ever since the arrival of the package, elliot had been drowning himself in alcohol (his father’s favorite only), avoiding his best friend, and spending his nights hidden away with indi in her bed, drinking and smoking their cares away. it had been a cold hard reminder of the reason he’d had to come to stone harbor in the first place, and the only way to get it off of his mind, was to swallow them away, his lips wrapped around a glass bottle. he knew his coping mechanism was complete bullshit, his sober self feeling miserable the next day, but somehow finding himself falling back into the same destructive routine again that night. falling down the rabbit hole like his father, elliot’s drinking to avoid thinking about his past was seamlessly working, and he was beginning to understand why his father had chosen to spend most of his nights drinking beer after beer on the couch. that night had been no different, elliot taking a girl he’d been hooking up with out to dinner (drinking three or four glasses of wine while they’d been out) and bringing her back to the house -- she’d recently left, and elliot had cracked open the new bottle of crown royal he’d bought earlier that evening, heading out to the balcony for a smoke before going to enjoy his cross faded movie night with indigo.
he puts his cigarette out on the ashtray he’d brought out to his favorite balcony the third day he’d moved in, rolling his shoulders back slightly before grabbing the bottle of crown royal and heading back into the house. usually, elliot would make an effort to disguise his tobacco scent before seeing anyone (a routine of washing his hands twice and popping a breath mint), but his wasted self could care less what he smelled like. he approaches indi’s room, giving a soft knock to the door before turning the handle, finding her curled up under the blankets in the dark, the only light in the room being her cell phone, illuminating her gloomy expression. he figures he’ll leave the lights off, not wanting to hurt her eyes if she’d been sitting like that for long. “hey,” he says, setting the bottle down on her nightstand and climbing into the bed beside her. “it’s dark in here.” he says blatantly, settling into indi’s plethora of pillows. he turns to look at her, knowing that somewhere in his intoxicated heart it hurt like hell to see her looking so unhappy, but he was feeling nearly the same, and he knew he for sure didn’t want to discuss what was bringing him down so much. “okay, what are our options tonight?”
