Amelia

When I turn my head to the right, Alex is awake already, looking up at the ceiling and deep in thought.

We stayed up late talking last night, Alex telling me about his Dad, until he eventually fell asleep in my bed.

"Penny for your thoughts."

It's then he notices i'm awake and his face lights up. "I'm just worried about Ray and Val."

"Explain it to them and it'll be okay." I lean on one elbow and use my other hand to stroke through his hair that is lying on his forehead.

"Even if they believe that I couldn't stop it, they're still gonna be torn now that they know the real reason he's locked up."

"Well it's a good thing they have you to help them."

He leans up and kisses me, but when the kiss is over his face screws up and he drops his head back onto the pillow. "Santiago's been taking so many pain killers that he's become addicted. How could I let that happen?"

"You're not his parent."

"Might as well be," he mumbles. "Our Mom wouldn't notice if he had drug addict written across his forehead all day."

"Then tell her. You have enough to deal with already."

He watches me, as if considering it, then smiles. "How do you always know what to say?"

"Because I'm awesome." I give him a duh look and he just rolls his eyes.

+++

Yasmin and I go shopping for a couple of hours, and it's only on the drive home that she brings up Alex.

"So was I right or was I right?"

"About what?"

"Alex being into you!" She hesitates. "Literally."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I deadpan.

"Oh come on, we all know you had sex Friday night. And Val was very descriptive when he told me about what he heard."

"He heard?"

"Yep. And just so you know, just 'cause you don't make any vocal sounds, don't mean the house ain't shaking. You learn that living with three boys that are sex obsessed."

"Who's the three?"

"Val, Max and Alex."

"Oh." There is a small twinge of regret inside of me when she says Alex's name. What if he was just using me? What if all he wants is to be friends with benefits? He kissed me after that night, and we've been hanging out a lot. Does that mean he likes me? Or does he not want to hurt me?

"Do you mind going to Enrico's apartment? Val just asked if we could pick up drinks for the party tonight," she says, looking at her phone.

"Sure thing. Just give me directions."

Yasmin bangs on Enrico's apartment door after we climb up five flights of stairs. A pretty girl opens the door.

"Hey, Yasmin," the girl smiles, showing her dimples and perfect white teeth, and opens the door for us to come in.

"This is Amelia," Yasmin tells her. "Amelia, this is Enrico's girlfriend Lauren."

"Enrico's told me a lot about you," she smiles. He has? Enrico and I barely know each other, so I don't know what he'd say.

"Who? Amelia?" Enrico says, coming out of a room. "Oh yeah, Alex's amante."

"Ellos han dormido juntos," Yasmin smirks.

Enrico looks at me. "Bien por él."

Lauren groans. "I can't stand it when they talk in spanish around me."

"Tell me about it." Finally someone who understands my struggle.

Enrico goes into the room beside us and comes out with two bags, the contents inside jittering against one another. "Don't get caught with this," he looks at Yasmin. "And don't fall down the stairs and smash it all."

"I would never!" Yasmin takes one bag and I take another. "I'll be back on Tuesday."

"Fuckin' alcoholic," Enrico mumbles while we walk out the door. Lauren hits his arm.

"Nice meeting you, Amelia," she says.

"You too," I smile and we leave.

As soon as we get back to Meredith, Yasmin is already drinking straight from a bottle of vodka. I cringe at the sight. I have no idea how she can drink that straight and not throw up.

When we get home, Jace is standing in the kitchen with Val.

"Hey, sexy," Jace says to Yasmin and pulls her into a hug, lifting her up off her feet in the process. "You already drinking?" He takes a swig from the vodka she's holding, his face screwing up when he swallows it.

I set the bags on the table and take the alcohol out while they talk.

"Are you gonna hang out with me tonight? Or waste your time with some dumbass," I hear Jace say, my attention going back to them.

"You know it's not a good idea for us to be together when we're drunk," Yasmin says quietly but I can still hear. I look at Val and he puts his finger in his mouth, making a gagging motion.

I help Val set up, moving the dining table against the wall and setting drinks out on it. He's not as smiley and happy today, and I can only think it's because of last night.

"Did you talk to Alex?" I ask, curious.

"Yeah. Santiago had already explained it to me though."

"So you're not mad?"

"About him being there? No. About him and mi madre keeping what really happened a secret from us all? Sí." He puts his hand on the table, accidentally knocking a cup over. Just as he leans down to pick it up, a small clear bag falls out of his pocket containing white powder. I take a wild guess about what it is.

He picks it up, putting it back in his pocket. I wonder where he gets it from, the words, Drug Lord popping into my mind.

+++

"What's up, 'Melia?" Val says when I come downstairs later, the party in full swing. He's sat on the couch, a blunt in his hand and I immediately recognise the smell as marijuana. He's a lot happier now than he was earlier today. "Ever been high?" He asks, watching me eye his blunt.

"No."

"Want to try?"

"No thanks. Have you seen Alex?"

"Out back."

