“Fallon,” Kelsey whines, plopping on the couch beside me. Her eyes are wide and there’s bags underneath them. “I don’t know what to do.” She rubs her forehead with her palm before slumping over her knees.

            “Kelsey, no,” I say sternly, avoiding her gaze. “You can’t keep doing this. You said you’d stop.”

            “You know what it’s like.” She sits back up, catching my eye. Hers are rimmed with fresh tears. “It’s like a gnawing hunger. I can’t ignore it. I need my fix!”

            Despite the fact that Kelsey tricked me into getting drunk over a week ago, I’ve let it slide. In fact, I’ve let a lot of things slide. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s hard when you want to hold onto the person you’re in love with. Especially after they’ve fallen out of your grasp once before.

            “Do you really want to bring this kind of thing into the house? Have it be around Tyson?” I think back to when he found my stash and I shudder, the thought of what could have happened scaring the shit out of me.

            “No!” She says, jumping to her feet. She turns to me, her face growing more upset by the second. “I won’t do it in the house. Please Fallon.” She sinks onto her knees in front of me and starts begging. “You know how it is. You know!”

            She places her clasped hands on my knees and I watch as she tries to hide the fact that they’re twitching. One of the side effects of meth.

            “You are not doing crystal,” I snap and her head falls onto my knee in defeat.

            “Fallon,” she cries. “I can’t deal with this.”

            I don’t know how long I sit with her leaning on me, begging, until I finally give in. Not to the meth though, but to something that will help numb the craving.

            “If I get you something else, will you stop whining?” I sigh. Her head snaps up and a grin spreads across her lips.

            She nods her head up and down before wrapping me in a hug. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Fallon!” She continues to hug me as I climb to my feet. “I love you so much, Fallon!”

            She feels my body tense and let’s go of me. We haven’t crossed this bridge yet, and right now, while she’s in withdrawal, I don’t really want to.

            “I’ll go…watch Tyson,” she says awkwardly. She starts to walk away but I grab her arm, stopping her.

            “No, I don’t want him here. I’ll give him to my neighbour.”

            Two hours later, Kelsey’s sitting on my bathroom floor, strung out of her mind. The door’s closed and the window is open, letting the smoke blow out the air. I lean against the counter, trying not to give into the temptation.

            “Thank you,” Kelsey mumbles, a sloppy smile on her face. “I owe you big time.”

            I nod in acknowledgement, not really wanting to talk to her right now. She hands me my pipe and gives me puppy dog eyes, wanting me to fill it. Sighing, I turn towards the counter and grab the small baggy of pot. Breaking it up, I fill the pipe and hand it to her, but she refuses to take it.

            “For you,” she grins. “You deserve a reward, or break, or whatever you want to call it.”

            I shake my head no and run my fingers through my hair. “I’m done with drugs, Kelsey. You know that.”

            She starts to pout, sticking out her bottom lip. “But weed isn’t that bad.”

            To be honest, I could argue for both sides but I choose to keep my mouth shut. If it wasn’t for the drug, I probably wouldn’t be meth-free right now. On the other hand, it’s only going to tempt me to do meth all over again.

            “Drinking is worse than weed,” Kelsey notes, nodding her head towards the pipe still in my hands. I start to wonder why I haven’t put it down yet. “It’s not like we’re going out driving or anything. We’re just going to hang out here for the afternoon.”

            I raise my eyebrows at her. “Are you trying to convince me? Because it’s not exactly working.” Okay, maybe it is working. But if I tell her it’s not, maybe she’ll stop.

             “Fallon.” She smiles, something that’s more seductive. She stands, wobbling slightly before stepping in front of me. “I want you to have fun.” Wrapping her hands around my neck, she pulls me closer until our lips touch.

            “Hand me the lighter,” I tell her breathlessly after we pull apart. She does so, grinning widely as I head towards the window. I put my lips on the pipe and light the weed, inhaling the sweet smoke. Then, after I’ve blown the smoke out the window, I take another hit. And another. By the time I’ve finished the bowl, I’m grinning, feeling the most happy and carefree I’ve been in a long time.

