Ecstasy

Chapter 6

- Third Person • Eva focus -

Eva hadn't heard from Alyssa for a week and counting now, not that she had taken notice really. She was busy, finishing up work in Washington, then going back to California until her she got her next gig. She hated California. When she did notice a lack of misspelled strings of messages, it confused her, but she didn't press anything. Maybe Alyssa was just busy too, she was like famous. But that reasoning didn't seem to make sense either after a while, no streams, uploads, or any sort of social media interaction. Something had to have been going on personally. I mean, it's not like they knew each other for years, but Eva was still concerned for her new friend. After the seventh day of nothing from Alyssa, she decided to text her.

Eva - hii
          u havent responded or messaged in like a week r u ok??

Eva stared at the message, minutes ticked by and she was left on delivered. She shrugged, swiping out to her home screen and getting a facetime notification from Alyssa. Eva blinked, before answering it.

A blonde girl answered.  It was the girl from Alyssa's instagram post. She looked as if she were in a house. She furrowed her brows at the camera, before shuffling around and propping the phone up on something. She was in Alyssa's room, and sat at her desk.

"Hi!" The girl smiled. "Mo- Alyssa is in the shower right now, she's okay." She shrugged, crisscrossing her legs in the desk chair. The girl sounded young, and looked a lot younger. If Eva had to guess, the girl was like 13.

"Why'd.. you call?" Eva blinked.

The girl squinted at the phone, leaning forward. "Dude- are you in a hotel room right now? Do you live in a hotel? That's awesome!"

Eva furrowed her brows, a blush of embarrassment spreading across her face. "No!- Hey, I don't even know who you are. What's your name? Are all 12 year old's this... curious?"

The girl frowned. "I'm not 12. I'm 16, I literally turn 17 in December."

"You didn't answer my first question, apparent 16 year old." Eva grinned, raising a brow.

"I'm Minnie an-" Minnie looked at the door as it opened, flipping the phone face down on the desk. "Hi, Alyssa."

Eva couldn't see what was going on, it was annoying her.

"Hey, pea.." She heard Alyssa say from some other part of the room. "What's up? You don't ever call me by name."

There was a long beat of silence before Minnie spoke up again. "Grey told me you had a girlfriend and I was playing Minecraft on your phone 'cause mom took mine and some Eva lady texted you so I called her and-" She paused to take a breath, before continuing. "-she's listening to this whole conversation right now. Also this is kind of a shocker, last time you dated a girl she was crazy and like.. was convinced you and Grey had a secret affair and I was y'all's love child or something."

"...Grey told you me and Eva were dating?!" Alyssa exclaimed.

"Uh, no. But that's basically what he said. Are y'all dating?" Minnie asked.

"No??" Eva chimed in, staring at the black screen in confusion. "What the hell made you think that?"

Minnie set the phone back up, she was off to the side, and Alyssa was staring directly into the camera, laid out on her stomach on her bed. Her hair was wet, and she wore a simple black tank top with lace lining the neckline. You could see black roots sprouting from her red hair. "Um. Grey, duh. Have you been listening?" Minnie looked at the phone.

"Grey is so dead when he comes home." Alyssa sighed, looking at Minnie. "Why don't you go watch TV or something 'till he does, pea." She sat up, gesturing for her to leave the room. Minnie reluctantly listened, getting up out of the chair and leaving the room. Alyssa replaced Minnie in the chair, turning on her computer.

"She wasn't bothering you or anything, was she?" Alyssa asked, glancing at the phone.

"No- no, she was just being a kid.." Eva said, adverting her gaze from her screen. "How- how did you two meet anyway?"

Alyssa shrugged, the glow of her desktop screen illuminating her face in the otherwise dim room. "I took up a babysitting gig at like 19, I needed the money and she was listed as a good kid- and well, she's been glued to me ever since. I'm like her.. second mom."

"Oh," Eva smiled. "That's sweet."

Alyssa nodded, a few seconds of keyboard typing silence passed before she spoke up again. "Sorry about um- randomly ghosting you. I didn't mean to, I just.. get weird sometimes. For lack of better wording."

"It's okay, shit happens." Eva hummed. "You can always talk to me if you feel like you're having a hard time."

"Thanks." Alyssa smiled. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, I just came from a photoshoot." Eva glanced around, before continuing. "My last one before I go back to California- I'm off for like 2 weeks."

Alyssa furrowed her brows. "You stay in California? Gross."

"Hey," Eva grinned, biting back a snicker. "it's not that bad."

"I guess, but Californians are insufferable."

Eva frowned. "Am I insufferable?"

Alyssa shook her head, giving her a smile. "Of course not. I think you're lovely, Eva."