Addicted

Guy peeked around the corner to make sure no one was watching. The sidewalk was, for the most part, deserted, and any passersby would not make their way past the alley, so the coast was clear.

He held his arm out slightly and made the signal with his hand. Leaves began to crunch in the near distance as a man walked around the corner ahead of Guy.

Guy stood in his place and pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He lit it and puffed a few times, trying to look as casual and inconspicuous as possible. When he felt that he'd done that well enough, he walked along the same path the other man had earlier.

The alley was dark, as he expected it to be, and the man was standing up against the wall with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his overly large jacket. He gave Guy a nod and pushed off the wall.

“You got it, then?” Guy asked in a hushed tone.

“Yeah,” the man said. He sighed heavily and shook his head. “Man, I can't believe we're doing this.”

“Listen, Will,” Guy told him, “it's just this one time, right? Try it once, and then we never have to do it again.”

Will twisted up his mouth, wrought with uncertainty. He thought for a while, messing around with whatever was filling his jacket pockets to the point of bulging. “I guess,” he finally said.

“Great. Now, come on, let's do this.”

They walked deeper into the alley to further hide themselves. Will looked reluctant again as he pulled his hands out and brought with them the tempting substance he and Guy were about to consume.

---------------------

“Where do you suppose Will and Guy are?” Chris asked. He was taping his pen against his bottom lip, his right hand resting on the paper in front of him. Gentle strumming sounded from across the room.

“Well, they could be anywhere.” Jonny shrugged and looked up from his guitar. “Why does it matter now?”

“I just have a weird feeling,” Chris smiled in reply. “Wouldn't want anything to happen to either of them.”

Jonny set down his guitar and changed his seat to the one beside Chris. Planting a firm hand on Chris's shoulder, he said, “It's just Will and Guy. I mean, what sort of trouble could they possibly get into?”

“You're right.” Chris dropped his left hand onto the paper to join his right, both grasping the pen and twirling it around. “I shouldn't be worried. I should be writing this damn song.”

“Don't be so hard on yourself. Take a break once in a while.”

“It feels like I've been taking breaks my whole life. I've never accomplished anything.”

“Yes, you have. Look around. None of this would have happened without you,” Jonny told him. “You've accomplished more than most people could ever hope of accomplishing in their entire life.”

“Oh yeah? How's that?” Chris looked up, the anguish painfully obvious in the way his cheeks seemed to drop, pulling with them the heavy weight of his eyelids. “I'm a successful musician. Big deal. I'm not even married, Jon, I don't even have a girlfriend.”

“I don't have a girlfriend either,” Jonny quietly replied. “That doesn't mean anything...”

Chris frowned. He wanted to say something more, but he couldn't bring himself to let the words out just yet.

---------------------

Guy let out a thrilled scream and jumped up and down as he licked his lips. “Yeah, that's the stuff.”

“Guy, shut up. You're gonna get us caught,” Will hissed. He looked down at his hands. He could still feel the remnants of the dirty substance.

“Will,” Guy moaned a little loudly. “Chill out, OK? There ain't no one nowhere near here.”

Will narrowed his eyes at Guy. “That didn't even make any sense. Look at what this has done to you!”

“I'm fiiiiiiiine, man. I'm feeling better than I ever have before!” Guy threw his arms up to the sky and opened his mouth to scream again. But this time he made no sound. “Stop being such a buzzkill, man...”

“We need to get back to the studio. Chris and Jon are probably there already.” Will closed his eyes and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “They're so gonna be able to tell.”

“No, they won't. Let's go, then.”

“How can you be so sure they won't?”

Guy shrugged. “Chris is too wrapped up in his own problems, and Jonny's too busy taking care of him. They won't notice anything, plus the fact that we can hide it pretty well. You don't even look like you've done anything,” he said.

---------------------

“Do you feel like you've accomplished a lot?”

The room had been silent for a long time; Chris was attempting to write and Jonny had gone back to playing quietly on the other side of the room.

“Yeah,” Jonny said. “What you were talking about before... being married and stuff like that, that would be nice. But what I've got already is... more than I thought I'd ever have.”

“Do you think I'm being... unappreciative?” Chris asked. Jonny didn't answer, he just looked at Chris with a little bit of sympathy, almost as if he knew what Chris was going to say next. “It's just that sometimes I get scared... you know? I have all this, and I'm glad for it, but it still feels like something's missing and I'm just worried that I'll never find it.”

“Yeah,” Jonny nodded, “I know what you mean.”

---------------------

“Will, I don't think it's safe for us to drive,” Guy muttered as he and Will walked down the sidewalk.

“Neither of us drove, we both walked here.”

Guy rolled his eyes, but not in any sort of sarcastic way. “Good. Because... Will, I don't think it's safe for us to drive.”

Abruptly Will stopped, clutching his stomach and doubling over.

“Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna puke,” he said. Guy stood beside him and nodded.

“I was like that my first time-”

“I thought you said you'd never done it before either.” Will straightened himself out and stared Guy right in the eye. “You told me you'd never done it.”

