The Model (Scarlett J. x Fem Reader)

Why Have It All?

Ekaterina's POV

I felt a cold knot of concern settle on my stomach as I listened to the shakiness in Tia's voice. My grip tightened on the phone, my free hand reaching for a glass of water I had left on my desk.

I was working home when I received a phone call in the middle of the night. It was Lizzie. She didn't give me all the details but it was about Anastasia. She wasn't fine. The second I heard those words, I felt sick. It doesn't matter how many years, days or months go by, every time I receive a call saying my Anastasia isn't fine, I felt sick to my stomach. My heart breaks a little more and my guilt for leaving her, feels as if it was the first time. I know she can take care of herself but I also know her ego and lack of understanding of life can make her not take the right decisions. I wish-I wish I could forever keep her safe, I wish I could forever protect her but I need to let her live her life. It still hurts, though.

It was the middle of the evening, I was still at work when my phone rang again. Elizabeth and I had agreed we would talk to Tia together when she was less drunk. This was it.

— A few moment later —

"Ты что сделала? (You did what?)", my voice cracked through the phone line, concern and disbelief clear on my tone. I could practically hear Tia's slumped posture, the weight of the past few days hanging over her.

"Я не знаю. (I don't know)", Tia's voice was so quiet, barely a murmur. "Это был один из тех моментов, и это почти случилось. Билли... мы почти поцеловались. Я даже не знаю, как мы до этого дошли. (It was just one of those moments, and it almost happened. Billie... we almost kissed. I don't even know how it got to that point)". 

Third Person's POV

Ekaterina exhaled slowly, her mind racing. She could already feel the storm brewing in the distance, the collision of emotions, the pressure that had been building ever since Anastasia had started spending more time with Billie. "Моя любовь, ты сейчас посреди бури. (My love, you're in the middle of a storm right now)". Her tone softened, but she couldn't mask the sharpness of her words. "Ты тонешь во всем этом—в работе, славе, давлении—а потом ты впускаешь кого-то еще. (You've been drowning in all of this—work, fame,pressure—and then you let someone else in)". She paused, sensing the weight of the situation. "Но это не решение. (But this isn't a solution)".

She could her Anastasia's quiet breath on the other end of the line. She was torn—Ekaterina knew it, could feel it, could picture it all too clearly. The isolation, the loneliness creeping in around Tia. Fame had never been particularly kind to anyone, and it left Anastasia vulnerable. Anastasia wasn't okay and she couldn't do much about it. The life she wished for her Tia was now slipping away from her hands and for the most human reason. Mental health.

Anastasia searched for Elizabeth's eyes and wanting to the attach from what she was about to say, she decided to go back to English. "I just...", the model's voice cracked. "I miss Scarlett. I miss the me who wasn't caught in all of this. The things they've said about me... the things they've found". Anastasia paused. "It's like, I have everything—fame, money, power, recognition—and it's still not enough. Yet, it's everything. It's too much. I feel...lost".

Ina could hear the ache in her words, the way they trembled with the weight of everything she was holding inside. Her heart cleaned even more at the thought of Tia feeling so alone in the middle of so much. She had been so strong, so resilient, her whole life, but the cracks were beginning to show. One thing is not being able to protect the ones you love from someone, something physical, present, but not being able to protect Tia from her own mind was something the lawyer always struggled with.