by Mira Bailee
I’m not sure if she’s being genuine or if she’s faking her own pity party, but what option do I have? I can’t just ditch her.
I take a deep breath hoping I don’t regret my words as quickly as I say them. “She can come with us. I’ll get ahold of Devon.” I turn to Lex. “But these guys,” I point to both guards, “will be waiting for my call. You pull any crap with me, and that’s it. No more help.”
She nods in agreement, and Roger opens the gate. Maddie gets in her car and pulls forward while I walk through and approach Lex. The moment the handcuffs are removed, she throws her arms around me in a shaky hug. “Thank you, Olivia. You’re the only friend I have.”
Maddie drives while I try to reach Devon, and Lex stretches across the backseat, in a daze.
“Where’s your stuff, Lex?” I ask. Devon’s phone keeps going to voicemail. I hang up and turn towards the backseat.
“In my pocket,” she mutters. Then she reaches into her shorts pocket and pulls out a little bag of white powder. She clutches it in her fist like it’s her lucky gold coin.
I shake my head. Why the hell did I get deeper into this mess? First Devon, now Lex. What am I, the intervention queen?
“That’s not what I meant. Your clothes, your belongings. Where are they?”
“I was locked out of my apartment. It’s all back there. When I went home last night, I tried to break the door, but then the stupid whore of an apartment manager called the cops, and I had to run. I stopped a trucker on his way down the highway, and he said he could get me down here in exchange for…” She stops to watch out the window again, this time looking off at the coast.
Oh god, please don’t tell me she prostituted herself out just to come to L.A.
Maddie glances over at me with a worried look on her face. What are we going to do with her?
Finally, Lex speaks again. “He said he could get me down here in exchange for a line of coke.”
For a second I feel relieved, but that just means a doped-up trucker drove her here. They could’ve been killed. At least a blowjob would’ve been less…dangerous to all of society? I have no idea how to take this. I’m in way over my head.
“Lex, don’t you think that was dangerous?”
She starts laughing—cackling, in fact. “Oh, Livi, are you some sort of goody goody or something? That’s fucking precious.”
And now we’ve moved on to insults.
“Maddie, we could just drop her off on the side of the road. She seems to like the beach. She can probably find a bridge to sleep under.”
Maddie starts to slow the car to emphasize my threat.
“Okay, okay.” Lex sits up in the backseat and reaches forward embracing me from behind. “I’m sorry, again. You’re just, really nice. It’s weird.”
“Maybe you’ve been hanging around the wrong people.”
“My mom always said that too.”
Before I can address this strange confession, my phone starts ringing. There’s Devon.
“Olivia, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. What makes you think that?”
“Because you’ve called me six times in the last ten minutes.”
Oh right. I guess, with everything that’s happened recently, that would look bad. “Sorry. Nothing’s wrong. Well, not exactly. I’m with Maddie. We were leaving the mansion, and…and we ran into Lex.”
“This is a practical joke right? Not funny.”
“Nope, not funny at all. She’s currently in the backseat.”
I hold the phone toward Lex, who shouts into the receiver, “Hi, big brother!”
I put the phone back to my ear. “See?”
“What the hell is she doing? In Oregon, she was a bitch, telling me off. Why would you have her in the car with you?”
“Because she needs help, and we’re the type of people who help others.”
“Correction,” Devon says. “You’re the type who helps. I couldn’t give a damn what she needs after the way she acted. Tell her to leave town. We don’t want her around.”
“Devon, that’s not going to happen. We need to—”
“We don’t need to do anything.” His voice gets louder before he catches himself. “We owe her nothing. Now, I have a meeting. I’ll talk to you later.”
He hangs up before I can say anything else.
“So? How’s the big D?” Lex asks from the backseat, giggling to herself after catching on to her unintended dirty joke.
At the gate, Maddie said we owed Lex nothing. Now Devon’s saying it too. Am I the only one who feels family helps out family no matter how awful they may have been?
I store my phone back in my purse and breathe out a frustrated sigh. “Devon’s fine. He’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll talk to him. Until then, you can stay with me and Maddie.” Looking over to Maddie, I give her my best apologetic expression. “That’s okay with you, right?”
My best friend catches on to my pleading tone and grips my hand as reassurance. Then she calls to the backseat in a cheerful voice, “Yep! It’ll be great.”
We get to the apartment, and I feel a weight lift from my shoulders. Even with Lex in tow and a stalker somewhere out there, I feel much better now. I’m home.
Maddie unlocks the door, and I’m overwhelmed by the sight of our living room.
Balloons. Streamers. Flowers. A big box of cupcakes.
I pull Maddie into a hug. “You did all this for me?”
“You should’ve never been left alone at the gala. I acted like a child and got trashed. Devon, Mr. Cavalier, got me back here safely, and while he was here, that awful bitch was hurting you.”
“It’s done with. And it wasn’t your fault. Okay?” I look around at our apartment. She’s even spent time cleaning it. The usual dust bunnies hiding under the edges of the couches are missing. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”
“I didn’t have much else to do.” She shrugs, then gets a grossed out look on her face. “What’s that smell? The trash is empty. I even had candles burning.”
