Chapter 4

Within minutes, Jennifer found herself in front of the loft. She hoped that Roger would forgive her for waking him at such an hour. "Roger?" she yelled up at the balcony.

Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief, a few minutes later, when Roger, and a guy she didn't know, came to the balcony. "Jen," Roger said sleepily, "what's wrong? It's the middle of the night."

"I'm sorry to bother you like this, Roger. It's Stephanie," Jennifer said. "I need to talk to you about her. It's urgent."

"Hang on," Roger said, instantly revitalized, and he went back inside the loft. Coming back out, he threw down the key. "Let yourself in."

Jennifer caught the key and let herself in. She rushed upstairs and slid open the door. Roger came forward and hugged Jennifer. "Jen," he said, "is everything OK? Come sit down and tell us everything."

Jennifer nodded and Roger indicated to a chair in the main living area. She sat down and put her head in her hands, as the two men sat down in front of her. They would have sat down on the couch, but it was occupied by an enormous pile of blankets. Roger and the man Jennifer didn't know were in just their boxers, but the man Jennifer didn't know had a white T-shirt on.

"Tell us, Jen," Roger said, as he gave her a glass of water.

Jennifer accepted the water gratefully. "Thanks," she said. She looked at him. "Roger, Stephanie's a junkie."

Roger cringed. "Oh God…" he said. "How long has she been using?"

"Well, she talked about— yelled about, rather— her parents leaving her to travel and stuff, so I'm guessing she's been using since she moved out of my house, like I told you before… so, at least three years." The seriousness of that sentence hit Jennifer like a punch in the gut, and she started to choke up.

"Oh, Jen…" Roger said sadly, and he took her into his arms. "It'll be OK. We'll get her to quit. I don't know how, but we will; rehab or something, right?" Roger looked at Mark, who nodded. "Oh yeah… Jen, this is albino pumpkin head mo fo punk is my best friend, Mark Cohen."

"As in, the Mark Cohen?" Jennifer asked. "The filmmaker I like so much? Wow, it's nice to meet you. I love your movie about the Bohemians and AIDS and stuff."

"Thanks," Mark said, smiling at her. "I'm glad you like it. But never mind me; we need to concentrate on Stephanie. What is she using?"

"Smack," Jennifer replied glumly. Roger groaned.

"Oh man…" he said, and he let go of her and stood up. "This is more than vaguely familiar." He began to pace around nervously. "How frequently is she shooting up?"

"Once a day," Jennifer said, "maybe twice; she's drinking, too. Two days ago, I found her passed out in an alleyway. Tonight, I caught her buying smack from a dealer not fifty feet from this place. I took her back to my house and destroyed the smack."

"Good," Roger said, "but if you left her alone now, she might be out getting more. I know how this goes, obviously." He smiled grimly.

"Oh no," Jennifer groaned, and she stood up, a worried look on her face. "I never should have left her alone!" She strode toward the door. "I have to go back for her. She's dangerous by herself now."

"I'm going with you," Roger said, standing up as well. "Maybe if I talk to her, she'll listen."

"Yeah… maybe," Jennifer said, but she still hoped. "She hasn't listened to me yet."

"Mark, stay here, in case Steph shows up here, OK?" Roger asked. Mark nodded. "And wake up Collins, too"— he indicated to the large lump of blankets on the couch, which Mark shook, and Collins sat up groggily— "and have him wait up with you. Collins, man, Mark will explain everything once you've had coffee, OK?"

"Mm, OK, man," Collins said, smiling sleepily up at Roger. "Where are you off to at three in the morning?"

"Stephanie Bradford's place," Roger said. "Like I said, Mark will explain. We have to go. We'll be back as soon as possible."

Mark gave Jennifer a hug. "It'll be OK, Jen," he said. "Stephanie isn't the first junkie we Bohos have had to deal with. Remember, Roger was one once, too. He'll be able to help. It's familiar territory for him."

"Thanks, Mark," Jennifer said, smiling at him.

"Let's go, Jen," Roger said, and they walked out into the moonlight.

Jennifer looked into the front window of her house before she and Roger went up to the front door. "Oh, thank God," Jennifer breathed, "she's still there. She must have drunk a lot tonight."

"OK, her still being there is progress," Roger said. "Can we go in?"

"Yeah, hang on," Jennifer said, and she got the key from under the porch stairs. She checked her watch. " Four A.M. Damn, I was at your place for a whole hour, and I didn't even know it? This is crazy." She unlocked the door and put the key back in its place. "Let's go. But be quiet."

"You locked her in?" Roger asked.

"I've had to," Jennifer said quietly. "That's how wild she is. When she's drunk, she can't figure out how to get out of here, even though it's just simply opening the door and walking out."

Roger nodded. "Wow," he said, "that is crazy… in a bad way."

"Yeah," Jennifer said, and she sat down in a chair across from Stephanie. Roger did the same. "I might have woken my parents up while I was chewing her out earlier, but I don't know." She looked at Stephanie's still form. "Stephanie, wake up. Come on, Steph, I know you can hear me. Wake up."

A few seconds later, Stephanie stirred and stretched. Roger and Jennifer both saw the growing track marks on her arm. They looked at each other worriedly.

"Hm? Oh… hi, Roger. Hi, Jen," Stephanie slurred, obviously still drunk. "What are you doing up at this hour? Have you been out all night? What time is it?"

"Steph…" Jennifer said irritably. But she relaxed when Roger touched her arm. His touch sent chills down her spine. He was warning her silently not to get angry with Stephanie. Anger wouldn't help anything and would only upset Stephanie, and then things would really get complicated.

Jennifer heaved a deep breath and relaxed. Roger squeezed her hand encouragingly. "OK, Steph," she began, "Roger and I are here because we need to talk to you about something. It's 4:15 A.M. and we haven't been out all night. I was up earlier because I saw you'd snuck out again to go shoot up. I took you home and went to Roger for help."

"Oh, OK," Stephanie said, and she patted Jennifer on the arm. "Well, good for you, Jen. Can I go back to sleep now?" Stephanie looked up at Jennifer and smiled drunkenly.

"No, you can't," Jennifer said firmly, and she pulled Stephanie back up before she could keel over. "Steph, the smack, the drinking, it all has to stop. And it's going to. Roger and I are going to help you. You know all those other fan girls, how many of them would kill to be here right now, with Roger, strung up and hung over or not?"

"Yeah, I know," Stephanie said, and she smiled. "I'm lucky."

"That's right, Stephie," Jennifer said, and she smiled for real, for the first time in days. "You're lucky."

Until next time, lots of love,

Renthead07