Chapter 3: Craving For Codeine
While Jamie had never actually experienced first hand what a drug withdrawal looked like, Alicia had told her stories. As they got downstairs with the bucket, she could feel the anxiety radiating off Madison as she left a voicemail for the doctor for some medication for Nick. Alicia didn't share the same anxiety as her mother; she seemed calm and also quite fed up, as if this was a routine she hated more than anything. Because it was.
"Hang in there, big brother," Alicia murmured, plopping the bucket down on the floor next to Nick, who was writhing on the couch.
He was already soaked with sweat and his chest heaved as he tried to unbutton his shirt and get some relief from the symptoms he was feeling. She wasn't quite sure what she should do and figured it would be best not to butt in since the two of them were more familiar with the steps to easing his discomfort.
"Longer we leave him, the worse he gets," Alicia said, looking to her mom as if waiting for a solution.
"I know. I'm aware," Madison responded.
"He won't be able to travel."
"Alicia," she reprimanded, stopping to glare at her daughter as Nick fumbled with a blanket.
"Mom, what are you going to do?" Alicia asked, her voice seeming to rise with a bit of anxiety.
"I don't know. Dr. Han's not calling me back, and now I can't even reach Travis."
"Yeah I mean it's like after an earthquake. Circuits are overloaded," Alicia sighed.
"I can do whatever I can to help, Miss C," Jamie said, shifting from foot to foot.
"Can you get a cold wet rag?" Madison asked, covering her son with the blanket. "That would be helpful."
"Of course," Jamie agreed, giving the smallest of smiles and heading to the kitchen.
She hastily grabbed a rag and ran it under the ice cold water, letting it soak before squeezing it out. When she returned to the living room, Madison was getting up and getting ready to leave.
"Do not leave the house."
"I wo- won't!" Alicia huffed.
"Alicia, promise me!" Madison stopped for a split second.
"I'll look after him!" Alicia exclaimed, looking at her mom in disbelief.
"Jamie, please make sure Alicia doesn't leave," Madison called as she walked out the front door frantically.
"It's like she doesn't trust me," Alicia hissed as the door slammed shut. "You know it's kinda annoying when you're the goody-two shoes."
"Sorry," Jamie said with a shrug, knowing she was just frustrated and anxious with the situation. "Here."
She handed her friend the cool rag and Alicia moved over to put it on his forehead as he groaned and squirmed.
"What do we do now?" Jamie asked, kneeling down on the floor at the coffee table, opposite to the couch.
"We wait," Alicia breathed, trying to get Nick to sit still. "There's not much we can do until mom gets back. He really needs drugs."
Jamie let out a sigh as Nick tossed and turned. She shook her head and shot a look at Alicia. They wouldn't be in this situation if his weak ass would've just been a man and kept the promise he made to everyone at the hospital. She wasn't feeling very sympathetic to his pain. Sure, she didn't want him to die or suffer for too long, but he deserved to feel something for all this damage he'd caused.
"Not liking drugs so much now, are you?" she blurted, watching his head snap to her.
Alicia couldn't help but snicker beside her. "Like I always say, from the mouth of babes."
"Not…hel- helping," Nick spluttered, turning over to start dry-heaving into the bucket.
"Neither are you," Jamie sighed, trying to stifle the overwhelming annoyance she was feeling at this moment.
"Alright, try not to kill each other. Sit tight, Nick, I'll make you food," Alicia grumbled, moving across the room to the kitchen.
There was a long moment of silence as Nick panted and attempted to cool himself down. She pulled out her phone to occupy herself, not entirely keen at watching him alternate between retching and writhing. Alicia was doing her duty, at her mother's request, but Jamie was more upset about the fact that he had broken his promise to her and now her best friend had to go through this all over again. As an only child, her bond with Alicia had turned into something sisterly, and she hated seeing her get tossed around and manipulated.
"You really hate me, huh?" Nick gasped, catching her eye for a moment.
"You have no idea," Jamie said without a beat, eyes sharply boring into his. "I don't particularly like pussies who break promises."
It was almost like there was a flash of amusement in his gaze, but whatever she thought she saw was gone a second later as he lunged for the bucket yet again. Like she predicted, he alternated between writhing and retching, and ten minutes later had absolved himself to laying on the floor in an effort to get more comfortable.
Alicia returned to the room not long after with a bowl of steaming soup placed on the coffee table.
Nick quickly sat up, peering into the bowl. "Oh, can't do hot now."
"I'll make gazpacho next time," Alicia retorted.
"Yeah, okay it's gonna end up in the bucket."
"Okay, drink some water," she offered instead, moving across the room to look out the window at the birthday party being set up across the street.
"I'm not thirsty, water's not what I need," he whined, causing Jamie to roll her eyes.
"I know what you need. Mom's working on it," Alicia sighed as the little girl across the street began to cry. "It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to."
Nick lurched for the bucket once more and Jamie couldn't deal with it anymore. She was just about to get up to leave the room and go upstairs to Alicia's when her friend quickly left the room and returned with her backpack.
