just sleep, I think we deserve that much."

We sleep until about nine thirty the next morning. When I wake up, I get out of bed, carefully, so not to wake him and put of my black, lace thong and one of his black button up shirts. When I turn around I see him staring at me. I walk over and climb on top of him, laying in bed.

"Good morning." I say, kissing his neck.

"Good morning." He says, laughing at me.

I sit up and look at him, he smiles sleepily. I take his right hand and slide it up the bottom of my shirt, placing it on my breast. We sit there like that for a minute or so.

"If you get dressed I'll make breakfast." I say.

He removes his hand from my shirt "Fully dressed or dressed like you are?" He asks.

"Mmm, fully dressed."

"Oh yeah?" He says, rolling me over on my back, laying his upper body on mine, messing with the buttons on my shirt, trying to unhook them. I laugh loudly, he smiles at the sound. Theres a knock on the bedroom door.

"What the hell?" Adam says into my shoulder. I smirk.

"Who is it?" He yells.

"Neil." The door replies.

"Hang on a minute." He yells again, getting out of bed, getting dressed quickly.

"Who's Neil?" I ask him, fixing the buttons on my shirt.

"I'll tell you the whole story later." He says and answers the door.

"Whats up, man?" A blonde guy asks Adam.

"Just got up." Adam replies, looking at me in bed, half naked...but only he knows that.

"What happened to you last night?" Neil asks, also glancing at me for a minute.

"Umm, we had a little, umm almost mishap last night." Adam launches into the story of the night before, leaving certain bits out, like making love to me.

"Why didn't you call me?" Neil asks.

"I didn't want to drag you into my old issues, been there, done that," Adam says "Don't want to do it again."

Neil looks at me "So, um, is she a hoo-"

"No Neil!" Adam interupts "I know that I have a history and I deserve that, but please leave her out of it."

"Sorry man, I had to ask." I'm very confused at this point.

"Am I a what?" I ask. They both look at me.

"A hooker." Adam says.

"Oh," I look down at the bed, "I don't know if I should be offended or not."

"Please don't," Neil says "I didn't mean anything towards you."

"I think I'm going to get going. I can see you guys have some shit to sort out." I look at Neil "Could you give us some privacy please?"

"Yeah." He says, leaving the room. I get out of bed and finish dressing.

"Do you mind if I borrow your shirt?" I ask Adam, who is watching me pull my jeans on.

"No, go ahead." He says.

"I'm sorry last night had to end." I say.

"I had no illusions that it would last forever."

He walks over to me and kisses me.

"I'll call you later." I say.

"OK."

I walk out to the foyer, where Neil is standing he looks up when I walk in.

"I never got your name," He says.

"Sophie,"

"Neil," He says "nice to meet you." I smile.

"Hey, I want to thank you for what you did for him last night, but, I've got it from here and I would appreciate it if you kept your distance. He dosen't need any distractions right now, he's been doing really well, and he dosen't need to screw it up now." He tells me without missing a beat.

I'm completly dumbfounded. I say nothing. I just stare blankly at him.

"I have to go now," I say, shakily. "bye."

I go outside and sit on the front steps, I get out my phone out of my purse and dial.

"Hey, will you come get me? I'll be walking down Stark Road."