Everyone's Got Problems

[wrongturntaken]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the comments! This is kind of a short one and i'm not sure it came out completely right... I will hopefully update again either today or tomorrow, just have to see how it goes. So i hope you enjoy!

Chapter 24.

"What's wrong with him?" Tess asked worriedly as she stood next to her father in the doorway of his room. Tyler was laid out on Aden and Belle's bed looking awful. He was pale and clammy, and had thrown up a few times since being there. He was shaking uncontrollably as Nicole examined him and the other two watched from a distance.

"Okay, Tyler," Nicole started kindly, "I'm just going to shine a light in your eyes."

"Nicole?" Aden questioned as he stood with his daughter at the entrance to the room.

She mostly ignored him but gave him a hand signal to tell him she'd heard, she clicked off the light in her hand before saying softly, "Tyler, have you taken something?"

Tyler's eyelids fluttered to look at her, he nodded hesitantly and Tess's eyes widened in shock at his reaction.

"What did you take Tyler?" Nicole pushed gently.

He shook his head and practically mouthed the word as there was no volume to his voice, "No."

"I need you to tell me," she added slightly more forcefully.

"I can't," he whispered and glanced guiltily at Tess's concerned face.

"You have to."

He hesitated and looked at Tess again, "I'm sorry…" he croaked.

"Oh my God," Tess exclaimed breathily, a horrified look of realisation appearing on her face.

"What?" Aden asked suddenly; turning to look at his daughter.

She turned to him, "He took heroin." Tyler shuddered at the disappointment in her voice.

Nicole sighed, "That makes sense."

Aden turned his attention back to her, "Is he going to be okay, Nic?"

"Well, the good news is that these are symptoms are generally associated with first time users."

"What's the bad news?"

"That he did at all."

At this point Tess could no longer stand the sight of him and ran from the room and down the stairs. She didn't wish to rejoin the rest of the guests as she could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes, so she sat on the sofa in the living room and buried her face in her hands.

"Tess," she heard her father's voice say softly.

She looked at him, displaying the tears that she had accidentally let fall, "How could he do that Dad?" she exclaimed, anger seeping in to her words. "I told him. I told him about Laura."

Aden looked at her for a moment before coming to sit beside her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her towards him. It broke his heart to see his little girl so deeply upset over someone but he had no words to fix it. All he could do was be there for her and let her lean on him.

"What do I do, Dad?" she asked him softly as she pulled back after a couple of minutes.

He pushed a strand of wet hair our of her face, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Tess," Aden started softly. "Tyler needs our help. I understand if you don't feel like you can do that, but just ask yourself what Laura would have done if I hadn't been there."

She sighed, "I can't turn my back on him, can I?" she said rhetorically.

"It's your choice," Aden said. "I'm going to do my best to help him whatever happens. But the only one I've seen him let in… is you."

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked after thinking in silence for a moment.

"He'll be fine," Aden told her. "We just have to let him sleep it off."

She nodded in acceptance at his words, "I'm going to go back up to be with him."

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked her gently.

"No," she answered softly, "But thanks."

*

It was a few hours later and Tess hadn't left Tyler's bedside. She had a wet flannel and was dabbing his head with it to cool him down.

"Tess," he muttered as his eyelids fluttered open.

"Hey," she answered him softly but he could sense the hostility in her tone.

"What happened? Where am I?" he asked her; confused as he sat up in the bed.

"You took heroin and you suffered for it, which is why I'm not feeling sorry for you however crap you feel," she told him stonily.

He gulped, "Tess… I'm…"

She looked at him, "Do you really think I want an apology, Tyler?" she said angrily.

He shrugged and she just shook her head.

"Why? Why would you do this?" she asked him with her continued tone of aggression. "What happened to, 'I would never do drugs, Tess'?" she mimicked and slammed the flannel back in to the bowl of water on the bedside table, causing it to splash everywhere.

"I guess I got it pushed on me," he shrugged nervously.

"Well, why were you stupid enough to get in to that situation in the first place?" she said without looking at him.

"Tess, I swear that was the first time I've ever taken heroin, I swear…" he begged.

