Two Is Better Than One

I woke up in a hospital bed, beeping noises surounding me and several machines hooked up to me. The nurse was beside me, and when she saw my open eyes, she said, "You're one lucky guy. Just a little bit more of cocaine and you would have never woken up." She was serious. I just looked up at her with sad eyes, and she looked away. "You have friends here to see you. They've been waiting here every day for you to wake up. I'll go get them for you." With that she walkedout the door.

How could I have ever thought that my band didn't care about me? They were just looking out for me, telling me I should stop before things got out of hand. And look, things DID get out of hand. I really screwed myself over this time. Really messed my life up. How stupid am I? Even worse...what were they going to think of me now? They probably just think I'm a low-life loser whose addicted to drugs. But...I'm not. This has to stop.

The door opened, and into my room stepped Jake, CC, Jinxx with Sammi, and Andy. Andy's eyes met with mine, but once he saw me, he turned away. His eyes were filled with despair and weakness. I've been best friends with Andy since high school, and I've helped him through a lot of shit. But I've never seen him look like that. I didn't realize that what I was dong to myself was affecting my band members like this. I'm such a goddamn idiot.

They all gathered around my bedside (except for Andy, who stayed behind them, looking out the window). I looked up at Jinxx and Sammi, who both smiled down at me. "I'm so sorry," I said, looking them both in the eyes. They nodded. Sammi said it was alright, then leaned down and hugged me. Jinxx said the same, then added, "I was so worried about you. We all were. I'm just so relieved that you're okay. We'll have a talk later." He hugged me, then walked out of the room with Sammi's hand in his.

I looked up at Jake and CC, who were standing next to each other. "Jake...you were right..." I began, but Jake cut me off. "Ash, before you say anything, I just want to say that I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have flipped out on you like that. I was just upset with you because I knew you weren't being yourself and that you were getting involved with bad people and bad things, and I didn't want that to happen because you're my friend. I couldn't bear to see you get hurt. But I yelled at you and you got mad and ran out, and now this is all my fault. I'm so sorry Ashley." He said, tears streaming down his face. I sat up, even though it hurt, and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back. "Jake, this isn't your fault. Please don't think that. I'm glad you yelled at me like that. I'm done with it all, with the drugs, the alcohol, even the girls." I let go of him, and he nodded. He smiled slightly, then walked out the door.

"Save it, kid, it's all good," CC said, smiling. I laughed. He also bent down to hug me before walking out the door. Alls that was left in the room was Andy. I knew he was even more upset with me than all the other guys were.

"Andy..." I whispered, not knowing what to say. He turned towards me without looking at me, and sat next to me on my bed. His eyes started to water, and tears fell down his pale face. "Andy, please don't cry..." I said, sitting up and wrapping my arms around him. "Ashley, you don't know how hard it is for me to see you like this. You're my best friend, and I love you. I don't want you to do drugs or any of that shit, you're better than that. Hell, I don't even want you to drink anymore. I'm not mad at you, Ashley. I was, but I'm not anymore. You just have to promise me that you'll stop this. That you'll settle down, get started on your life. Please, for me?" He wiped away his tears with the back of his hand, and pulled away from my embrace to observe my response.

Of course I'm going to stop this. I can't do this to myself anymore, and I expecially can't do this to my friends. "Of course, Andy," I told him. I meant it, and he could tell. He smiled from ear to ear, and hugged me as tightly as he could. "Ow," I said, slightly laughing. "Sorry," he said, letting go of me and laughing.

"Andy...what about the band?" I asked, afraid of what his answer would be.

"We're not going to replace you, Ash." That made me feel better. "But while you're getting things together and getting your life back on track, we're just gonna have a back-up bassist do your parts in concerts. Only until you're sure that you can do it again." That was cool. This wasn't going to be so bad after all. Well, I hope.