Back To Us by Teresa Roman Read Free Book Online Page A

coming over. I can help you figure out what to do better if I see him.”
    “No. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I didn’t want Justin seeing the neighborhood I lived in, much less the inside of my piece of shit apartment, and I seriously doubted there was anything he could do. Maybe he was right, I should just call the paramedics. “Besides you’re not a doctor, you’re a coach.”
    “I was a Corpsman in the military, remember? Believe me, I’ll know what to do.”
    Mike turned on his side and let out a groan before doubling over and dry heaving. He probably had nothing left inside him anymore.
    “Fine,” I relented and gave Justin my address. Making sure my brother was okay was more important than Justin’s opinion of me, and realistically how much longer could I keep up the façade I’d been trying to since the beginning of summer? It was only a matter of time before Justin found out that the two of us were not in the same financial bracket, not even close.
    “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Call me back if anything changes before I get there.”
    Every few minutes I got up and peeked through the window blinds to see if Justin had arrived. When he finally did, I ran to open the door to my building. He followed me inside and then into my brother’s room. Mike was still sprawled across the bed, he seemed a little more awake.
    “Oh shit, you weren’t kidding. He looks like crap.” Justin sat beside my brother and reached for his wrist. It took me a second before I realized he was counting Mike’s pulse.
    “Well?”
    “His pulse is a little fast, but that’s probably because he’s dehydrated from throwing up.” He turned towards my brother and shook his arm. “Hey bro, can you tell me what you took, what was in that bottle?”
    “Zan. . .something.” His eyes closed and he turned to his side. “Oh fuck. I can’t remember.”
    “I can’t make sense of anything he’s saying,” I said.
    “It sounds like he’s trying to say Xanax,” Justin explained.
    “What’s that?”
    “You really don’t know?” Justin asked.
    I shook my head.
    “God, you’re innocent. They’re like sleeping pills.” Justin reached into his pocket for his cell phone.
    I grabbed his arm. “Who are you calling?”
    “Poison control, they’ll know what to do.”
    They came on the line a few seconds later and Justin started to explain the situation to the person on the other end of the phone. A minute later he was done with the call.
    “Well? What did they say?”
    “They said that Xanax is supposed to be short-acting. As long as he didn’t mix the Xanax with a bunch of other stuff your brother should be better pretty soon. I can stay with you and help you keep an eye on him until he’s more coherent.”
    “We don’t even know how many of those things he took, though.”
    “The lady from poison control said it’s pretty hard to overdose on Xanax. It’s a sedative, that’s why he’s so out of it.” I turned away from Justin so he wouldn’t see the worried expression that was still on my face. He put his hand on my shoulder. “If he gets worse the only other choice is to call the paramedics.”
    “Oh my God.” I sat on the edge of my brother’s bed. “I can’t believe he’d be this stupid.” I covered my face with my hands. It wasn’t even noon yet and I was already tired. Ninety percent of the time my brother was funny and nice and my hero. A year ago when I’d made the huge mistake of moving out of the dorms and in with my then boyfriend it was my brother who’d come through for me after our break-up. I had nowhere to go until my brother offered to give up his studio apartment in Alphabet City so we could find a two bedroom to rent together. There was no way I could’ve afforded a place on my own, and the dorm had a waiting list to get back in.
    The other ten percent of the time my brother drank too much or smoked too much pot and wound up getting himself into trouble. He didn’t