Just Like You...

JACKY POV

"Turn that off, Ryan." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes the next morning when I came down for breakfast. "I can't listen to Cryptopsy at 7am." Ryan was blasting music. He'd gone home early yesterday and slept and everything. I'd been left here with Ronnie and the drug addict from Hell.
I mean, it's not like Ronnie or Alyssa were forcing me to stay…I just…I felt guilty. I knew I was the only one who could get her to calm down enough to sleep, even if only for a moment.
"That's so going on Twitter!" He announced laughing as he walked down away from us, down the hall, with his cellphone out.
"Such a nerd." I muttered.
Ronnie laughed a little tensely, he hadn't been sleeping much either.
"Andy is coming over to hang out today." He told me, rubbing his face.
"Fucking fantastic." I muttered. "Why did you invite him over when we're in the middle of this shit?"
"I had invited him over before this shit happened." He shot back. "I forgot until now, he just texted me, he'll be here in fifteen."
"Fifteen what? Seconds? MInutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? Centuries? Millenniums? Eons?" Alyssa asked from her spot on the couch, she had a pillow over her face, trying to sleep.
"Minutes." Ronnie said.
"Wonderful, I call shower first." She got up and trudged upstairs. I sighed and Ronnie slid the coffee pot down the table to me.
"Can you make more? I'm going to need a gallon of this shit before I wake up." I poured some into my mug before drinking it black.
"I know what you mean."
There was a few moments silence.
"You think we should bring Shea down? She hasn't been down here for a while…" Ronnie bit his lip.
I toyed with one of my snakebites.
"I guess, I mean he's going to want to meet her…we could just…explain the situation…"
Ronnie nodded.
"I'll text call him and talk to him about it. You and Alyssa mind getting Shea somewhat presentable?"
I nodded.
Alyssa had taken an insanely quick shower and scrunched her hair in five seconds. I stood outside the bathroom while she helped Shea and then came in when she had her dressed. As horribly gay as it sounds, I helped put her make-up on so she at least now looked like she had some color…and she had eyeliner to the extreme. I mean, okay I don't wear as much eyeliner as I put on her…but…I figured it'd draw attention away from the bags under her eyes…right? I don't know, I'm not a make-up professional.
Alyssa had dried Shea's hair and was now in the process of straightening it, amazing how we pulled this off in less than fifteen minutes, or close to it. Andy rang just as Alyssa was finishing Shea's hair. Alyssa stepped back, wow we just performed a miracle, Shea looked alive…or close to it.
"Can you walk downstairs?" I asked her. She shook her head slowly, looking a little dazed, she was probably lightheaded, she had eaten all of a spoonful of applesauce for the past two days and two glasses of water she couldn't hold down. "Do you want me to carry you?" She nodded.
It occurred to me, as I was carrying her down the hall, that we hadn't told her what this was about. Alyssa went ahead of us when Ronnie called for us so Andy could meet her and Shea. I was being careful, carrying Shea awkwardly bridal style or whatever they call it. We got to the bottom of the stairs and Andy was standing right there in the hall, Alyssa had stepped to the side so he could see us.. Ryan and Ronnie stood there too. Shea got a look at Andy and buried her face in my chest.
"This is humiliating." I heard her whisper.
"This is Shea." Ronnie told Andy. Andy nodded and stepped forward when I sat her up on the couch.
"Hi," He took a knee in front of her so that they were almost level eye-to-eye and held out his hand. She blushed, the most natural color I'd seen on her face in a few days. She reached out her hand and shook his, he kissed her knuckles. "I'm Andy Biersack, nice to meet you."
She nodded.
"Andy is the lead singer of Black Veil Brides, younger than me, famous as fuck, and a self absorbed jack-ass." Ronnie grinned.
"And you're not?" Shea rolled her eyes.
"You hungry, sis?" He looked at her. "You should drink something…"
"I can't." She shook her head frantically.
"Come on, yes you can." Andy encouraged. I guess Ronnie had clued him in.
She shook her head and tried to hide herself in the couch.
"Come on." He smiled warmly. "Jacky can carry you to the kitchen." He winked at her. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, lifted her chin, and again shook her head "no."
"I'll carry you." He offered.
"See, self absorbed." Ronnie laughed, "And a jack-ass…well more of an asshole I guess…same shit."
Shea made a face that showed she was amused. I wonder why she'd stopped talking again.
"HOLY SHIT!" Alyssa screamed. "WE COULD HAVE THROWN HER INTO SHOCK!"
We all jumped and looked at her.
"Wha?"
"I know ending all at once was a crappy idea, Alyssa, but--" Ronnie began.
"No, not the oxy withdrawal!" She threw up her hands. "We made her withdrawal WORSE!"
We all looked at her, confused.
"WE TOOK HER OFF CAFFEINE!" She shouted and ran to the kitchen. She came back with a 16oz bottle of Mountain Dew and a small shot glass. I don't want to know how she knew where the shot glasses were. "Okay, there's a fuck load of sugar in this." She told Shea. "So don't have so much that your blood sugar skyrockets and gives you a heart attack." Shea nodded in appreciation.
"The mood swings, that's your reason." She sat and crossed her arms.
"They're a symptom of oxy withdrawal too." Ronnie pointed out.
"But we've made them worse. Her body dropped two drugs at once and it's freaking out, that's why her timeline has been off! She's suffering two completely separate timelines at ONCE!"
Ronnie, Ryan, and I looked at each other. It made enough sense to a degree.
Andy shrugged.
"Makes sense I guess."
"No, don't guess." Alyssa told him, "Know!"
Shea took a sip and left it at that for a long while as we all hung around. Hopefully there was only a couple of days until this ended. Then everything would just build back up to normal.
I hope.

XXX

SHEA POV

"Feeling better?" Ronnie asked. Yesterday I had begun to get my appetite back. I looked better, not great, but better. Jacky had put me to bed last night so I felt rested. I mean, I woke up a lot, but it was more sleep than usual.
"Yeah." I sighed. I poked at my pancakes and ate a small bite. It was just me and Ronnie int he kitchen. "Ronnie?" He looked up. "Thanks."
He gave me a small smile and kissed my forehead.
"You're welcome."