"I know," Tess said plainly, "…but you've been acting weird for a while and I've been seeing you around with Jimmy sometimes. I don't know why I ignored it. I just chose to believe that you would stay true to your word. I guess trust doesn't mean anything to you."

"Hey, you don't get to do that," Tyler exclaimed suddenly. "We're not in a relationship, Tess. I can do what I like."

She scoffed, "Like nearly kill your self, you mean. Anything could have happened."

Tyler stayed silent and she looked at him curiously.

"Wait… you didn't care, did you?" she said, her voice rising in volume, "…If it killed you?"

Tyler averted his eyes from her, "Of course I cared!" he said but there was a hesitance in his tone that she picked up on.

"…but you've thought about it… doing what your Mum did, haven't you?"

"Of course I've thought about it, Tess!" he yelled at her. "Who wouldn't in my situation?"

She stood up suddenly, accidentally knocking the bowl of water on to the floor. She didn't even acknowledge it, "Then why haven't you?" she stared at him, a hurt in her eyes behind the mask of anger she was showing.

"…because part of me believes that I can have it. A better life, a life where I want to wake up in the morning, where I want to get out of bed, where I want to do all the things normal people do. But the most I believed that that was possible… was when I was taking something," he finished slowly and looked at Tess imploringly.

There was a silence between them for what seemed like hours before Tess sat back on the bed and picked up the bowl, placing it back where it was. "Drugs don't work, Tyler. I get that you're in pain, but you didn't have to do this… I keep telling you what will help but you won't listen."

"Stop Tess," Tyler said firmly, "You say that talking will fix things but… I don't know that… all I know is that when I was on something… it was a guarantee that I would feel better… it wasn't scary… it was easy."

"Tyler," she said quietly. "The best things for you are never the easy things."

"…anything else is too much... too hard… and I don't think I can do it…" he got out of bed, albeit with a struggle, at this point.

"Where are you going?" she asked him.

"Home," he answered, "You don't need me here."

"Tyler, don't do this, you have to do what I'm asking you too."

"No," he shook his head. "I don't. You don't know what it's like… what will work… what will fix me…"

She was so tired of trying she didn't have the energy to argue, "Just leave then, Tyler," she said shaking her head sadly. "Carry on with the drugs if that's what you want."

"That's not what I want, Tess," he sighed. "Some part of me wants to be able to do what you're asking me too… but there's a bigger part saying that I can't."

With that, he left the room slowly; the only sign he showed of how weak he was feeling, leaving Tess alone, angry and bitter that Tyler didn't seem to care how what he was doing, was affecting her.

Or perhaps he just couldn't comprehend that anyone could care about him so much that it would matter what he did.

Please comment! x

[LAURZY!]

Awww poor Tess all she wants to do is help him!

I hope Aden can help him, they are so alike lol

Brilliant update as per looking forward to reading more

[xknomex]

I'm glad Tyler is okay, its a good thing Nicole was there.

Poor Tess, her convo with Aden was sooo sweet. i hope he can help Tyler.

brilliant update

update soon

xxx

[Taniya_K]

Another brilliant update!

That whole scene with Tyler and Tess was so sad, but that last line was just... wow. Poor, poor Tyler. I hope he doesn't go back to the drugs and lets Aden help him.

Loved the Aden/Tess scene. He's an awesome dad

Cannot wait for more!

xoxo

[wrongturntaken]

Thank you for the comments!

Just to let you know i WILL be updating again tonight, probs between 9.30 and 10pm UK time.

[Taniya_K]

Yay! Cannot wait!!!

xoxo

[LAURZY!]

Woop! cant wait

[xknomex]

Thank you for the comments!

Just to let you know i WILL be updating again tonight, probs between 9.30 and 10pm UK time.

yay *jumps up and down*

[Lise]

That was a great chapter.

Aden is an awesome Dad. Loved his conversation with Tess.

Tyler is lucky that Nicole was there. I really hope he gets the help he needs.

[rfran]

Great update, pleased Tess decided to take on the challenge, Tyler needs to accept some help.

The first thing I thought when I read the chapter was wish Aden would tell Tess what happened to him, cause she might finds it helps her to inspire Tyler better than anything else