"This place looks like a prison." Roger complained as Collins, Mark and Benny pulled up to a large building.
"It's the best rehab Allie could get you into on short notice. It'll only be for like a month or so and then you can come home again and start your life clean." Benny said looking over at him as he drove the Range Rover up the driveway.
"Listen, um... tell Allie I said thanks. I appreciate her doing this." he said quietly looking over at him.
"Don't mention it Roger. Just get clean so you can come to mine and Allie's wedding." Benny smiled looking over at him.
"You still want me to go?" he asked surprised.
"Of course we do. Roger, you're one of my best friends. I was hoping you could stand up for me." he said as he parked in front of the rehab clinic.
"Be your best man?" Roger asked looking over at him as tears came to his eyes.
"One of them. Allie thinks I should have 3 since I have 3 best friends. I hope you don't mind being best man number 2." he smiled looking over at him.
"I'm gonna get clean Benny and after I get out. I'll be honored to stand up for you at yours and Allie's wedding." he said as tears escaped his eyes.
"Just get better Roger, OK? We'll be here when you get out." Benny told him leaning over to hug him.
"Thanks man." he smiled wiping his eyes before the men got out of the SUV.
"Listen to me Roger. Don't shut down, OK? Just do what you need to do to get better, OK? That includes talking about April and the baby. Do you hear me?" Collins asked looking over at him before taking him in his arms for a hug.
"I will. I wanna get better." he said looking up at him.
"You will man. I love you, you know that, right?" he asked looking down at him.
"Yeah, I love you too Collins." he said looking up at him.
"Forget it man. You're not my type." Collins laughed trying to lighten the mood.
"I caught you looking at my ass." Roger joked looking up at him as Collins stepped back so Mark could say his goodbye.
"You wish." Collins smiled as Mark stepped towards Roger.
"You can do this Roger. You're the strongest guy I know." Mark said looking down at his feet as he walked towards Roger.
"I love you too Mark." Roger said reaching out to hug Mark. "I'm sorry for everything, man. I never meant to hurt anyone."
"I know Roger. Just get well, OK?" Mark said holding on to Roger's leather jacket tightly.
"I will. Tell Maureen... just tell her I love her, OK? And I'm sorry for everything I put her through." he said looking down at him.
"She love you too Roger. She just wants you to get well." he said looking up at him.
"I will. I swear. I'm gonna be just like I was. I promise." he said looking down at him.
"Don't worry about that Roger. Just worry about getting better, OK?" Benny said looking over at him.
"Thanks man. For everything." he said hugging him again before Roger went into the front doors of the rehab clinic to begin his healing.
"Now that everyone's here, we can start group." a young woman smiled addressing a room full of people. The chairs were set up in a circle. "We have a new member to our group. Why don't we all welcome Roger to our group." she continued holding a notebook before sitting back in her chair.
"Welcome Roger." the group announced in unison.
"Roger, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us why you're here?" the young woman asked looking over at Roger. Everyone was looking at him and he was very uncomfortable. He couldn't help thinking about when he used to perform. He had a bar full of people staring at him on a regular basis, but this made him very uncomfortable. A room full of people he didn't know, expecting him to open up and tell them every detail of his life. The good and the bad.
"I'm um... I'm Roger. I'm an addict." he started looking around the room.
"Why don't you tell us about yourself? What was your drug of choice? Why did you start using?" the young woman asked leaning forward on her legs.
"Well, my drug was smack. My girlfriend April and I used to do it together." he said looking over at her.
"What happened to your girlfriend?" she asked looking up at him.
"She um... she killed herself when she found out we were positive." he told her, keeping his answers short and to the point.
"That must have been hard for you to deal with." she said writing in her book.
"I tried to shoot as much shit into my veins as possible. The medics found me and brought me to the hospital. They saved my life." he said leaning forward folding his hands.
"What made you start using?" an older gentleman asked breaking the silence of the group.
"My girlfriend... she um... she lost our baby. She started using with a friend of hers to forget and she made it sound so appealing, I felt like I needed to do it too. I wanted to stop the pain. So I shot it into my veins. It felt so good, I kept going." he told the group before standing up to walk around the room.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your girlfriend and your baby. I understand how getting high would be better than dealing with that head on." a young woman said looking up at Roger. She was blond and she was playing with the sleeves of her sweater nervously.
"It was the worst time of my life. Literally. I mean, one minute we were celebrating our baby, the next she's laying in a hospital bed crying that it was her fault that he was gone. I didn't know how to help her. If I knew how to help her, she'd be alive today and I wouldn't be sick." he told her as tears rose to his eyes.
"You couldn't stop her from losing the baby Roger. Sometimes these things happen. But you can't blame yourself for how she chose to deal with it. You did the best you could. No one could blame you for wanting the pain to go away. That must be a very difficult thing to deal with at your age." the counselor said looking up at him as he looked down at his hands. He knew she was right. Everyone had been telling him the same thing for months. He wiped his eyes to wipe the tears and begin his healing.
A/N: Sorry it's so short. I didn't want to drag on Pre Rent anymore than I had to. The next chapter starts Rent. I hope you're liking my epic so far. I'm working really hard on this and it means a lot to me that I made it to 50 stories and no one's bored of reading my stuff yet. Thanks.
Renthead621