Part 44 - Addiction

Pugsley

Fuck.

I have to figure out some way to get this nose bleed under control. I can't go back over there and face Y/n looking like I've just been punched in the face repeatedly, though I suppose it wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

This was so different though. Last time I bled this much was because I was standing up for her honor against that asshat of a cadet, and that had actually kind of hurt. But with this, she was the cause of it, without even trying to be. I'd tried to hold in how my heart melted when she made that first move, I could feel the blood rushing to my face as soon as she did it.

But god, that kiss...

I thought I'd have to be the one to initiate any form of intimate contact like that, I was literally planning in my head how I was going to do it and everything, but I was proven oh so wrong by her gesture of affection. 

Because here I am, walking blind through the crowd of people as I kept my head tilted back so I didn't get blood on anything, all because of a peck on the cheek. That girl really has no idea what she does to me, and it'll kill me one of these days, I'm sure of it. 

And now I know for sure that I actually have a chance with her. 

And yes I know I shouldn't be getting my hopes up and everything, but it was kind of hard to do when my mind was flooding with her, and my heart was already drowning in the feeling of pure bliss from that singular kiss.

I can only imagine what would happen if I ever got to kiss her for real. I might just pass away then and there. Her love would be like a poison that made my heart beat too fast until it choked  me to death, just for me to come back so I got to do it all over again. And I would let her drug into my veins a million times if each one felt like that kiss did.

She was an addiction. 

MY addiction.

One that my heart never wanted to get rid of.

And I hoped to never have to know my life without her in it.

I was trying to be conscious of not walking straight into someone as I navigated my way in between the gaps of people, making a path for me to follow to who knows where. All I knew is that I needed to get somewhere away from Y/n for a little bit, to maybe regain whatever's left of my composure before I join her again. And perhaps find something to stop the bleeding other than relying solely on gravity to do the job.

I mean I could literally feel the blood dripping back down into my throat, and no matter how many times this has happened to me, it always feels weird, like a sink faucet that's not quite screwed in tight enough, so there's just this occasional but persistent dropping sound, and I could hear it in the back of my brain at this point.

It had to stop eventually, but I couldn't wait that long. I had a girl waiting for me, and I wasn't going to leave her alone out there just because of some silly nose bleed.

"Pugsley my darling, is that you?"

Oh thank god, I recognized that voice.

I tilted my head back up, holding my nose between my fingers as I'm met with my mother standing a few feet away from me with a concerned look on her face.

"Hey mom, could I have some help? Or at least a tissue?"

She reaches her arms out towards me, taking hold of either side of my shoulders as she begins to lead me to the end of the tables where I assumed was where her and dad had been assigned to sit for the duration of the evening.

"What happened to you, why are you bleeding? Don't tell me you got into another fight over Y/n. Your father told me about what you did at camp, and while I commend your loyalty to her, that doesn't mean I think you should be beating up people left and right because of it."

I wanted to laugh at her worry over the idea of me getting into a fist fight, but I knew if I let air out of my nose that fast, blood would splatter into the inside of my hand, and I didn't really feel like spending any more extra time cleaning that up.

So I just shake my head.

"No, it's not anything like that, I promise. It's uhm..."

I thought back to Y/n, and how mind numbingly incredible that moment with her had been. But I'm pretty sure even just thinking about it is going to cause my nose bleed to go into overdrive. And I wasn't certain about explaining the whole 'the girl I'm in love with just kissed me on the cheek and I think I might just die from happiness' right now to my mom, it's wayyy too complicated.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later. But did you see grandmama?"

I could practically hear my moms eyes rolling as she ushered me around the table and plucked a napkin for me to utilize on my nose, and she scoffs while I hold the piece of cloth against my upper lip to soak up the blood.

"It's impossible not to have seen that woman. She's gone and made herself the center of attention at a big event yet again. Honestly I shouldn't have expected any less from her, she always did have to be in the spotlight."

The condescension dripped from her tone, while I think I finally got my own dripping under control, but kept the napkin under my nose just in case. But my mother's attention was soon drawn away from my little inconvenience, as the boat from before came to a stop in the water right in front of our table, and Dort greeted us with his usual unnaturally happy voice.

"Ahhh, buona sera Addams family!"

He gestures over to grandmama who stayed seated upon the fancy chair built into the inside of the boat, looking just as annoyed at every one and everything as always.

"Your mother has already made herself the bell of the ball."

I'd beg to differ at that last part, there's a different girl in here whose beauty and charm knocks every one else's straight out of the park. But hey, that's just me I suppose. Can't blame me though, Y/n really is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...

Dort extended a hand down for grandmama to take, and she does so gracefully as he pulls her to her feet, and she spoke in a louder volume than normal, as if she wasn't only just talking to us.

"I'm firing the board, and reinstating corporal punishment."

That didn't mean much to me, honestly I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but the crowd made a few shocked sounds. I took away the now red stained napkin from my nose, feeling that I'd gotten rid of the immediate problem, and I shoved the cloth into my pocket as Dort helped grandmama to step out of the boat, and I could sense the tension radiating off my mother.

"Where is Wednesday?"

She comes to stand in front of mom as Dort spots someone else he has to attend to, and walks off, leaving the two women to talk amongst themselves, and me and dad were just sort of there.

"We're barely on speaking terms at the moment."

"Well now you know what it feels like, Morticia. To be despised by a child to whom you've given everything. I guess we have that in common."

Yikes, low blow.

The silence between those two lasted a lot longer than normal, and I let my eyes wander off to the side of the room, where I saw the exact person that they we're looking for.

I'd say speak of the devil, but the devil wasn't dark enough to compare to my sister.

