The darkness is gone.
I blink and I'm blinded by a bright light.
Where am I?
I remember the darkness. I remember finding the bottle of Vodka but then nothing. It's like there's a huge gap of time between then and now.
I try to focus, try to make sense of where I am, but the only thing I can focus on is the pain. My head feels like it's going to explode and the voices arguing doesn't make it any better.
The voices are all different but familiar. I hear Celine's loud voice and Layla's soft one mixing along with it.
I blink again and suddenly they're faces to match the voices.
Celine is hovered over me along with doctors and paramedics. All of them shouting at once, making it hard to figure out what they're saying.
"Mia, don't you shut your eyes you hear me? Keep your eyes open!" Celine shouts.
"Mia it's Layla! I'm here!" Layla cries.
"BP is dropping! We need to move her fast!" One of the doctors is heard saying.
"Mom, it hurts!" I cry, writhing around hoping to stop the giant knot in my stomach that feels like I'm going to explode any second.
"Mia you're gonna be fine baby! The doctors are gonna take care of you." Celine tries to reassure me. But the pain in my stomach was getting worse making it hard to believe her.
"This where you stay ma'am." One of the doctors tells Celine.
"You make sure she's alright or I will bring hell on this hospital." Another voice threaten and the pain must be causing me to hallucinate because I could swear the voice belonged to Drew. I don't get to see if it's him before the darkness pulls me in again.
***
This time when I open my eyes again I'm surrounded by white. I blink and I'm staring up at a white ceiling.There's a constant beeping sound near my head but I don't try to find the source.
I blink again and I know I'm dreaming when I see Drew. Only he's not the same Drew I remember. This Drew looks like he's hurting. Instinctively my heart calls out to him, needing to do whatever I can to take that look off of his face. He's close enough that I can reach out to him but when I try to move my hand nothing happens. I try again before I can start to panic and this time it works.
"Mia?"
I stop breathing, wanting to hear Drew say my name again.
"Mia, it's me baby. Can you hear me?" I wanted to answer him, to let him know that I could but my throat hurts almost as bad as my head does. "Mia if you can hear me I'm going to get a nurse okay." Drew tells me softly.
Nurse. What nurse? I didn't want him to leave again. I gather all the strength I have to hold on his arm and he chuckles.
"I'm coming back I promise." There's a faint brush of lips on my forehead and the darkness starts to float away.
Drew pulls back and the darkness threatens to come back, but I fight it. Moments later he strolls back in, a blonde haired lady who I've never seen before trails behind. The second he's close enough he grasp my hand and I can feel my lips spread into a smile.
"Hi Mia." The nurse greets me with a friendly smile. "Let's get you checked out alright."
After five of the longest minutes of my life the nurse was finally done and told me she'd be back with a doctor shortly. I don't wait until she leaves before I give all my attention to Drew.
"Am I dreaming?" I asked, reaching out to touch him.
"If you're dreaming than I must be having a nightmare." He replied before kissing the hand I placed on his cheek and sighing. "I thought I lost you."
"Why am I here?" I wonder, trying to make sense of everything.
"You're here because I'm an idiot." Drew sighs. "You blacked out after drinking nearly an entire bottle of vodka straight. You mom was with you when it happened- thank God. She called 911 and an ambulance came and rushed you to the hospital." He explains. "Why would you do that? Don't you know how dangerous that was?"
"I just wanted the pain to go away." I answer, slowly realizing that my actions were stupid.
"I know you did. But don't think for a second I didn't feel it too."
"But you're the one that walked away." I remind him.
"And that was the biggest mistake I ever made. But I'm not walking away ever again. As long you want me Mia I'm here." Drew promises me and my world was suddenly in color again.
"Where's my mom?" I ask, flashes of her worried face comes to mind and I want to see her so that she knows I'm okay.
"She's in the waiting room. It took a lot of begging and groveling to let her let me anywhere near you." Drew tells me. "She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." I argue.
"She blames me for you being in here."
"It's not your fault. I was dumb enough to drank irrationally and irresponsibly. This is all on me."
"This is my fault." Drew argues. "And I plan on doing as much begging and groveling that I need to in order to get your forgiveness."
"You already have it." I reassure him. Drew looks at me as if I'm his entire world and he visibly relaxes at my words.
"I'm going to go get your mom." Drew replies before he stands up and walks out of the room.
"Baby!" Celine hollars the second she enters the room. She's over to me in seconds, clutching my hand for dear life.
"Mom."
"I'm right here baby. I'm right here."
"I'll leave you two alone." Drew announces quietly, as he starts to retreat out the room.
"No."
"Bye." Celine rolls her eyes.
"Don't leave." I plead him.
Ignoring Celine, Drew walks over to me and kisses my forehead. "I'll be right outside the door." He promises me before he walks away.
"It's not his fault." I tell Celine the second Drew is gone. Celine disagrees and presses her lips tightly shut to keep from saying so out loud. Instead, her face softens and she holds my hand tighter.
"I know it's not... It's mine." She says and I hold my breath, waiting for her to continue. "I'm not gonna pretend that I've been the best mother to you girls over the years. But you, your sister- the two of you are the best things in my life. Now I know I haven't set the best examples with my choices but I hope you guys know I love you." Celine tells me.
I know she does. It's why I could never turn my back on her no matter how many reasons she gave me to.
"We know mom."
"Seeing you black out like that..." She presses her lips together and shakes her head, as if shaking out the memory. I can only imagine what she went through seeing me like that and I feel even more bad about my stupid decision to drink.
"I'm sorry I scared you."
When she looks back at me I can see her eyes bright with tears. "No, I'm the one that's sorry. I should've been a better mom. And I want to be," She pauses. "Which is why I'm going to rehab," Celine announces, taking me by surprise.
"You've said this before mom."
"I'm serious this time baby. Thinking I could've lost you because of my dumb addiction brought things into perspective. I want to be better. For you girls."
"Be better for you mom."
Celine smiles the same time she wipes the tears the fell down her cheeks. "I know I'm not the one you want to be with right now," Celine sniffles. "So I'm gonna go get that pretty boy boyfriend of yours." She tells me before she stands up and retreats.
This wasn't the first time she promised to get help but for some reason, I believed her. I hope she wouldn't let me down this time.
Drew strolls in seconds later and I still have a hard time believing that he's here. He looks just as good as I remember, probably even better. He's dressed comfortably in a white tee underneath a jacket with the American flag colors, grey jeans and a fitted black cap.
"Keep looking at me like that I'm gonna forget that you're in a hospital and need to rest." Drew warns me when he catches me staring.
I blush but I keep my gaze on him. "You keep making idle threats Mr. Lyons. It's time you followed through."
Drew groans as he hovers over me, he's close enough that his breath fans my face. "You're gonna be the death of me Mia Thomas." He tells me as he leans in.
"You were almost mine," I reply, unable to help myself and Drew freezes. "Too soon?" I giggle when he locks me in with an intense gaze.
"Too soon," Drew tells me before he's kissing me and without hesitation and I knew in that moment that I found my addiction.
It was Drew Lyons and I would never get enough.
The End