Confrontation.

A few hours later I was sitting in my apartment waiting for James to return when Ace came round. I had texted asking him to come over telling him it was an emergency.

“Hey,” he smiled walking in the door.

“Hey,” I smiled back meekly.

“What’s up? I got your text” he asked walking over to where I was standing in my dark and empty apartment. He lifted up my chin and looked into my eyes.

“James’s gone again,” I replied turning my head away from him and looking down.

“What? Gone where?” he asked frowning.“I don’t fucking know! He just started acting all weird okay, and now he’s gone and it’s all MY fault!” I snapped.

“Scarlett, babe, calm down, nothing is your fault okay?” he replied sternly. I shook my head.

“You don’t even know,” I huffed. He looked slightly hurt. “Why does he keep doing this, what are we doing so wrong Ace? Billie and I are always there for him, always, he’s so immature, It’s not funny anymore,”  I added.


“Sit down,” he said softly. I reluctantly sat down with him on the sofa. “Now do you wanna know what I think?” he asked.  I nodded slowly. “I think this has something to do with the drugs,” he said. I looked confused.
“What do you mean, he’s stopped that now,” suddenly the penny dropped, “you think he’s still taking them?” I asked.
“Scarlett I’m not saying he’s doing anything, I’m only suggesting what could be the problem here, he’s been acting weird for a reason, it would make sense.”
“You think he’s… addicted…” I started chewing on my bottom lip, “I should have helped him more.”
“Scarlett, it wasn't up to you to help him." he told me. 


"But how would you know this anyway?" I asked."Scarlett, I’m not going to lie to you, I've had plenty of friends who have been addicted to drugs  and as much as I tried it was impossible to help them, unless they want to stop themselves.”

“But James isn't a drug addict, it was that Rodger he met, he forced him, ugh I could kill him, I’m gonna find him, I'm gonna kill him!” I suddenly got up.
“Woah, woah, slow down feisty,” he smiled grabbing me and pulling me back. “Call James first, you really need to talk to him,” He said. I signed and nodded. I took a deep breath and walked over to grab my phone.
“James, if you don’t get back here in the next ten minutes all your shit is going in the bin and I’m not joking right now!” I shouted. 
I slammed the phone down and almost broke down in tears. I hated all of this; I hated feeling angry and letting Ace see all the bad sides of me before he had even gotten to see all the good sides. Even though meeting Ace was the best thing ever, I wished I hadn't met him yet.
“Hey, hey,” Ace said slipping his hands around my waist and turning my body to face him. “Everything is going to be fine,” he told me.
“But what do I do Ace, I don’t want a best friend who’s addicted to drugs, I want to help him but this is all too much, he's gone too far.” I said. 

Ace had to go home because he had work early tomorrow but I told him I would be fine. James returned about 20 minutes later, late was better than never, right?
“James is it true?” I asked as soon as he walked in the door. He strode though my living room looking confused and pissed off. I could tell he was drunk, his face was red and as he walked his body fell to the side. “Are you addicted to drugs James,” I asked sternly placing my hand on my hip.
“What are you talking about Scarlet, I've come to get my stuff and I’m going somewhere else.” He walked towards me and I could see his eyes were wide and blood shot. 

“James are you fucking taking drugs?” I screamed.


“I’m not addicted Scarlet, I just enjoy it every now and then! Oh, oh, is goody two shoes Scarlett going to call the police,” his voice changed from moody to patronising.


“James, I thought you were over this, are you still seeing Rodger too?” I asked.
“No, Scarlett, it’s just me.”
“And your precious drugs?” I mocked. He signed angrily.

“Just leave me alone okay, you don’t need to control my life, you or Billie,” he begun grabbing his stuff from around my apartment and stuffing them inside a large leather bag.
“What did we do wrong James, we were great friends to you, why didn't you tell us about this?” I said.

“It’s nothing to do with you, I just enjoy taking drugs okay, loads of people do it, you need to grow up Scarlett, all you do is follow Billie around like her little bitch thinking everything she says is fucking gospel, live a little!” he laughed. I shook my head.

“Did you bring drugs back here?” I asked softly. He ignored me. “Did you bring drugs into MY fucking apartment?” I screamed.
“Yes!” he shouted back, “Do you want some, here” he asked reaching into his jean pocket and pulling out a little plastic bag containing some white powder, ”here, have some!” He threw the bag at me and I watched as it flew past me and landed on the carpet at the bottom of my feet.

“What the fuck James!” I shouted, quickly falling to my knees. I tried to pick it up but as I did the bag split open and the powder spilled out though my hands and onto the carpet.

“I want you and this shit out of my apartment! Do you even know how serious this is?” I shouted. James shrugged and carried on stuffing his stuff into his bag. I threw away the bag and scooped up as much of the powder as I could, I would hoover the rest up later.
When he was finished packing up his stuff he left without a word.

As soon as the door slammed shut I collapsed onto the sofa and felt the tears fill my eyes. Before I could fight back the tears they were streaming down my face. I felt my body shake as I cried harder and harder. I sobbed until my eyes were red and my face was wet with tears.  I was just regaining composure when I heard the hinges on my door creek.

“Ace,” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks, “is that you?” I called out

“Sorry, no, it’s me,” said a male voice from behind me. I jumped up and turned around quickly.  “Matt from next door, you remember, Jane’s fiancé… ex fiancé,” he said running his fingers through his mousy hair. I looked blankly at him. “I’m sorry for just walking in like this, oh god this looks creepy, no no, I just heard you crying, I wanted to see if you were okay, the door was open” he said quickly.
 
“It’s fine,” I replied sniffing, “I’m fine.” I said sitting up straight.“Right, right, I’ll er, I’ll go,” he said awkwardly, adjusting his glasses. I smiled.“Thank you, for seeing if I was okay,” I smiled sadly as she walked out of my apartment and shut the door behind him.