The main problem with summer was the amount of time Lilly had on her hands, which was a lot when her friends were still working forty hours a week. Gerard was included in this, meaning she was lucky to see him at weekends and maybe one night during the week. She made regular trips to see her parents and younger brother but even that started to become tedious and frustrating. Her brother was in the awkward teenage phase where he didn’t want to talk to her unless she had money for him, and her mother grated on her nerves after an hour in her presence.

‘I fucking hate the summer. I mean, really really hate it.’ She whined while lying on the couch with her head resting on Gerard’s lap. It was a Thursday evening and Gerard had managed to get away from work an hour early and had graced her with his presence. His hand was idly stroking her hair as he gazed at her, his eyes lit up in amusement as he tried to hide a smirk.

‘Yeah, all that time off must be a killer.’ His voice was heavy with sarcasm, something Lilly didn’t appreciate at that moment.

She sighed angrily.

‘You don’t get it. It might seem great to have summers off but when everyone else is busy it means I’m stuck on my own with nothing to distract me. There’s only so many hours of TV I can take before I start losing my mind.’

‘You need to get out.’

‘And do what?’

He shrugged his shoulders.

‘Thanks for that’ she muttered resentfully.

He let out a little chuckle.

‘You’re cute when you’re angry.’

‘Yeah, well I’m about to get real damn adorable in the minute if you don’t say something that’s actually helpful and or comforting.’

He fell silent, a thoughtful look replacing his amusement. The silence lingered briefly until he stood up quickly, as though hit by a bolt of lightning and forcing Lilly to sit up to avoid getting hurt.

‘I’ve got to go, I’ll call you later okay?’

He shot out of her apartment before she could even comprehend what was happening.

‘Fucking men’ she muttered, pissed off.

See, this is why you should listen to me more often Inner Voice chided.

Lilly found out the reason for Gerard’s sudden disappearance the next morning when she heard her intercom buzz. She was still in her pyjamas, watching crappy daytime television when the noise interrupted Jerry’s thought for the day. Curiosity won the battle against her laziness, forcing her to get up with a loud sigh and trudge her way to the intercom.

‘Hello?’ she asked in a bored voice.

‘It’s me’ came Gerard’s voice ‘I’ve got a surprise, let me up!’

She buzzed him up the moment he had mentioned a surprise, making her squeal with girlish excitement. She then suddenly panicked when she realised she was still in her pyjamas and her hair had yet to be brushed.

‘Shit’ she squeaked, rushing to get her hair brush to tame the wild bush of knots that was her hair. She barely had time to brush her teeth when he started knocking at her door. She dropped her toothbrush back in its cup before sprinting to the front door, smiling when she saw Gerard wearing his sunglasses, tight jeans and wide smile.

‘So, what’s the surprise?’ was her greeting.

She didn’t need to see his eyes to tell he had just rolled them.

‘Nice to see you too sugar.’

‘Whatever. What did you get me?’

‘I said I have a surprise, not a present. Are you going to let me in?’

‘Tell me what it is!’ She demanded.

‘Go get dressed and then I’ll tell you.’

‘Ugh, fine!’

She walked back into the apartment, earning a slap on the ass from Gerard that made her squeak in indignation.

‘Hurry up. Pack an overnight bag while you’re at it. Bring enough stuff to last you the weekend.’

Her ears perked up at this, making her turn around sharply to stare at him with wide eyes.

‘Are we going away? Please tell me we’re going away somewhere?’

‘Go get dressed and you’ll find out. Hurry up!’ he repeated, his smile giving away his delight at seeing her so excited.

She dressed with lightening speed, not even bothering with make up in order to save on time. She pack a few clothes into her duffle bag without really looking at them, her excitement was preventing her from being able to focus on something as trivial as clothes. Surely if she was with Gerard she would barely be wearing them anyway. She sniggered at her own dirty mind and zipped her bag shut. She was barely in her room for five minutes when she ran back out, literally jumping in anticipation.

‘Calm down!’ he laughed, resting his hands on her shoulders in an effort to control her.

‘So, where are we going?’

‘Nowhere if you don’t stop asking.’

‘You said you’d tell me!’

‘I lied. Do you have your keys, phone and charger?’

‘Yes, yes and yes.’

‘Good’ he grabbed her hand ‘let’s go then.’

He picked up her bag and slung it his shoulder, before snatching his own bag which Lilly had failed to notice before. She let him lead the way out of the building, her hand gripping his painfully tight.

Four hours later they were in a hotel in Galway city, tired and hungry from the journey but still upbeat and ready to tour their new territory.

‘We should go exploring!’

Gerard raised an eyebrow at her from under his sunglasses.

‘Do you ever run out of energy?’

‘Not really, and especially not when you feed me skittles to keep me quiet.’

‘Note to self, never let you near skittles again.’

