A/N: See, i told you that the next chapter would be soon! Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story! Reviews make my day! Enjoy...
Inner Struggles
Chapter 4
"Hey, we should go to Nicky's later," Tyler suggested, clearly bored with what they were doing now, which was absolutely nothing. They'd been sitting in silence for about five minutes.
"Okay. Want to head over there now?" Caleb asked, standing up. Everyone else nodded and pushed themselves off the ground.
"Meet you there in twenty," Reid said, gathering up the blanket and handing it to Caleb. He and Emma started walking back up the embankment to the cars.
In twenty minutes, Reid and Emma walked into Nicky's. "Fries and a Mountain Dew?" he asked, recalling what she had ordered last time they were here. She nodded and went to get a table."Shortly after they arrived, Caleb and Sarah arrived. "Hey guys," he called, walking to where Reid was ordering. Sarah went to sit down with Emma. "Reid, once you order, I need to talk to you," he said.
"What can I get you?" the waitress asked Caleb.
"Fries and a coke, and a burger with a coke," he said. The waitress smiled and handed the order to the cook in the back.
"That'll be right up." Caleb motioned for Reid to follow him out the back door. Reid followed reluctantly.
"What do you want to ask me about?" he asked, not sure if he was in trouble or not. "Because I haven't been using lately."
"About last night, you sounded really jumpy. Is everything alright?" he asked. Reid flashed back to the time he was talking about.
"Everything's okay. It's just that you woke me up in the middle of the night that surprised me," he lied. He might as well have just told the truth, because he knew that he couldn't get this one past Caleb.
"Reid don't lie to me. If somethings not right, you need to tell me about it." Reid laughed at the predictability of his friends actions. "I know that you were using, tell me why."
"Whatever," Reid gave in. He didn't feel like arguing or making a scene, which was really wierd for him. Usually he would have taken any chance to argue with Caleb. "When you woke my up, I didn't realize I was using till I looked in the mirror, and my eyes were black. I wasn't trying to use or anything."
"You're sure?" Caleb asked worriedly. If Reid couldn't even sleep with out using, he was screwed.
"Yes I'm sure, why the heck wouldn't I be?" Reid asked, not liking the worry in his friends voice. Caleb gave on last look of concern, and went back inside.
By the time they got inside, Pogue, Kate, Tyler, and Amanda were already there. Pogue was playing Emma at foosball, and everyone else was playing pool. "I'd watch out Pogue, she's not bad at that game. She beat me yesterday, but of course, I beat her at pool!" Reid called, picking up the food as he walked towards the table. Caleb sighed. He was never going to get Reid to take anything seriously.
"Yeah, she's beating me, which is really weird for me," Pogue explained, motioning for Reid to come help. Instead of taking Pogue's side of the table, he stood next to Emma and took over the goalie position. "Nice, Reid, choose your girlfriend over your best friend. Caleb! Come help!"
Caleb rushed over and took the goalie position on Pogue's side. "Wow, she's beating you good!" Caleb pointed out.
"It's only because I'm going easy on her," Pogue said, putting the ball into play again, after Emma scored again.
"Is that what you were doing?" she asked. "You're doing a great job of it then. I'm hardly having to break a sweat!" They all laughed, except Pogue, who was concentrating too hard to laugh. Reid blocked another one of Pogue's attempt at a goal, and finally, Emma hit the ball straight past Caleb and scored the winning goal.
"Good job," Pogue reached a hand across the table to shake hands. They all went to see how the pool game was going. It seemed Tyler was winning, but then again, he was playing against three girls, which Pogue clearly pointed out.
"So? These girls can play pool hard core," he defended himself.
"We're not that good," Kate said, laughing. "Hmm, looks like the solids are catching up. In fact, I think we're tied!" Amanda had just sunk 3 balls in a row. "We each have to get one more."
Tyler was in utter concentration as he lined up his next shot. Reid moved around the table, accidentally, bumping Tyler as he drew back. The cue ball went straight to the corner pocket, balancing on the edge. Reid, accidentally, bumped the table again, and it fell in.
Kate, Amanda, and Sarah celebrated the victory, and Tyler walked up to Reid, who instinctively put some distance between them. The girls walked over to the food, and Caleb and Pogue went to go see how this was going to unfold. Reid was backed into a corner by the darts.
