A/N: song to set the scene:

traitor by Olivia Rodrigo

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AJ's POV

The faint sunlight peeking through the curtains worsens my dull headache from the inevitable hang over I will be dealing with today. Not only that, but the left side of my face is throbbing. Sleeping on that side probably didn't help me. I pull the covers over my face hoping to fall back asleep. I reach over to cuddle Sarah, but when I reach over I'm met with cold sheets. I spring up and suddenly regret the fast movements. I put my hands on either side of my head and accidentally touch the large bruise on my face. Jesus, I can't catch a break this morning.

I don't see any signs of Sarah being up here, so I reach back for my phone. I don't have any messages. Hmm, weird. I put my phone back on its charger seeing as I didn't plug it in last night. Wait...I did though. I slowly make my way to the bathroom to get my morning routine out of the way and to check my face. I look in the mirror and my cheek and the area around my left eye are dark hues of purple and blue. "That guy really got me good," I get closer to the mirror to look at my eye seeing a few blood spots. "I'm very lucky this isn't worse," I turn my head to look at my jaw to make sure the bruising didn't reach down there.

As I continued inspecting my face, I noticed how banged up my right hand was. The knuckles were bruised, not as badly as my face but still hurt like a bitch. I try making a fist and can barely close my hand without it hurting. I might ask Sarah to take me to the closest emergency room to make sure my hand isn't broken. "You really fucked up didn't you, Alexandra?" I ask my reflection. I shouldn't have thrown a punch. I wasn't angry at the guy. I mean yeah he punched me and he called me a not so great word, but I didn't need to engage him. "Let's hope you didn't break your hand," I point to my reflection with a disappointed look.

~~

I manage to get dressed and downstairs without wanting to puke my guts out, so I think my hangover headache is actually from me getting punched. "Sarah?" I holler as my feet leave the final step of the staircase. "In here!" I hear from the kitchen. The light entering through the windows cause me to squint in pain. I see my sunglasses on the small table next to the staircase and I throw them on. "Hey, you're awake," Sarah turns in the counter-top stool holding out a glass of water. "Yeah, barely. My head feels like it's trying to be opened by a jackhammer," I lean forward placing my head on her shoulder. "That explains the sunglasses," she taps the side of my sunglasses. I feel her fingers slide down the left side of my face and I wince at the soft touch. "Are you sure you're okay?" She pushes my sunglasses up a bit to look at my face better. She goes to take my sunglasses off to see my whole face, but I put my hands up stopping her actions and take them off myself. "I don't want you to accidentally touch it," I grimace as the light meets my eyes.

"Jesus, babe. That guy did a number on your face. He only hit you once?" She hops off the stool to grab an ice pack from the freezer. "Did I not mention that this guy might have looked like Thor?" I sit in the now vacant stool. "You got in a fight with a guy who was twice your size? Maybe even bigger?" She turns stopping her movements. "In my defense, I got one punch in and knocked him flat on his ass," I put my hands up in surrender and then place a hand over my eyes from the blinding sunlight filtering in. "I highly doubt that guy woke up with a splitting headache, and possible concussion might I add," I roll my eyes at her dramatic comment. "No, he probably woke up with a hangover based off how drunk he seemed," I take the ice pack and place it on my face propping my head up on the counter.

I grab the glass of water with my right hand, and Sarah stops me. "Your hand!" She takes it and I instantly pull away in pain. "It's nothing," I make a fist hiding the wincing. "Uh huh, then give me your hand," she puts her hand out for me to take. "I should really get hydrated. I drank a lot last night. I swear the crew better be feeling just as bad as me this morning," I dodge her hand grabbing the glass, barely. After I chug the water, Sarah snatches the glass from my loose grip and takes my hand. "Ahh, that hurts," I bite my lip trying to keep myself from screaming. "Alexandra Jade," Sarah gives me a stern look. "Sarah Marie," I throw her full name back. "If you broke your hand, you won't be able to do any of the photography Kenny is wanting you to do. What is your plan if this is broken?" Sarah holds up my hand.

