*Trisha*

Julia "shut down" and gave Jonah a hard time not wanting to eat dinner tonight, so I left Nate's apartment and decided to go visit James at work. It's his first night back, and I'm sure it's gonna be an adjustment to get back on the schedule, so I'll bring dinner over to him. Paul, being my shadow,  of course, came with me, so I bought him dinner too.

I walk into the Marriott and look around. There's no one in the lobby  so I head right to the front desk. The second James sees me, his face lights up. He has a killer smile.

"Hey, hot stuff. Ever have steak and cheese from Jersey Mike's?" I place the bag on the counter. Paul sits on one of the cushioned chairs in the lobby to give me a little space.

"You're either trying to fatten me up or give me a heart atta-" James stops short.

"You can say it. Doesn't bother me. Food didn't give him a heart attack. Whiskey and a bad gene pool did. And no, neither. Just thought you'd want some company and a greasy sub."

"Thanks. How's Julia?" It's the first thing James ever asks. I told him I wasn't gonna do this, but I kind of feel bad for him. He cares for her, and stepping away is harder than he anticipated, so I answer his question like always.

"Spent most the day in bed and is giving em a hard time eating." I give in to James like always and watch his face sadden. "Sorry. You asked. And I'm an awful liar." I lean against the counter and nudge the bag of sandwiches. "C'mon, eat dinner with me and hang."

"She's probably nervous about tomorrow, that's all. He just needs to talk to her."

"I don't think she wants to stress him out. I'm pretty sure she's not as open with Nate as she is with you. It'll take time. You're doing the right thing."

*****

*James*

"Did you tell Nate about this morning? You probably should, Trisha." I change the topic and watch Trisha open the bag of food. She walks over to Paul and gives him a sandwich with a few napkins and then stands against the counter to eat with me. I stand on the other side, feeling funny having her sit back here with me. That was always Julia's chair. We'd spend hours upon hours talking in these two chairs. 

She'd laugh at me when I swiveled my chair constantly. She'd tell me everything on her mind, and I'd do the same. Hell, our first kiss was behind this desk. Our first time being together was in this lobby. Christ, we almost got caught having sex  by Paul on the chair back here.  

"I'll tell him. Once Julia is settled in at The Avalon. I don't want to worry him, and there's nothing he can do. I'm gonna handle it tomorrow." Trisha takes a big bite of her sandwich, and I notice her wrists. They are both slightly bruised up, red with some black and blues already forming.

"Jesus Christ. Is that from Dave???" My eyes widen while I look at her wrists. By the time I came to her house, Paul already had Dave pinned up against a wall. I didn't know the extent of what happened, but Dave obviously held Trisha too hard. My stomach instantly turns looking at what he did.

"Yeah. Sonofabitch has a good grip. I will never fall for him or trust him again. Anyway, that's the last thing I want to talk about right now."

I drop the subject like Trisha asks, and the lobby falls silent while we eat. It feels a little strange, though, like we should be talking but have nothing to say. Unlike when things fall silent with me and Julia. We are content just being in each other's presence and don't feel the need to talk all the time. We can enjoy the quiet together. But with Trisha, I find myself feeling awkward and looking around the room a little for some type of distraction.

I miss Julia. I hate hearing she's not in a good place mentally.  Part of that is my fault since I haven't made an effort to reach out to her. I feel like if I do, though, we are just gonna be back to where we started. Me wanting her. Her being confused between me and Nate, and getting side tracked from focusing on her health. I'm doing this for her, not me.  It's better for her if I'm completely out of the picture. But christ, I miss her so much more than I thought I would. If only I had that one month with just her, she'd see differently.  But that's not possible if she's at the Avalon and since Nate is paying for it, I don't have much of a say in the matter.

"You're barely eating James. Do you not like it? I can get you something else." Trisha says, after seeing I've taken all of three bites while her and Paul are almost finished.

" No, it's good. Thank you. Sorry, I just got caught up in my own head for a minute."

"Lemme guess. Starts with a J ends with  ulia.." She shakes her head at me.

