A bit of background on this first ever dip of my toe into writing. I was challenged by someone to write a story using this specific narrative, and then publish it here on Literotica.
THE CHALLENGE: "Two people meet at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She is 28 years old with a child and massive debts, and he is 19 years old and in college. Build it up. Skip through the college years without them hooking up until after he has an entry-level position in a company, and she has a steady job and is comfortable with her life. Her family has just come back into the picture, and are supporting her now which she cannot do without; but they would disappear, if they found out about his age and prior addiction. Make it a happy ending."
So here it is, exposed and raw.
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Olivia stood on the steps of Andover House; this was a big step for her. She could walk away now and go back home to her daughter and carry on as normal; but this meant that social services would remove Alicia into care, and she may never see her again. So slowly, but with conviction, she climbed the steps to the front door. This was it, if she walks through these doors now, she finally must admit that she has a problem.
Walking into that hall was one of the most daunting moments in her life, even in her slightly inebriated state, the nerves were palpable, and she almost turned and fled back the way she came.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, the Lock Screen was a photo of her daughter, only six years old, and a product of a drunken night with whomever she was with that night. She really couldn't remember, but she also didn't care. Alicia was her reason for living and the sole incentive of being in the room she was now.
She wasn't the first, there were three other people sitting on various chairs arranged in a half-moon in the back of the hall. One was an elderly gentleman who was inventively reading the leaflet that was left of every seat, then two other young women who were deep into a quiet in-depth conversation, both appeared much younger than her 28 years.
Quietly she approached the seating, but nobody looked up, or took any notice of her. Choosing a seat furthest away from the others, she sat down and stared at the photo of Alicia on her phone, trying to ignore the gut-induced feeling to flee.
Through one of the side doors, a man who appeared to be in his mid-50s entered the hall. Approaching the seating, he sat in a wooden backed chair that faced the half-circle. Introducing himself as Mike, he then welcomed the four of us to this session of Alcoholics Anonymous. Mike seemed to know the other three already and then locked eyes with Olivia. Her palms were damp with perspiration.
Just as Mike was about to say something to her, the doors at the back of the hall were flung open and a young man stormed through, shouting back at an unseen party in the hallway outside. He was clearly incredibly angry, so Mike stood up and walked over to him.
Taking him back through the doors, he spoke to the person on the other side and the angry young man who had so rudely interrupted the start of the meeting. Olivia was quietly pleased that this infraction had happened, as it excused her from having to talk to Mike, at least for the time being.
After a few minutes, Mike returned with the now much calmer young man in tow. He sullenly collapsed into a chair opposite Olivia and glared at the floor obviously still quite angry. Under all that emotion, he was very handsome with dark unkempt hair and piercing green eyes.
"Right then," said Mike, "if there are no other distractions or interruptions, we will begin the meeting."
One by one the others spoke. Introducing themselves as Heinrich, an old, grizzled truck driver who had lost his driving license for driving under the influence; Serena, a street worker who wanted to start a new life; and her friend Harriet, a croupier at the local casino, who was told she would lose her job if she didn't get her drinking under control. Then once again, Mike looked at Olivia.
Feeling under intense scrutiny, she introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Olivia," she began, "I've been drinking since my late teens after my father died from cancer. My mother fell apart and I went to live with my grandparents. I got in with the wrong crowd and kept getting into trouble. As soon as I turned sixteen, they threw me out on the street, and it went downhill from there."
By now, the tears were flowing from Olivia and even the sullen young man looked at her with sympathetic eyes.
"I lived on the street for the next few years only grabbing a bed if I could meet a man for sex in bars or clubs. One of these nights resulted in my daughter being born. I was offered social housing by the local government-run charity, so I had a safe place to bring up Alicia. I have tried my hardest to be a good mother, but the booze is my only support, my family wanting nothing to do with me, and my debt has risen so out of control that I cannot even begin to pay it back. Now I'm here as they want to take Alicia from me, to put her into foster homes. I couldn't stand that to happen."
Olivia was exhausted, it had all come tumbling out in one long stream of words, her face soaking and streaked from the tears; but she had done it. This was a new step for her, a corner turned.
After she sat, she stared at nothing in a daze and barely noticed when the young man started to talk. His name was Ben, a college kid who, like her, got in with the wrong crowd. They were drinking and partying more than they were studying. A few had already dropped out and he was on the fine line to losing his scholarship when his father stepped in and talked the chancellor into allowing him to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous group before they make their final decision. He was quite a well-spoken kid and obviously from a decent family but had travelled the wrong road which found him stood in front of her now.
Olivia found herself drawn to Ben, his sincerity in the way he spoke, plus he was devilishly handsome with gorgeous striking green eyes. She tried to shake it off, he was a child for God's sake, no older than eighteen or nineteen. She shook his face from her mind and tried to concentrate on why she was there - Alicia.
After the meeting finished, Heinrich left quickly without even a goodbye, but the rest loitered a bit, taking advantage of the tea, coffee and biscuits that Mike had laid out. Mike beckoned Olivia over and started to talk about how the next few weeks could be utilised in getting her sober. She needed a "buddy" support friend though, and as Harriet and Serena were already paired up, it just left Ben as the only free person to join with. This wasn't an unpleasant thought, but could someone so young be support for her during this difficult period?
Mike called Ben over, and the three of them hashed out a support package for the next twelve weeks to be re-evaluated after that time.
As the weeks came and went, Ben and Olivia became remarkably close, both incredibly supportive of each other. The drinking stopped, and where Olivia concentrated on becoming the best possible parent to Alicia, Ben removed himself from his deadbeat friends and started putting his studies first. As time went along, neither needed to visit the AA group every week, then weeks turned to months.
While Olivia and Ben still text each other from time to time, they slowly drifted into separate circles and moved on with their lives. Olivia could never forget those eyes though, the pools of green that she had never seen in any person before.
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A year passed. Olivia had been completely sober now for eighteen months. Alicia was happy in school and had finally met her great grandparents who adored her. After a few weeks of crisis talks with her grandparents, and the promise of a clean slate, Olivia had been given a position at her grandfather's Real Estate business, and was about to move to her first real home with Alicia. No more social housing. They had also paid off her debts and Olivia promised that she would not apply for any more credit cards. It had been a battle with demons, but she felt that she had finally beaten them, and a normal life could finally be hers.
