Nicky jolted up from the bed & yanked Layne's arms off of her, that were tightly wrapped around her.  Sweat continued to ooze out of her pores as she violently tried to take in another breath of air. Tears squeezed out as she clenched her eyes shut.

Layne glanced up at her, slowly sitting up when he noticed the terrified expression scribbled all over her gaunt gray face.  "Nicky?" he whispered to her.  She didn't answer, just sat there like a statue, eyes wide with horror.  Her thin black & red hair was tangled and matted, some of it caught in her eyebrow rings.  Layne reached over and de-tangling the locks from her eyebrow.  He wrapped his arm around her tiny body, concern drenching his thin face.  "Nicky, what's wrong?" He asked her again.

She glanced over at him, blinking.  She shook her head & ran to the restroom door on the other side of the bedroom.  Layne walked over, leaning his head against the door to hear the sounds of dry retching.  He turned the knob & swung it open, his eyes huge when he noticed she was curled over the toilet, two fingers jammed down her throat.  Yellow bile spewed from her mouth & splashed into the toilet bowl, making Layne run over to her and wrap his arms around her.  She shrieked & squirmed in his arms, but she was too weak to break free from him. She wept as he carried her back to the bed and held her tight.

"Why are you doing this Nicky..." Layne muttered.  "Please tell me... Did I do something wrong?  What's going on?"

They had only been at Jerry's house for two days now.  It was a nice place.  2 stories--Layne & Nicky had the top floor & Jerry had the first.  It had 3 bedrooms, 2 of them for the 3 of them to sleep and the other one for storage.  2 full bathrooms with showers, a big eat-in kitchen, and a decent sized living room.  Jerry assumed the both of them would be happy sharing such a nice place, but he had no idea what it was like to be a full on drug addict.  The couple would never be happy...unless they scored.

"Nicky, PLEASE...please just talk to me," Layne continued, holding her tighter.  The heart within his chest dropped when he felt her bones jut into him, his brows now curled in fear.  "You keep losing weight... You never eat, yet I catch you purging?  Please...please just tell me what's going on..."

"74 pounds now," she muttered, turning to see that Layne was glaring back with sorrow in those blue eyes.  She sighed, rolling onto her other side to look at him.  "I'm sorry...  Just had a bad dream, happens every once in a while," she scowled when she tried to swallow, her throat burning.  "Purging calms me down... I would get high but...  Well, you know..."

Layne sat up and reached over to his side of the bed to grab his dentures from his night stand and pop them in.  He turned back to her, studying her figure.  His body shook with anger, having to look away, remembering what Alex, the sociopath from rehab, told him about Nicky. 

She looked like an Ethiopian zombie. 

Alex wasn't over exaggerating.  Layne glanced back at her, keeping his eyes on her turquoise ones, trying his best not to look at the rest of her.  She looked like death.

"What was your dream about?" Layne asked her, wrapping his arms around her again.  Her skin felt like ice.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she muttered.  More tears escaped her eyes, making her roll onto her back & rest the palm of her hand into the deep crook of her ribs.

Layne sighed, sitting back up, glaring at the restroom.  "Was it about your father..."

He heard her weep, making him turn back to her. Tears now stood in his own eyes as he analyzed her wasted body.

"Yes," she moaned, covering her face with her hands.

Layne easily scooped her up from the bed & rested her body along his lap, his hand supporting her head.  "You know, that's done and over with now.  You need to move on," he urged her, wiping her tears away from her face with the sleeve of his sweater.  He sighed as he watched her continue to sob.  "Nicky...  You need to eat.  You look like you're going to die," he continued, his head falling against her flat bony chest. He started crying.  "Please dear god, Nicky, fucking EAT something today...you're scaring me..."

"I need to get high," she growled with irritation. She forced her weak body to sit back up, looking back at Layne.  She sighed when she studied the worry plastered on his face.  "Anything... I'll take or smoke anything...  I can't eat when I'm sober, it freaks me out."

