Sky was sitting on the driver's seat, the pill bottle in one hand, a flask of tequila in the other, leaning her tired head on the headrest. The blissful effect of the drugs was slowly creeping on her, turning the night darker and softer, transforming the pain in her chest into a dull ache instead of a raw, bleeding wound.

The tears had stopped some time ago, but they were still on her cheeks, a sticky film of dried salt on her skin. Her throat was raw from all the crying, but she didn't care if the tequila burnt in it, all the way down. She didn't care about a lot of things right now.

It was the first time since she had heard about Demetri's arm that she could breathe. Her eyes closed, she was drifting into darkness. It was funny how before, on the back porch of Cody's house, she had been so cold, but now, she could barely feel it.

"What the actual fuck do you think you're doing?" came an annoyed voice, and someone yanked open the door.

Had Sky not been so high, it would have scared the living shit out of her. Now it only made her slowly turn her head to face the intruder, the dark shape that loomed over her.

Cody. In the pale moonlight, his face was all smooth planes and sharp angles. He was beautiful, like a renaissance painting - that was Sky's first thought. Like he was painted by Michelangelo himself.

"You look like a painting," she said with a slow smile.

Cody's jaw clenched and he let out an angry huff.

"Seriously - what the fuck, Sky? You're doing drugs in your car that's parked in the fucking driveway of my home? Care to explain?"

"Well, I don't know," Sky spoke softly. Cody seemed really angry, though Sky didn't really understand what the big deal was. The drugs were hers, so was the car. What was that boy bitching about? "You know, at first I was going to kill myself. But I don't think there's enough of these... pills... so. Now I'm just kinda going with the flow."

"How many did you take?"

"Two. No, three? I guess. Maybe four?"

Cody glanced at the bottles in her hands. His brows knitted, creating shadows on his forehead. "With tequila?"

"I didn't have water," Sky replied. Damn that boy was slow - and annoying. And angelic. So pretty. His long eyelashes cast dark shadows on his porcelain white cheeks.

"Who the fuck has a bottle of Tequila in her car, but no water?" Cody groaned, but then just shook his head, clearly done with trying to make sense of things. "You know what, forget it. Just move."

"Why? What do you—"

"Move!" Cody repeated gesturing wildly - and Sky realized he wanted her to move to the passenger seat. Clumsily she climbed over the center console, spilling some tequila on her jeans and hitting her head on the roof before she slumped down on the other seat. Cody sat down on the driver's seat, slamming the door.

"Why are you driving my car?"

"Because you, damn crackhead, are in no shape to drive," Cody replied, gripping the steering wheel with an angry, white-knuckle grip. "And I can't have my parents finding your car on the driveway in the morning, let alone you in it, dead or fucking wasted."

"Oh, so you're scared of your parents?" Sky let out a drowsy laugh.

"Shut up. I specifically told you not to do anything stupid, and here you are, ruining fucking everything—"

Sky would have answered something, but suddenly her eyes became too heavy to keep open. She decided to close them, just for a tiny bit, to clear her head, because the world was spinning and she had sudden difficulties in remembering where she was—

"Wake up!" Someone was shaking her shoulders, her head was bobbing, chin against her chest. "Sky, come on, wake up—!"

"What—?" she mumbled. Slowly the world came into focus. There was a boy, grabbing her hoodie and shaking her, his eyes wide, his jaw tight, he was all shadows and silvery light, long lashes, full lips.

"Wake your ass up," the cherub snapped. He had stopped shaking her but his hands still lingered on her shoulders. "Can you walk?"

She was in her car. That much she realized, but for some reason, she was in the passenger seat. And where the fuck was her tequila? She tried to locate the bottle, searching for it on the floor, reaching down between her legs—

The boy grabbed her face. Fingers dug into the skin of her cheeks as he yanked her chin up.

"Can you walk?" he articulated clearly as if talking to a baby - which annoyed Sky beyond belief.

"Yes," she replied rolling her eyes. "What are you, an idiot?"

She forgot the Tequila, turned and dropped her limp legs out of the car, sneakers first, took a firm grip of the handle — and fell face first onto the sidewalk.

She barely noticed it. The ground was cold but surprisingly comfortable, and she was so, so tired. She didn't want to get up, she wanted to sleep, she wanted to forget the pain in her chest. There was a taste of blood on her lips, but it wasn't caused by this fall that had smashed her face against the cement. The blood came from the wound in her heart—

"Shit—" someone cursed, and Sky felt hands on her, turning her, lifting her up. "You okay?"

"No—" she whined. "He...never loved me. He said that... he was only with me to get some pussy."