She giggled before hugging him, delighted at the effort he obviously went organising the trip. He had booked Friday and Monday off work, and heaven knows how much he had spent getting them a hotel. She made a mental note to find out how much it cost later so she could pay him back.

‘Thank you’ she whispered as snuggled into his chest.

‘No need to thank me yet. We’ve got a while weekend ahead of us. First things first, we need to eat.’

‘Lead the way my dear sir.’

The rest of their afternoon and evening passed quickly, they were caught up in the rapture of being tourists in a new city. Galway was a city like no other, so steeped in art and culture that it was hard not to fall in love with it after a couple of hours in it. When they returned to their room that evening it was only to change for the night ahead. She picked out a silk thigh length dress in black and pink paired with a pair of simple black heels, while he went for his classic jeans and shirt combination that only ever made him look devilishly handsome. He left his hair carelessly tousled, a look that she had come to love They had agreed to check out the night life of the city, both of them were dying to have a night out in a new place. The night had started out quietly; neither of them drinking too heavily at first. But somewhere between the third and the fourth pub Gerard had started drinking heavier than Lilly had ever seen. His speech was slurred so much she could barely understand him coherently. Lilly couldn’t help but squirm uncomfortably as he stumbled from their table to go back to the bar to buy his fourth drink in that pub alone. She had lost count of his total amount at ten. She knew that pointing it out to him while he was drunk wouldn’t achieve anything other than an argument, and in their current situation she could hardly storm off and avoid him until he came to his senses. So she did the only thing she could think of and drink faster in order to forget just how much she hated his behaviour.

They crawled in a nightclub at some stage, although the next day she wouldn’t recall how they managed to get past the bouncers. The club was barely fit for purpose, with its filthy carpet, chipping paint and the foul smell that was only tolerable to the drunk. If she had been sober she would have walked out. She would have seen the club for the drug den it really was. The people dancing on the wooden dance floor were clearly off their faces on something other than alcohol. In her drunken state however she missed this. She only saw Gerard, she could only smell his familiar scent and the feel of his hand clutching her sweaty palm tightly. They were there for half an hour when Gerard was approached by a young man similar in age to them. His shirt was clean and crisp and he clearly one of the few sober people in the place. It should have been an alarm bell for Lilly as she watched the unknown man tap Gerard’s shoulder and whisper in his ear. Gerard’s eyes seemed to light up at whatever he had to say, his gaze flickering over to Lilly for a split second before he indicated to Lilly he would be back. She didn’t have time to respond before he walked off with the man, his strides were quick and determined as he walked away from the bar where they were ordering their drinks.

Even in her intoxicated state she could see how dilated Gerard’s pupils were when he returned about five minutes later. His was walking straighter; his steps were more steady and sure than before. She knew he had taken something. She was stunned and revolted at the same time. He had left her alone at a bar in some strange nightclub to get high. She could barely look at him as he smiled at her, he was completely oblivious to her sudden change in mood. He leaned against the bar, and whispered in her ear.

‘You ever tried ecstasy?’

Her eyes widened at his words, surprised and offended.

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Wanna try?’

Her entire body stilled, her mind trying to process the conversation she was having. Her boyfriend, her high as a kite boyfriend, was offering her drugs. She had never tried drugs of any kind before, nor had she ever been in a situation where she had the opportunity to try them. She had never realised she was curious until that very moment when the choice was put in front of her. She was a goody two shoes who had never gotten into trouble her whole life. She occasionally got drunk but as an Irish girl that was a given. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as her eyes focused on his closed fist, which held the proffered pill. If she had ever imagine the situation before she would have seen herself rejecting the offer without a second thought before walking away from Gerard. In reality, she was hesitating.

People took drugs every day without coming to any harm or suffering any consequences. She knew for a fact her own sister had tried a few substances in her time. Would she really be such a bad person for giving into her natural curiosity? She looked at Gerard’s face, trying to gage his reaction. He was watching her intently, trying to figure out her thought process. The fact that he was now high on ecstasy didn’t change the person he was. He was still the slightly mysterious comic book geek who tried his best to make her smile whenever she was down. Maybe it would be okay to do it once, just to get rid of any lingering curiosity.

‘Okay.’

He gave her a wide grin before turning to the barman and ordering two shots for them. While the barmen went to fetch his bottle, Gerard popped the pill into his mouth before pulling her into a kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth and slipping the pill onto her tongue. He watched her swallow the pill and held out the shot for her to take.

‘To new experiences’ he giggled before they clinked their glasses and downed the liquid poison.

Notes

Hi Everybody,

Just to make it clear, I am not advocating drug use.

I'm also sorry for the long delays in updating this story, I will try to improve. I also edited the first chapter, I didn't realise just how many mistakes there were. If you spot any mistakes please let me know so I can correct them, a lot of the time I rush my writing and I make ridiculously stupid mistakes :(

Please drop a line and let me know your thoughts. And if you enjoy please vote and subscribe .

Until next time :)