• “Do I look okay? I mean, how do you dress for these things?” Jimmy said, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. I giggled at his nervousness.

    “I don’t know how you dress for them. But to tell you the truth, you look pretty damn handsome if I do say so myself,” I said, looking him up and down. He smiled, pulling me in for a soft kiss, before grabbing his converse and placing them on his gigantic feet.

    “I’m nervous.”

    “I can tell,” I said, smiling at him. “Everything will be okay though, don’t worry about it so much. These are just meetings with a room full of people just like you. No one better, no one worse.”

    “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Anna,” He said, pulling me into his arm and placing a light kiss on my forehead. I smiled, wrapping my arms around his lanky shoulders.

    “I don’t know what I’d do without you either, Sully.”

    “It’s been forever since you called me that,” He said, grinning. I smiled back.

    “I think sixth grade was the last time I used that nickname. You got mad at me, because I called you Sully in front of Brian. You didn’t speak to me for a week.”

    “I was trying to be manly. Sully is not a manly nickname,” He said, chuckling. I nodded.

    “It is, you just have to find the manliness in it,” I said, giggling as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He walked me into the bedroom before throwing me down on our bed, where I snuggled up into the pillows.

    “Well, I’d better get going now. I love you, Anna,” He said, kissing me. I kissed him back, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

    “I love you too Jimmy. Hurry back so I won’t be alone too long.”

    “I’ll be back before you know it,” He said, winking, before he stepped out of the bedroom door and then out of the house.

    -----(Jimmy P.O.V.)-----

    As I locked the door to the house, I couldn’t help the nervousness that bubbled up inside of me at the thought of having to go to drug rehabilitation. I felt so defected, having to go to a meeting for crack heads and stoners. Well, I guess I was one of them now. If I hadn’t started the speed, I wouldn’t be here right now. I would have been with Anna the whole time. Maybe she would’ve gotten pregnant. Maybe we would have gotten divorced. Maybe we would’ve moved into a bigger house. I’ll never know what I missed in those last three months, but I knew I had missed a lot, because Matt had been scolding me over the phone for the past week. I truly regret everything I’ve done to hurt Anna and my family and friends, and if I could take it back, I would. But I don’t know how to take it back. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to take it back.

    As soon as I pulled in front of the community center, I grimaced. There is no way in hell that I wanted to be in that room full of defected freaks just like me. I wouldn’t really learn anything that I hadn’t already learned. I was doing this for Anna. I spent a little time in my car regaining my composure. Calm, cool, collected. That was the Jimmy Sullivan that everybody knew. I had to turn into the old me again. There was no turning back.

    I made my way into the conference room where my meeting would be held, and was surprised at the amount of people that were there. It wasn’t many, just a handful. I thought I was in the wrong place; surely California would have more than fourteen users. Apparently not, I thought, as I took a seat in the farthest corner. A young redheaded girl came and sat beside me, and I tried my hardest to smile at her.

    “You must be a newcomer. I’m Ellie, Ellie Nash. What are you in for?” She asked, pulling her journal closer to her chest.

    “Speed. The wife said I had to come or else find new living-quarters. What are you in for?” I asked her, trying not to be invasive. She pulled her journal closer to her chest again, and took a deep breath.

    “I’m a cutter slash druggie. I come to meetings here and in a room down the hallway. Sorting out a load of problems,” She said quietly. “Well, it was nice to see a new face. Especially the face of a world-known drummer.”

    I smiled. “So I take it you like my music?”

    “Music is my passion. It’s pretty much the only thing keeping me going right now,” She said with a smile. Her green eyes met mine for a few more seconds, before she moved back to where she had been sitting.

    She was the first of many to greet me at that first meeting. It seemed as if everyone who was into drugs and lived in Huntington Beach listened to Avenged Sevenfold. The numbers were surprising—even my counselor knew who I was. It wasn’t exactly the best way to start off at rehab.

    After this long day, all I wanted to do was go home, be with my wife, and sleep. But my mind kept going back to the girl I had met in my group. Ellie. There was something about her that intrigued me. And I wanted to figure out why.

    I walked quickly outside and found Ellie sitting in her car, working on something in her notebook. I tapped on her window and she jumped, but smiled and opened her door, getting out to talk to me.

    “Need something Jimmy?”

    “Yeah, I need your number, like pronto,” I said, flashing her a smile. She smiled back, writing her number on a sheet of paper, ripping it out, and handing it to me.

    “I thought you were married.”

    “I am.”

    “So why ask for my number?” She asked, grinning.

    “There’s just something about you,” I said, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss. As soon as she pulled away I ran over to my car, getting in and getting ready to go home. The guilt was killing me by the time I had reached my house. I didn’t know whether I should tell my wife what was going on or not.

    I finally decided not to, seeing as she had already had enough stress this week, dealing with me. After pulling into my garage, I pulled out the paper that Ellie had given me. It had her number written in her neat calligraphy, and on the other side, there was a picture of me. So she wasn’t a poet. She was an artist. I smiled to myself, putting the note back into my pocket. I would call her some time tonight and arrange a meeting. I had to put this puzzle together, and I wouldn’t stop trying until I had succeeded.

    “Learn something at therapy?” Anna asked me as I walked in the door. I smiled warmly, pulling her into my arms.

    “Nothing I didn’t already know. Were you alone too long?” I asked, smirking at Anna. She nodded, poking out her upper lip in a cute pout. I kissed her before carrying her off to our bedroom.

    I couldn’t help it, but Ellie was on my mind the whole time.