Chapter 10…Trying To Find A Balance

V's POV

I loved being here, staying with Jeff just felt right. We're able to be there for each other during the difficult days. I can't imagine trying to go through this alone. Soon enough Jeff would be returning to work and I would be returning home. My empty home. I hate the thought of returning there. So many memories of Dave.

"So what would you like to do today?" Jeff asks breaking me from my thoughts.

"Whatever you wanna do is okay with me." I reply. This is his home, I don't know anyone around here and I'm not familiar with anything around.

"Well let's see… we can go to the park and walk around, it's beautiful out today. Or we can go shopping because I do need to pick up some clothes for work. Hmmm… we could always go by Shannon's tattoo shop and get my tats touched up." He laid out a few options for me, all of which sounded fine.

"Why don't we go by Shannon's shop for a while, then we'll take it from there." I replied. Shannon had come by a few times since we got out of rehab. He seemed like the most supportive person in Jeff's life at the time. Matt seemed to stay away because he wasn't happy with me staying here.

"Ok let me give him a call and we'll get going." Jeff said as he walked out of the room to call his friend, leaving me to my thoughts.

If I didn't want to go home I always had the option of calling one of my friends and staying with them a while, but I hated being a burden on anyone, I already felt bad for staying with Jeff as long as I have. Staying with one of my friends might not be such a good idea because I was likely to fall back into my old habits easily. But I couldn't just stay here forever. I already felt as if Jeff was putting off his return to work because of me and I couldn't continue to do that to him.

"Earth to V. You ok?" Jeff says waving a hand in front of my face. I was obviously deeper in thought than I had remembered.

"Uh yeah I'm fine, must've just been on another planet." I saying trying to keep him from worrying. He had enough on his plate without my own distractions.

"You know you can talk to me right?" He said staring deep into my eyes with his emerald eyes. They were warm with a comforting glow.

"Yeah… I'm fine… just… when are you going back to work?" I tried to sound as casual as possible.

"A few weeks or so I guess. Are you trying to get rid of me?" He said in a sarcastic tone.

"No of course not, I'm just wondering. That's all. So we heading to Shannon's?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Yeah are you ready?"

"Yeah let's go." I replied happy that he didn't push the subject anymore. As we got in his car I turned on the radio and he and I happily made our way to Shannon's shop.

Shannon's POV

Getting off the phone with Jeff I returned back to what I was doing around the shop. Mainly paperwork and bills, ordering things we needed for the shop, other miscellaneous things.

"Hey Prince." I heard Jeff's girlfriend V say as the two of them walked into the shop.

"Hey sweetheart." I responded giving her a quick hug. "Hey man." I said greeting my best friend.

"Is Shane busy?" Jeff asked looking around the shop.

"He just went out back for a smoke." I replied and then watched him make his way to the back of the shop where Shane was located.

"How you doing girlie?" I ask V who was seated near me in one of the black leather couches I had set up in the waiting area of the shop.

"Good." She replied quickly, a little too quickly.

"You sure about that?" I asked. I knew that Jeff was close to V and I wanted to make sure the both of them were happy. I didn't want either one falling off the bandwagon.

"Yeah… I… I'm good Shan." She responded slipping on the words as they fell out of her mouth. It was a little more than obvious that she was not 'good.'

"Ok well if you need to…" I began to say, but stopped as soon as I saw Jeff walking towards us with Shane.

V quickly made her way over to where Shane's station was located. Jeff got comfortable in the chair and V pulled up a chair of her own. You could almost see the stress that emanating off of her.

Maybe Matt was right about all of this. If V loses control and relapses then more than likely Jeff will too. I don't want to see my friend go through that again. I hated to feel like I was being unsupportive of Jeff, but I just wanted what was best for him. I felt torn between doing the right thing and not hurting my friend.

Deciding that my friend's well-being was more important then whether or not he was mad at me; I walked into my office in a backroom of the shop. Taking out my cell phone from my pocket I dialed Jeff's brother Matt. I was hoping his chat with Jeff's therapist could help us all in this situation.

Author's Note: Hey what do ya know I'm alive! Here's an update for all of you. I apologize for being MIA for so long. I am gonna try and catch up on all my reading soon so expect some reviews on your stories from me ASAP. Hope you enjoy! xoxo Melissa