"Pretty pathetic, huh? I feel bad she's going through shit and I'm giving her the silent treatment." I push the sandwich aside and stand up straight when a couple comes out of the elevator to leave the hotel. I give them a polite nod and then continue my conversation with Trisha.

"You're not giving her the silent treatment. You're trying to move on."

"Yeah. Except I don't want to move on."
* * * * * 

*Trisha*

Julia's struggling because of James, James is struggling because of Julia, and I'm starting to wonder if she made the wrong choice. He really does love her. Maybe as much, if not, more than Nate. There's no denying they had a connection. I continue to listen and try to be a friend to James, but I have to admit, I may be a little too into him.  I thought he felt the same way when we almost kissed by the elevator, but tonight, Julia consumes his thoughts. Which is fine.  I'm in no rush to jump into anything with anyone. But I still think he feels something for me. He's just not clearheaded right now. Time will help that. So long as he doesn't give in and go see Julia. The minute he does, it's like an addiction and he will have to go through detox all over again.

After a little small talk and a lot of awkward silence, I decide to call it a night and head back to Nate's. He's sitting at the kitchen island looking stressed. Too stressed. Julia isn't in the main room. She never seems to be around when I come here. She's always in bed or on the balcony or anywhere but in the same room as me.

I drop my keys and purse on the counter and plop down on the couch. Paul does the  same now that he knows I'm in for the night. His shift is over.

"Now where were you?" Nate asks. 

"I was dropping food off to James. Tonight is his first night back at work."

"Well, just letting you know, you're back to work tomorrow, Banks. I mean it. You're not gonna have time to hang with James, that's for sure."

I pull up my calendar app on my phone and scan it. What the hell is he talking about? I barely have anything scheduled other than the usual day to day stuff.

"Doesn't look like you have me scheduled for much at all, Hollan."  I give Nate a funny look and watch him clean up in the kitchen a little before sitting down at the other end of the sectional couch. Jonah is on his laptop typing away, not paying any attention to the conversation.

"Cuz it's not on the calendar..." Nate continues.

"What's not on the calendar?"

"I called Elliott from the studio this afternoon."

NATE called Elliott? He never does that. He always leaves that shit for me to do. Something is up. 

"There's going to be a press conference first thing in the morning."

I sit up straight. He's got my full attention now. "Press conference... about what? Why am I just hearing this now??"

"I'm coming clean with my drinking problem so I can move on before I have to attend events in the future." Nate clasps his hands together and drops his head. He completely left me out of the loop on a very important decision. Why would he do that to me? Because I fucking hang out with James? Is this payback or something? Is Hollan that fucking childish? Coming out about being an alcoholic is a huge deal for a celebrity. There's going to be a ton of media attention surrounding this  topic. And he pretty much went over my head and straight to the publicist. 

"Elliott already sent me the rough draft, and I tweaked it and sent it back to him." 

"Oh.." I look away. All that would normally have been my job to do. 

"Well, you weren't fucking around all day today so someone had to do your job."

I swallow hard and glance over at Paul who gives me a look like I need to come clean on why I have been preoccupied. I was hoping it didn't come down to telling Nate right away. I was hoping to wait until the restraining order was already in place and Julia was a few days in her Avalon routine so Nate wouldn't worry. 

"I was a little preoccupied."

"With James? Well aware." He says, acting all irritated.

"Listen, Nate. I'm gonna tell you something but you better not fucking freak out on me. Because I will walk right out of this house and not come back."

 Nate catches me and Paul sharing a look and squints his eyes. He knows something's up.

"Yes. I did have breakfast with James." I begin. "I invited him over to my place for breakfast." I look down at my hands while I talk because making eye contact when I tell Nate this shit that went down this morning is too hard.

"When I heard the knock on the door I was in the middle of making pancakes so said 'come in'. I thought it was just James. It was Dave. He wouldn't leave." I talk fast trying to get it all out as fast as I can but already feel the tears sting my eyes. This is exactly what I DID NOT want to happen.

"What do you mean he wouldn't leave?"

"He was drunk. It was nine in the morning and he was drunk and wouldn't leave."

"Where the hell were you?" Nate turns and glares at Paul now but I answer for him.