Layne's brow raised, thinking of Jerry.  "I think Jer has some weed..."

*******

They both clumped down the stairs & glared into the living room.  It was so smokey in there, Layne could barely make out Jerry's figure on the stool next to his coffee table.  They both heard the bluesy acoustic guitar riffs.  Layne breathed in the smoke once they tapped into the living room, a smile curling on his bony face when he smelled the reefer.  He led Nicky to the couch & sat down next to her, grabbing a smoke out of his pack that sat next to Jerry's Marlboro reds.

Jerry stopped playing his acoustic, smiling over at Layne. He reached over and grabbed his glass pipe, taking another hit.  "Sup, L?" He asked him when he exhaled the marijuana smoke.

Layne smoothly took the bowl from Jerry, setting his cigarette down in the ashtray so he could toke up.  He coughed softly as he passed the bowl over to Nicky, shrugging.  "Not much, dude.  Waking up briiiight and early..."

Jerry laughed at him, glaring over at his clock on his VCR under his television set.  "It's ten minutes til one," he said, standing up and hanging his banged up epiphone guitar on the wall next to his white electric.

Layne grinned, sharing a look with Nicky as she kept puffing on the glass pipe.  "Still early for me, anyways."

"Mike called," Jerry stated, taking a seat back down on the stool.  He eyed Nicky, tilting his head at her, reaching out his hand.  She laughed and passed him the bowl.

"Is he still PMSing?" Layne blurted, annoyance written all over his face.

Jerry rolled his eyes & passed him the pipe. "He's over it.  I told him the both of you have been clean from the hard shit since you got here."

Layne handed Nicky the bowl, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.  "Is he coming over or what?  Why are you telling me this?"

Jerry lit a cigarette, shaking his head at Nicky when she attempted to hand him his pipe.  "Nah, I'm good, Nicky, you guys go ahead," he soothed.  He looked back at Layne, studying him through the smog of smoke.  "He just wanted me to tell you that he's sorry for going ape shit."

Layne laughed, grabbing his cigarette.  He hot boxed it for a minute, giving Nicky a pointed look.  "Oh yeah?" He muttered, morbidly amused.  "Is he still flying around with his magical umbrella, teaching kids nursery rhymes?"

Jerry couldn't help but to laugh.  "Could you stop comparing him to Mary Poppins?  What the heck?"

Layne shrugged. He handed Nicky his half smoked cigarette when he noticed she was done toking off the pipe.  "Could you blame me?  He punched me in the fucking face," Layne pointed to the healing wound on his lower lip, "and dissed my girlfriend.  Plus he was being a raging hypocrite."

Jerry sighed, getting back up and tapping into the kitchen.  "Do you guys want some eggs or something?!" He called out, the sounds of pans clashing through the room.

Layne glared over at Nicky, who grimly nodded, taking a long drag from the cigarette.  He turned back to the opening of the kitchen.  "Sure!" He called out to Jerry, smiling back at Nicky.  He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her along her neck.  "I'm proud of you, babe," he whispered into her ear, resting his head on her shoulder.

She sighed & stubbed out the cigarette.  "I don't know how I'm going to keep this up unless I smoke herb..." she muttered. She was shocked to see that Layne was still smiling back at her.

"It's okay, we'll play it by ear," he finally responded.  He reached in and gave her a long kiss.

"Geeze, come on guys, go to your room if you're gonna do that crap," Jerry growled as he walked back into the living room.

Layne peered up at him, smiling when he noticed his friend was just joking.  "Thought you wouldn't be able to see us, considering this place has somehow morphed into a fucking SMOKE HOUSE," he jeered at Jerry, watching the skinny blonde as he cracked open the living room windows.  "I need to get you a rasta man hat," Layne went on.

Nicky giggled, cuddling close to Layne and resting her head on his chest.  "We should go to the head shop in town and buy him one," she offered, still laughing.