We turn to find Lex leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette.
Maddie looks at me, annoyed. “It smells like my bar.”
I glare at Lex. “Outside. Be considerate.”
“Whatever.” She mopes out of the apartment.
I shake my head. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, neither do I.”
I grin at her. Thanks, best friend. “I just can’t not help her. But she’s more a mess than…”
“Than Devon?”
“Yes. And he wants nothing to do with her. So I’m working double duty. I need to fix their relationship and get her clean.”
Maddie grips both of my shoulders and looks at me seriously. “You do know you don’t have to do anything, right? I love you for how much you want to help, but these aren’t your battles, and they’re adults.”
I know she’s right, but it still feels like the thing I need to do. There’s no talking me out of this one.
“I’m going to get unpacked. Thank you, so much, for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
We have another cheesy, sappy moment before I disappear to my room. I laugh when I see she’s even tidied my room. The bed’s made, the curtains are pushed open, letting sunlight cascade through, and an enormous bouquet of white lilies and roses waits on my dresser.
This is sweet, but Maddie shouldn’t feel so guilty. None of us expected Nat to be a complete lunatic. I empty the duffel bag, making a mental note to get my own if I’m going to keep spending nights away from my apartment. I replace all my things in their respective homes—wouldn’t want to mess up Maddie’s work—and then return to the gorgeous flowers on my dresser. A little envelope is tucked inside the middle, and I pluck it out, anticipating another heartfelt apology from Maddie.
Another punch in the gut.
These aren’t from Maddie.
Better luck next time. ~N.V.
Nat Vorhees. I�
�m only just now noticing her initials sound like “envy”. Did she make that up too? Who would ever envy her? Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.
I grab my phone and storm out of the room. Maddie’s in the kitchen.
“Who brought those flowers?” I demand.
She spins around. “Whoa. What’s wrong?”
“The bouquet on my dresser. Who brought it here?”
She thinks for a second. “I assume the florist delivery people.” She rolls her eyes and smiles. “They were waiting at the door when I got home yesterday. Why?”
“They were sent by Nat.” I sit down and pull up yesterday’s text message on my phone.
“What a creep,” Maddie says, joining me.
Lex returns from outside, wanders through the living room, and disappears into the bathroom. Normal people have errands to run, bills to pay, and a house to clean. I have drug addicts to intervene, relationships to repair, and a stalker to evade.
I rub the growing ache in my head and push the phone to Maddie. “It gets worse.” I give her a second to put it all together. “That photo was taken minutes before she sent it. She’s following me. I don’t think she’s finished.”
Maddie shakes her head in disgust. “Then we stop her before she can hurt you again.”
She takes my phone and walks into the living room. “Is this her personal phone number?” Then I hear her mumble quieter, pressing the phone to her ear. “For a longtime stalker, she sort of sucks at it.”
“I don’t know what phone that is. It’s the same number she used while we were planning the gala. Maybe it’s a work phone or…”
“You listen very carefully,” Maddie says into the phone, her voice as serious and threatening as sweet Maddie can be. “You will not go near Olivia again. Or Devon for that matter. You have no idea who you’re messing with, and if you think you can lay a finger on my best friend again, you have another thing coming to you … You will regret every stupid move you’ve made, and jail time won’t be an issue because I’ll make sure your crazy ass is stuck in a hospital for a very…long…time. Do I make myself clear? No more of these games … Got it? … Good.”
She hangs up and I exhale the breath I’d been holding. “What did you just do? What did she say? Did she take you seriously?”
Maddie hands my phone back. “I don’t know. I got her voicemail.”
“You’re insane. Maybe not Nat-insane. But what if you just added fuel to the fire?” I point to my phone. “You saw that photo. She could be outside our door right now.”
The doorbell rings, and we both jump. We sit here, frozen, staring at each other, when Lex comes out of the bathroom and looks at us.
“What’s wrong with you two?” She walks to the door and opens it wide. No crazy stalkers rush in, so that’s a relief. “I’ll be back later.”
Lex lets the door shut behind her.
“Who does she know in L.A.?” Maddie asks.
I raise both hands in an “I have no clue” gesture. Maybe I should’ve stayed at the mansion. At this point, Serena Lynn doesn’t even show up as a speck on my stress radar.
I survived Day One being back in my supposedly simple life. Nat didn’t try sneaking through my window while I slept, and her flowers are out in the dumpster—thanks to Maddie. Devon’s back from Atlanta, and we’re meeting up for lunch. I completely dropped the Lex subject, and he seems to be in a great mood. That’ll probably change when he sees Lex with me, but these two are talking today—face-to-face—whether he wants it or not.
My phone alarm goes off. Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to be past this, but I already said old habits die hard, and something about that familiar ringing makes me feel in control of all my current problems. This alarm is to remind me to get Lex up and ready…and to make sure she doesn’t get high between now and lunch. I want her sober when they talk.
I won’t mention the alarm set for when it’s time to leave, especially since even I know I don’t need an alarm to tell me to go see Devon. In fact, it looks pitiful having a reminder to have lunch with my boyfriend, doesn’t it? On second thought, yeah, it’s definitely unnecessary. Get a grip, Olivia.
