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One month sober. Luke Crain had spent one entire month sober, he swore it was the longest he had ever lasted. Every day felt like an eternity, surviving just because of her; his little sister, Nellie, was getting married in exactly a month since he entered into rehabilitation. She was the one to drop him off and the last of his siblings he talked in… He didn’t know how long. The point was, Luke got a permission to spend the day out supervised by one of his family members. He highly doubted any of his siblings would go get him – none of them thought he’d be there. Perhaps all of they agreed that he’d be sticking a needle in his arm as soon as he walked out of rehab.
Luke couldn’t recall when they became such assholes to him. He tried not to think about it and adjusted his coat, a man from the staff let him borrow it to wear it to Nell’s wedding along with some black worn jeans. The only thing he owned were the shoes and the t-shirt – kind of, he took it from Steve a long ago.
As he walked past the fences and watched everything – the cars, the people, the kids, he noticed a car with a low window, that looked exactly like Shirley’s car. Except that Shirley wasn’t driving, it was her husband, and a man he didn’t know in the co-pilot seat. They waved at him and he slowly approached, skeptical, ready to runaway when necessary. He was used to escape from dealers he owed money to.
“Hey, Luke! Come here, Nell sent us to take you,” Kevin said, Luke’s heart sank, not even if her day Nellie stopped caring about him.
She probably already knew her siblings wouldn’t want Luke there. But it was her twin, her brother and partner in crime as they grew up, how Nell could possibly not want him in her wedding?
“Thanks Kevin,” Luke got inside the car hesitantly, he knew Kevin was a good man but Shirley was the most done with him. Luke knew for a fact Kevin had the same impression of him as his sister.
Kevin turned the car on again, and just then the other man introduced himself.
“I’m Nell’s future husband, Arthur Vance. Nice to meet you” Arthur smiled to Luke through the mirror, but Luke couldn’t smile back, “I wanted to come because I know Nell’s other siblings, but you were always missing” and you already know why, I guess, Luke wanted to add, but he remained silent, “I just want you to know that I’ve heard a lot of bad stuff about you from everyone but Nell. She cares a lot about you, and I wanted to know your side of the story.”
“My side of the story?” he asked, in a low voice. Arthur nodded. Luke felt like crying, nobody everasking him that.
“I don’t believe you’re a drug addict just because, Nell says you went through a lot.”
“I have.” Luke’s eyes were red from uncried tears in a matter of seconds. Every memory he had from the house came back, from the day they arrived to when mom killed Abigail. “I damn have, haven’t I? A mother that committed suicide, a close friend dying in front of me, being separated from my dad as a kid and therefore growing up with both of my parents gone – that’s too much shit to handle, don’t you think?” He had a sarcastic smile in his face, playing with his hand, he came closer to Kevin and Arthur. “Now tell me, am I the same fucking monster Theo, Shirley and Steve described to you?”
Arthur shook his head, without knowing what to say. Steve always said Luke was a useless drug addict that the only thing he was good at was escaping from rehab and making them spent money. None of them ever said how or why it started, not even Nell; at some point, Arthur thought neither did they know.
Nellie was the only one that talked good things about him. Stories of them as kids, the times he helped her, the twin connection; Nellie always loved Luke in the name of her other siblings.
Kevin coughed a little when he noticed they were not so far from home.
“We’re almost there.” He informed. Luke smiled widely as he saw Shirley’s home, “I gotta take Arthur to church already, go inside and say hi to Nell. We’ll met you there.” Kevin smiled to him, and Luke felt a so much joy he wondered when was the last time he was this happy.
He got down from the car and walked to the entrance, he couldn’t even reach the door when Shirley opened, welcoming him with a frown.
“What are you doing here?” Shirley didn’t want him there and it showed. But Nellie did, and Shirley could fuck herself for once.
“Nellie invited me, and I’m her twin brother so I have the right to be here!”
“Of course she invited you, she’s the only one that still has hopes on you!” She snapped, taking out her wallet, “Listen, we can’t let you ruin this. Call a cab or buy some drugs – I don’t care, but you’re not gonna ruin this.” She handed him fifty dollars, and Luke for a brief moment thought on accepting them, but his desire to see Nell again was stronger.
He pushed Shirley out of his way and entered, he could hear her say he shouldn’t be there but Luke gave a flying fuck. He looked for his sister frantically, before any of the others appeared and obliged him to go. Until he heard laughs coming from a room, before Shirley could stop him, he opened the door and there she was.
Nellie looked like an angel. A confused angel that would ruin her make up if she dared to cry – Oh, and Theo was there too.
“You’re here! You did it!” Nell exclaimed, jumping into his arms for a hug. Luke then realized how much he missed her hugs. Theo rolled her eyes and did a shady comment that went unnoticed.
“I did it, one month clean” His sister’s eyes lit up, and her smile was the warmest he had ever seen.
“I’m so proud of you, I always been.”
Luke was the one to hug her this time, happy to be in his little sister’s big day. He did it. And it wasn’t even the end, it was just the start of the hardest part, but, at least, Luke knew he wouldn’t be alone as he walked the path of recovery.