I hang my head not wanting to look into her disappointed eyes. I answer her with a shrug. "Hey," she puts her hand under my chin making me look at her. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you. This could've been a whole lot worse, and could've been avoided," her eyes turn sympathetic and pecks my lips. "I know. I'm mad at myself for what happened, but if I hadn't have stepped in Sofia might've gotten hurt," her face turns from sympathy to annoyance. "She can hold her own, AJ. She didn't need you swooping in to save the day," Sarah's tone is short, and I can sense the slight anger in her words.

She grabs my empty glass and her empty coffee mug to put in the sink. She pauses looking out at the window towards the beautiful wood scenery. "Why didn't you tell me you had lunch with her?" Her question makes me stop breathing. "You went through my phone?" I question feeling furious. "Your phone would not stop going off this morning. Jason was calling to make sure you were okay, so I answered it. I saw all the messages. What happened to us being honest with each other?" She turns back towards me wiping the tears falling down her face. I quickly make my way towards her.

"Honest? Sarah, you went through my phone! So what if I had lunch with Sofia? She's my friend," I stand across from her crossing my arms. "We're talking about honesty, why didn't you tell me Nick came during the break? Why didn't you tell me you two were hanging out? Why did you go through my phone?" I can feel the anger slowly creeping up. I clench my fists but feel the sudden throbbing in my right hand. "I shouldn't have gone through your phone, alright! Why are you throwing Nick into this? I haven't talked to him since the night you came. I've ignored every call and text," Sarah mimics my stance trying to keep her composure.

"I didn't tell you about Sofia and I having lunch because of this," I gesture between the both of us. "I knew you'd get paranoid and we'd probably end up arguing. We've talked about this, I'm only interested in you and wanting you in my life," I turn away from Sarah to lean my arms on the counter. "If you would've just told me about it when you set your plans, I wouldn't have gotten mad. Instead, you kept it a secret which makes this one-hundred times worse, AJ!" Sarah screams. "Nothing happened! How many times do I have to say that? Nothing happened last night. Nothing happened earlier in the week. Nothing happened in Florida!" I match her volume turning around meeting her tear-filled eyes. "I promise, Sarah Marie Jeffery, I only want you. I will do anything to prove that to you," I say holding back the tears that want to fall. "I need some air," I turn to leave the kitchen but feel a hand grab my wrist. "AJ, wait," Sarah softly lets out. "No Sarah, we need to cool-off. I'm going to get my hand checked out," I pull away heading for the stairs to get ready.

I get upstairs and throw on some jeans and a plain t-shirt. I grab my phone and open my messages seeing that Sofia did in fact reply to my message earlier this morning. I scoff looking at the screen, "I never violated her privacy." I say the words to myself and quickly tie up my shoes to leave. As I make my way towards the front door, I see Sarah standing there blocking my way out. "AJ, please. Talk to me," Sarah tries grabbing my arms, but I shrug her off. "Sarah, if I talk right now, I can't guarantee you'll like what I have to say," I avoid eye contact. "Fine, just let me know what you find out about your hand," Sarah moves from the door allowing me to leave. I nod grabbing the keys from her hands and as I step out of the house the door slams behind me.

I get to the car and open my phone up again. I'm not going to this emergency room alone, especially if they tell me I shouldn't drive with a cast on my hand.

Sof

I'll always be there for

you, AJ. Thank you

for everything tonight.

Happy to know Sarah

didn't rip your head off

😆 Let me know how you're

feeling today, if you even

wake up. Love you too, AJ

AJ

            Sof, can I see you

today? I really need

someone, and you're

the only person who

will understand.

I hit send, and immediately get met with the three dots. I hope Sofia can come with me today. I don't know what I'll do if I have to figure this out alone. I know Sofia will tell me to listen to Sarah and just talk it out, but Sarah went through my phone. Something she's never done before. How do I know if she even trusts me?

Sof

Of course! Is everything okay?

Meet at my hotel?

AJ

I don't know.

I'll be there in 15

I pop the car into drive and quickly make my way through the roads to Sofia's hotel. I thought my future was really looking good with Sarah, and now, I'm not too sure. We've fought more these past two weeks than we have the past year and a half.

Sofia's POV

AJ's texts are cryptic and worrisome. I have to be there for her though. I hop out of bed to freshen up before she gets here. I throw on some simple black jeans and my black booties. I don't need to look too put together, but you never know who might see you. And I have no clue what AJ even has planned. I check my phone and see that AJ let me know she's out front. I grab my small purse and check that my room key is there. I head out the door towards the elevator.