Jerry smiled at them & shook his head.  "Two peas in a fucking pod," he muttered. He slid back into the kitchen once he heard the pan on the stove top start to sizzle.

Layne licked his lips when he took in the aroma of fried eggs & bacon, gently stroking Nicky's hair.  Curiosity suddenly came across his face.  "What's your natural hair color, anyways, babe?" He asked.

She smiled up at him, running her fingers through his hair.  "Dirty blonde."

Layne laughed, biting his lip.  "AY, JER!" He called out.  He laughed when he heard Jerry groan.

"What now?!" Jerry shouted from the kitchen.

"You finally got what you wanted!  Two hot blondes!" Layne yelled, grinning and winking at Nicky.  "All you need is a limo, dude, then you'll be set!"

Layne smiled wider when he heard Jerry's laugh.  "Only issue is that one has a DICK!" Jerry finally called out.

"Didn't bother you when you were wrestling with Sean," Layne went on, smirking as he watched Nicky laugh.

"When the heck did all this gay crap start?!" Nicky shrieked, still laughing.  She rolled onto her back, those stoned eyes falling closed.  "Shit," she muttered to Layne.  "I forgot how tired weed makes me..."

"And hungry, I hope?" Layne asked, leaning in and kissing her.  He smiled wide when he saw her nod her head.  "Good..."

"Your food is ready!" Jerry called out.

They both slumped into the kitchen, sitting at the table where their plates were already made, glasses of orange juice sat next to them.  Layne smirked & lifted his glass of orange juice over at Jerry.

"Got any vodka?" he asked Jerry. He broke down laughing when he saw the pissed off look scorch the blonde's face.  "I'm just kidding, dude..." Layne said apologetically.  He glanced over at Nicky, relief fluttering in his chest as he watched her eat all 4 pieces of her bacon.  That's the most he's ever seen her eat...

Nicky looked up at Layne, blushing when she noticed he was smiling at her.  "...what?" she asked, mid-chew.  She turned to where Jerry was, realizing he had left the room & was playing Super Mario Brother World on his Super Nintendo.

Layne gripped her hand that was resting on the table, making her glance back at him. "This is nice," he muttered to her, letting go of her hand so he could bite into his toast.

She sighed, gulping down some of her juice and staring out the window.  Her eyes grew wide when she glared back down at her plate.

"Come on, you can do it," Layne reassured her, keeping his eyes on his own food.  "You need to..."

She quickly shoveled the rest of her food into her mouth & chugged the rest of her orange juice.  When she got up from the table, she jumped. Layne was already ahead of her on her own game, standing in her way.

"You're not going to the restroom," Layne growled as he narrowed his eyes at her.  He nodded to her seat at the table. She grimly sat back down, resting her head into the palm of her hand and staring back out the window.

"You want me fat," she spat at him, anger glowing pink on her sunken cheeks.

Layne grabbed his empty plate & rinsed it off at the sink, turning back to the table & grabbing Nicky's.  His eyes bore back into her's.  "No I don't," he grumbled, spinning around at the sink to rinse off her plate.  "I just don't want you to DIE is all..."

Nicky fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair.  "I feel like I'm going to throw up," she squeaked.

Layne sighed, keeping his eyes on her as he slumped over to the entrance of the living room.  "Jerry?" He called out, making the guitarist jump and pause his video game.

"Yeah?" He asked.  He peered back at Layne, confusion splattered on his face when he noticed that the vocalist wasn't even looking at him.  Instead, he was keeping his eyes on his girlfriend.  Jerry could tell she had issues with eating from the first day they moved into his place.  She never ate and when she noticed that him or Layne was eating, she always had this look of horror in her eyes.

"Do you have pepto or something?" Layne asked.  He motioned his arm to Nicky, quickly glancing over at him.  "She's...nauseous."

Jerry nodded.  "Yeah, there's some in the fridge door," he answered.  He turned around and went back to gaming out.

Layne glared over at Nicky.  "Well, go take some pepto..." He said, holding out his hand.

