Next Door Lover

23.

Scarlett's PoV
"Oh my god Katie!?" I can feel my throat starting to hurt as the tears form behind my eye lids. Thank god she's safe.

"Yes it's me. I'm so sorry. I just. I'm sorry." She rambles.

"Hey it's okay. All that matters is that you're safe. Where are you?" I ask.

There's a long pause before I hear a deep sigh. "California." Damn I wasn't expecting that. "Please don't hate me"

"Katie I could never hate you! I was worried but never hate." I explain lightly. I could tell this wasn't easy for her but I understand why she left.

"I needed to get away from my mom. I just never know what she's thinking anymore." She explains to me and I figure I have to tell her she was looking for her and the information about Leah.

"Yeah I know Katie. She was looking for you. She came over asking if you were here." I say

"Oh god I'm sorry. Was she rude to you?" She asks.

"Not really but uh she did say something about Leah ." I start

"Like what?"

"That she paid Leah to tell her everything about what you're doing." I reveal. The line is dead silent for a second and I glance at my phone to make sure she didn't hang up.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? Scarlett, fuck, nothing in my room is safe. She probably told her about my dark room. Probably told her about my work. No wonder she would always show up when I was drunk. Oh my god" Katie starts to spiral and I hear someone's voice come from her phone but muffled.

"Hey scar it's Lizzie, Katie is having a panic attack I need to call you back." Lizzie!? What the hell!

The phone line goes blank and I feel terrible. I should've guessed Lizzie's sisters would've set her up to go to Lizzie's in California. It makes total sense and the only thing I'm thinking about right now is flying out to her. She's going to be going through it and I want to be there for her.

A little while later, Cosmo is just waking up from his nap, my phone starts ringing and it's Lizzie. I'm quick to answer even though I'm juggling Cosmo in my arms but I can't miss this call.

"Lizzie hi, how is Katie?" I ask worried

"Hey scar, she's doing okay. She's asleep now."

"Shit I feel so bad. I didn't mean to make her have a panic attack."

"You wouldn't have known. Neither would I. I think the stress from everything with her mom then finding out she can't trust her best friend just made her spiral." Lizzie explains.

"Yeah I mean, duh. Who wouldn't? Ugh she's probably so confused."

"And to top it all off, I'm pretty sure a going to tell her dad about her mom's abuse and threaten to press charges if he doesn't believe her." Lizzie explains and my jaw drops.

"What! That's great. I'm so proud of her. Do you know how long she's staying?" I ask

"Little less than two weeks. I'm going to fly back with her for my sisters gala."

"Oh yess, she's going to that!?" I ask surprised. At least I'll see her there.

"She got invited. They are going to auction off her photograph, although she doesn't know that." Lizzie says. I always knew Lizzie had pull with her sisters, and I knew they'd treat her great but this just shows that she has real talent because they would never put up a piece of it wasn't ridiculously amazing.

"Wow, she's going to gain so much attention from that. That'll be great for her." I say genuinely happy for Katie.

"She misses you." Lizzie blurts out and I feel my cheeks heat up.