[IC] Addicted

[corneredbliss]

Olivia Mitford
25
++++

11:47 PM

Thirteen minutes before her eighteenth birthday. Twenty-two minutes after her father began the argument. She didn't think her parents would still be up; their usual bedtime was sometime around 9:30. There was no reason to think tonight would have been any different. But as Olivia began her cautious descent down the stairs, pulling her worn black jacket around her, she felt the twinge of premonition tugging in her gut. Sure enough, just before the foot of the stairs, her eyes fell on the pool of orange-tinted light that spilled into the entrance hallway from the living room.

"Going out?" came the deep timbre of her father's voice as she cussed under her breath. And thus began what seemed like the billionth fight between the two, with Olivia hurling insult after insult at the bastard and her father raging on about what a disappointment she was - and was going to continue to be. At some point, Mrs. Mitford finally padded down the stairs herself after trying to ignore the whole thing, determined to keep them from throwing the furniture at each other.

It was only a few minutes after her mother had added her own voice into the mix that Olivia had decided she'd had enough. She was turning legal in less than twenty minutes, and she sure as hell wasn't going to spend it listening to her parents screaming. Her father, of course, had other ideas, immediately snatching his daughter's wrist as she was turning to leave. His grip was tight, supported by years of resentment and the momentum of the situation. Not one to be manhandled by anyone, especially not the man who called himself her father, Olivia twisted and turned, trying to escape from his hold. The struggle eventually resulted in the red, stinging hand shaped mark on her left cheek that the night breeze soothed with every step she took away from the damned house.

Her movements were both jerky and shaky as she extracted her half empty pack from her pocket and slipped a cigarette between her plum colored lips. After a few failed attempts with the lighter, the flame finally caught, allowing her to take a long drag from the stick. She was basking in the instantaneous relief it gave her when she felt a tingling sensation down the side of her nose, and it was only when she went to swipe at it did she realize she had been lightly crying. Somewhat annoyed at herself, the brunette quickly brushed away whatever else had managed to escape from her eyes as she reached the corner of her street.

She lowered herself down to sit on the curb, her arms dangling between her knees except when she took a pull from the cig. An hour ago she had been so ready to go out and be wild at her biggest birthday party to date, but the fight had somehow deflated her, and it was with a sober expression on her features that she took out her cellphone and unlocked it, glancing at the time before she let her fingers do the rest.

The ringing in her ear seemed to echo in her mind, which had emptied itself of anything but the cancer stick between her two fingers. She snapped back to attention just when she heard the click of someone answering the phone after having counted a total of six rings. Although it was nearly midnight, Olivia didn't lead with an apology for waking him up or being a bother. They'd been through this routine so many times that it probably would have been weirder if she had done so. "Hey, uhh.." Her clogged nose was so obvious from her voice that she knew he would know at once that she'd been crying. The realization caused her eyelids to flutter shut with slight frustration as she ran a hand through her hair. His getting upset about what had happened to her was the last thing she needed right now. Olivia could only hope that the red welt on her face would disappear before he got there. "Could you come pick me up?"

That was it. She knew she didn't have to explain herself to him. And that was why he was her best friend.

[Nimixia]

Aidan McDavid
24

---

12:07 PM

Aidan had just turned off the lights when his iPhone began to light up and buzz around on his nightstand. A quick glance over at his alarm clock showed it was just past midnight. Throughout their friendship, Aidan had always gotten calls at this time of night from his best friend Olivia. Whether she was having a fight with her parents and wanted to come stay at his place, or if she was out at a party and needed to be picked up because she couldn't go home, she would call him. He saw the time and before even reaching for the phone, he was certain it was her.

"Hey... Yeah... Be there in a few."

Aidan was a full year younger than her so while she was turning 18, he was still 16 but his birthday was the next week. The two of them had already met earlier that day and he gave her a gift, it was a little gift package that he knew from the start she wasn't going to like, but he gave it to her anyway. She had bad habits. They both knew this, but Aidan was slowly trying to break them. A main one that he had been focusing on lately was her smoking, so, for her birthday, he got her an e-cigarette, a pack of nicotine free come, and some patches you use to quit smoking. In the package was also some of her favorite types of candy and a fifth of her favorite hard liquor. He didn't condone smoking, but a few underage shots wouldn't kill anyone.

Aidan came from a well off family and it wouldn't be wrong to say that he was spoiled. No, he didn't get everything he wanted but he did get most of it. He got all the new toys he wanted at Christmas, a car on his sixtieth birthday, the new iPhone when it came out, the next Xbox when it came out, and on top of the tangible items, his parents gave him their complete trust. This meant that he was allowed to do and go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Aidan had his parents trust, and he was right to have it. He was a great kid. He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't do drugs, he got great grades in school. The only thing his parents didn't approve of was his best friend Olivia. His family didn't fight or argue much, but when they did, she would come up. Lately though his parents have laid off on the arguments about the two of them, they have been beginning to realize that nothing will get in between the duo.

