Part Two: Apartment

Back on his couch, drinking. Back and forth, letting the hot, burning alcohol pour down his throat, he roughly wiped a tear off of his cheek, cursing quite loudly at himself. The dog jumped up slightly from his position beside Craig's feet, staring straight at his owner. Craig nodded hostilely at the boxer and slurred, "What?" at the dog. He rolled his eyes and coughed, "I just talked to a fucking dog. I must really be nuts." Sammy pawed at his owner's ankles and Craig sighed (more like groaned) and tipped a small amount of vodka into the crook of his slightly folded hand, offering to the dog's mouth. Sammy sniffed it politely and lapped the drink up with his tongue happily. He licked his chops slightly and his head fell back onto Craig's legs.

The TV wasn't on, the only thing playing in Craig's mind was the scene from yesterday in the grocery store, the kiss in the drink aisle--the final kiss-- or at least he thought. He gulped down another spout of alcohol as the scene let itself roll out again.

Craig reached up to a stray lock of bright red hair on Ellie's forehead, tucking it behind her ear gently, then she gripped his wrist, leaning closer and closer to Craig's face, and finally, after a year and two months…

The pressure and warmth against Ellie's lips surprised her, but in a pleasant, happy kind of way…

So what made her suddenly switch from despising even the sound of his name to wanting to be in his arms, kissing like this forever? What made her so insane?

He almost felt like puking up the first bottle of vodka he'd been through that night, skipping a gig or two, he didn't remember which.

She pulled out of his embrace, no matter how much she felt at home, this guy was a coke addict for Christ's sake! Ellie ripped herself from Craig's body, and screamed out in disgust, "Do you think it's that easy?!" Craig looked at her, stunned and scared. He tried to stutter out any type of response, but nothing came to his lips.

"You think you can just see me for five seconds, and then the next moment I'm in love with you?! How much of a coked-up loser freak are you?! Get the fuck out of here, asshole!" Ellie screamed, and groaned, kicking him in the leg, and running off, leaving her cart next to him.

His throat closed up and he couldn't move. Everything was numb, his mouth hung open and all he saw was blinding white light, completely unaware of the rage that was going on in the store.

His arms and fists thrashed about, knocking over bottles and cartons and packages, and as a customer walked by, Craig's groans and violent outburst were caught.

Soon enough, police were at the scene.

Craig screamed slightly, choking back another scream and leaned his head back, letting the vodka slide down his throat like a river. He poured more of the drink into a cupped hand and the before the dog could lap it up with his tongue, the door to Craig's apartment slammed open. Ellie stood in the doorway, her face almost as red as her hair. She glared at the obviously drunk Craig, breathing heavily. She shook her head at him and sighed, "So now you're drunk?" Craig laughed and tried to get up off of the couch. He stumbled slightly and she put his hands up in front of him, grabbing his wrists as he explained his drunken state, "Well yeah, sorry, but your rejection was pretty fruckin' slarsh. I mean… huckin' farsh…. Fuckin' harsh!" He stood up with the help of Ellie's hands.

Ellie sighed, reaching for the words for her rationalization, "Craig, I…" Craig fell to the floor, his throat making odd noises.

"Craig?" Ellie asked, wondering what was wrong with him. His back lurched as he vomited onto the wooden floor, the vodka and his dinner in a wet pile on the floor. He clutched his stomach and Ellie leaned down to him, laying one hand on his back, the other pulling the long ends of his hair away from his face. He spit onto the ground, in pain and moaned in agony.

"God, Craig, are you alright?" Ellie asked in a soft voice. He didn't answer, just sat on his knees, breathing deeply and quickly. Ellie softly stroked his head, and ran her cool fingers across his hot, pale cheeks and down towards his back, moving her hand in circles to make him feel better. Hearing no answer, Ellie continued.

"The reason I came here," she said in a soft voice, standing up to clean up the vomit, "I wanted to apologize. For screaming at you. For not realizing that you were saying that you were sorry as well. And um… for lying. Craig, that kiss… It was random and so out of place, but Craig… I do still have feelings for you… no matter what I do." Craig had leaned back onto the couch, and watched her cleaning up, not even slightly disgusted.

He nodded and said, "Okay…" quite awkwardly. Ellie looked at him, "Where's your trash can?" Craig pointed to a place under the sink where the trash bin was. Ellie continued, "So, I want to start this over again. The whole… relationship thing." Craig looked up at her and said, "Wait what?" and Ellie sighed, walked over to him with a glass of water, handed it to him and he sipped it lightly.

The water tasted good in his mouth, much better than the hot, sour vodka. He sighed and said, "So… this is all okay with you? Me and you…. Now?" Ellie nodded and placed her body underneath the crook of his arm, snuggling into his tired, worn-out body, resting her head on his shoulder.

Craig smiled, forgetting his depression and drunkenness. She felt warm and soft and almost weightless as they sat there, their backs against the couch, their eyes closed, falling asleep in each other's arms.