I step out of the elevator towards the front doors already spotting AJ sitting in her rental car looking off in deep thought. She's chewing on her thumb nail, which only means something is weighing very heavy on her mind. I walk up to the window and knock to pull her from her thoughts. I see that I startle her a bit, but she sees it's just me and unlocks the door. "Hey," I close the door buckling my seatbelt. "Hey, how you feeling?" She sets her phone's GPS and then pulls out of the hotel. "I'm good. I didn't drink nearly as much as everyone else last night. Dove and Booboo both messaged in the group chat that they would not be leaving their rooms today," I chuckle thinking back to last night. "Not surprising. I got a few messages like that from the crew. Good thing Kenny gave all of us this weekend off, otherwise we'd all be screw," I see a smile pull across AJ's lips, but it suddenly disappears.

I glance at her right hand on the console. It's bruised and swollen. "AJ, your hand!" I gasp trying to take it wanting to instantly make it feel better. She pulls her hand away quickly putting it in her lap away from me. "That's actually one of the reasons I asked you to come with me," she glances at me briefly before turning her gaze back towards the road. "We're going to the nearby emergency room to get an x-ray. It hurts too much for me not to think it's possibly broken," I give her a sad smile knowing it's only like that because of me. "I'm sorry, AJ. You wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for me," I look out the passenger window and feel her hand gently take my hand. She doesn't do anything but place it on mine I'm sure avoiding any sort of pain. I gently rub my hand over the bruising avoiding any possible pressure. "Sof, I would've done that for any one in that club if I came across the situation. No one deserves to have their personal space invaded like that," I feel her thumb barely move across my hand under hers.

~~

We pull into the parking lot, and I hear AJ's phone vibrating, "You going to answer that?" I point to her phone sitting in the cup holder. "It's not important," she quickly grabs it and silences the phone. We both get out of the car and make our way to the ER entrance. I go take a seat in the waiting room while she talks to a nurse at the desk to get any paperwork she needs and find out how long we'll need to wait. I see her walking back with a clipboard and notice she still has her sunglasses on.  "AJ, why are you're sunglasses on inside?" I ask as she takes a seat next to me. "The light hurts my eyes. Another reason I'm here. I didn't wake up hung over but have a splitting headache and super sensitive to light," she sighs looking over the paperwork.

AJ finishes filling out the paperwork and comes back to where I'm sitting. "How long?" I ask as she sits back down. "They said max thirty minutes," she sinks into her seat laying her head back. "Why am I here and not Sarah, AJ? What happened?" I push for her to talk to me. "I don't particularly want to talk about it," she says monotone. "AJ," I sternly say. "We had a fight this morning," she says nonchalantly. "A fight? I thought you said Sarah was okay last night," I state with obvious confusion. "She read through our messages and found out about lunch earlier this week. She wasn't too happy that I kept it from her. I'm also assuming our messages led to some of the anger. I mean, you did send a kissy face emoji at least twice, Sof," she looks over at me clearly trying to pass the blame. "Oh no, this is not my fault. I told you to be honest with her. How'd you react?" I see her turn away finding a magazine to distract herself. "AJ, what horrible thing did you say?" I push further and grab the magazine from her. "I might have thrown the fact she wasn't honest with me when Nick came during the break or that they've been hanging out a lot," she crosses her arms letting out a huff. "You remember how you hated me throwing our past in your face? Yeah, I'm sure Sarah really appreciated you doing that," I roll my eyes throwing the magazine on the table in front of us.

We remain silent until AJ gets called by a nurse. I follow behind her knowing I shouldn't be the one here, it should be Sarah. Her girlfriend. I sit in a chair next to the small hospital bed blocked by a few curtains. "This place isn't as crowded like they show on Grey's Anatomy or other hospital shows," I try breaking our silence with small talk, which usually doesn't feel this forced. "Sof, I don't feel up for talking right now," AJ states fidgeting with the car key. "Okay," I mumble taking out my phone. Should I text Sarah to let her know I'm with AJ? Will she get mad that AJ turned to me during this fragile moment in their relationship? I'm the cause of some of these problems.