New Leaves

Chapter Sixteen - Never Gonna Give You Up

Emily's POV

I stood at the door and stared at James, my mouth agape. "Please tell me Zig brought ice like he was supposed to!" Kaitlyn exclaimed.

"Actually, it's not..." I said.

I opened the door wider and let James in. The cheerful buzz in the room went quiet as he entered. "Oh, uh, sorry. I guess it's a bad time," James said.

"No, it's fine. Come on, we'll just go to my room." I turned to my friends with my brow furrowed. "Is it okay if I excuse myself from party prep? We... need a moment."

"Sure thing, Emily, take all the time you need. We've got this covered," Abbie said.

I led James back to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. James gazed around before sitting down next to me. "It's good to be back..." James said. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. "Emily... I'm so sorry about everything. I should have listened to you."

"Wow, did something happen?" I asked.

"Nothing that hasn't been slowly happening already. I guess I'm just finally... acknowledging it. You were right... about everything."

I let out a heavy sigh. "This was never about me being right. I just didn't want to see you get hurt."

James frowned, rubbing his hand against his forehead. "You know, I felt so lucky to be working on my own movie that I decided to ignore the way I was being undercut and manipulated. And then you showed up and put everything back into perspective."

"Really? It didn't seem like you felt that way when you shrugged off my advice."

"I'm sorry. It took a while to sink in... And I guess, on some level, I wanted to impress you, and when you had the opposite reaction..."

"James... I didn't mean to doubt you. Of course I'm impressed by you. I have been since I first met you!"

"I wish I'd seen that sooner. The day after you left, I was on set... And I realized I didn't even recognize my own story anymore. I confronted Yasmin in private, hoping that the night she came to my apartment had been a fluke, and that she'd be professional... But she was cold and condescending, and barely listened to what I had to say. She told me to go whine to you, since we're so close."

"I'm sorry, James... I know it's not easy to have someone break your trust, especially when they've got power over you like she does."

"That was the final straw for me... After the way she behaved, as if I'd spurned her, I knew this couldn't work anymore. I quit right on the spot. I spent yesterday signing away all my involvement to the studio, then I got on the first plane home."

"You walked away from your movie? James, are you sure that -"

"Emily, it was all too much, too fast. I was losing myself and my values, and drifting away from the people I care about... and I didn't like that. I shouldn't have doubted you. You were looking out for me on top of dealing with your own problems, and I completely blew you off. I'm so, so sorry for everything. I'm never going to make those mistakes again."

"James, honestly, I'm still a little upset. I understand that you were in a tough position... Yasmin and the studio had a lot of power over you, and you were trying to make your dream come true... But I felt a little hurt that you got so defensive towards me when I was just trying to look out for you."

"Emily... I feel terrible. I know this doesn't justify it, but I was scared and confused, and... I lashed out. It's not that I don't trust you... I didn't want to believe you because the truth was too disappointing. I feel like I reacted the same way when I learned about Vasquez's illness. But you've proven time and time again that you have my best interests at heart. I just want you to know how grateful I am, even if I acted like a jerk. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be miserable in LA."