I storm down the hall to get to the elevator as fast as humanly possible without actually running and attracting any other attention to myself by the people standing around.
36 days, technically almost 35 because it's almost midnight.
I'm frantic in my thoughts at the moment that I actually forget to press the button for the elevator. After I stand there waiting for at least 20 seconds, I press the button and the doors open. I get inside and let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I think to myself, maybe I can just leave here and find a cheap motel for the next five weeks.
I can't do this. I can't stay here. It hasn't even been a full 48 hours yet and I feel beyond out of place.
I step off the elevator and make my way to Steph's suite. I pull the key card out of my small purse and slide it in and wait for the green light. As soon as I see it, I push the door open, close it and slide my body to the floor and just stay there for five minutes with my hands cradling my head.
After I'm done feeling sorry for myself I strip out of the tight dress and get into the shower for the second time today to scrub the disgust of the night and that grimey Ghost guy off of me. By the time I'm out of the shower, it's one in the morning.
I change into sweats and a T-shirt feeling much more comfortable than an hour ago. I pull back the cover of the bed and slide in. I grab my phone that I haven't checked in the past hour knowing that Steph has probably called and texted a million times.
Sure enough, I have six missed calls and just as many texts from her but what surprises me even more is the one text from Chase. It reads
Chase: Hey Millie now that you're in the L. A area, maybe we can meet up this week if you have time?"
Oh boy. Chase. I casually told him a month ago that I'd be in the area but never thought he'd actually want to meet up.
Chase was my boyfriend in the last year of college. He's a great man and we're still friends. We text each other here and there but haven't seen each other since we broke up four years ago. We always got along, and rarely ever fought or disagreed. Once graduation rolled around, he wanted to move away to L.A to start his career and I wasn't quite ready for that step yet. We went our separate ways peacefully and stayed in contact.
I text him back
"Sure!"
It'd be nice to see a familiar face away from this chaos of a house. Speaking of chaos, Steph comes barging through the door and swings the bedroom door open with so much unnecessary force
"What the fuck was that?!" she yells.
"I don't want to talk about it Steph," I say and rolling onto my side and bringing the blanket up to my face.
She sits on the bed calming down a bit.
She huffs "Ugh, I'm sorry Mills, will you please just tell me why you left so suddenly? It was all too much for you wasn't it?"
I sit up and scoot myself up to the headboard and say "You think?! Yes! It was way too much for me, but no, that's not why I left."
She grabs my hand "Then tell me."
I look into her deep blue eyes and then down and say "I got groped by that Ghost guy outside, among other rude comments and then some guy got him to stop but then when I thanked him he was vile to me."
She lets out a sigh and comes to sit right beside me. "I'm sorry Mills. I'm sure he just thought you were one of the girls in the house. These people aren't used to being told no. It doesn't make it right though." Steph says.
I look over to her and nod. "So are you going to tell me about Julian?" I ask.
She rests her head on my shoulder and says "What's there to say? I like him too much for my own good and he's untouchable. That's, that." I feel for her. I don't know what to say because I don't know the dynamic of these types of people to have an input.
So instead I grab her hand and kiss it
"I'm sorry Steph," I say sincerely.
I straighten myself up and say
"Chase texted me." She looks directly at me
"What did he say?" she asks.
I tell her that he wants to meet up sometime this week. Steph knows Chase but not all that well. They've met a few times and she thinks he's a pretty boy lawyer type of guy.
She's not wrong. He's handsome, his light brown hair and blue eyes attracted a lot of girls attention but he could be a bit stiff at the same time.
At some point, I think I loved him but looking into the future I just couldn't see it. Either way, I like him as a person and plan to keep him in my life as a friend at least.
"So are you going to see him?" Steph asks.
"Yeah, I think so, why not ya know?" I say and she nods her head and lays flat on the bed clearly too defeated from the night to change out of her dress just yet.
I turn off the bedside light and lie down myself. What a night…