You and Me Together

Piper packed all of her worldly belongings into an overnight bag and her purse. She didn't have much. At least, not much she wanted to bring with her.
When she arrived at Anthony's apartment - her apartment now - she knocked on the door half-heartedly, assuming Anthony wouldn't be there since it was a Tuesday during business hours.
"Hey!" Anthony greeted he as he opened the door almost immediately.
He reeked of rum and coke. His eyes were half-closed, his clothes full of potato chip residue, and his hair disheveled.
"You're drunk already," she said, not asking, not outraged, and not surprised.
His face fell as he stood slumped in the doorway. "I had to say goodbye," he said. "I had to clear out the inventory."
"Inventory of... the liquor store?" she said sarcastically, although she meant it when she suggested he'd had more to drink than what was in his house the day before.
He didn't answer, choosing instead to simply back away, gesturing for her to come in.
She walked inside and made herself a path through the beer cans and mac-and-cheese remnants, burrowing into the kitchen, where she finally had enough clear space to set down her bag and discuss plans with Anthony.
"I was gonna clean..." he said, his words trailing off as he sat at the table.
She ignored the information, understanding that there was no way it was true. "Okay, what are you doing today?" she asked. "And why aren't you at work?"
"I'm taking a sick day," he slurred. "I thought you'd need help moving in."
"This is everything I have," she said, pointing to her bag. "I think the moving in has been accomplished."
He looked at the bag, then at her with a puzzled glare. "That's everything?"
"Yep," she smiled. "So you now have the rest of your day free to sober up and go to your meeting tonight."
"Meeting?"
She gave him a frustrated sigh. "Yes, remember? AA?"
"Oh," he said in a disappointed tone. "I kinda hoped I wouldn't have to do that today. I thought maybe tomorrow I could get sober."
"We agreed on today," she reminded him.
"I heard tomorrow."
"Tomorrow yesterday, today today."
He curled his eyebrow at her. "What?"
Never mind," she shook her head. "You can't go like this anyway. Look, why don't you go lay down and try to sleep it off, and I'll get settled into my room?"
"Ok, if you're sure."
She nodded.
He stood and headed towards the bedrooms, and Piper spoke up as he was almost around the corner.
"Wait," she called. "Which room is mine?" She walked over near him and followed him into the back.
"This is yours," he said. "I get the master, so I have my own bathroom, but there's one right there, and that can be yours. Then we each get our own."
She smiled at the thought. She'd never had her own bathroom, and finally she saw a silver lining to moving in with a drunken stranger.
"Your room is also a little smaller than mine," he said, "But you get the French doors and the bay window, so that's pretty cool, right?"
Fortunately, her bedroom was not in as bad a shape as the rest of the apartment. It needed a good dusting and the floors could use a cleaning, but otherwise it was not too shabby. There was no furniture, a situation Piper expected, but there were thick mustard yellow drapes on the window. Against the blue hue on the walls, it was an indication to Piper that at one point someone cared very much about the apartment, and they'd probably cry if they saw what it had become.
"This is lovely," she smiled at him. "Thank you."
He simply smiled and waved hazily a goodbye as he headed to the other bedroom, leaving Piper alone. She opened her overnight bag and removed the only belongings she had brought with her - cleaning supplies.

