AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I needed a vacation. I need to be away.” He shrugs.
“Dude. You were wasted the last time we saw you. Dane put you in the shower and to bed, and then the next morning, you vanished. Then a week goes by and no word from you. We’ve been losing our shit.” I seem to have started to whine, not wanting to pussyfoot around the subject any more.
Max’s glazed stare blazes through me. Then he quickly diverts his eyes as if he’s been shamed like a dog after my words have likely sunk in.
“A simple phone call to let us know you were fine would have eliminated so much. I know you’ve been dealing with a lot of shit, and I know its sucked balls, but you have us to talk to. Sterling would bend over backwards to talk to you if you would let her, she’s just as worried as we are. I don’t want to make you feel any worse than you could possibly feel, but we both want you to know we worry about you and we care.”
Max sits down on the loveseat facing us. He sets his drink down, but keeps his eyes locked on the glass.
“I don’t want to talk about it or think about it. I want to forget it.” He mumbles.
“The booze and the chicks?” I ask.
“It gives me a temporary memory replacement. Changes reality for a brief period of time.” He sounds helpless as he describes his thoughts on how he’s been coping and I realize that he is telling us why he’s been drinking the way he has.
“Do you want to change that? Or do you want to stay in this endless cycle?” Dane asks. Damn, he’s good, And to the point.
“Right now, I don’t know any other way to forget.” Max admits.
“You don’t need to forget, but you gotta move on. I know everything has sucked, but you can’t quit. Betsy would have never wanted you to quit, she was your perfect cheerleader man, she wanted nothing but the best for you.”
“She was the best for me. I wanted to marry her, I wanted to make little Betsy’s with her. I wanted what you and Sterling have.” Max pushes his face into his hands and takes a deep breath.
I move over to sit next to him and place my hand on his back. We sat in silence for several minutes while I got my thoughts together. The next piece of information can go several different ways.
“Max, if you’re willing to accept it, I have something to offer you.” I start as Max looks at me through his fingers. “Tomorrow morning, I have a spot for you ready at a nearby clinic.”
“Like rehab?” He asks as I nod my head. “No, I don’t need rehab. I’m alright.”
“It’s a nice one, on the cliffs. We think it may be the best thing for you right now. I hate seeing you like this. As mushy and un-manlike as it sounds – I miss my brother.”
Max nods. “I don’t need rehab or any facility. I’m alright. Besides rehab, it also asks for me to be sober which impacts you guys.”
“Bullshit excuse, but go on.” Dane plays it straight.
“We can’t go out for drinks, can’t keep booze around the house and stuff like that.” He says.
“Look man, people don’t necessarily need a drink to have fun. It will be different, but it will be a good thing. It’s not something that will be difficult for anyone nor is it a determining factor when you care about your friends. Answer this, do you want to keep drinking? Do you enjoy it?” Dane asks.
“I drink, like I said to forget and to not feel. Do I enjoy it, I think I do sometimes. Other times, it’s more of an obligation. I feel like I need to drink to deal. It helps me get through the day, avoid the nightmares, to not have to remember. But I don’t need to go somewhere to get control of myself and stop drinking. Who says I even want to stop?”
“You don’t need to forget. You were dealt a shitty hand. But you are still alive, you can still carry her memory if that’s what you want. You don’t need to rely on drinking though to do that.” I say slightly worried that we’re pushing too hard and asking too much too soon.
There’s a slight knock on the door. We all turn our heads to the door.
“That would be… um some chick that was here recently. That’s who I thought you guys were when you first showed up. Sorry, give me a second to break her heart.” He attempts to joke to calm himself as he gets up and answers the door.
I see a slender tanned arm reach for him and pull him to her, she’s just out of sight that we can’t see her. Max says something quietly to her and then he’s shutting the door and returning to the loveseat.
He sits down and his expression is contemplative. No one says anything, in fear to break Max’s thoughts.
“I know something needs to change. Am I acknowledging that, yes. Am I embracing it, not quite. I’ll fully admit to you right now, I’m not sober and I haven’t been not really since I drove over to this hotel, and even though I was probably still drunk from when you guys put me to sleep that night. So yeah, I will acknowledge that I have a problem.” He then turns to me. “I don’t want you, either of you to have to worry about me. I don’t agree with you that I need to go into a rehab place. I don’t think that I need it and I don’t want it.”
“Max, we need you at the office. But we can’t have you there when you’re like this.” Dane says.
“So either I go into rehab or I’m... what…. bought out of our company, the company that I helped build?” Max asks angrily.
“I don’t want that to happen. But I can’t have you at the office drinking, and I can’t depend on you to be present, when you haven’t been. I want you to be the guy you used to be.”