There was a hole in her chest, a wound that kept hurting and bleeding, taking her breath away and the tears were back, they were running down her face in streams, as she suddenly remembered everything, Hawk yelling at her, her heart being ripped out of her chest, the pills in the pocket of her hoodie—

"Anyone ever told you you overshare?" Cody replied, and then his arms were around her body, he lifted her up from the cold ground like she weighed nothing, or maybe he didn't lift her, maybe she was dead already and she was slowly rising up, towards the dark sky and the bright moon, she would be a star on the vast, black canvas, a star maybe as bright as Sirius—

Her head fell back, it rolled against Cody's shoulder with every step. She moaned softly and glanced at the hands that were holding her, big hands with long fingers digging into her shoulder, her thigh.

"You have... insanely... manly hands." Sky mumbled, forgetting that she was supposedly dead and on her way to the afterlife. "You know, compared to—"

"What the actual fuck are you talking about?" Cody snapped. His jawline was tight as if he was clenching his teeth.

"—your face. I mean it's like a—"

"— a painting, Yeah, I know. Now, shut up."

"Yeah, but... like a... really girly painting."

"Jesus Christ," Cody groaned. "Keep talking and I'll fucking leave your junkie ass here on the street."

That made Sky shut up - or maybe it wasn't what he had said, maybe it was the nausea that was creeping on her. She tried to swallow it down, but there was blood in her mouth, the taste of iron was making her stomach turn.

And then she saw the swimming pool, the pink bike leaning against the wall. There was the trampoline, and the porch, and suddenly she couldn't see the dark sky or the moon anymore, there was a roof over her head, and she was sitting on a bench, her back against the cold wall.

"I think—" she kept swallowing the blood and the saliva but it didn't help.

"What—?" Cody glanced at her, then stuck a key in the lock and yanked open the back door.

"I'm gonna—" she didn't have a chance to finish that sentence. The only thing she could do was lean over the railing as she emptied her stomach.

"Jesus Christ—" Cody cursed, while Sky was still retching, tears running down her face as the mix of bile and tequila burned her throat. "All over my mother's roses, for fuck's sake—"

But the rest of that sentence disappeared somewhere, and Sky's ears started ringing. The world was spinning so badly that she had to close her eyes and lean her cheek on the wooden railing. She could rest here, right? Just for a moment, a minute, maybe two—

"You're a major pain in my ass, you know that?" Cody muttered and Sky realized she was back in his arms. Her feet hit the doorway when he carried her through it, but she didn't feel the pain.

"Well I didn't... ask for your... help—"

"And I didn't ask you to start doing drugs in a car on the fucking driveway in front of my home—" Cody's words were a sharp hiss, as he tried to keep his voice down.

"Chill out Heisenberg." Sky mumbled, pressing her face against Cody's jacket - not even noticing she was rubbing her vomit-stained lips on the fabric. "For a fucking drug lord, you worry a lot about your parents."

"Well, you'd worry too if you knew them," Cody replied sharply. "And don't call me Heisenberg."

"Okay, whatever," Sky sighed. Her head was so heavy and light at the same time, it felt like she was filled with helium, like she was just floating in the air. Her head fell against Cody's shoulder, the denim jacket was rough against her cheek and the spicy scent of his aftershave filled her nostrils.

And then they stopped, the staircase was gone, they were in a room that had large windows and the moonlight entered through thin, white curtains. Cody's arms were holding her against his chest, she heard his breathing, the rapid beat of his heart - but no, it was her own heart, so fast and fluttering it was like a hummingbird caught in the cage of her ribs.

"Bedtime," Cody said, his voice dark and throaty, and suddenly Sky wasn't in his arms anymore, but lying on something soft and fluffy. She was surrounded by the smell of cotton and fabric softener together with a spicy, manly scent of salt and boy and musk.

Sky groaned, trying to turn on her side, but her body was too heavy, too weak, and she was falling. Cody's hands were on her legs, running down her calves, Sky felt how her sneakers were removed, then the same strong hands were on her body, rolling her to her side.

A thought entered her mind, or a feeling, a sudden realization that this was not good. That she definitely shouldn't have lied to Dad, because now nobody knew where she was, and against all odds, she wasn't dead yet, and bad things could still happen to her, things so bad she didn't have words for them—

She tried to push away Cody's hands when he wiped her face and her lips with a wet cloth, but her arms were weak, and suddenly the tears were back, and she was so, so scared.

"Cody—" She tried, fear strangling her voice. Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, please don't—

The words didn't come out. She was falling, the room was spinning, moonlight painted the world with silver and black and she was so tired. It was impossible to keep her eyes open.

The last thing she felt before sinking under the surface, was Cody's hands pulling up the hem of her hoodie, the scent of his spicy aftershave all around her, and then—

— nothing but darkness.

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