Chapter Fourteen

Spencer opened the front door of her home to find the T.V. on in the living room. She and Ashley walked inside and saw Marco sleeping upside down on the couch hugging his favorite bottle of wine.

“I can see your mother drives people to drink huh?” Ashley laughed.

“I was surprised he lasted that long. Last time he went over he grabbed the first bottle of wine he could find and hid in one of the closets drinking away. Eventually, my dad heard some loud snoring coming from the hallway closet so he opened the door and there he was.” Spencer shrugged.

“Well should we leave him here? Or should we move him into his room?” Ashley asked while poking Marco’s foot that was dangling off the back of the couch. Marco squirmed and grasped the bottle tighter to his chest.

“I wouldn’t touch him. We can just leave him a note.”

Ashley sat next to the lifeless form of Marco while Spencer got dressed for the evening. Every so often, Ashley could hear a slight gurgle coming from the boy’s mouth. She reached over to try to take the wine bottle out of his hands but every time he would slap her hand away. “Mine….No touch” He murmured in his sleep.

“Ok, ready?” Spencer asked Ashley as she grabbed a marker and a pad of post-its from a kitchen drawer.

“Yeah…where are you going to leave the note? Usually people with hangovers don’t go looking around for notes first thing when they wake up.” Ashley saw Spencer pull out the Tylenol bottle and put a glass on the table with the bottle next to it.

“I know…that’s why we have sticky notes.” Spencer quickly scribbled on one of the post-its and walked towards Marco. She bent down and stuck the post-it to his forehead and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Well I guess that should do the trick then.” Spencer smiled at Ashley as they left the house.

****

Ashley and Spencer pulled into the dirt lot that was outside an old building which had the words “THE SWEET ESCAPE” in light blue illuminated handwriting. The sound of rock music could be heard blaring from the walls into the night air.