The Winner

Stay With Me

*Julia*

[ What was that all about]

I look at the text again. I never responded to James yesterday when I used him to hurt Nate.

Unfortunately, all it did was backfire on me . Nate may have thought it was a simple one-time thing. That James was my victim because he just "happened to be there" to twist the knife a little, verses kissing a stranger. Nate didn't know that there's something between me and James. Kissing him, one more time, was the worst decision I could make.

As happy as he makes me feel, like I'm on top of the world, I have to talk to him and end it. I'm too involved with Nate. I just need to do the right thing. It's what's best for everyone.

Nate is spending the day at the hospital to be with his sister. But I still have Paul as my shadow. If only I could ditch him to have some privacy. I can't be candid with James with that ogre lurking around.

I look up at my babysitter. The door between our rooms is open. He is in his room doing something on his phone. I sit on the chair in the corner of my room near the window and text James back.

[ Sorry I'm just seeing this now. I need to explain everything to you, but I have Paul babysitting me.]

[Look who finally texted back. Only took ya 12 hours.... jk I know you were hammered yesterday. Sorry, I can't get rid of your shadow for u]

I let out a sigh before responding.

[I hate this. I can't even go to the park without Paul. That would have been a perfect place to talk, too :( But we do need to talk about things]

[ We do... I'm working tonight. I'll try to think of something]

*****

*Nate*

Cara has been sleeping for a little while. I haven't really had a chance to talk to her. First with the withdrawals, then with the ups and downs with all these changes trying to find the right medication, I haven't seen the "real" Cara yet.

I had no idea how much she was like mom until now.

I'm not going to let her end up like that. But I can't help her if I don't know what's going on in her life. How did we become so distant? I haven't been here long, so I'm hoping she will wake up soon so we figure out what to do moving forward - together.

While sitting here, watching my little sister sleep, I pull out my phone. Maybe I can try to book a flight to Boston for Julia. I'm sure Trish can move the schedule around for something as important as this. Even the managers can't deny Jules this.

I wish there was a way I could go with her and be there for her. I know she's going to fall apart. I can't stand the thought of thinking she will be alone . I'm sure she as a good support system back home, but do they know what her nights look like? The nightmares, the crying. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking she has to deal with it all by herself.

*****

*Julia*

"When do you think I can finally ditch the bodyguard? Nothing's happened since that one time." I trace little circles around Nate's bare chest as we lay in the hotel bed.

"I don't know, love, but if you keep doing things like this, you're gonna be really sore in the morning." Nate closes his eyes and pulls me in a little closer.

"We JUST finished. That's not even possible." I can hear his heart beating as I rest my head on his chest.

"Anything's possible, darlin. Want me to prove it?" He opens his eyes and looks down at me, raising one eyebrow. His signature emoji face gets me every time.