But, I announced her presence nonetheless.

"There's Wednesday." 

She walked over to the table, familiar expressionless face and all, and we sort of turned towards her, while grandmama gestures to all four of us.

"Look at us, one big unhappy family."

Yeahhh, except I kind of had somewhere to be, and I intend to be back there within the next five minutes if I can help it. Frankly I don't think any of them would notice if I just slipped away. Mom and grandma were at each others throats, dad's worried about mom constantly, and Wednesday is... Well I don't know what Wednesday is doing with her night, but the point is, there's really no reason for me to stay with them any longer.

I glance at the lot of them, not bothering to tell them I was leaving, before I turned away and walked off in the direction more towards the other end of the room, where I had left Y/n waiting.

Oh shit, I was supposed to get her water. I'd gotten so sidetracked with my bodily malfunction that it completely slipped my mind, but I can't return empty handed, especially when I know that if I don't make her hydrate, she'll forget and get dizzy later on, which won't be fun for either of us.

The only question is, if I were a glass of water fit for a lovely lady such as Y/n, where the fuck would I be?

I mean technically there's a whole pool of it sitting right there in the middle of the hall, but I'm sure as hell not going to give her that, it reeked of chlorine, and I am not letting her put that in her system. 

But maybe I didn't need to come this far away from her after all, I'm pretty sure I can see a bunch of refreshments down the other end of the table. Yeah wow who would have thought that the drinks would literally be right next to the dance floor, it's not like people are gonna want water right after physically exhausting themselves, whatever was I thinking.

But sarcasm aside, I had my goal in sight now, which meant I was that much closer to being able to return to my lady and spend the rest of the evening with her, hopefully without any more interruptions. And preferably that nose bleed was going to be the only one happening tonight. 

Unless...

Nope, it was one kiss. On the cheek. I should not be getting ahead of myself. I just have to take it as it comes, and whatever happens will happen, and if that is the one and only kiss that does occur tonight, then I will take it and hold onto it forever.

But first things first, water.

I politely push my way past the few people who were standing in my path, making my way down the table and glancing over to where I'd left Y/n, but I couldn't see her there anymore. Maybe it got too crowded and she moved somewhere else to get some room from the people, which is understandable. Doesn't matter too much, I'm sure it won't take long to find her again.

I only stopped looking where I was going for a second, but it was long enough to not realize that somebody was about to collide with me, and both of us let out bit of a surprised sound as we did so, making my head whip back towards the front of me, where I see who I carelessly bumped into.

Oh, it's him.

Ajax stood adjacent to me, looking slightly distracted, like he was looking for something around us, but he still shot me a quick apologetic look without really noticing it was me.

"Sorry about that, but have you seen-"

When his eyes finally locked onto my face, I could see it click in his brain that it was me, and he stopped himself from asking whatever question was on his mind.

"Nevermind..."

I give him one of those awkward smiles before he walks back off to wherever he was headed, probably trying to find Enid. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some big plan to win her back, and I'll be the first to laugh when it all goes south, that guy really needs to learn when to move on, I swear.

Honestly though I had no interest in his weird love life, nor did I particularly have much energy to spare thinking about it when I have other things to be focusing on. Besides, he's not a threat to me anymore. Not that I really thought he ever was in the first place, but if Y/n says that she's moved on from him, then I trust that.

Well...I think I do.

I know you can't really get over someone you liked for so long just like that, I just hope she had the strength to stay true to her word. But as long as snake boy didn't butt in, everything would go as it was supposed to. At least, how I thought it was supposed to go, but Y/n may have a different idea.

I reached the end of the table, pouring a cup of water for Y/n, not bothering to do one for myself, seeing as I wasn't as high a risk of forgetting and passing out from dehydration, I'll just come back later.

But, once I had acquired said drink, I turn my attention back to the sea of people that fanned out across the floor, scanning my eyes through each area to see if I could spot Y/n from here. I mean it's kind of hard to miss her in her dress right now, so if she was around here, I'd find her for sure.

But so far, no luck.

Yeah no I would not be surprised at all if she really did end up going to find a corner to hide in so she didn't have to talk to anybody while waiting for me to get back. Perhaps she even made her way outside to get some fresh air after being cooped up in here for too long, I will admit with all of the bodies in the same room was making the air warm up a bit.

I look over to the balcony that led out to the courtyard. At least I knew she wasn't by herself if she was out there, Eugene would be with her, so I could relax a little at the fact I couldn't see her right away.

But before I could start to make way for the exit to look for her, the lights over by the stage where the orchestra sat, went dramatically dark, and everyone's attention was drawn over to the person standing at the very front of the stage, right behind the microphone set up for all to hear.

A singular spotlight was shone down onto the ground above Miss Capri, and she smiled out to the crowd as she spoke.

"Good evening students and esteemed guests of Nevermore Academy, and welcome to this year's spectacular gala, that our school has the honor of hosting all thanks to the incredible donators and kids that pulled this night together for us all! Tonight, we have two very special performances for everyone, brought to you by our very own dance and choir students! So, please welcome our first singer for the night..."

My eyes moved over to the person emerging from the darkness behind Miss Capri, and I felt my jaw drop, only for it to slowly turn into the biggest grin of my life.

Ho-ly...shit.

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Hey so like I may be starting to believe that this whole writers curse thing is real, because first it was the limp like a month ago after I wrote chapter 16, and then just today I got a blood nose. It wasn't from being kissed on the cheek unfortunately, but I did get one and it's the first time it's happened in years.

I'm really hoping that the stuff I have planned for future chapters doesn't happen to me you guys like I might be a little scared rn 🥲

Author out <3