Last One Standing; 𝒋𝒐𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓

𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.

[  before  ]
"There is...no help."

｡･ﾟﾟ･

Santa Barbara, California
September 26th, 2003

Swirls of early-morning sunlight shine in brightly through the slits of the shutters. Sage stirred, eyes opening and closing—a fight between going back to sleep or getting up. It took her a minute to realize, having not yet regained full consciousness, that the moon had long since retired. "Shit!" She tried to sit up but she couldn't, a long arm pinning her to the bed. "Beau, wake up, come on. We fell asleep."

     A confused "huh?" was all that made it out of his throat but he released her. Sage leapt up, wrapping the comforter around her entire body as scrambled to pick up her strewn-about garments from the floor. "My bra. Where's my bra? Oh God, Gia is going to kill me."

     Beau sat up, rubbed his eyes, and crept to the mattress's edge. He took her hands into his. "Sage, calm down—"

     "Don't tell me to be calm, I'm fucked! Dead!"

     He smirked at her, his cocky grin and messy hair bringing a smile to her face. "S-stop that!" She pulled away, feigning annoyance as she tried to tuck that damned smile of his in the back of her mind. "I just need to find my—"

     "Hold on," he said, shuffling back up the bed and reaching under his pillow. "Ah, I knew I felt something." Her purple bra dangled from his finger as a triumphant smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

     "That's so not funny," Sage walked around the bed, taking the piece of fabric from him and rushing into his bathroom, dropping the comforter on the floor behind her.

     Beau shook his head, turning over to reach his nightstand. "You're welcome!" He grabbed for the remote, turning on the small TV resting on his dresser. As he flicked through the channels, segments of music and cut-off talks filled the quiet air of his bedroom.

     "...these continued disturbances in Jakarta," the woman from Channel 5 said as she popped into the frame. Beau's finger stalled, for whatever reason, he didn't flip to the next channel. "But are advising U.S. citizens—"

     "Who are you and what have you done with my Beau?" Sage reappeared in the doorway to the bathroom, pulling her tank top over her head. "When have you ever been interested in anything that didn't have Bruce Willis in it?"

     He broke his gaze away from the TV. "My, my..." he said in mock hurt. "Sage Herrera, who do you take me for?"

     "A clown."

     "Hey!"

     She crossed the room, coming to sit on the bed beside him. "But you're my clown."