AJ

"Baby, would you please calm down? Everything looks great," Matt whispered into my ear, his strong arms wrapped around my waist.

I sighed, laying the large kitchen knife down and sliding the sliced cucumbers into the salad bowl in front of me. I had spent the better part of the day preparing a huge steak dinner for Lily Ann tonight, in the hopes that it would cheer her up some. She had been so depressed ever since Reggie had been abducted from the club, and I felt horrible.

For the last two months, I had been blaming myself for what happened, considering all of Reggie's injuries to be my fault. I was the sober one that evening, and I should have kept an eye out for Reggie when she disappeared off of the dance floor. I shouldn't have waited so long before I went looking for her.

Matt took the cutting board from me and sat it back down, spinning me around so that he could press his lips gently to mine. I smiled against his mouth, reaching up on my tip toes so that I could wrap my arms around his neck. This man had been everything for me. He had dealt with my guilt and depression, and he did everything he could to try to convince me that it wasn't my fault and that without me, no one would have even known she had been kidnapped.

A knock at the door interrupted us, and I eased back down. "I should get that," I said, attempting to move around him, but he stopped me and pecked my lips one more time. "Don't worry about it. You've been cooking all day. I'll get it and then I'll start setting the table."

I watched him disappear into the living room and I couldn't help but love him. Sure, it had only been two months since we met and "defiled" Zacky's couch, as Kayla had so eloquently put it, but those two months were full of so much drama and turmoil with Lily Ann and love from Matt that they felt like a lifetime.

I heard the muffled voices from the living room and wiped my hands off on the clean kitchen towel before making my way towards their direction. "AJ!" Lily Ann said with a smile, wrapping her arms around me in a friendly embrace.

I hugged her back tightly, and led her onto the back porch to join me for a smoke while Matt excused himself to set the table. "So how's Reggie? Any news from the doctors?" I asked, blowing out a puff of smoke.

"Nothing new, really. They thought she was going to wake up this morning, but it was just a false alarm," she said with a frown, taking a long drag. I raised my eyebrows and leaned against the porch railing. "Yea? What happened?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know how comas work. I guess it's good that she still shows brain activity on the monitors. Let's them know she's still in there. I guess her readings were off the charts and they thought she was coming out of it, but they decided it was just a dream or something."

"Hm. I didn't know you could dream while in a coma," I mused, more to myself than to her. She let the smoke trail from her nose before snubbing it out in the ceramic ash tray on the banister. "Hell if I know. I just hope it was one of her killing whoever did this to her."

I laughed as she shadow boxed and shot me a lopsided grin and followed her back into the house. Matt had taken the time to set the table and place all of the food out so that we could serve ourselves from our seats. That guy. Swoon.

We sat around the table and shared some light chatter as we ate, with Lily Ann moaning and complimenting me between mouthfuls and taking large sips of her red wine that Matt had thoughtfully bought. He knew she'd want some type of alcohol, and I never remembered considering I didn't drink. Alcohol just wasn't my thing. Couldn't stand the taste, and after my first hangover, I said fuck it.

Just as we were finishing up, I heard the front door open and slam. Looking up at Matt with an alarmed expression, I opened my mouth the ask a question. Too late.

"STEPHEN KIN- Hey, were you guys having dinner? Can I have some?" Jimmy asked, plopping down in an empty chair and grabbing a foil-wrapped baked potato off of the serving plate in front of him.

Matt cleared his throat as Lily Ann and I gaped at him confused. "Um, Jimmy? What the fuck are you doing in my house?" His tone was patient, but strained, and I could tell that this wasn't the first time that Jimmy had let himself in to someone's house without knocking.

"Mmph?" He looked up from his potato, which he held in his hand, half unwrapped, and was eating it like a sub sandwich. He gestured at Lily Ann's wine glass with pleading eyes and she handed it to him, still speechless. He took a huge gulp out of it, washing the potato down and smacking his lips, and the looked between the three of us. "What?"

"What the fuck, Jimmy?!" I asked, gesturing wildly at the table. His eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. "Oh! Right! The hospital called me and said Reggie was awake!" He announced proudly, taking another bite of his potato and grinning.

"Why didn't they call me?" Lily Ann frowned, taking her wine glass back and grimaced when she saw bits of potato in it.

He shrugged, grabbing a dinner roll. "They said your phone kept going to voice mail, so they called me." I watched as Lily Ann pulled her phone out and she groaned. "God damn piece of shit battery..." she mumbled, placing it on the table. "Wait, why the fuck did they call you?" She asked, arching a brow.

"Because I told them at the hospital that I was her brother and they put me on her next of kin list under you," he said matter-of-factly, like it should have been obvious. I shook my head with a side and smile affectionately at Jimmy. "Of course you did," Lily Ann said and Matt stood up to clear our plates from the table.