"He was in the bathroom. Listen. It all happened so fast. He.." I look up to the ceiling for a second to push back the tears but it doesn't work. "He wouldn't let go of me. He pushed me up against the wall and wouldn't let go of me."

Nate has a horrified look on his face as I tell him what happened.

"He was so fucking drunk, Nate. He held on to my wrists and kicked my legs apart. Thank GOD Paul was in the house because I tried to get out of his grip and I couldn't." I cry and Nate quickly grabs both my hands, noticing the bruising on my wrists.

"DAVE did this to you?!" 

"Don't worry. Paul did worse to him and James called the cops. He got arrested."

"Trisha WHY did you keep this from me??"

"You have enough fucking stress with that one." I tick my head towards Nate's bedroom meaning Julia.

"Fuck that. No. Trisha.... you should have told me this right away. I don't know why everyone seems to think I'm gonna fucking die if they tell me something bad."  He pulls me in and hugs me. That's when I lose it and start to cry.

Jonah gets up and makes me a cup of  tea while I cry and cover my face in Nate's chest. This is not what I wanted. Especially in front of Paul and Jonah. I take a deep breath and calm myself as quickly as I can.

"Were you never going to tell me if I didn't get mad at you for being MIA today???"Nate pulls back and looks at me.

"I was... by the end of the week. Once she's settled in and shit." I pause. "One more thing I need to tell you..." I take a sip of my tea and hold it in my hands before hopping to the next bad news of the day. "Julia's divorce papers didn't go through."

"What???"

"They got sent back with a "Return to Sender" stamp. He never signed the papers. Someone's gonna have to track him down and hand deliver it. What a shitbag."

"What the hell am I paying the lawyer for then? He should do that."

"He said he would, but he can't. His wife is due to have their baby soon. He can't travel across the country now, and Julia can't be the one to do it. One of us needs to."

"Damn it."

Nate gets up and starts pacing now. He scratches the back of his head in frustration and all eyes are on him.

"So we have to go hand deliver the papers to the sonofabitch ourselves to get the ball rolling??"

"Sounds like it. That or we could leave well enough alone but I think she should have closure on that shit."

"She's gonna freak out." He sighs and looks at Jonah who nods in agreement.

"I mean. Someone could go and just not tell her. But nothing can happen right now. Especially once the news breaks out about your addiction.  And I need to figure out my own shit with Dave so will still need Paul around until a restraining order is put in place. So I can't go. You can't go. The only other person would be Julia herself. But she technically can't do it alone. Someone else would have to be there with her. The only other person would be....Gallo." I say, hesitantly, because there is no way this should fall on him and he's trying to keep his distance from everyone here.

"He won't even give Julia the time of day right now. First I need to get him to at least talk to her, before I spring something like this on him."

"This shouldn't be his problem, Nate." I glare at him now feeling a little overprotective of James.

"I can't believe this is happening." Nate shakes his head and walks into the bedroom. Great. I stressed him out. The guy's gonna have another friggen heart attack if this keeps up.

*****

*James*

[What's going on with you lately. You have barely texted in the chat.]

I see Jennie's text in the group chat me and  my sisters have going on. I've kinda been avoiding everyone lately, not just Julia.

[sorry, my leave is over so tonight my first night back at work]

All my sisters are online and read the text.

[So Julia is good now? You don't need to be there to help with her?] Ashley chimes in. I went into very little detail, but the girls know some shit that went down.

[We're not together anymore]

Everyone responds with  [what?!?] 

My sisters all loved Julia. She fit right in. So to have this happen doesn't just affect me. It affects them too. Especially Kendall who has become close to Julia fairly quickly.

[Believe me. It wasn't my choice.]

[SHE broke up with u? I don't believe that, Jamie. I just don't. You did something to screw it up didn't you?]     Yeah, thanks Gwen.

  I roll my eyes as I read the messages and put my phone down when someone comes through the lobby and heads for the elevator. I decide to  not answer my sisters for a while and let them digest the news. Going back and forth with five women is not what I need tonight. 

I start to text Julia, but then delete it before sending. I just want to know if she's ok. She's nervous about the Avalon tomorrow. I just know it. I look over at the empty chair next to me and let out a sigh. 

She should be here with me.