"Alicia? Where are you going?" she asked. "What about Nick?"
Even if she hated his guts, there still had to be someone to take care of him, and there was no way in hell she would do that alone. She loved her friend, but she had no idea what to do in a situation like this.
This caught Nick's attention and he sat up quickly, seeming alarmed. "Whoa, whoa, where are you going? Hey, Alicia?!"
"I'll be fast," she hissed, making a beeline for the door.
"Wait, Alicia!" Jamie called, getting to her feet.
"Hey, no, no, no, you can't go back there!" Nick started frantically. "Hey, you promised mom!"
She could feel the tension rise in the air as Alicia turned back around, her eyes boiling. "You make promises all the time, Nick! Lie down!"
"Alicia, please," Jamie tried, moving to stand between the two.
"What the hell are you defending him for, you just were at his throat five minutes ago!" she snarled.
"I'm an asshole, I'm an asshole," Nick admitted, voice trembling. "Okay but listen. Alicia, if you leave, you won't come back. Please."
He moved toward her on all fours, going around Jamie's legs.
"You let mom go," Alicia pointed out, the anger in her expression transforming into something more like disgust.
"Not safe. No, Matt is not safe! Oh, Jesus…. No, Alicia, you don't get what it makes people do."
Jamie had to admit, she was confused by his insistence on Matt being unsafe. He was just sick after all, right? He wasn't like those others who did those drugs. And he said that his parents were going to be home soon anyway, so it was likely that they were already home and taking care of him.
"You don't know what I had to do!" Nick shouted, continuing to crawl after Alicia as she headed for the door.
"What did you have to do?!" she shouted back, slamming the door and leaving Jamie stunned.
What the actual hell was happening? And why did Nick seem to know something that everyone else didn't?
He continued to shout at her despite his inability to really chase after and kept repeating that Matt would kill her. Before she had a chance to process everything and try to stop him, he climbed to his feet using the side table and then promptly collapsed to the ground.
Jamie froze, unsure of what to do as Nick started to seize uncontrollably on the ground in front of her. Oh god, what was she supposed to do?
Leaping forward she crouched down next to him, mind spinning with any information of first-aid care that she knew, but she was so overwhelmed and anxious that her mind was drawing a blank. And she only grew more panicked when he started to vomit and choke on it.
"Fuck… Goddammit, Alicia!" she shouted, cursing her friend for being so stubborn.
But she seemed to have come to her senses because a second later she barged into the house, bending down to flip him on his side, the frustration and anger in her voice echoing in the room as she shouted.
"Don't do this to me, Nick! Not now! Don't you do this, you stupid son of a bitch!"
Her resolve slipped and she saw the tears beginning to form as she tried her best to get Nick to stay calm. Figuring she would just get in the way if she hung around, she quickly got to her feet, heading toward the closet to get the cleaning supplies and a towel to clean him up. Her heart was thumping madly in her chest and she had to take a second to lean against the doorway and calm herself down. She would've had no idea what to do if Alicia hadn't come back. She was sure Nick wouldn't have made it.
With a shaky breath, Jamie opened up the closet and gathered up some bleach, a bucket and various scrub brushes as well as a towel.
When she returned, Alicia had somehow managed to get him on the couch, but he still seemed slightly out of it, like he had just woken up from a deep sleep.
"Thanks," her friend said quietly, taking the bucket to fill it with bleach and water.
She nodded and moved over to her brother, draping the towel in front of him so when he was more lucid, he could clean himself up. They needed to find some sort of drug and fast so that this wouldn't happen again. She sat back on her heels, thinking hard as Alicia came back to start scrubbing the floor.
"I'm sorry," Nick murmured, breaking the awkward tension.
"She should have been back by now," Alicia breathed. "Someone should have called."
To her surprise, Nick said, "thank you."
And with the most proper response, Alicia told him, "I hate you."
Even though she said it, Jamie knew that it was far from the truth. Since they had known each other, Alicia always talked about Nick. A lot of the time, it was complaining and venting about his actions, but she wouldn't do it if she didn't really care. She hated seeing her friend like this.
Slipping her shoes on, she snatched up her phone from the table and headed toward the door.
"Wait, Jamie, where are you going?" Alicia questioned, sitting back on her heels.
"I need to get something from my house," she said, not leaving room for any more questions. "I'll be right back."
She quickly closed the door and hurried down the steps, her eyes darting to the little girl's party across the street. That party wouldn't see the light of day if things kept going the way they were, and it was sad. If they were lucky, this would blow over sooner rather than later.
If she were being honest, she hoped, deep down, that after this was all over, maybe Nick would still stay in Alicia's life and quit drugs. But his track record was bad and she knew he would never change. She just desperately wanted for her best friend to be happy. And she wasn't sure if that would happen unless Nick was sober or dead.
Stopping at her front door, she unlocked it with her key and stepped inside. Everything was the same as it had been this morning, which was comforting in a way. At least something was still the same. Now, she just needed to see if she could find something - anything - that might assist in this weaning process. She couldn't bear to sit around anymore while she watched Alicia suffer.
