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Goodness, this conversation got aard quick Totally no breaking ee at the front of his desk There was a Baltimore Orioles sticker plastered across the center "There was this one guy He didn’t like that I drank like…like I did, and I think…he really liked ician when it cahts and fears and the random crap that sort of just ca and a lot of listening

Sometimes alked Sometimes we talked in his office Other times he made me talk in the art studio while I sat in front of a blank canvas I had no idea what in the hell that was supposed to symbolize, but Dave…yeah, he eird in a really effective way

I didn’t have withdrawal sy that didn’t seem to surprise Dave or the staff, but I did have a probleerous forms of alcohol abuse Where some…some alcoholics drank every day, a little here and a little more there, I drank until I was so drunk I couldn’t say my name I drank to the point that the alcohol in my blood could kill le time I didn’t have whatever people had in their heads that nosis There were a couplethat caingthose quietthat led to the diagnosis Years worth of stuff had led to it

Depression and Anxiety

The…the diagnosis didn’t surprisetruthful Maybe part of h, it would be a while before the role that alcohol played in my…my illness was known

There was also an emphasis on physical activity Besides the fact I was a little weak and a lot sore fro healthy I was lucky, though I didn’t need physical therapy

After the third week, I was allowed visitors twice a week for an hour each ti with my brother, and that was hard Syd came the second time, and that had been even harder

Syd had told me that Tanner wanted to visit me I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, but I couldn’t avoid hi For the reed to see him

Tanner came on a Thursday afternoon, in the fifth week Without makeup, I felt exposed as I waited for hi felt silly, but there was nothing between us now Not even a layer of foundation No pretenses

The room wasn’t bad It had a couch and two chairs, a table in the corner, and it was painted a pretty robin-egg blue, but I figured the room was monitored Made sense No one orked here wanted people passing drugs or so for about five minutes when the door opened I looked up and my tummy dropped as I saw him Goodness, it felt like forever since I’d last seen him

Tanner walked into the room and then stopped The door shut behind him, and he didn’t move as he stared at me His brown hair appeared freshly cut, buzzed on the sides, and his jaw bare of stubble Those electric-blue eyes burned bright fro face was pale For a long moment, neither of us moved, and then I stood on shaky knees

He ca up the distance between us, and then I was in his arasp as I squeezed my eyes shut as he held me close to his chest, and I soaked up the warmth of his body, breathed in the fresh clean scent of his cologne