{UNEDITED}
"What happened?" I asked after a moment of silence. I watched as Adam sighed and threw both hands into his hair, before marching towards his window. He pulled it up, silently and brought out a packet of cigarettes.
I furrowed my brows at the thought of him smoking in his room, but it seemed as though he had done it before so I put my worrying to the back of my mind.
He lit a cigarette, placing it between his lips and inhaled deeply before speaking. "Believe it or not, I actually had a best friend," He paused, a ghost of a smile grazing his lips, "his name was Caleb."
I was shocked for a moment, the utter thought of Adam being that close to someone to be able to call them a best friend was alarming, as bad as it was, I couldn't really picture it. He glanced at me, gauging my reaction with an uncertain glint in his eyes. They were dull, their brown depths seemed to expel an unusual sadness, and in that moment I knew why I stayed.
"Our parents were friends before we were born, and afterwards they spent so much time together, I guess we became close too." He paused, as if in thought, before beginning again, "Caleb was popular, a lot more popular than me--"
"No surprise there." I commented, jokingly. Trying to at least lighten up the mood just a bit.
His smile widened, despite being almost minuscule to begin with, the very slightest alteration to it was a success on my behalf.
"Anyway, he was friends with just about everyone, every type of person you could think of and he was friends with them. Maybe not even friends, he may of just had a conversation with them, but I never heard anyone say anything bad about him, not one time." He smiled, with his eyes heavy as he looked down. "I remember when he made it onto the football team, he got wide receiver, and I was so worried he would ditch me for those air-head jocks, but he never did."
He looked out the window again, inhaling in the smoke deeply. "Never ditched me once, but I guess that's because we shared a common interest."
Before he could say another word I was already deeply consumed into his story, feeling as though I was there myself. "What interest?"
His smile was sad but none the less, he released a dull chuckle, "We both had some things we wanted to forget."
I was about to throw him another question before he stopped me, "And the best way to forget anything, was girls and booze." He spoke, never once looking to my direction, "And we had this tradition, it was our way of trying to sober up before going back home, we never wanted our parents to know. So after any night out, no matter how late it was, we would get a coffee from somewhere. I don't really know how it started but we were strict on keeping it a tradition. And it seemed to work. My parents never knew.
Caleb was the best Wingman any guy could ask for. And he loved to party, I never really knew what his obsession with it was, but almost every night he would come to my house, either already wasted or ready to be. And he would throw rocks at the window--"
"How romantic."
He threw me a glare, "Fuck off." He rolled his eyes, before an old smile stretched across his face, "There was one time, that fucker was so pissed out of his mind, he ended up smashing this window."
He looked over the edges of the window as I laughed lightly, watching as he spent a moment deep in thought. "Somewhere along the way, going out became a routine. Almost every night, we would get smashed out of our minds and just forget everything, one time we both forgot our names and people just went with it." He stopped talking suddenly.
I slid down next to him and inched forward, completely engulfed in his voice as every word dripped off his lips I was sinking deeper and deeper into the story. Yet still all too painfully aware of the growing tension filling the room.
"There was one night. We were both pissed off our heads, it was late. I can remember how late, exactly, but it was late enough to be absolutely freezing outside. Caleb had found a girl, he said he liked her and wanted to take her home which wasn't anything but ordinary. But we messed up earlier that night and nearly got caught so we took my car together to get there, which was a stupid move in the first place. But I knew at that time I was too pissed to drive, too fucking drunk to drive." He muttered the last part, bitterly.
I felt my heart clench, painfully as his voice lowered, changing to a bitter tone. "So I made them walk. The both of them. What a shitty excuse of a friend, but I knew Caleb was a shit driver sober and an even worse one drunk. I was being selfish, and I know now that I should've called a taxi or something, it's what we always did. But Caleb was off that day and I hadn't got a girl yet, so I made them walk.
"I stayed at the party for some more hours longer, and soon I found a girl to take home. I didn't know her name, still can't remember it to this day. It was the usual, just some girl I wouldn't call again. Anyway, I hadn't had anymore drinks since I saw Caleb, and I was feeling pretty sober. So I got in the car, with the girl."
I shook my head, as if I could change the story, but I knew I couldn't and he wasn't paying any attention to me either way. He continued, lost in his own words almost as much as I was.
"We started driving over to my house, I remember thinking that my parent's weren't in, but I found out later that they were, yet everything was going as well as it could. I was practically driving like a sober man. I should've fucking known it was a stupid choice from the moment I stepped into the fucking driver's seat. Just when I thought we were getting close to my house, the girl started screaming about how she was gonna puke, and that we needed to pull over."
His voice was a void of all emotion at this point, every syllable was painful to hear as I continuously shook my head.
"I got so distracted. So fucking distracted. I barely even noticed when we crashed."
My hand flew to my mouth in shock.
"The car was rolling, I don't know for how long or what we even hit. I can still feel to this day when the car stopped. I remember hearing a shattering sound. It was like a crash of thunder." His eyes were closed, and he dropped the cigarette to the floor.
"The ambulance was there in minutes. The firefighters too. I thought, why the fuck are the firemen here? The police too, but I knew about that one. Later when we got to the hospital, we had minor injuries, I'm pretty sure the girl had none at all, the police told us that we crashed into a commercial property, café-type-shit and for that reason an investigation would be conducted. But I already knew I was in deep shit."
He froze up, keeping his eyes delicately closed as his voice began to tremble, in a soft, vulnerable whisper. As though the next words inflicted an actual physical pain.
"I sent him walking, Gabby. I sent him walking, absolutely pissed out of his mind. And yet he still remembered." He opened his eyes and stared at me.
But what shocked me were the tears brimming in them.
"I sent him walking. I made the tradition. And I got him killed."
I shook my head. It wasn't true.
"I killed him because he got himself a cup of coffee."
_
{A/N}
{I've actually changed the name here to Caleb... Yeah... Let me know if I've missed some places <3}
-
I just want to take the moment, to say that drunk driving is never okay. You are putting yourself and others in danger. Not just pretend danger, but a real severe danger that has irreversible consequences. It's not fun. It's not just for a laugh. It can get people killed, so please, think before you drink. Call a taxi. Or even your parents, I'm sure they value your life more than a stupid drunk call asking for them to pick you up.
Please be safe guys, please be responsible and NEVER get into a car with someone that you know has had a drink, or a stranger. Okay?
And don't text and drive. Or do drugs, kids.
Anyways...
Did you guys expect that?
Do you guys think Gabby should stay with him? Or should she run for the hills?
Do you guys still think of Adam the same way?
Is anyone else crying right now?