POVMillie Wednesday morning. Another morning of not waking up next to X. I silently cried myself to sleep for yet another night but it’s a new day and it’s time to put on a happy face for work. I pull into the parking lot, doing a glance over at my makeup in the rearview mirror. Today, I decided to amp up the makeup only by a fraction from yesterday and straighten my hair which has picked up a little lightness from the sun's rays. Steph teased the hell out of me before leaving because of my extra effort in my appearance thinking it was all for Nick but it’s not, it’s for me. I feel as though when I look better, I feel better and any ounce of hope for achieving that I’ll do. I walk into the modern-style building and find my way to Nicks's office. I gently knock on the door waiting until he calls out for me to come in. Shit, he looks better than yesterday. His medium brown hair is slightly longer than X’s overall. The light wave in his hair is pushed back with minimal product mak

POVMillie I’m driving to the hotel from work feeling on cloud nine. I’m getting my own office? Already? I’m so excited and a bit nervous at the same time to take on such a big role already. Nick is a good teacher so if I keep my mind straight, I’ll be fine. I felt a touch disappointed and relieved at the same time when he told me about his transfer. There’s a definite connection between him and me, but one I don’t want to pursue. I pull into the hotel parking lot and walk through the lobby and into the elevator, when I make it up to my floor I get out ready to just become a vegetable for the rest of the night. Oh… but how wrong I could be about that when I approach my room. My heart constricts at the sight of him. X is sitting against the hotel door with his head leaning against it and his knees brought up. He’s wearing the famous black hoodie with the hood up over his head and black cargo shorts. Why does he have to look so attractive without any effort? His green eyes make cont

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

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

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