Forever Never

Chapter Twenty-two | Clarity

Tyana

Elle was sitting all relaxed in her living room for once instead of the studio, with a laptop in her lap and a bag of salted peanuts beside her. She patted the spot next to her.

"Did I need to bring my computer?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Nah. I just need some pointers."

I sat down and placed the computer on my lap instead as I started the video from the beginning. Elle was watching along, pausing and asking for my thoughts at different parts.

"So am I getting paid for all this editing I just did?" I eventually asked, mostly joking. She didn't specify I'd be doing work when she asked me over this morning.

"If anything we co-edited," she replied, also jokingly. "But yeah I'll pay you for your part," she added.

"So this is for your new talk show?"

She nodded, watching the finished video from the beginning again. "Gonna upload this snippet to my main before the release of the pilot in a few weeks."

It genuinely filled me with joy to see the big moves Elle was making with her career and made me wish I could do the same. Just forget everything and everyone for a moment and go all in on what I truly wanted out of life. DJ Slim's offer loomed in the back of my mind, but so did Tim and Elle and everyone else I worked for.

"Hey by the way I heard Tim was in the hospital cuz he nearly overdosed. Did you know that?" Elle suddenly asked and I glanced at her, her eyes already on me.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"I mean he hasn't exactly been radio silent on his stories," she said. "I suspect you're the one who took him. Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"I don't know. It's just been a hectic few days and I just never had the time." I lied. She didn't seem too satisfied by my answer.

"I know you hate hearing me say this but I'm telling you this man is a ticking time bomb who won't care about blowing you up along with him. I just hope you can see that before it's too late," she went on, her eyes now back on the laptop.

I scoffed internally. "He's fine by the way. Incase you cared," I muttered and her gaze was shortly back on me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Do you expect me to suddenly like the guy or something? I mean I'm glad he's okay but my opinions on him are still the same."

This time I scoffed out loud. "This is literally why I didn't tell you. You're just too concerned with telling me "I told you so" and making me feel even worse than I already do. So screw me for wanting to spare myself that for once."

"Oh you mean you don't like it when I don't enable your self-destructive behavior?" she raised an eyebrow, which only fueled my frustration.

I rose from the couch. "I'm out of here."

"You clearly got some shit to say to me so might as well say it since it seems you've grown a bit of a backbone today," she remarked and I swiftly turned around.

"You know what? I've been trying not to see the truth for a while now but Tim was right and it's no wonder you don't like him. You only care about me when it directly benefits you or it's about you. Hell I bet DJ Slim hitting me up was also your doing."

Her forehead rose in confusion and surprise, but I didn't buy it. "Wait what?"

"Don't pretend like you didn't orchestrate that."