I can hear Paul and then Nate come into the breakroom. I wash my hands and open the bathroom door, throwing my crumpled up paper towel right in Nate's face. Paul sits down and drops his head. 

"You're such an ass, you know that?" 

"That's not what you were saying last night, princess."

"Too soon, Nate." Paul huffs in his low voice.

"How am I the bad guy here? I've slept with Trisha a million times. Julia slept with her damn doctor! I should be mad at HER, not the other way around."

"You and Julia are a match made in heaven." Paul oozes sarcasm. "All you do is find ways to destroy each other."

"I need air." Nate heads for the door.

"Can you maybe use the BACK entrance this time? I'm sick of reading your name on Twitter and cleaning up after you." I scold but he slams the door before I finish my sentence.

"God, I can't stand him sometimes!!"

"Yet you still sleep with him."

"Shut up, Paul. No one asked you to talk." I roll my eye and slouch down in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. The chest Paul keeps gawking at every once in a while.

"Oh, grow up already. They're a pair of boobs, Paul. Get over it." I squint my eyes at him, and he looks away, knowing he just got caught.

My phone  notifications go off. Of course they do. Elliott wants to know what fires he needs to put out.

"Jesus Christ." I turn my phone so Paul can see Elliott's message. "Why does Nate do this to me? What the hell am I supposed to say?"

Paul reads  the text and draws his hands over his face.

"Don't answer just yet. We'll think of something."

I sent Elliott a message telling him it was a misunderstanding and I would fix it.  I roll my head back to lean against the wall and close my eyes.

"This day is already starting out fantastic." I bleed sarcasm.

Paul shrugs. "I mean.... I don't know. Mine started off pretty well." He smirks about the free peep show, and I slap his arm.

"Are my keys in here?" Jonah bursts into the room but doesn't pay attention to us. He looks straight to the counter near the coffee pot and grabs his keys. 

"What's going on?" I bolt up after seeing the pained look on the nurse's face.

"You're stupid friend is going to make the worst fucking mistake of his life! He's at the bar." Right after the words hit me, Jonah slams the door behind him.

"Oh my god..." I start pacing like Nate would. "Oh my god..." It's all I can say before I begin to cry. He can't fucking do this.  "He's at Sully's.." I say to myself and can feel Paul's concerned eyes on me. Like I'm fucking Julia and gonna tear apart the room or something.

"Holy shit... what if... what if he drinks?  What if he tries to drive?" My eyes widen and I stop in my tracks thinking about the car accident.

"Shit. Trisha. Sit down." Paul stands up and pulls me back to my chair. "You're shaking."

I look up at the bodyguard terrified now. "What if he drinks, Paul?  What if he gets behind the wheel and.."

"Stop. Jonah will get to him, ok? I'll text Jonah and tell him to update us right away. Ok?" Paul sits down next to me and I nod. But then cry. He holds my hand and I look down.

I AM fucking shaking.

It takes all of fifteen minutes for Jonah to respond to Paul's text saying Nate did NOT drink. He was going to and already had the whiskey to his mouth but Jonah apparently saved the day.  Ten more minutes and they both walk into the break room.

 The second Nate walks in I jump up and run to him. I hug him so fucking tight. Then I slap him across the face. Hard. Real hard.

"Wonderful, Nate. This day has been just wonderful."  I storm out of the room and Paul follows me, laughing.

"Ok. That was an iconic moment."

"Paul, remember when you DIDN'T talk? Let's play that game ok? Take me home."

*****

"Doing better?" My bodyguard sits next  to me and studies my face. He took me home, made me a cup of tea and put a blanket on me when I fell asleep on the couch.

"Yeah. What time is it?"

"Three o'clock."

"Jesus. I slept half the day away."

"Good. I'm sick of chasing you around. I needed the break. I'm gonna warn you ahead of time, Banks.  Nate is all over the internet."

He hands me my phone knowing that was the first thing I was reaching for. Yep. Wonderful. Someone leaked a photo of Nate entering the bar. I have a million next messages and Elliott is pissed off that I never responded to him.

"I swear to God.." I read the social media sites. "I'm going to kill that boy. I'm going to push him off a bridge and kill him." I  open my messages and start scrolling through. "Absolutely ridiculous."

I take a deep breath and start cleaning up my best friend's mess for him.

This time. I give Nate a little payback. I tell the truth. Elliott will have to do a write up and sugar coat it to what he wants it to be. But I tell Elliot Nate did indeed go to the bar. That he almost fell off the wagon. But that he did the right thing and called his 'sponsor' who then intervened. I tell him he had a little tiff with Julia who is in the hospital not feeling well. That it was a simple lover's quarrel. I leave details and my name out.

When Nate calls- I don't respond.

When Nate texts- I ignore him.

Instead,  me and Paul spend the day at home, relaxing, watching tv, ordering food and then I take a nice long bath in Nate's tub and use up all his fucking hot water.

And when I go to sleep. I sleep on HIS side of the bed.

****