"You're going to pay for that, Garwin. I'm going to make a point to think all the wrong answers in class. You'll have to come up with your own," he said quietly. 'Here we go,' Caleb though. 'Reid was going to get pissed and storm off, as usual.'
Caleb was surprised when Reid just laughed it off. He and Tyler walked back to the food. "That was weird," Pogue had obviously noticed Reid's lack of short temper. Caleb nodded and they followed him to the table.
"Hey girls, it's okay, I beat him up for messing up our game," Tyler said, cracking his knuckles. Reid pretended to massage an aching head, and groaned in mock pain. Every one laughed. Reid went to sit next to Emma, who smiled up at him.
"Reid, I'm tired. Do you think you could drive me back to the campus?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, standing up from the table. "I'll meet you guys back at the dorms." Everyone said bye, and Reid and Emma walked toward the door. Reid put his arm around her as they stepped out into the cold. "Do you want my jacket?" he asked.
"No, thank you," she said. Reid started to put up the top on his convertible. "I like your friends. They seem fun," she said, getting into the car.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure they like you too. You should see them when I bring a girl they don't like," he said. "Nice job on beating Pogue. He's pretty good at that game." Emma laughed triumphantly. "You wanna listen to the radio?" he asked.
She turned on the dial and station surfed till she found something that pleased her ear. It was something punk-rock.
"Nice choice in music," Reid said. They drove back to the school in silence, except for the radio blaring.
Reid pulled into the parking lot, and then walked Emma up to her dorm room. Her roommate was still out of town, so she was gonna have the room to herself. Emma opened the door, but turned around in the door way. "Tomorrow, you should come by here at 8. then we can go to coffee," she said. "Does that sound okay to you?"
"Yeah. Sounds great. See you then," Reid leaned forward for a goodbye kiss. She leaned forward and kissed him. A couple seconds later, Reid said good bye and walked down the hall.
Reid walked slowly back to the guys dorms. Now that he was alone, with out Emma, his mind drifted back to using, and what had happened last night. He really hoped that tonight would be different, and he wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night only to find that he was using.
He began to reflect on the day. He'd gone the entire day with out using, or even thinking about it. That was a record! Emma seemed to take the place of using, so when he was around her, all he could think about was her. He was happy that his friends couldn't find anything bad to say about her. When Reid got to the center of the courtyard, he went to a bench and sat down. He was just gonna think for a while.
Before he had a chance to think about anything, Tyler ran up. "It's freakin' cold out here Reid, why don't you go inside?" he asked, stopping by where Reid was sitting.
"I was just thinking. Why does it matter where I decide to do my thinking?" Reid asked shortly. "Caleb and Pogue went home?" he asked. Tyler nodded, and then walked toward the boys' dorms. Reid got up and followed him.
Once they were up in the room, Reid flopped down on his bed, rubbing his eyes. "So, what do you think about Emma?" he asked Tyler, who was gathering up some papers from where he was doing homework earlier.
"I think she's great. She's cute," he said. "I think she really likes you," Tyler stated. Reid smiled, and got up.
"I thought so too," Reid said. He got into bed, remembering that he had to get up early the next morning. "I'm gonna go to sleep, see you tomorrow."
While Reid slept, Tyler remembered that Caleb told him to watch and see if anything happens while he slept. He'd said something like Reid using while he slept. And sure enough, barely 10 minutes after Reid had fallen asleep, he noticed something. His friends peaceful sleep had turned fitfull, and, slowly, things began to levitate a few inches off the ground. The fell to the ground again, but then things started falling off shelves. He rushed to wake him up.
"Reid, wake up!" he shook him. Reid snapped out of his sleep, and opened his eyes. His eyes were black too. "You're using!" Tyler said.
"Crap," Reid sat up and looked around. There were several books, and some other things laying on the ground under their usual place on the shelf. He buried his face in his hands, not sure what to do. Then, he reluctantly realized that the only thing to do would be to call Caleb.
He took his cell off the bed-side table and dialed Caleb's number.
"Reid?" he asked. "Did it happen again?" he asked worriedly.
"Yeah, only this time, things fell off the shelf. Tyler woke me up," Reid said. "What do I do?" he asked, kicking himself for needing someone's help.
"I'll come over there. We'll try to figure this out. For now, just don't sleep," Caleb hung up the phone. Reid got out of bed, and walked over to the sink. He splashed his face with the cold water. He pulled on some jeans, and went to sit down on the window sill. This was going to be a long night if he couldn't sleep.