We're Not Perfect

Max and I sat there for a while before my head really began bothering me. I pulled the bottle of Tylenol out of the cupboard and sensed Max’s frown as I dumped a majority of the bottle into my open hand. I’d taken a few pills earlier, but I needed the painkillers right now, and I was getting close to needing more pills anyways.

“You’re gonna kill yourself if you keep taking that many,” Max said.

I bit back a laugh. “Don’t worry, if this was going to kill me, I’d have been dead years ago.” Before Max could say anything else I took all the pills in my hand at once.

“I care about you Ry. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you,” Max said softly, coming to stand in front of me. “Please promise me you’ll be careful,” he said. “I don’t like that you keep going to this club alone, and then you take half a bottle of pills to cure a headache.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll try to cut down on how many pills I take. And I’m not at the club alone anymore; I have my own little band there.” I laughed when Max’s eyes lit up before quickly turning to jealousy.

“Since when have you had a band? And why haven’t we met them?”

I led Max to the couch in the empty living room and explained how I’d let them join me and it had only been a few days. After agreeing to let ETF come to the club one night my band and I were performing, I asked for his help naming the band.

We were still brainstorming when the Monte, Robert, and Craig joined us downstairs. He gave me look telling me that we’d talk later before joining in our little brainstorming party.

It took a few hours, but I eventually texted my band our name, The Last Leaf. I can’t say the name is our own creation, because it’s the title of a story by O. Henry. My favorite story of his. I immediate responses from the guys, all positive. We had the night off, and I knew I Craig wanted to talk so I told them we’d talk later.

“I’m taking my sister out tonight,” Craig announced. “That means, Ry, go get ready. And you know me, it’s not fancy.”

I pulled Max after me as I made my way to my room. ”I don’t know how you do it, but you always pick out good clothes for me,” I told him.

“But you’d look good in anything,” Max said. I rolled my eyes at how cheesy that line was. “I’ll find something for you.”

I walked into the bathroom and started doing my hair and make-up. When I finished I saw that Max had a pile a clothes set on my desk. He’d even gotten jewelry to go with it. Unfortunately, the one thing missing from my room was Max himself.

I got dressed and was putting on my jewelry when I saw that Max had picked out a necklace I didn’t recognize. As I was admiring it, Max came back into my room.

“Like it?” he asked.

“How could I not? I don’t remember getting it though,” I said, still confused.

Max put the necklace around my neck. “Do you remember this moment?” he asked, pulling me close to him. I nodded. “Then you remember getting it.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Thank you so much, Max.” He pulled me into a passionate kiss. I still couldn’t believe how he made me feel. We only broke apart when someone cleared their throat. Looking towards my door, we saw Craig standing there.

“Ry, we should get going. You too can pick this up later,” he said.

I kissed Max once more before following Craig to his car. I couldn’t help laughing when he pulled into Sonic for supper. “I was hungry and I wanted somewhere we could talk without people listening in,” he explained.

“Ok?” Craig ordered our food and we waited for it to be brought out before getting down to what Craig meant to talk about.

“Why was this morning the first time I’ve heard about you doing drugs?” he asked. “And your trip to jail?” he added quickly.

I knew this was coming, but I’d hoped it wouldn’t. “Like I told you before, I got in with the wrong groups after you left, and one thing led to another. I got into a lot of shit. You name it, I most likely did it. At first, it was just a few days a week, then I couldn’t go a day without getting high. Near the end I couldn’t go entire day on just a single high.” I continued, telling Craig everything, pausing occasionally to take a bite of my food. “The first time I was arrested, I was at someone’s house, and the place was raided by cops. After that, I was arrested a few times at different clubs, or leaving them. They were always the same charges; underage drinking and drug use and possession. The cops and social workers tried so hard to save me, but I only felt happy when I was high. Mom sent me here because she couldn’t afford to bail me out of jail or get even the cheapest lawyers for me when I had a court date. I guess she figured you could afford to do it since you were so famous. At least, that’s what she always said.”

Craig didn’t say anything as he gathered our trash and threw it away before driving us to the park. It was deserted since it was dark out, so we had the place to ourselves. He didn’t say anything until we were sitting next to one another on the swings.

“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this though? Even after you got here?” he finally asked.

I looked at the ground, half afraid to answer him. “I thought you’d kick me out if you knew,” I whispered. I could feel tears forming, and I fought to keep them from falling.

“Ry, how could you think that?” he asked. I hadn’t noticed him get up from his swing until he was kneeling in front of me. “You’re my baby sister, and I’m always going to protect you. Hell, you could murder someone in front of me, and I’d go to your trial saying you were innocent. I missed you so much when I moved out here, and I was trying so hard to find a way to get you out here. Ask any of the guys; they’ll tell you how much I missed you. In a way though, I’m glad I didn’t know about all of this back then because I probably would have gone out and done something stupid trying to save you and end up getting myself arrested or killed instead.”

I couldn’t hold the tears back as I listened to him. When he finally stopped, I launched myself forward, hugging him tightly as he fell backwards. He wrapped his arms around me as I landed on top of him. “One time,” I said, rolling to lay on my back next to my brother. “I stole Mom’s car and planned on driving all the way out here just to see you.”

“What happened?” Craig asked.

“It was around three in the morning, and I was drunk, and crashed into the median on the freeway going 80 mph,” I said. I felt Craig staring at me in shock. “The car was totaled, but I managed to get out with a few cracked ribs, cuts and scrapes, and some minor burns.” I stared at the sky, watching the few visible stars as I remembered that night. Craig seemed to be lost in thought as well, as he didn’t say anything for a while either.

“We should get home,” Craig said finally. “I have a meeting about a music video to go to in the morning.” He helped me up before helping me up after him. “I love you little sis. I meant everything I said. And If you did kill someone, I’d prefer you didn’t do it in front of me,” he said, causing us both to laugh before getting serious again. “Please just promise me you won’t do anything like that again; any of it, including the drugs, the excessive alcohol, or time in jail.”

“I promise, Craig. Now let’s get home so you’ll be functional in the morning for your meeting.”

The ride home consisted of Craig and I singing along with the radio like we used to do all the time. When we got in, Max was waiting for us in the living room, watching a movie.

“Take good care of her when I’m not around,” Craig said.

“Of course I will,” Max said, wrapping his arms around me.

“Good. If anything happened to you, Ry, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d probably be ten times worse than I was when I first moved out here.” I heard Max groan at that.

“Believe me,” he said. “I’d be right there with you.”

We told Craig goodnight before I changed my clothes and returned to curl up on the couch with Max. I fell asleep in his arms; there was nowhere in the world I’d rather be.