I'm A Mess || l.c

18- You Could've Been The One

Although we physically ended up going to Universal Studios today, I wasn't mentally or emotionally present. All I could think about was the fact that I was hanging out with a drug dealer who had the ability to shoot me dead at any second, as crazy and horror-movie-like as that sounded. James talked pretty much all day. I know because I could hear his voice, along with the millions of thoughts that were rushing through my mind, yet I couldn't decipher what he was saying. I didn't even bother trying to. In fact, I didn't even remember which rides we went on and which live shows we saw. I felt alive, yet dead at the same time. I never even knew that was possible until this day.

"LAUREN!"

"Huh?!" I jolted right back to reality. "Yeah?" Somehow, we were back in our hotel room. My feet ached.

"Lauren, what's gotten into you?! You haven't been saying anything all day. Are you okay?" James asked.

"I'm... I'm fine James. I had a great time today, I really did, thank you," I replied with a fake smile.

"Okay, if you say so. I hope your friends change you back to your real self though. You must be missing them a lot. We'll leave for the beach house in about ten minutes?" Right, my friends. I was dying to tell them everything I knew. I nodded and took out my makeup kit to slightly touch up.

*

We were standing outside of the beach house. The view that the girls would've been seeing each evening was spectacular. The sky was decorated with beautiful hues of pink, orange and red. It was surreal, breath-taking ...

"Back to the skies again, are we?" James laughed as he watched me admiring it. This reminded me of the first few times we hung out, back when all we loved to talk about was the sky. I was so naïve back then. How could I let myself fall for this? Lisa was right. Only a sociopath could drag me into love so quickly and deeply.

The sound of the door opening was enough to bring me back to the real world.

"Oh. My. Gosh! GIRL!!" Jayde exclaimed.

"Lauren, oh my gosh, you have no idea how much we've missed you!" That was Shai.

"Seriously, they just won't shut up," Troian laughed.

It was so good to see them again.

"Oh man, you know I've missed you all much, much more!" I said, hugging each of them tightly.

"Oh, so you're the one who Lauren won't stop talking about!" Shai said as she pointed to James and examined him from top to bottom. 

"Well, I certainly hope so! Does his name happen to be James?" he joked.

"James? Who's James? I was talking about Ryan," she joked back.

"Shai!" I exclaimed, gently punching her on the shoulder.

"Ouch. Well, anyways, it's nice meeting you girls. Lauren has been dying to catch up with you, all so I better leave you to it. I'm going to head out and catch up with some friends myself. Lauren, text me when you want me to pick you up, okay?" I nodded. "Have a good time, love."

Catch up with some friends himself? Sure. I'm pretty sure he just substituted the word 'clients' with 'friends'.

"So ... let's go in, shall we? We have so much to talk about!" Jayde ushered me into the beach house, and I was met with possibly the most luxurious beach house I had ever seen in my life. It was even better than the ones I'd seen in movies, and that was saying a lot. After all, though, it wasn't too surprising considering Jayde's parents were loaded.

"Yeah, it's amazing isn't it?" Troian asked as she watched me look around in awe. "Anyways, tell us about James!"

James. His name alone triggered goose bumps over my body. What was I supposed to say? I thought that he was an amazing gentleman, but he turned out to be some sketchy drug dealer with a gun? As if the girls were going to believe that. Once again, the waterfall of tears streamed out of my eyes and I choked back a sob.

And that's when I told them everything.

*

Troian reached for her phone and instantly started dialling 911.

"Stop, are you crazy?! Don't get the police involved! I don't want James to know that I saw him that night!" I cried.

"What do you mean? We'll send in an anonymous tip! He'll never know that it was you who saw him," Jayde explained.

"Guys, please," I pleaded. "Maybe, just maybe, there's a good reason behind this. Just let me talk to him once we're back home."

"Do you know how crazy you sound right now?" Shai asked with wide eyes. "How can there ever be a good reason for dealing drugs? This guy has a gun, Lauren, he's obviously dangerous!"

"He'll never hurt me."

"And how can you be so sure of that? Hm?"

My head was spinning and I couldn't think straight. No, it wasn't my head; it was the room. Or was it th- ...

*

"Lauren!"

"Huh? James?" My head felt heavy and my eyes were watery. I blinked them away to see my friends hovering over me.

"No, silly. You fainted," Troian stated. Oh.

"This is a huge issue," Shai stated.

"What? The fainting?" I asked as Jayde brought me a glass of water.

"No, silly, since when is fainting a huge issue?" Troian shook her head. "We're talking about the drug dealing."

"I mean, fainting can be an issue if you're repeatedly fainting, if you're slow to recover or don't regain consciousness, or if you're elderly," I explained.

"Oh gosh, here comes her nerdy side," Jayde teased. "Girl, just go to medical school already."

"Okay, can we please just focus, guys?!" Shai was more stressed out than the rest of us, understandably so. "Lauren, you can't possibly stay quiet about this. This is huge. The police need to get involved and you need to start distancing yourself from James."

"Can we just deal with this some other time? I just wanted to enjoy myself tonight. Please? That's all I ask for."

I watched the girls glance at one another with concern. I knew there was a serious issue that needed to be dealt with right now, but I didn't have the energy. I was drained and needed a chance to try and relax.

"Fine. But you have to tell the police tomorrow. Please."

"Fine."