She sighed, annoyed that she couldn't purge, taking his hand and getting up.  "Can I just go back to bed," she grumbled, disappointment masking her pale face.

Layne nodded & took her hand, going up the stairs with her and into their bedroom.  He watched her as she held her stomach uncomfortably, lying down in a fetal position on the bed.  He sat down next to her, sadness overcoming him as he watched her cry.  "I know this is hard, Nicky...but you need to do this.  For yourself."

"I don't give a shit about myself," she whimpered, covering her face with her arm.  "I feel huge..."

Layne shook his head.  "I don't understand how you can feel fat, Nicky, you look..." He sighed, rubbing his temples.  "You look like a skeleton.  Honestly, I find it really unattractive..."

She shot him a look of distaste.  "You think I'm ugly?!" She shrieked, sitting up.

"No, I think your face is gorgeous..." Layne's eyes swept her skeleton frame.  "But you don't have a BODY...you're just bone--"

"So are you," she spat, insulted.

Layne wrapped his arms around her.  "I care about you...  I don't like it that you weigh as much as an elementary school kid, I want you to be healthy," he soothed, lightly kissing her cheek.  "And yeah, I know I'm too skinny...  I'm working on it, too.  We can work on it together."

"I just want to purge, please let me throw up, I can't stand this shit!" She shrieked, trying to escape his arms.

Layne bit back his tears.  He wished he could shoot up some heroin right now.  His mind filled with images of the bags in the motel room...

"JERRY!" Layne screamed, biting his lip.  He'd hoped his friend could hear him.  He puffed out air of relief when he heard Jerry tap up the stairs and saw him lean on the doorframe to their room.

"What's up?" Jerry asked.  His brows furrowed with concern when he noticed that Nicky was crying.

"...I know you saved some back-up," Layne moaned, arms wrapped around Nicky tight as he gave jerry a look.

Jerry sighed, reaching into his pants pocket and tossing the bag of white powder in it.  There was only a tiny bit left.  "There's only enough left for one more high in there," Jerry growled, watching the two of them as they smiled, Layne picking up the bag and opening it.  "You know, this will be the last time, Layne."

Layne nodded nonchalantly at Jerry, ignoring the curse words that escaped his friends mouth as he stomped down the stairs.  "We can only do a little bit, babe," Layne said, pouring a quarter sized pile on her night stand.  "We gotta stretch this out..."

Nicky grinned & ran over to her purse to get out her driver's license and a dollar bill.  She rolled up the bill and cut herself a line...

*******

The two of them ended up doing the entire bag anyways.  They were naked, catching their breath after having sex.  Layne held her as she curled up to him, her arms wrapped tight around his waist.

They laid there for a long while, getting lost in their own thoughts.

"Who's Demri...?" Nicky randomly asked, her dope eyes slinking up to peer at Layne.

He immediately sat up & pulled his jeans on.  "We should eat dinner," he mumbled, staring up at his alarm clock.  It was 5 pm.

"Who's Demri?!" Nicky pushed as she sat up on the bed.  She pulled her sweater on, leaning over to grab her black leggings and tug them on.  She groaned in frustration when she didn't get an answer from him.  She curled her knees up to her chest.  "You loved her, didn't you?  Was she PERFECT?  Was she better than me?"

Layne spun around, tears dropping down his face.  "She's dead, okay?"

Nicky sniffled, holding back her tears.  "Why are you with me...?  Am I like your REBOUND or something?"

Layne rolled his eyes.  "She died 6 years ago, Nicky.  I don't want to talk about it, okay?  She was fucked up.  Even crazier than you."

She snarled.  "Oh, so IM crazy and you're Mr. Perfect, huh?"

Layne fell onto his back on the bed, closing his eyes.  "I'm anything but perfect...look at me..."  He bore his arm out at her that was covered in those nasty track marks, pulling out his dentures.  "She's the reason why I almost died..."