Lip never wanted to get to this point. He felt that everything that he had tried to build fell apart with one swig of amber liquor. He could say that it's because of his blood; the Gallagher gene runs strong in his veins and it's nothing he would be willing to deny, but all of a sudden one drink turned to a whole pitcher that turned into too many shots that turned into a constant state of inebriation. Youens told him to "work the steps," something he wasn't sure he wanted to do. Could he even get a job when he got out of this place? Could he even really bounce back? Too many thoughts swarmed his head when being admitted, and then everything calmed down when he saw her.
Riley had gotten the full talk from all of her coworkers. They all thought that she was too important to let go of, especially with all that she had done for the University's Teacher's Assistant Program. Her family life had taken over her and she didn't know how things had gotten as dark as they had. She worked hard during the week and even harder on the weekends, constantly driving her to drink away her problems in secret. Her grades held for as long as they could until she'd collapsed from drinking her meals for three weeks straight. Jason thought it was bulimia, the reason all she did was throw up and work out, but Anne knew it was from her inability to keep her stress out of a bottle. Ultimately, Dean Orndoff decided she take a leave of absence to work on herself, medically.
The 24 newly-admitted patients were instructed to pack all of their belongings into their new rooms, the places they would lay their heads for as long as it took them to understand the 12-step process and make it through safely.
Riley didn't much like sharing rooms, so she was pleasantly surprised when they'd been informed of the fact that each of them could each have their own room. She threw her bags down on the floor and sat on the bed as her stomach grumbled from the lack of nutrition. Only three meals a day with two snacks in between, she thought to herself. She knew that she would have to satiate her cravings somehow and knew that she could look to her favorite substance to provide comfort. The green nuggets had been wrapped in plastic bags all day, waiting for her to take her first hit in a week. The hospital told her to look into smoking again, saying that it would help her eat more and get her weight back up to the healthy 130-pound weight that it should be for her 5'6" medium build. Weed was her only vice, besides alcohol, and she had managed to get a special approval for carrying it in the facility since it was, in some way, for medicinal purposes.
Lip allowed his mind to wander, occasionally looking over to the digital clock on his bedside table for reference. At some point he'd fallen asleep, only to wake up to a familiar scent coming from his balcony. He walked out to see his neighbor taking several hits from the bowl she had tightly packed and just stood in admiration.
"You share?" Lip asked.
"Not usually. I can always learn to make exceptions, though." Riley became closer and closer to the perfect high with the more hits she took. Maybe she was too far gone, but it looked like the greedy stranger was climbing over his balcony to her. "You're ambitious," she drew, handing him the materials.
"If we are gonna survive in this hellhole, we might as well learn to coexist."
"If by 'coexist,' you mean support each other in this incredibly unfortunate endeavor towards ultimate recovery, you've got another thing coming. I'm in to get out and get back to my life."
"You really think it'll be that easy?" Lip's skepticism slowly became clearer while his mind became cloudier.
"I fucking hope so. I've worked way too hard to just let my life fall away because of a few drinks."
"A few? I'm thinking it's been more than a few to get you here."
"Think so? And what about you? Mister 'I wear tight jeans in obscure colors because it makes me look remotely stylish'?"
Lip chuckled at the young delinquent. He reminded her a lot of the people in his hometown. "There isn't much style choice where I come from. Money's kinda tight for me and my family. I guess all of that school and family bullshit caught up to me and now I'm supposed to regret it."
"I don't know if you're forced to regret your actions, but you're definitely required to feel something towards them, especially since all you've done is end up here."
"Maybe to them, but to me it was a way to not feel everything I've felt for too long."
"I'd drink to that. Or is that too soon?"
The two chuckled and continued their night talking about nonsense from favorite constellations to places they'd love to travel. The sky had become lighter while their highs faded and Riley's stomach began to grumble.
"I've got snacks, if you want some?" Lip looked at the young girl practically ignore him, piquing his curiosity about her eating habits.
"Uh, nah, I'm good. I'll wait until breakfast and just get some sleep. It was nice meeting you." Riley walked to her bed when Lip stopped her in her tracks.
"I don't think you should go to bed on an empty stomach, especially with trace amounts of the munchies."
"Look, man, I don't even know your name and you're already trying to run me. I'm assuming you don't work here, so don't try to work me into the steps, okay? It's not your job so fuck off and good night."
"It's Lip, Riley. Lip Gallagher."
"I could've guessed that." Riley trudged back into her room and shut the smell of weed and Lip's unfortunately sweet smelling odor with her as she changed into pajamas and tucked in for the night. She'd taken a few of her sister's homemade lemon bars with her and scarfed one down quickly, chasing it with the grape juice she had left over from the long journey to the facility.
Lip scoffed at her inability to appreciate his offer, but just hopped back over the balcony back to his bed and pulled out a bag of chips, finishing them off with water before heading to bed.
The two 20-somethings had soft spots for each other but were more focused on sleeping before enduring whatever was going to come their way in the next day's activities.