Attention What If

Chapter 10

POV: Darleen

"What exactly did she say to you," Jade paces in front of me.

"We've been talking, catching up as friends. We were doing this thing, emotional support buddies. She told me she was having a hard time with the breakup and the cheating and was just going through a lot. I said I was going through some stuff so we just agreed to be there for each other and keep in touch."

"How did you know she was about to hurt herself?" Vida asks.

"She called me, hysterical. Said nothing was making sense anymore and that she couldn't do this anymore. Saying all sorts of stuff. I got freaked out and when I told her I would come down to be with her, she freaked out. She was saying stuff and then she just hung up on me. I tried calling and calling but she wasn't answering. I panicked okay, I thought she was going to hurt herself so I called you." I finish.

"What is even happening right now?" Jade sighed and plopped down on Vida's ottoman.

I caught the first flight to L.A. and rushed over to Vida's apartment where they currently had Skylar coiled up on the couch. I tried to wake Skylar up but she was out of it. It's like her body just went into shutdown mode. No matter how loud we were or how hard we tried to wake her, she wouldn't budge.

Looking at her like that makes me sick to my stomach.

"Why didn't she just call us?" Vida ran her hand down her face and sat on the arm of the couch. She was still in her work uniform.

"She's confused and lost. She doesn't feel like she can turn to either of you." I say.

"Damn it, how did this happen? What is going on?" Jade cries into her hands.

"Didn't you notice her slowly spiraling downhill?" I ask Jade.

"No! This literally came out of left field. I'm just as clueless as you guys. One minute we were fine, the next this! I don't know what the fuck is going on. I'm so confused and lost. I just don't know what is what anymore. If anyone knows anything it's her!" Jade points at Vida.

"Me!?"

"You've been fucking her behind my back for weeks! Didn't you think that was odd for her? Skylar isn't exactly the cheating type."

"Don't push this on me, the only reason she came to me in the first place is because you kept putting her off! She needed me."

"Oh fuck off, you just wanted to fuck her and you know it."

"Screw you!"

"Enough!" I shout.

They both go quiet.

"This isn't helping anything. So everyone just shut up. I get it, you both love Skylar. Can we move on please? Fighting isn't going to help anything. She needs us, all of us. I can't be here for her so you two are going to have to suck it up and work together." I say.

"What do we do?" Jade asked.

"If I know anything about emotionally unstable girls, and unfortunately I'm an expert. The only thing you can do is force her to face the problem and get her to talk about it. If you let her put it off or avoid it, it will only get worse. Communication is key. For some reason or another Skylar doesn't want to talk to either of you, fix that. Open up communication again. Forget about who did what and who loves her more. Just fucking be a friend for her. She needs friends to help her get through this. Can either of you do that?"

"Of course I can," Jade said.

"Yeah, I'll do my best." Vida relented.

"I'm gonna stay here a day or two and just talk to her, get her to calm down. She could have had a psychotic break. If that's the case we need to get her help, real professional help."