Drank the Poison

We drove for another ten minutes just listening to the radio, with Vic’s hand holding mine as he drove to the unknown location.

Eventually, we pulled into a parking lot, and in front was a tiny mom n’ pop Italian restaurant. It was perfect.

Vic got out of the car and jogged around to open the door for me. Even though he was treating me like the girl, I honestly didn’t mind. It was too sweet.

“Hope you like it” Vic took my hand again as we walked in.

“I love it, thanks for taking me out tonight” I replied quietly. I never go out to dinner because I don’t want my mom to spend the extra money and I don’t have any friends to go with, so this really is something special for me.

“Two in the back please” Vic said with a wink to the teenage girl behind the counter. She picked up our menus and guided us towards the back of the restaurant. It was late and near closing time, so almost no one was there.

We sat down and Vic ordered us some soda.

“I’m starving” Vic said dramatically as he buttered up a huge piece of bread. I giggled and picked up the other menu. Ya I giggled, so what?

“So you go to Mt. Diablo?” Vic asked, bringing up the one topic that I really didn’t want to talk about right now, so I quickly deflected his question.

I nodded my head quickly, “and you go to Clairemont? How did you end up there after, ya know, everything.”

Vic took a deep breath before diving into his answer.

“Well, after I was released from the hospital, they immediately brought me to the rehab center. I didn’t get to go home or anything like that. It was awful. But it turns out that that was probably a good thing because of the whole Oli situation. Everyone blamed me for it Kellin, even Mike, and he knew the real story! I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle it in that fragile state.

Anyway, two weeks into rehab, after I had detoxed completely, they told me that I’d have to continue my school work because I was there for an extended stay, and they didn’t want me falling behind.

It started online then moved to Clairemont, where they could properly ‘watch over’ me. And after a month I ‘earned’ family visits. Mike never visited though, and my parents could barely look at me.

It was up to me to stay sober, and I wanted to prove it to myself, you know? And I did. I got out a month ago, and I’m doing great.” Vic grinned.

“Oh, but after I was release, I was still seventeen, so I moved back in with my family. My parents and I have rebuilt our relationship over the past month, but they still hate to hear about my recovery. They rather sweep it under the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist, but other than that, we’re just peachy” Vic added.

I was amazed. I saw how hard it was to stop drinking for my mom, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine what coming down from drugs feels like. I was so proud of Vic for all that he has accomplished.

“What about you? What’s your family like?” Vic asked.

I swallowed hard. I loved hearing Vic talk, but now it’s my turn, and I got nervous. Vic must have sensed that, cause he took my hand and sent me one of his warmest smiles, urging me to continue.

“Well,” I began slowly, “I moved here a little over a year ago with my mom.”

“What about your dad? Any siblings?”

“He left us to start a new family. So I guess I may have some half siblings somewhere, but I’m not really sure.” I said simply.

“Wow Kellin, I’m so sorry. I know, I know, you don’t want my pity, but that really sucks.”

I felt awkward because obviously Vic had gone through something much worse, but it was nice to have someone acknowledge the shitty cards that I’ve been dealt too.

Just then the waitress came over, and we ordered our food. Vic got pizza, and I chose pasta. That ended up being a horrible choice because it’s really hard to look attractive as you slurp noodles. But I don’t think Vic minded too much.

Just as we were finishing our meals, Vic began looking around like he was contemplating something. He looked over his shoulder and stood up, taking my hand.

“Ready to run?”

“What?”

“Come on!” He tugged on my arm as we sprinted out the back door. He ran to his car, opened that passenger-side door for me, and jumped into the driver’s seat. We pulled away just as our waitress came running out the back door, screaming at us.

“Guess we’re never going back there!” Vic laughed as he pulled onto the main road.

“What the fuck Vic! Why did you do that!?” I shouted in shock, hitting his shoulder. What had we just done.

“What!? Tell me that wasn’t one of the most exhilarating things you’ve ever done.”

I faltered for a moment. It was true. And we barely ate anything, so it’s not like we were hurting their business or anything. Right?

No. That was wrong. So wrong. It never occurred to me that Vic would do something like that. I thought he said that he wasn’t anything like Mike.

It felt so wrong, but at the same time this bad-boy fuck-everything attitude was incredibly attractive. Ugh. I feel so conflicted.

I put my head on the window, still trying to sort through my emotions, and how I feel about what just happened.

“Oh come on Kells, you’re not mad are you? That was so fun, and I would never let anything bad happen to you. You got to trust me baby.”

And just like that we stopped at a red light, and Vic reached over and kissed me deeply. It was like I was putty in his hands.

“Fine. I guess it was kind of fun. But we’re not doing it again!” I warned.

The look of satisfaction on his face made me smile too. He’s so unbelievably. cocky.

I was expecting Vic to start driving me home now, so I would be back before my curfew, but suddenly we were pulling into what looked like a park. It was dark outside, and it was nearly abandoned. I got a bad feeling about whatever Vic had up his sleeve. But part of me wanted to find out what he had in store.

But my conscience won, and I had to interject. “Vic, you know we need to be on our way now, or else we’ll never be back in time.”

“Oh Kellin, always such a rule follower. Just trust me babe.”