Mr. Observant

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“What do you mean buying something? Like drugs?” I asked Chloe, after what she just told me.

My heart was racing. I mean, I knew something was up with Katelyn but I didn’t think it was something this serious.

She fidgeted nervously and tugged on the hem of her shirt.

“Well I saw her give him money, and I think I recognized the guy, I used to see him around when I lived in residence first year. I know he’s a dealer because there were a few girls on my floor that were big into the rave thing and would buy off him all the time.”

I stood still while I tried to take in this information. If Chloe was right and Katelyn was buying drugs, it actually kind of made sense with all the weird little things going on.

“You need help” Josh’s text had said. Maybe I should talk to Josh, he obviously knew more about the whole thing than I did.

“Okay, well thanks for letting me know. I mean, she’s always been a hard partier but never to the point where it was a concern…” I trailed off.

“Ya of course, I just wanted you to know, but don’t assume anything until you talk to her. Maybe sleep on it and see how things are tomorrow?” She suggested.

I nodded back at her, in agreement.

“Well I’m drained but tonight was fun! Thanks for getting everyone out, as much as they drive me crazy I did miss the boys over summer.” She said, smiling at me. God bless that girl and her ability to up the mood in any situation.  

“Ya totally! Well I think we should head out too, I will let you know about Kate once she leaves tomorrow. Let’s go to the gym Monday after class?” I suggested.

“I’m down! Gotta work off all that shit I just ate” She giggled. “Oh and it’s nice to know Matt’s personality is as good as his looks! He didn’t take his eyes off you all night by the way” She said with a wink as she turned to leave.

I walked back over to the table to collect Katelyn and head home.

“Ready to go party animal?” I asked as I approached the table.

“No way! It’s early, let’s hit up another bar!” She said eagerly.  

That's the last thing you need, I thought.

Matt could sense that I wanted to leave and thankfully piped up, “Well I’m gunna head out now so I can give you guys a ride to your apartment if you want?". He had only had 2 beers over the course of the night and a ride sounded much better than walking home late at night.

I turned to him “Thank you, that would be great. Kate if we leave now we can get a ride, it’s gunna be last call at most places anyways” I said to her.

She rolled her eyes at me like a stubborn teenager and grabbed her purse. When she stood up, I noticed for the first time all weekend that she had lost weight. Not a lot, but enough to notice as she already had a pretty petite frame.

We said goodbye to everyone and made our way out into the parking lot. I was walking close to Matt, with our arms brushing while Katelyn was talking non stop about absolutely nothing behind us.

On our way home, I mindlessly thought of all the years I had known Katelyn and her family, and couldn’t think of anything that could have been a sign.

“You okay?” Matt asked and snapped me out of my thoughts finally.

I tried to force a smile, but he knew it was fake and had a concerned look on his face.  

When we pulled up to the apartment building, I wanted to say a proper goodnight to Matt so I gave Katelyn my keys and told her to head up.

I watched her stumble out of the truck and to the main door of the building before I couldn’t hold it in any more and started bursting out in tears.

I told Matt everything about the weekend and what was going on with Katelyn, and he listened patiently, nodding at the right times and squeezing my hand.

When I was finished, he looked at me and asked, “Do you want my honest opinion?”

I wiped a tear off my face with my hand (I knew I totally had the ugly cry face going on) and nodded.

“She’s on something. Whether she admits it or not when you bring it up, I can guarantee she took something tonight. She made frequent trips to the bathroom alone, her pupils were huge and she was really animated when she spoke.”

I was a little surprised that he noticed all of that when even I didn’t. “Wow, I didn’t know you were so observant” I said while all of a sudden realizing that everything he said was right.

He smiled at me “I’m not in all aspects; I guess I’ve just conditioned myself to pick up on these things with all the shit with my mom. I was actually going to mention her behaviour to you but it was kind of hard in front of everyone and I didn’t want to embarrass her or start a fight between you two…” He said.

“It’s okay, thank you for keeping it to yourself around everyone, I don’t even know how I’m going to approach this with her. We had such a nice visit this weekend I don’t want to ruin it all with a fight” I said, half whining.

“I get that but I know how bad these situations can turn out and how fast someone can go downhill. Do you know this Josh guy well? Maybe you could talk to him and see what the deal is.” He suggested.

“Ya we went to school together, I was thinking about talking to him but I don’t want to seem sneaky…” I replied.

“No matter what way you approach this, it’s not going to be a fun conversation. I only suggest talking to him because she will either lie to you or downplay the whole thing. I don’t know her well obviously, but it’s what people usually do, deny that there’s an actual problem.”

I thought about what he said and I knew he was right. I had seen countless Intervention episodes and also taken a few psych classes that went over addiction and it’s true, people deny they have a problem until they’re ready to make a change.

“You’re right. I’m gunna talk to Josh tomorrow after she leaves. I don’t want to ruin the end of our trip and bringing it up tonight isn’t going to do anything.” I said as I started to breathe normally again, after my crying fit. “Thank you, for the ride, and for listening.”

His face was close to mine and he gently pulled my chin up and pressed his lips onto mine. It was a slow and sweet kiss but there was still an intense passion behind it.

All this kissing was teasing me, it was like being able to taste the frosting on a cupcake and then have someone take it away before being able to enjoy the rest. I couldn't wait to "indulge" a bit more when we had our next date.

He pulled my face away and had a serious look “Do not hesitate to call me for anything, okay?” He asked.

It was a small but sweet gesture that showed he cared. I nodded, kissed him once more and headed in.

Thankfully someone else was going into the building at the same time as me so I snuck in and went up to my apartment.

Katelyn was watching something on TV when I came in but I was exhausted, physically and emotionally and headed to bed.

Katelyn had to leave fairly early on Sunday since we both had homework to do and I hadn’t been able to get rid of my Sunday shift so I had to work in the afternoon anyways.

She was acting completely like her old self, and must have figured I hadn’t noticed anything the night before. I knew that I couldn’t just forget about it though and as much as I hated confrontation, I wasn’t going to sit by and watch her do this to herself. I wanted to talk to Josh and then would decide how to handle it.

We hugged and both said how much fun we had and promised to try and visit our parents on the same weekend so we could hang out at home together.

As soon as she left I pulled up Facebook on my iPhone. I didn’t want Josh to panic or anything so I just sent him a casual message:

Hey Josh!

How’s it going? Hopefully the start of the semester is going well for you.

Anyways, Kate visited me this weekend and I just wanted to talk to you about something. Can you let me know when a good time to call you would be?

Thanks! :)

I figured that sounded breezy enough, sent it, and left the ball in his court.

I spent the rest of the morning getting ahead on an assignment that was due next Monday. I wasn’t usually this prepped or ahead on school work, but Aleah had invited me to go to the McNeese football game next Saturday and then we had planned a girls night for later that night so I knew I wouldn’t be getting much done that weekend.

At about 2:30 I started getting ready for work. The restaurant I worked at was called the Black Bull and thankfully our uniform was pretty casual. Just the t-shirt they provided, which was a black v neck with BB on the right breast and a bull stenciled on the back, and jeans. Tom even gave us the choice of regular jeans, jean shorts or a jean skirt.

I grabbed my work shoes and started walking towards the door when my phone buzzed.

It was a reply from Josh to my Facebook message:

Call me ASAP, doesn’t matter the time, just call me as soon as you can

I swallowed hard, so much for breezy. I guess things were worse than I thought.