I disable the extra alarms—the one for lunch, the ones set for later and tomorrow. No more of that. I can take care of myself. It’s time to step up. I can’t really take control of things if I don’t have control over my own head. So it starts now. I go a step further and delete all the alarms—every one of them telling me what to do and when to do it. Alarms from years ago telling me to get ready for classes or make dinner. Ones from weeks ago telling me to leave for my interview with Mr. Keenly—the interview that changed my entire life.
The alarms don’t own me. My problems don’t own me. Nat doesn’t own me.
I hold my head up higher. Let’s do some good today, O.
Outside of my room, the rest of the apartment is quiet. Maddie’s room is empty. No one’s in the bathroom. And Lex isn’t here.
How the hell am I supposed to get her ready to go when she’s not even here? Did she come home last night?
No problem. Just a minor glitch. There’s still time, so I’ll wait for her. She’ll turn up—hopefully before we need to leave.
An hour later, I’m trying not to glance at the clock too frequently. I’m scrubbing dishes from breakfast and relaxing my breathing. Then I hear the door open, and I’m tempted to turn around and chastise Lex like a child coming home after curfew. But I remember what Maddie said. She’s an adult. I have to respect that.
“Want coffee?” I ask, not looking at her.
She lets out a moan and I hear her plop down on the couch. “No…I’m good,” she says in a drawn out sing-song voice.
Now I look over and find her in her own little trance, gazing up at the ceiling fan. Dammit, she’s high already?
I bite my tongue, not wanting her to go into an aggressive rage like yesterday at the gate. “We have plans today. Lunch. Can you…um…try to sober up before then?”
She lets her head roll in my direction and smiles. “You need a hit. Or you need to get laid. You got a boyfriend?”
Is she serious?
“I’m with Devon. Remember?”
Lex starts laughing. “Right, right. My big bro. I love that guy.”
Give me a break. She’s too far gone to negotiate with now. I go in my room, find her a change of clothes, and return, tossing the outfit on the cushion next to her.
“Go take a shower. Clean up.” In more ways than one. “We’re leaving when you’re done.”
Lex seems a little more human when she emerges a while later. Refreshed and alert, she’s actually very beautiful. Her pixie cut is smoothed down, looking chic, instead of being the wild mess she usually sports. Her eyes are less puffy after the shower, and in the jeans and button down blouse I loaned her, she looks mature, approachable.
My hope is restored. “How do you feel?” I ask, standing up and grabbing my purse. I toss my phone in and grab my keys.
I get a groan from her, but she saunters over to the couch and steps into her shoes. At least she’s not resisting my plans—not that she knows what we’re doing anymore than Devon knows.
In the car, I get on the highway, heading toward Colin’s Diner. I won’t lie. I’m nervous, but this is exciting. I’m determined to play mediator for Lex and Devon.
“So…where were you last night?” I try to sound casual, not nagging.
“Long story or short?”
“We have time.” I might as well hear all the details. Maybe it’ll help me figure out what to do with her.
Lex takes a deep breath. “So while you were gossiping with your girlfriend, I grabbed her phone on my way to the bathroom. I did a couple quick searches and found a dude who could hook me up. My stash was low and if I’m going to be here a while, I need a go-to guy—or girl. I’m not sexist or anything. Anyway, Joe picked me up, and we hit it off. He had a little party at his place, so he introduced me to the local crowd, and I ended up staying the night. That’s al
l.”
That’s all. “So this Joe guy’s a drug dealer. You had him come to my place to pick you up, and you stayed out all night with him—a total stranger?”
“You know? I was going to apologize for yesterday and calling you a goody-goody and everything, but…”
I glare at her. “Should I remind you I can have you re-arrested any moment?”
“Uh huh. Forget it. I’ll keep my life to myself so as not to offend you and your values.”
“It’s not like that, Lex.” Count to ten. I want to yell at her that she doesn’t know anything about me, but it won’t do me any good. “I just don’t fully…understand…why you need it.” Or why Devon needs it.
Change the subject. I’m in a positive mood, no room for a bunch of negativity. Try to relax. It’ll be fine. We’re going to meet up with Devon. I’m going to get these two to bond—hopefully not over their addictions.
And here are the bad thoughts again. Okay, new topic.
We get to a red light and stop. I focus on my car.
This thing probably needs a tune up. The tires are low on air. The brakes are a little squishy.
“You mad now?” Lex asks, looking amused.
“No. I’m just…driving.”
I step on the gas, now hurrying to get to Devon. But the damn traffic and red lights are keeping me trapped with Lex and my own thoughts.
“Dude,” Lex starts. “You really need to chill. You aren’t better than me.”
“I never said I was.”
“And I’m not some sort of loser just ‘cause I do stuff you don’t like. So you should just stop—”
“I can’t.”
Oh shit. Something’s wrong.
“Can’t what? Can’t stop judging me? Can’t stop acting like—”
“No! I can’t stop the car!” The brakes were squishy a minute ago. But now they’re…unresponsive. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “I don’t know what to do. The brakes aren’t working.”
The light ahead of us is red. I clench the steering wheel and start hyperventilating.