“OK, maybe I lied. Maybe I have tried it a few times,” Guy admitted, defensively raising his hands. “But, hey, everyone does stupid shit in college.”

“Guy, this isn't college anymore. You... you have a problem, don't you?”

Guy didn't say anything in return, he just hopelessly stared back at Will.

---------------------

Chris was tired of staring thoughtlessly at the empty page in front of him. Even twirling his pen had become old.

Jonny didn't seem to have any problem creating his music; he'd been sitting with his guitar, constantly strumming the entire time. Chris thought it all sounded absolutely brilliant.

“How do you do that?” Chris asked Jonny in awe as he took the seat beside the guitar-clad man.

“Chris, I thought you knew how to play guitar.”

Jonny's humor was lost on Chris, who merely kept on in his frustrated manner.

“No,” Chris said, “I mean, everything you do sounds amazing. How do you do that?”

“I don't think it sounds amazing,” Jonny simply replied. “I think it just sounds like a bunch of strings.”

“It's amazing.” Jonny looked up at the smoothly convincing tone of Chris's voice. Suddenly the air felt very different, but not in an entirely bad way.

“Well, thanks,” Jonny said in a husky voice. Chris's deep blue eyes stared back at his for a while.

“Jonny... sometimes I think I like you too much.”

The words spilled out of Jonny, but never before had he thought about them or their truthfulness. “Yeah, I feel the same way about you. Maybe... maybe that means something.”

“What does it mean?” Chris quietly asked, his face just a little bit closer to Jonny's.

“Maybe it's supposed to be this way.”

“Doesn't that bother you?” Even closer still.

“Bother me?” Jonny breathed.

“Doesn't it bother you that you could spend your whole life looking for the right woman, when the entire time,” Chris was just barely an inch away now, his voice softening into a whisper with each second that passed, “you're meant to be with a man?”

Jonny thought about answering, and he thought about leaning forward to close that tiny space between them, but he had no opportunity to do either.

The door burst open and Will stormed in, desperately yelling, “You guys, I need your help!”

Chris jumped back and snapped his head in Will's direction. Jonny sighed and frowned at his guitar.

“With what?” Chris asked.

“Guy,” Will replied. “He's got a serious problem.”

“Where is he?”

“Outside... He's refusing to come in, he thinks I'm gonna tell you guys.”

“You are telling us,” Chris said. Suddenly, Jonny looked up at Will.

“You didn't...” he vaguely began. Even with his lack of detail, though, it was obvious that Jonny knew exactly what was going on.

“I...” Will sighed. “I did. And so did Guy-”

“Did what?” Chris asked.

“-but it was my first time! Guy, on the other hand, has a serious problem.”

“What did you do?” Chris asked again, this time with much more worry in his voice. But he seemed to be hit with the answer not long after. “No way,” he gasped.

“Yeah.” Will hung his head in shame. “I'm not proud of it, but I know now that it's not something I want to do ever again.”

“But Guy... he's done it more than once?”

“I'm afraid so.”

“Come on, Jonny,” Chris said, grabbing Jonny's hand and pulling both of them up and out the door to find Guy.

The short, dark-haired man was standing right next to the door. He looked up at Chris and Jonny as they walked out, and noticed that even after they'd stopped in front of him, their hands remained interlocked.

“Hey, guys,” Guy said, sounding rather bored. “Or gays or whatever.” He halfheartedly gestured to their hands and laughed.

“Um,” Chris pulled his hand back and stepped toward Guy and away from Jonny, “Guy, you have a problem. That's what Will said, anyway.”

“Will!” Guy shouted, spinning around and trying to peer in through the open door. “Will, I thought you said you wouldn't tell them!”

“I didn't, man, they totally found out themselves,” Will shrugged.

“It doesn't matter who told who,” Chris said. “But you need help, Guy.”

“NO! I don't need help!”

Guy's breathing had increased slightly, and the anger was prominent in his eyes.

“Look at you,” Chris said, shaking his head. “You're not the same, Guy. You wouldn't act like this normally.”

“Sure I would.”

There was a brief silence, in which Guy tried to calm himself and Chris stared at him pitifully.

“How could you do that?” Jonny quietly asked. “How could you do something so... awful?”

Guy was nearly in tears now. He looked down at his hands, a little bit ashamed.

“I couldn't help it...” Guy whispered. “I only meant to do it once, just to try it, but... once you pop, the fun don't stop!!!”

Guy buried his head in his hands and sobbed. Both Chris and Jonny moved forward to comfort him and ease him inside. Will watched on sadly as the other two men directed Guy towards the couch against the wall.

“It's OK, Guy, we'll get you help,” Chris said. “You can beat this, you know. The fun doesn't go on forever.”

“Thank you all. You're such great friends!” Guy cried.

“Of course,” Jonny replied. “You're our best friend, Guy, we'd hate to see you throw your life away because of... well, you know.”

“Pringles,” Guy said in a broken voice. “They're so delicious. Especially the barbeque ones!”

“It's OK,” Chris said again as he sat down and placed his hand on Guy's shoulder, tears welling in his eyes as well. “We'll always be here for support.”

Guy looked around the room and smiled. He was really glad that he had such great friends.