STARRY EYES | mileven

ten

they only left each other's embrace when robin walked back into the trailer with joyce, kali and steve harrington by her side. joyce kneeled in front of el and grasped her hands within hers, sadness shining in her eyes.

"why didn't you tell us what was going on?" she softly but pressingly asked, "did we make you feel like this isn't a space for you to feel safe? where you matter?"

she didn't know how to answer, it was like her tongue was stuck on the roof of her mouth.

"i want you to know that our priority here is you, our actors, there's nothing more important than your safety, understood?" she said, "if anything ever makes you feel uncomfortable – and hopefully it won't anymore – then you should immediately tell us."

el nodded her head, teary-eyed again when she noticed how sincere joyce was being, that this set is different than many others in the industry.

robin kneeled as well. "i have good news, we found the person who wrote those notes and the police are on their way here to get them. would you want to know who was doing this to you? it's all up to you – you too, of course, mike."

mike gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder and her tensed muscles relaxed slightly. better to know than to live in obliviousness, especially since she simply wants to find out who would put her through this. "yes, please tell me."

robin nodded once, looking at mike if he's okay with it too and he gave a nod right back. "it was jill, the other social media manager besides lola. she confessed to it when there was enough pressure." she looked at mike apologetically before she continued, "when we looked at the camera roll of the phone, there were mostly pics of mike, too. she said—"

steve cleared his throat, sending a warning look her way and finished her sentence. "doesn't matter what she said. you're both safe now and she won't be a threat to either of you anymore. that's all that matters."

she felt sick to her stomach, she never would've imagined the social media manager to be behind all of this. every time she saw her, she had a scowl on her face – for both actually.

but now in hindsight, she probably scowled because el was always around.

"is there any legal action we can take?" mike asked.

"well, i've been asking around but it depends on how it unfolds in court – at worst, jill receives a $1,000 fine and at best, she could get imprisoned for a year. the imprisonment is less likely though since there wasn't any death threat in those notes. she'll probably get away with a fine but we'll make sure to get a restraining order, for both of you."

"will that help?" el asked.

"yes." steve said, "jill was all talk and no action, i promise you both that you'll never have to see her again."

she desperately wanted to believe him and, in her head, she could get behind the idea of jill being all talk and no action, she never as much dared to write a death threat and most of her notes were baseless insults.

"okay." she replied.

"you had a rough day, how about you go home now and relax for the next couple days?" joyce suggested, "i'm very sorry again for what has happened to you but i hope you won't feel unsafe here anymore, there's no more threat."

"exactly." robin added, "and we've had a long conversation between us and we all agreed that from now on, you two should share a trailer."

there was the slightest hint of a smirk on robin's face, almost as if she was implying that it was her idea to suggest that. it was incredible that even at a time like this, robin wanted to play the matchmaker.