The sixteen year old was sort of an outcast at school. He didn't fit in particularly well anywhere. He had a few friends in a few different cliques and he had Olivia but that was pretty much it. It didn't bother him, he was independent. He was incredibly intelligent although a bit shy, which probably didn't help when it came to making friends, but none of it bothered him. He was completely content with life and was just where he wanted to be.

He through on a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt and grabbed an extra one for her. He knew she wouldn't have grabbed one when she stormed out of her house. With his slippers on his feet he stepped into his year old Chevy Camero and took off down the street. They only lived a few miles away so it only took about ten minutes from the time she hung up until he arrived at the front of her house. A click sounded the unlocking of the door and he waited for her to join him in his car. The past times he had picked her up at this time of night, he wouldn't return her home until the next day. Because of this, he couldn't help but think that he would be sleeping on the floor tonight as he always gave her his bed when she slept over.

When she entered the car, he said nothing. Sometimes silence was enough for them.

[corneredbliss]

The wave of ease that always came after the boy's agreement to get her washed over Olivia as she tucked the phone into her back jean pocket. Unfortunately the wave brought with it a tinge of guilt, and although it wasn't overwhelming, she still proceeded to stub out the rest cigarette on the concrete after a few more pulls. Earlier that day, Aidan had gifted her with an e-cig, despite all her protesting about how lame and unauthentic it was. It would have probably been better if she had grabbed the vapor stick instead of her pack, but it was still buried underneath the nicotine patches and gum that had come with the present, and she wasn't touching those with a ten foot pole. Not yet, anyway. She knew her quitting her smoking was high on his wish list in their friendship, but it was a habit long drilled into her anatomy and it wasn't going to stop any time soon. The best she could do was not let him catch her in the act, at least.

Standing up, she turned and began walking the few feet back to her house, peeling her jacket and bag from around her as she went. The leather reeked of her betrayal, so naturally, it had to go. Replacing her bag, Olivia balled up the garment and heaved it across the fence into her backyard, where she knew it would stay until she went to retrieve it the next day. It wasn't freezing outside, but the breeze brushing past her raised goosebumps on the bare skin of her arms as she padded back to her post at the corner. Thank whatever was up there that Aidan didn't live too far. As she went, she pulled out the water bottle she'd filled with the Jack he'd gotten her and took a sip or two, content with how it warmed her as she waited.

The brunette had just slipped the bottle back into her purse when she heard the familiar drone of the vehicle coming towards her. Aidan's family was much more well-off than hers was, so while she was a year older than him, she still didn't have a car of her own. She didn't envy him, though. He was always so focused on school and maintaining the trust of his parents, etcetera, etcetera. To be honest, Olivia didn't know how the two had become as close as they were; they were as different as dog and cat. His parents sure as hell recognized the fact - hence their clear distaste for her whenever she was around them. She knew of the famous arguments in the McDavid household that contained her name, and though she regretted causing rifts between him and his parents, it wasn't like she was going to give up his friendship over it. And she was grateful that he obviously felt the same way.

With her arms folded across her chest, more so to protect herself from the cold than anything, she watched the sleek sports car pull up to where she stood. Olivia stepped down from the curb and reached a hand out to open the door after hearing the click, but hesitated a moment after remembering the red mark on her face. It had stopped stinging for the most part, but she was sure it was still a little pink from the contact. She took comfort in the fact that it would be dark in the car for the ride to his house, and proceeded to pull the door open and climb inside. For the minute or two when the lights inside were on because of her open door, she was sure to keep her face turned away from him, so that her short hair could hide the affected side. She only looked forward again when they went out.

Clicking on her seatbelt as Aidan took off from the curb, she noticed the extra hoodie waiting for her on the dashboard, and she leaned forward to grab it, pulling it close to her body and hugging it like she would a pillow. It was little things like this that made her eternally indebted to him. Olivia began to chew on her lower lip out of nervousness, hyper aware that she still smelled faintly of tobacco. And now on top of that, whiskey. He had remained silent since she'd gotten into the car and didn't ask any questions about what had happened, which she appreciated more than anything. But she knew he would get a whiff of her eventually - if not already. He was the one person she hated to disappoint, even though she couldn't help if it happened more often than she'd like for it to.

Digging into her purse, she pulled out a stick of gum for herself and popped it into her mouth after unwrapping it, a sign of her trying to make it up to him in whatever way she could at that point. The two were silent for a bit longer, with Olivia looking out the window, still careful of her face. After another moment or two had passed, she cleared her throat softly and spoke, trying to lighten the atmosphere. It wasn't going to do any good lingering on what had happened with her father. And so she deployed her usual tactic of avoiding things by making jokes. "Sorry for interrupting your hot date," she said, glancing pointedly at his pajama attire and letting the corner of her mouth pull upwards into a small, smug smile.