            I gesture for Kelsey to come towards me as I hold a bunch of smoke in my lungs. She comes willingly, and when she thinks I’m leaning in for a kiss, I blow all the smoke in her face.

            “Ass,” she laughs, swatting me with her hand. We start laughing and sink onto the floor, unable to stop. We stay like that, in the bathroom, for most of the afternoon. It isn’t until I start to get the munchies when I realize that I can leave the room.

            “Race you to the kitchen,” I grin, jumping to my feet. Kelsey is out the door before me and sprinting down the hall. I catch her quickly and grab her by the waist, scooping her in my arms.

            “Cheater!” She yells as I set her down behind me, beating her to our goal. I’m sifting through cupboards when I hear a knock at the door. At first, I think it’s in my head. But after a few more sounds, I finally go to check it out. “Wait,” Kelsey says as I head towards the door. She grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me in for a quick kiss.

            “Be back in a second,” I tell her, walking towards the door. When I open it, my grin instantly fades and I feel frozen in place.

            “Hey Fallon,” Eve says, smiling. She looks at me, slightly confused, seeing my red rimmed eyes. “How are-“ She stops, mid-sentence. “Are you on drugs?”

            “I feel like shit,” Kelsey groans, leaning her head back on the chair. She pulls her legs up under her huge belly until she’s sitting cross-legged.

            “It will get better,” I assure her, grabbing her hand. I squeeze it tightly and smile. “It will all be worth it soon.”

            “I hope so. I just want him out of me already,” she laughs. “Do you think there’s any way to induce labour?”

            Ten minutes later, we’ve printed out a long list of things from Google that are supposed to help make Tyson come. The first thing is jumping jacks.

            “This is going to suck,” Kelsey smirks, climbing to her feet. She starts jumping up and down, looking embarrassed and like she’s going to throw up at the same time. “Do it with me!” Groaning, I stand up and start doing jumping jacks in front of her. “What else?” She asks, still jumping.

            “Eating licorice,” I tell her, heading towards the kitchen. I pull a bag out of the cupboard and hand it to her, taking a few pieces for myself. She starts to stuff the candy into her mouth before stealing the list and looking through it. After she swallows, she clicks on the stereo, changing the music to a pop station. “Dance with me.”

            I scoot away on the couch, avoiding her eyes. “I’m good.”

            She moves in front of me and narrows her eyes. “It’s on the list. You’re going to dance with me.”

            I moan as she pulls me to my feet. She starts dancing and when I just stand there, she takes my hands and starts moving me around like a doll. She looks at me knowingly before leaning forward and kissing me. Just when I’m getting into it, she pulls back, smirking.

            “You’ll get more kisses when you start dancing.”

            Groaning again, I actually comply. In my opinion, I’m the worst possible dancer ever. But Kelsey doesn’t seem to mind as I twirl her in circles and even get her to do a few more jumping jacks.

            “We need to borrow Erik’s car,” I tell Kelsey, looking at the list. Grinning, I don’t tell her what for until we’re safely inside, driving down the road.

            “Where are we going?” She asks curiously.

            I keep quiet until we’re on one of the bumpiest roads in town. There are speed bumps, pot holes and every other kind of thing to make it the worst road for driving.

            “It says a bumpy ride will help,” I grin, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Hold on.”

            She grabs the handle above her door and the armrest beside me. “Let’s go!”

            We speed down the road, hitting the bumps with slightly too much force. I’ve done this a million times, but never with a pregnant Kelsey. By the time we’ve done it a few times back and forth, I decide to pick up more speed. We’re just heading for the first bump when Kelsey gasps.

            “Fallon, stop!”

            “What is-“

            “Just stop!” She screams and I break, the car slowing immediately. It just goes over the first speed bump and we stop halfway on it, the back wheels not going over.

            “Kelsey, what’s wrong?” I ask worriedly, watching as she starts breathing heavily.

            “I’m having a contraction,” she gasps, meeting my eyes. “We need to go the hospital. The baby is coming.”