You Are Exactly My Brand of Heroin

It all seemed to happen in a flash, and before I knew it, Brian's body had left my grip and was lying on the ground clutching his jaw. He glared up at Garrett as he touched his lower lip a few times to notice that it was bleeding. Garrett clenched his fists and leaned down to grab Brian's jacket.

"You motherfucker! You don't love her! You're just some big-shot rock star who's looking for a piece of ass! That's all she is to you! You don't care about her in the least bit you heartless bastard! I hope you fucking die!" Garrett spat at Brian before punching him once more in the face. After that, Zack and Jimmy were finally able to pull Garrett away from Brian. I moved as quickly as I could, even though my limbs felt as if they were numb and my heartbeat staggered, to Brian's side and attempted to clean the blood off of his face. Tears came to my eyes as I replayed the scene I'd just witnessed over and over again in my head. I couldn't believe Garrett could say such a thing. If he really loved me, which I'd already believed he didn't, he would've left the subject alone and let me be happy with Brian, and why would he ever think that Brian would think such things about me? Not even I suspected that.

My mind came back to reality only to find Taylor screaming at her brother, Johnny holding her back. Garrett didn't bother with her. He continued to stare down at me and Brian, clenching his fists and flexing his jaw. Rage took over every part of my being in a flash and all I could think about was revenge.

"You bastard. How dare you touch him! I swear to God, Garrett, if you weren't Taylor's brother I'd kill you right here and right now!"

"But Abby -"

"Shut up, you idiot! Over the past week you've done nothing but destroy everything I've worked so hard for. All I want is to be happy with Brian. I don't want you Garrett. I don't love you at all, and you don't love me. All you want me for is a piece of ass! I'm not stupid. You can't lie to me or your sister and not leave the slightest bit of doubt in our mind. We know what you want, and I know what I want." Silence had fallen over all of us; everyone stared at me as the tears poured down my face. "I want you gone. I want you out of my sight, out of my mind, out of my life! Go back to Vegas and stay there. I don't need you anymore and I'll never need you again, not if you're going to do this to me." I sighed, glancing down at Brian just to be sure that he was okay. He stared up at me from where his head lay in my lap. Blood continued to pour from his lip and was now dripping from his nose. I smiled weakly down at him and stroked his jet black hair. "Garrett, you were my best friend. How could you do this to me?" I asked, looking back up to meet Garrett's eyes once again. He'd stopped clenching his fists and flexing his jaw and Zack and Jimmy had released him. He simply stared down at me, exchanging glances between me and Brian with a look of terror on his face. It didn't phase me in the least bit. I felt no remorse.

"I-I'm sorry, Abby. I wasn't thinking. I-"

"Forget it, Garrett. Go back to Matt's, pack your bags, and get on the next plane to Vegas." He looked from me to his sister who avoided his gaze. At that moment, he realized that he wasn't wanted here. He sighed heavily and left without a word. I watched him walk away until the tears in my eyes caused my vision to blur and the outline of his figure was no longer clearly visible to me. It seemed like we sat there for all of forever before Zack and Jimmy took Brian from me and tried their best to clean him up. I stayed put while Taylor knelt down in front of me. I could see that she'd been crying. I knew it had hurt her that her brother would do such a thing to me and that he'd been lying to her all this time, but it had also hurt her to let me banish him the way I had. No matter what, Garrett would always be her brother, and she'd always love him, even though he made stupid choices. Still yet, I could see that Taylor knew she was making the right decision here, even though she was hurting herself in the process. She let me do what I wanted to be done since we'd gotten to Huntington, and I couldn't thank her enough for it. "I'm sorry, Tay. I'm so sorry." Taylor instantly collapsed into my open arms, sobbing so hard I was sure she'd begin hyperventilating at any moment.

Zack left Jimmy's side to tend to Taylor. He stroked her back a few times, and she lifted herself from my shoulder to look up at Zack who touched her hair and smiled at her. He kissed the top of her forehead as she buried her face into his chest. He knew what she was going through. He didn't have to ask what was wrong. He'd read it all on her face, and at times like these, he was exactly what she needed.

I turned around to find Brian leaning against the log that we'd just been sitting on moments ago. Jimmy had given him his very own jacket to hold against his lip and nose to stop the bleeding. I got up as quickly as possible and scrambled over to him.

"Is he okay?" I asked as I exchanged glances between Jimmy and Brian. Brian didn't say anything; just examined me for a moment. I didn't really expect him to talk.

"He'll be fine. It doesn't look like he'll need any stitches or anything. It'll just hurt like hell tomorrow." I smiled a bit as Brian touched my face where the tears had streaked my cheek, closing my eyes and leaning into his touch.

Removing the blood-soaked jacket from his face, he said, "I love you. You know that?" I tried to hold back the tears. I wanted so badly to tell him that I, too, loved him more than anything in this world, but I didn't want him to notice the shakiness in my voice so I simply nodded and opened my eyes to meet his eyes. He smiled and glanced over at Jimmy who gripped my shoulder before standing up and walking back over to Leana, Lacey, Natalie, Ciara, and Logan. I had forgotten all about them until now. Leana was absolutely shocked, I could tell. She seemed to melt into Jimmy's side the very moment he touched her. Lacey tried her best to calm Leana and watched sympathetically over Brian and I. Natalie's gaze was glued on Ciara who stood right next to Logan, looking as guilty as ever. She, obviously, blamed herself for this somehow, even though it wasn't her fault at all. It was all mine. All of this was my fault. All because I wanted to be with Brian. Is that such a crime?

"What do you say we get out of here? I think I could use a little rest, an ice pack, and a few Tylenol after all of this excitement," Brian said to me. I simply nodded and helped him get up.

"Are you sure you're okay, honey? We could take you back to the hospital if you want us to."

"Abbs, I swear I'm fine." I took that as a no and continued to help him to the car. Everyone else followed without a word. All was silent as we piled back into the vehicle and made our way back to Matt's house, hoping that neither Matt nor Garrett were there. I really didn't feel like explaining to Matt why Brian had a busted lip and bleeding nose at the moment, and I didn't feel like confronting Garrett yet again. I'd had enough of him today, and I knew that if we did run into him he'd want only one thing: forgiveness. To that, I had only one thing to say:

I'm not Jesus. I will not forgive.