Anthony slept until almost 5 that afternoon, and when he awoke, though he had sobered up, he was still groggy and mopey. He found Piper in her room.
"It looks amazing in here," he said as he looked at the room in amazement.
"All I did was clean," she told him. "Incredible what a little elbow grease can do, isn't it?"
He noticed her bag hanging on the closet door, now obviously empty. "Come on," he said. "You didn't even bring any clothes?"
"I'll buy new ones," she said without looking at him.
"All new wardrobe? How much are they paying you over there anyway?"
She cast a brief glance his way, indicating she was not about to discuss that with him.
"I mean, um," he corrected himself. "I didn't mean that as an actual question. I was being sarcastic. But you have nothing with you so seriously, what are you gonna do?"
"Seriously, I'm going to buy myself some clothes. I was going to do it today, but I kind of ran out of time."
"There are still places open."
"Not the places I go. I'll probably find a place to buy some -" she wanted to avoid talking about underwear in front of him. "- some clothes for tomorrow. But then first thing in the morning I'm going shopping."
"Well, if you need anything, let me know." He started to walk away.
"Oh, actually," she stopped him. "You have a meeting at St. Mark's tonight."
"Why would I ever go to St. Mark's?" he asked.
"That's where the AA meeting is tonight. And you're going tonight."
He silently bit his lip. "I guess I have to, don't I?"
"Yes. You have to." She grabbed her purse and keys and headed towards the doors. "Come on, I'll drive you."
"I look like shit," he laughed. "I can't go now."
"Well, clean up then," she answered. "let's get you showered and dressed." She shooed him into his room and opened the hall closet. "Seriously? No clean towels?"
"I just buy new towels when I run out," he smiled.
"You can't live like this. You do know that, right?"
"Can you not tell me how to live?"
She shook her head, trying to control her anger. "Just... get ready, okay?"
He did as ordered, taking plenty of time and dressing in a preppy outfit before begrudgingly meeting Piper in her room again. "Is this presentable enough for a meeting of drunks?" he asked her.
When she saw him, she got weak at the knees. He really was something to behold, standing there in his sweater set and tan pants, hair still damp from the shower. "Who would ever guess you could clean up so nice?" she smiled. "Ok, let's go," she said. "Meeting's in an hour."
"I think I'll just drive myself," he told her. "Go on out and get yourself some clothes."
She hesitated to leave him, not sure he would attend. "I really need you to go," she told him. "You understand how important this is, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said in an annoyed tone. "I'll go."
"I'm not sure I can trust you," she told him. "Look, I wouldn't push you like this if you hadn't asked for help. Well, look, I'm trying to get help for you."
He gave her a crooked smile. "You can trust me on this, okay? I'll go. Just get out of here."
She smiled back and opened the door to head out.
"Wait," he called to her, reaching in his pocket. "Take this."
"A credit card?" She looked at it in disbelief for a moment before handing it back. "No, I can't take this."
"No, take it. I trust you not to go overboard, and you trust me to go to the meeting tonight."
She looked at the card, smiled, and tucked it into her pocket. "Deal."

Anthony walked into the basement of the old church, a feeling of embarrassment inside him even though he had no one to be embarrassed in front of. He walked in through the back door, surveying the crowd. To the left were homeless (or homeless-looking) old men who smelled of beer, tattooed young women, and the occasional middle-aged man with wandering eyes. To the right... well... more of the same. He didn't belong here. He was a young businessman, dress to the nines and fully aware of his problem with booze. And the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, right? Well, he already had. Maybe he didn't need AA. Maybe he could do this on his own.
"Psst," he heard a sound from the back row.
He looked toward it to see a young man that he had somehow overlooked. The guy couldn't have been much older than high school-aged; how could he have a drinking problem? Was he even old enough to drink? Anthony gave the young stranger a look of acknowledgement, then quickly looked away.
"Psst!" The sound was now more persistent, and the stranger was waving Anthony over. Not sure what else to do but leave, Anthony made his way over and sat in the vacant seat beside the young man. "I'm Steve," he whispered.
"AJ," Anthony said, using a name he was known by and preferred. He usually only gave out the name Anthony when he was doing business.
"First time?" Steve whispered as he was shushed by an older man in front of them. Anthony nodded.
They were quiet again until the testimonies started, at which time Steve stood at the podium.
"Hi, I'm Steve."
"Hi Steve."
"I started drinking when I was 14. AT first, it was just a little taste of wine at dinner. Then it was a glass. Then two glasses. Then, before I knew it, I was drinking the harder stuff, and I was drinking a lot of it."
Anthony straightened up as he listened, recognizing a bit of himself in this young man.
"When I was too hung-over to go to my own high school graduation, I knew there was a problem. I got accepted into a really great college, but I drank too much to drive on opening day, and I ended up at the hospital. Now I'm standing here, on my 21st birthday, telling a bunch of strangers my deepest secret. I haven't gotten sober yet, but I plan to take it one step at a time. And like my sponsor always says, it's the little victories that give us the greatest amount of courage to take on the next battle, isn't that right, Kenny?"
One of the older men waved in acknowledgement.
"Um," Steve directed his gaze over at Anthony. "So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are young or old, been 20 years sober or are attending your very first meeting, it would be n honor to learn from you, and to share this journey with you."
As he stepped down, the applause began. Even Anthony joined in a bit, though he barely lifted his hands from his lap to do so. Sitting back down next to Anthony, Steve turned to him.
"It's not that hard," he whispered. "You should introduce yourself."
Anthony shook his head.
"Well, I know I for one would love to know your story."
Anthony looked over at him curiously. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Steve answered. "You wanna get out if here?"