"So do you want us to go up there with you, or did you want to go alone? And someone needs to call Brian," he said as he pulled his phone out, disappearing with the dishes and returning moments later.

After Jimmy's announcement, the atmosphere in the house shifted dramatically, from light joking and strained conversation to buzzing with activity as we gathered our coats. Lily Ann graciously accepted our offer to drive her to the hospital, and we all piled in to the black Tahoe, with Jimmy throwing himself into the back seat next to her.

On the drive over, we all called our friends. Matt was chattering away happily to Brian, Lily Ann was furiously texting Zacky after calling Reggie's parents, and Jimmy and I took turns calling Johnny, Kayla, and Cole. It seemed like it was taking forever to get to the hospital, and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Lily Ann tore out of the backseat with Jimmy and ran towards the front doors, with Jimmy screaming into the balmy night air.

"FIRE GODDESS, I'M COMING FOR YOOOOU!"

LILY ANN

I didn't bother talking to any doctors or nurses as I flew down the crowded hospital hallway. Reggie was awake, and I wasn't fucking there! Hell, I didn't even make sure my phone was on so I could accept the call! Fuck my luck...

I turned the corner into the corridor that held Reggie's room and halted quickly, leaving Jimmy to smack into me full force and he barely had time to catch me before I was launched head first into the tile floor.

Cops were swarming outside of her room, filtering in and out with various doctors and nurses. What. The. Fuck? My eyes were wide and my breathing labored as I carefully walked forwards, Jimmy close on my heels.

"Um, excuse me? The is Regina Clarkson's room, right?" I asked one of the officer's posted up against the wall, my eyes sliding over to the plaque next to the door frame. Room 256. Yea, this was the place. I looked back at the officer who was flipping through some papers on his clipboard, clicking the end of his ballpoint pen and glancing up at my earnest face.

"Yes? And you are?" He asked, all seriousness and professionalism. I heard Matt and AJ approach from behind me and watched as the cop gave us all disapproving looks. Fucking prick...

"I'm her sister, Lily Ann, and this is her...uh...brother," I said, hoping he didn't catch my near slip up. His tired brown eyes glanced between the two of us, and I noticed that Jimmy had bent his tall, lanky frame nearly in half to rest his chin on my shoulder. "I don't see the resemblance," the cop said, returning his gaze to the paper. "but you're here on the list of approved visitors, so go on in."

He gestured towards the doorway and collected the others' names before we all trooped in. Reggie looked almost the exact same as she had that morning before I left her to go to work, with the tubing in her arms and hands, and the monitors still surrounding her with rhythmic beeping and chirping. But, to my extreme relief, the hose had been removed from her throat and the yellow tube was gone from her nose, and she watched us through heavy lidded eyes.

"Lil," she croaked out, and I immediately stepped as close as I could to her so that she wouldn't have to raise her voice. I could tell that after two months of not using it, her throat was killing her, and the breathing tube probably didn't help.

I leaned down and brushed her hair away from her forehead, smiling affectionately down at her. "Hey honey," I whispered. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. I had to work and AJ and Matt begged me to come to dinner at their house." She smiled up at me and shook her head, although the movement was minute.

"Two months...?" She asked, the barely audible lilt at the end letting me know that it was a question. I nodded down at her apologetically. "Reg, I've been doing everything I can to find out what happened to you, but-" She shook her head, a hardened and determined light filling her eyes.

"No need. I know who," she whispered. I stepped away from her with wide eyes, and noticed her eyes flick around me towards the doorway. Her eyes slitted and her lips curled into a sneer. Before I could follow her gaze, she gripped the sheets and attempted to push herself up into a sitting position, the room filling with the chaotic sounds of alarms and persistent shrieking from the medical equipment that was still hooked up to her. She was attempting to rip the tubing from her arms and hands, and only succeeded in two before I heard the pounding of footsteps running into the room.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" She roared, her voice raspy and cracking, but she wasn't looking at the doctors. Her eyes were still fixed on the figure from before. I pivoted on my heels to see that the others had shuffled out of the room to give Reggie and me some privacy, but Brian was now standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms over his chest.

And that mother fucker was smirking...

Notes

Okay, so first and foremost, forgive me for any spelling or grammatical errors. My Microsoft Word program went down and I've been forced to use a shitty program that doesn't even have spell checker on it. -_-

Second, it's short but it's to get things cookin' again! I would have posted last night but then I ended up drinking half a bottle of Jack Daniels and spent an obscene amount of time watching Epic Rap Battles of History on YouTube with my future brother-in-law.

Finally, go check out my new collabo story! I'm writing it with KWally (you know her as Kayla in this story) and it's going to be amazing. My chapter will probably be going up this afternoon or tonight! ------> Digital Debauchery