Adolescent

6.

I clasped on two bracelets - one on each wrist - and took one last look into my hotel bathroom mirror. I'd been getting ready for the past hour, thirty of those going to curling and styling my hair - a very tiring effort that I took pride in when I actually did it myself - fifteen covering the ridiculous bruises Nick left on my neck with makeup, and the latter fifteen going to light makeup and putting my dress on over my curled masterpiece. I had to admit - I looked good. My forest-green eyes were surrounded by thicker-looking-than-usual black lashes and a thin layer of eyeliner, the hints of silver making my eyes more dangerous-looking than usual. My lips were redder than usual and shiny, covered in strawberry-flavored lip gloss. My dark chocolate-colored hair was suspended by at least fifty bobby-pins and curled into perfect, shining ringlets. As for my dress, I kind of loved it in its almost-black plum-colored glory. It hugged my curves, was the perfect amount of low-cut and had a slit up the side that stopped in the middle of my right thigh, exposing a lot of leg. I paired a pair of black, not-very-high heels that had ribbons that tied most of the way up my calves and were the exact color of my dress. I may not have liked to dress up, but I knew how to put an outfit together; the perils of having a very girly older sister.

"Roxannaaa!" I heard my editor and manager, Sasha, call. "Come on, you can pee later!"

Then, "Your phone's ringing!"

I scurried out of the bathroom and swiped my phone out of Sash's hand. I swiped the "accept" icon and held the cell phone to my face, going into the suite connecting my and the boys' rooms to be alone.

"Hello?"

The voice was Nat's, but it was so rushed and choked I could barely catch more than a few words. I caught "Sam", "Nick", and "holy fucking shit".

"Nat. Nat. Calm down and slow down." I said, panic rising. Nat was only hysterical in serious situations.

I heard her take a deep breath, and it shook with a sob. "Sam and Nick had to be in the same room today. Nick started making some comments about you and some other stuff and pissed Sam off. Long story short, they started beating the hell out of each other and they both were in the emergency room but Sam got released and he got shitfaced and started smashing random shit at his house and went after Nick and got hurt even worse because he was so drunk and Nick overpowered him. He's got some stitches and a concussion and a fractured wrist. They've got him crazy on pain meds right now."

My heart stopped. I almost dropped my phone. A voice in the back of my mind said, That idiot. I told him not to do anything about Nick! but I ignored it. I didn't know what to say.

Good thing Nat said it for me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nat asked.

"Tell you what? W-what did he say?" I was struggling to speak at all, because I couldn't fly home right away and take care of Sam and beat the shit out of Nick. And the worry.

"He said something about you two fooling around in the bathroom at the wedding and something about 'making you breathless' or whatever, but that obviously isn't the truth, is it?" She sounded the lightest twinges of angry.

"I... um..." Again, the ridiculous loss for words.

"Out with it!" she nearly shrieked.

"All I'm going to say is what he told you isn't exactly the truth." I said. I wasn't going to have a break down now.

"Roxanna, what did he do to you?" Nat asked.

"Nat, can we just not do this right now-" She interrupted me.

"The hell we can't do this! I want every goddamn detail, Roxanna. And I can either get the biased ones from him or the truthful ones from you." She was shouting into the phone now.