Between Two Lungs

The days rolled by until New Year's Eve came along. Mae was in her apartment hard at work on another art piece, even though she had officially backed out of Gary's art show. For the first time in her life, she wanted to get better. She wanted to get clean, be healthy, and most importantly, be normal.

Still, the road to recovery was not an easy one.

A few nights after she had made her phone call to Narcotics Anonymous, Mae started waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats, shaking from head to toe. She wasn't having nightmares; whenever she slept, all she saw was darkness. But for some reason, she would get these terrors and immediately call Jordan in hysterics, and he would have to calm her down.

"You'll be okay, Mae," he told her every time. "You're just experiencing the first stages of withdrawal. Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."

And she believed him every time he said it.

Even as she stood in front of her canvas, every bone in Mae's body ached. Chills kept rolling up and down her spine until she couldn't stand anymore and had to take a seat on her couch. Mae felt bile rising in her throat and groaned before dashing to the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet while also wiping the cold sweat from her brow.

"I'll be okay," she repeated over and over. "This is normal, this is fine..."

Once she no longer felt like her knees were going to cave in, Mae stood up, brushed her teeth for the fifth time that day and hobbled back to her canvas. She glanced out the window at the city that was teeming over with life. Tourist flocked the streets, the parade went by, and a number of celebrities lined Times Square, holding concerts for all the people to see.

Mae didn't care about any of it. She just wanted to curl up in her apartment and die. At least then she'd be able to get a decent night's sleep.

Mae was in the middle of steadying herself again as she felt her muscles cramping when someone came knocking on her door. She slowly and painfully meandered over, calling, "Hold on a second, I'll be right there!"

She swung the door open with the small amount of strength she had left and felt her heart nearly stop in her chest as Jordan stood in front of her, a wide grin spread across his face.

"Hey."

"H-Hi," she stuttered. "What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Thunder Bay with your family..."

"I was," he confirmed. "But I told them that I had to get back to Pittsburgh. They understood."

"Is Marc--"

"Marc's still with them," he answered quickly. "And no, he doesn't know that I'm here."

Mae heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay. Good."

Jordan smirked and motioned at the apartment. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," she said apologetically, moving aside to let the giant blond in.

"I figured you wouldn't want to be alone on New Year's," Jordan said. "So I decided to come by here before I went back to Pittsburgh. And plus...I missed you a lot."

Mae felt the heat rise up in her cheeks. "I missed you too."

Jordan leaned down and kissed her gingerly on the lips, and pulled away when he noticed that Mae was wincing a little bit. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she stammered, trying to keep herself from falling. "It's just...every bone in my body aches."

Without another word, Jordan literally whisked her off her feet and carried Mae, much to her protest, over to the couch like a limp rag doll.

"It would be a lot easier for both of us if you didn't struggle," he joked. "Just accept it as an inevitability and relax."

"You're weird," she decided. "Do you know what time it is?"

Jordan set her down amongst the cushions and checked his watch. "Around eleven. We've got an hour before the countdown to 2010."

Mae sighed as Jordan sat next to her. She nuzzled up against his chest, his arms wrapping their way around her small torso. "Do you think that the new year will bring me a new life?"

"Maybe," Jordan shrugged. "But only if you work hard for it to happen."

She nodded, hugging him close. "I quit the art show."

Jordan looked down at her in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah," she yawned as she picked up the remote from beside Jordan and turned on the television so that the parade was being broadcasted. "Gary, the guy in charge, gave me an ultimatum. Long story short, he told me I could either be their drug buddy and be in the art show, or I could get cut off completely. So I cut them off completely."

Jordan smiled and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," she replied, being sincere. "But...sometimes I think about it and I get kind of sad. I mean, I worked so hard on my pieces. I'd still love to get an opportunity to show them someday. But on my own terms."

Jordan pondered for a minute. He grinned to himself. "Don't worry," he told her. "I'm sure you'll get the chance to show your work soon."

The two of them watched the parade and performances in relative silence for a while, not moving from their spot on the couch. It didn't take long for the time to speed by until there was just thirty seconds left in 2009.

"Jordan, I wanted to tell you something," Mae spoke up.

"Yes?" he asked, intently watching the seconds tick away on the televised clock.

She took in a shaky breath and said, "My first NA meeting is tomorrow at seven. And I would really like for you to come with me...and for you to be my sponsor."

Jordan looked down at Mae, who stared back up at him with hopeful eyes. He pushed her fiery red bangs away from her eyes and said, "Of course. I'll be there."

A huge smile broke across Mae's face. "Ten seconds left."

They both looked at the TV screen in anticipation as everyone counted down.

"Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...Happy New Year!"

From outside, the streets erupted in cheers and the ground started shaking from all of the noise. Music broke out, confetti rained down onto the people, and the lights throughout the city danced across the darkened sky.

From inside though, Jordan cupped Mae's face with his large hands and pressed a sweet, simple kiss to her lips. "Happy New Year, Mae."

She bit back a grin and gave him a peck on the nose. "Happy New Year, Jordan."