Jamie started in each of the bathrooms, emptying out the drawers and the medicine cabinets, looking for anything that might be an opioid. Unfortunately, the only thing she could find was tylenol and ibuprofen. There were a few other various medications that, unfortunately after she checked, did not have opioids.
With a frustrated sigh, she sat in the center of her parents' bathroom, thinking hard. Was there anything they could have had some sort of prescription for that might be something they could use? Her mother was usually very good at tossing out expired medications, but she did have a habit of keeping the stronger prescription ones that might be helpful in the future. She kept a stash of amoxicillin that was left over from one of her sinus infections which ended up being useful when the next one inevitably rolled around. Her mother had a knack for getting a lot of respiratory illnesses and allergies.
Wait…
Pushing out of the center of the disarray of medicines on the floor, she headed back to her parents' room and dove for her mother's dresser. Since she was always getting colds or allergies, she usually had a good stock of cough syrup and flu medicine in her dresser in case she ever needed it. There had to be something in there with opioids in it.
Digging past the socks, she located the small stash of allergy and cold reliefs. Most of them were over the counter, but one of them she noticed had the prescription label on it. Grabbing it, she scanned the label. Tuzistra, used for upper respiratory allergies or the common cold….
Codeine…
Jamie let out a sigh of relief. Finally, something was going right today. And there was at least a quarter of a bottle left, which should at least help in the weaning process for a few days, especially if Madison was able to scrounge up something herself. She was sure her mother would understand the emergency and she could get more anyway when she came home.
Tucking the bottle to her side, she headed back downstairs, taking a moment to think if there was anything else she needed to bring over for the night. She decided to grab her bathing suit in case she and Alicia decided to do something fun in the morning and then headed back out, making sure to lock the door.
After this shit show, she was ready to do something normal, whether that be reading, playing Animal Crossing, or going for a long ass swim. She would convince Alicia. That girl needed to relax for once, and since Matt was sick and she couldn't suggest she have some de-stress sex….
She steeled herself as she walked back into the Clark residence, kicking off her shoes as Alicia hurried over.
"What the hell was that? What did you need so bad that you left like that?" she hissed.
Jamie pushed past her, stopping to forcefully place the bottle down on the coffee table. "Prescription cold syrup. Has codeine. Probably gonna taste like shit, but our other option is that you're keeling over the rest of the night until your mom gets back. It'll take a bit to settle since you're not snorting or injecting…"
Nick scrambled to the bottle, looking slightly better but still caked in sweat and looking a bit feverish.
Alicia stood in silence for a moment, watching her brother measure out some in the cap to down. "I didn't know you had anything like that at your house."
"Mom's allergies and colds," she clarified, shrugging.
"Thank you," Nick rasped, screwing the cap back on, to which her reaction was to take the bottle.
"I didn't do it for you," Jamie muttered, casting him a dark look. "I couldn't bear to see Alicia try to deal with your bullshit any longer."
There was a heavy silence as she glared at him before turning away. She caught sight of her friend's grateful look.
"I need some air. I'm holding onto this bottle until I can give it to your mom," she said, moving past her friend to step outside the door to the backyard.
It had already gotten considerably darker in the moments since she'd returned and she took a deep breath, watching the rising moon reflect in the shimmering pool water. She knew she had been a bit harsh with Nick, but at the same time, he deserved it. The past few days brought Nick to her thoughts more than she cared for. He needed to shape up or get the hell out of everyone's lives, that much was clear.
She settled down on one of the poolside chairs, mulling over everything that had happened in the past few days. She wasn't sure how long she sat there until she heard a scream come from across the street. Her fight or flight senses went into overdrive and she quickly slipped back inside the house, noting that Madison was back and trying to shut the curtains tight so Alicia couldn't see anything.
"What's happening?" she asked, bounding to the living room where Nick lay unbothered on the couch.
"Mr. Dawson's hurting them!" Alicia exclaimed, moving from the window to rush to the front door.
But Madison was quicker and rushed to stop her, closing the door and locking it before her daughter could go out. There was a look in Madison's eyes that gave her stomach a twist. She knew something more than she was letting on. She had to have seen something.
"I don't want anyone leaving the house. Not even for air," she said, shooting a look at her. "Just sit tight and relax. Travis should be here soon."
Jamie bit her lip, watching the blonde as she peeled herself from the door. "I'm glad you found something for Nick, but I also found this at my house. It had codeine in it, so I figured…."
"Thank you, Jamie," Madison sighed, taking the bottle from her. "I'll take it from here."
She gave the woman a tight nod, shooting a glance at Alicia over her shoulder. Something told her this was going to be a really long night.
A/N: Nick's just being a pain in Jamie's (and everyone's) ass at this point. The tension's gonna be fun in the next few chapters lol. Thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter, I hope it was enjoyable! Please let me know what you thought of it! I love you all!