I thank him and walk through the kitchen, passing by Yasmin on the way as she pulls a guy up stairs. When I step out into the dark night, my eyes search for Alex among the people out here, and then I find him surrounded by a couple of girls with his hands on one of their shoulders. The girl is laughing, and when she puts her hands on his lower waist, I turn around and walk back inside.

I'm an idiot. I, Amelia Miller, am an idiot.

Alex and I aren't dating. That night we had sex, he said he wanted to forget about whatever had happened to him. I was his distraction.

After all the jerks i've dated who have fucked me over, I would have expected myself to know better by now. But I didn't, I fell too fast for Alex, without him even telling me that he likes me. He did hate me and we didn't talk, and then suddenly we were in bed together. It all makes sense now. How could I be so stupid?

I go straight to the drinks table, take a plastic cup and pour straight vodka into it. I take the shot, my throat on fire and my stomach churning, then I take another.

"You're going hard tonight," Red laughs, standing beside me. I pour more vodka into the cup, this time mixing it with lemonade, and take a drink then set it down on a scratch on the table so I know it's mine.

"Let's dance." I grab Red's hand and lead him over to where his friends are dancing. Some of them stare at the shirt i'm wearing that happens to be showing some of my cleavage, but I ignore it and start to dance with Red.

As we're dancing to the loud music, the alcohol starts to kick in and my thoughts of what Alex and that girl could be doing begin to fade away. One of the guys behind me grab my ass, then slides their hands up my body until their hands are groping both my boobs.

"Amelia, what the fuck are you doing?" Alex shouts and pushes the guy touching me. He's drunk – that's obvious. Apart from the fact he reeks of alcohol, you can tell just from the way he can barely keep his balance and his eyes eyes are sleepy. He looks at my chest then at the guy who was touching me, then he punches the guy straight in the jaw, making him fall. His friends help him up and they walk away before Alex can do anything else.

"How would you like it if I punched the girl you were with?"

"What? What girl?"

"The girl you were with outside! I saw you!"

"You always have to jump to conclusions don't you? You always have to fucking assume," he shouts and I step backwards. "And then you go and let some guy feel you up without having any idea what fucking happened!"

"I get it, Alex!" I shout back. "We're not boyfriend and girlfriend. You can do what you want and so can I."

"FineSoundsGreat," he speaks really fast so that I can barely understand him, then he turns around and stumbles away.

When I turn around, Red and his friends are gone. I groan and go back to my drink, gulping it all down. Heading back to the couches, I sit beside Val who's pouring the white powder stuff onto the back of his iPhone, arranging the stuff into lines. I watch him as he takes a ten dollar bill, rolling it up and snorts up a line of the powder, then another.

"Why am I so stupid?" I ask him when he lies his head back against the couch next to mine.

"I'd have to see your grades to understand why. Do you struggle in english? How do you do in PE? I heard from my buddy Kyle that exercise makes you smarter."

I ignore what he just said. "Why do I choose the worst guys?"

"We accept the love we think we deserve," he quotes The Perks of being a Wallflower, and looks at me with a serious expression, then bursts out laughing. I laugh along.

"Well I know for a fact that I deserve a Prince and a castle and a room with a chocolate fountain beside my bed that never runs out. So I don't get that, because I still always end up with dicks."

"Maybe you should end up with pussies instead."

"Nah. Dick is awesome."

"True."

"Are you gay, Valentino?"

"No. If guys had tits then I would be."

"Have you ever developed feelings more than friendship for one of your guy friends?"

"No. Oh, except Jace. He could be my baby daddy any day."

I laugh and we talk for a little longer, but parts of my body begin to feel weird, and I feel a little sick, so I tell Val i'm going to the bathroom. When I stand up, something weird happens. My fingers and toes start to feel stiff, my whole body weak, and my vision goes blurry. What is this? I'm not even drunk.

I walk carefully to the bathroom, hoping that it'll help get the feeling back in my toes, but it doesn't. As soon as I get to the toilet, I fall on my knees and throw up.

When I finish, I flush the toilet and walk straight out. I just need to sit down and I'll feel better in a while. It gets harder and harder to walk. Have you ever been on one of those spinning rides at a theme park? The ones where you're strapped in against the side and it just spins rapidly? Imagine trying to walk in a straight line across to the other side of that thing while it spins. That's what i'm working with right now.

"Are you okay?" A guy says and I put my hands on his arms to steady myself. He holds my arms to support me, and I realise it's Ray. "How drunk are you?"

"I-I'm not," I cry, my voice shaking. "I've barely drank... anything."

"Holy shit, Amelia."

And then my legs give out, and I collapse to the floor. Ray kneels down, still holding my arms to stop my back from falling down too.

"Someone get Alex!" Ray screams and I see faces watching me. "Did you take anything?" He asks me and I manage a no.

A figure I can't make out falls down beside Ray. "What's wrong with her?" The voice is panicked. It's Alex.

I'm still sitting up, but I can barely feel my arms anymore that Ray is holding. "I can't move."

"I think she's been Roofied," Ray says.

I close my blurry eyes, my head snapping backwards. The last thing I hear is Alex.

"Oh my god."

+++

oh sweet shizzle. who do you think done this to her?

teaser: the parents find out about what happened to Amelia

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