POV Millie The text from Nick pulls me out of my depressed state and into a curious one. I text him back HeyI sit up with the blanket still wrapped around me and Steph is now texting on her phone too. My phone dings again and I turn it on silent so Steph doesn’t badger me about who I’m texting. Nick: I have to go to Santa Barbara tomorrow, so I won’t be in. You can either take the day off or make the office look less boring. Me: hmm I think I’ll decorate the office, hope you don’t mind pink everywhere for your last week. Nick: the way I feel about pink is the way you feel about black coffee I giggle causing Steph to raise an eyebrow at me and then looks back to her phone. Steph probably thinks I’m crazy given my intense emotions. I text Nick back, Me: oh come on it’s not that badNick: it’s worse than bad, Em Me: you clearly have awful taste…I actually don’t care for pink but it’s fun to mess around with him. Steph stands up, “Uh hey I have to run to my car real quick, I
POVJulian I hang up with Slim and rush over to my lifeless appearing best friend. He’s sitting up on his black leather couch with his head back and arms out to the side with closed eyes. Foam sits at the corner of his mouth and his whole color looks off. Please don’t be dead. In front of X on the coffee table lay pills…Oxy, a fallen-over bottle of liquor that is still dripping off of the coffee table and onto the floor dripping onto his feet, a white piece of paper lays besides the two. I finally make it to him after my sprints and shake him praying he’s just asleep. “Wake up X, fuck…wake up!” I scream out. “Don’t you fucking do this to me, man, don’t you fucking leave me!” I say in panic. “Don’t you fucking leave me…you asshole! Don’t fucking do this man.” I say as I vigorously shake his unresponsive body. “Fuck!” I scream out with the unfamiliar sensation of tears running down my cheeks. “You’re my brother man, you can't leave me in this world alone. Please,” I beg to the
POV Stephanie I’m sitting with Millie on the couch as she’s burrito wrapped in a blanket and on her phone looking surprisingly happy. This girl’s emotions are all over the place lately, and I can hardly keep up. I’m scrolling through TikTok when a text comes in from Julian. Call me asap, it’s about X. Go somewhere where Millie can’t hear you My heart instantly feels as though it has stopped. What the fuck?When it comes to X, it can be anything. I know tonight didn’t go well for the two of them so I’m extremely nervous right now. I tell Millie I need to run out to my car and when she offers to come with I immediately combat the offer. Whatever is happening with X, Julian doesn’t want her to hear. I leave the suite with Millie inside and go outside to call Julian. My heart is pounding through my ears as the ring continues until Julian’s voice takes over after the third one. “Babe?” Julian says through the phone. “Yeah? What’s going on Julian?” I ask nervously. “It’s X, Steph
POV XI slowly wake up confused and with wetness on my skin. Sweat? “X?” I hear someone ask. “Baby? Is that you?” I ask maybe out loud or maybe in my mind, I can’t tell. “No, it’s Evelyn, I’m here with Dr. Adams, do you know where you are?” A girl says. “Millie?” I ask out. “No X, it’s Evelyn, I need you to try to wake up a little more and focus on my questions the best you can okay?” I think Millie asks. “Okay baby,” I say. I hear talking but can’t make anything out, I fall back into comfortable sleep but I get slapped. “What the fuck” I groggily say. “X, man it’s me Julian, wake up man, stay with us,” I hear Julian say but it’s hard to stay awake I just want to sleep. “Xavier, I’m Dr. Adams, do you know what happened?” Some annoying man says too loudly. My head is pounding and I just want to go back to sleep but people keeping talking to me. “Go away” I manage to get out of my mouth. “Millie come here,” I say. “Who is Millie?” The girl asks. “You baby” I say. “Mill
POVJulian He woke up. He woke up confused as hell though, he thought Evelyn was Millie and it was fucking sad to watch. I knew X was hurting but I didn’t know the extent of it. The room is a disaster, alcohol is still covering the table and the pills have disintegrated from the liquid. X is covered in his own vomit and sweating profusely. The white note still lies there as the corners have now become wet and transparent. What does it say? I pick it up as Evelyn and Dr. Adams try to get X to talk more. X, if something happens to me, just know I love you. This must be from Millie. Poor girl doesn’t even know what’s happening to the guy she loves right now but it’s for her own good. X keeps going in and out of consciousness and it’s freakin me out. I don’t know why I do it but I slap him to snap him out of it. He wakes up a little more but only for a short time until he falls back into it and gains another slap. Dr. Adams lets us all know that his vitals are okay and to let
POV Stephanie As soon as Millie leaves for the day I rush out the door to go back to the mansion. She’s completely clueless about what went down last night in the penthouse. Julian had been texting me all night and into the early hours of the morning with god-awful updates. I hardly got any sleep with the information I was receiving. If Millie knew that they lost X for a minute she would be beside herself, honestly, I kind of am but I keep that to myself, I need to be strong for everyone around me. I type in the entrance gate code and park Mia’s car in her usual spot. I practically run to the elevator to get to Julian and X. When I reach the black penthouse door I knock impatiently dying to see them. Julian opens the door and I run into his arms embracing him in a long comforting hug. “I’m so sorry Julian,” I say while stroking the back of his head. “I’m just happy you’re finally here babe, I really need you,” he says and it breaks my heart that I couldn’t be there for him
POV Millie I arrive at the office just after nine, I stopped at a resale shop on my way in. It was a weird morning, I feel like Steph has been avoiding me. Women though, we do weird things when we’re PMSing. I brought in some small green plants, some landscape photos for the wall, and some cute pen holders. This should make the office look a little less…sad. I set up some of the things, already significantly better in here. My phone dings on the dark wood desk. I retrieve it and it’s Nick. How’s the decorating going? Everything pink already? I chuckle at the message. Me: Ha. Ha. No, I reconsidered last minute. Nick: Thank you god Me: How’s the document signing going? Nick: It’s so much fun, equivalent to pink. I laugh out loud. Me: I’m really missing out then huh?Nick: For sure. Would’ve been black coffee to me if you were here. Oh shit..what do I even say to that? Me: Sure..Nick: Guess we’ll never know will we? Me: I guess not Ugh, why does this feel so wrong? I me
POV Millie I get back to the hotel around 5 pm after meeting up with Chase. I was hoping to get things off my mind but it backfired on me. I’m happy for Chase, I’m happy that he and Jessie have been seeing each other but it makes me feel envious at the same time. I couldn’t care less that Chase is seeing someone else, I care that everyone else in the world seems to be having a thriving relationship with someone and then there’s me. I need my girls to get me out of this rut I’m in. Ten minutes later Steph comes walking through the door looking exhausted. “You good?” I ask her. “Hmm? Yeah. I’m great, why?” She asks. “You look like a zombie right now Steph,” I say. “Gee thanks, Mills,” she says rolling her eyes. I laugh, “That’s not what I meant.” “Yeah, yeah.” She says.“The girls should be here any minute, Mia can’t come tonight she’s on a date,” Steph says. “What?! With who?” I ask all excited but feeling sorry for myself at the same time. “I don’t know, some guy from onl