Point of View: Virgil, Third Person
Timeline: August 7th, 2019 - Three Days after Roman's Death

"Action in 3, 2..."

"Welcome back, I'm here with a continuation on the story surrounding young actor Roman Prince.  Prince, who was recently announced as the lead role in the new Alfred Hiccoplucas movie, was found dead in his apartment Monday afternoon after committing suicide early Sunday morning.  I'm currently in the studio with Patton Foster and Virgil Sanders, best friends of Mr. Prince. Hello you guys," Thomas smiled sympathetically at the two of them.

Virgil shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to sit alone in his room and do nothing - not sit in the middle of the chaos that was news reporting. Even with Patton sitting right next to him, Virgil couldn't help the tension in his shoulders.

Virgil could tell that Patton didn't want to do this either, though he did a much better job at faking it.  Patton smiled back at Thomas - a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hi," he replied simply. A small response, but it was better than Virgil's silence.

Thomas cleared his throat. Truly, he was doing his best to make the most out of this very much uncomfortable situation. Thomas had even confronted the two of them before the interview started, apologizing for the unfortunate series of events that Patton and Virgil had gone through in the past year.  If it was up to him, he would leave them alone and give them some time but social media was brutal these days.

"So would you guys consider yourself good friends of the late Mr. Prince?" Thomas asked lightly.

Patton shook his head. "He wasn't a friend, he was family," Patton said quietly. "We love him so, so much."

Thomas nodded. "You guys all lived together, up until fairly recently, did you not?"

"Yeah," Patton voice started to shake a little. "There... there was four of us... Roman, Logan, Virgil, and me. Now..." Patton's voice trailed off, expression pained.

Virgil looked over at Patton, eyebrows pinching together in concern.

Patton cleared his throat, suddenly seeming to remember that this interview was live.  "We all pitched in to get an apartment close to campus. After college was finished, we just... stuck together and it's been that way until... until Logan died in November. That's when things really started falling apart," Patton dropped his head, grabbing Virgil's hand as he stopped to catch his breath. "Sorry, this - this is - I'm sorry," Patton apologized, his hand tightening around Virgil's and it was easy for anyone to tell that he was trying not to cry.

"Take your time, take all the time you need," Thomas encouraged softly. "Do you want some tissues?" he asked, looking at the crew and moments later someone was holding out a box of tissues to Patton. Patton smiled weakly.

"Virgil," Thomas shifted the spotlight while Patton composed himself. "I know this isn't easy, and you don't have to, but would you mind recounting the events that occurred on the day of Logan's death? Not many people," Thomas gestured to the cameras. "Know much about some of the terrible things Prince had to go through in the past seven months."

"Alright," Virgil rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath.  If anything, he could buy Patton some time, keep the attention on him.  "It's kinda hard to know where to start.  One day things were fine and then one day... they just weren't," Virgil glanced over at Patton, who seemed to be trying to keep himself from bursting into tears on screen.

Virgil gave Patton's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Patton squeezed back, a few tears managing to make their way out.

"Well, from your perspective," Thomas continued.  "When did things start to go wrong?"

Virgil sighed, bangs falling into his face.  "Probably the day Logan committed suicide."

Thomas face twisted in pity.  "How did you find out?"

Virgil squeezed Patton hand a second time, this time not in reassurance.  "Pretty quickly, considering he did it right in front of us."

The studio went absolutely silent.

Thomas opened his mouth and closed if again.  "I'm so sorry," he murmured.  "And I know it's a lot to ask, but would you mind sharing what happened that day?  You don't have to," he added gently.

Virgil just nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to brace himself.  "Patton was the one to find Logan, crying with a gun pressed against his temple," Virgil mimicked the gun with his fingers. "Naturally, Patton screamed which sent Roman and myself running upstairs. Logan didn't move, he just stood there - his voice blank and... and empty. And no matter what we said, all he would ask is for us to turn around, say that he 'had heart enough to not want us to watch,'" Virgil recounted which sent Patton into another round of tears, collapsing into Virgil's shoulder. Virgil was crying now too, but his voice remained steady. "Then he clicked off the safety and shot himself."

Virgil noticed that Thomas took a deep breath, probably trying to ground himself.  Even as someone who didn't live through it, it was still a lot to hear.  "You all watched that? Did it come as a surprise or did you guys have suspicions before that something was wrong?" Virgil noticed that Thomas's voice didn't seem as steady as it was at the start of the interview.

"Yeah," Virgil confirmed.  "And yeah it was a surprise. Logan was the most rational out of all of us - he never did anything reckless, never did anything without a ridiculous amount of thought and deliberation... so making a decision like that so suddenly... it was just so unlike him," Virgil's voice trailed off.

"And how did you guys cope with all of that?"

"I... I was angry for a long time," Virgil admitted, brushing his tears away angrily.  "I met Logan as a kid, I - I just couldn't help being mad at him for not talking to me, mad at myself for not noticing that something was clearly wrong."

Patton was in no state to answer any questions anymore, sitting eyes closed on the couch - giving up on trying to stop the tears.

"And how do you think Roman handled Logan's death?"

Virgil paused for a moment, giving the question some thought. "I... don't know if he did."

Thomas's eyebrows scrunched together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... I don't think Roman ever gave himself... anytime to grieve. The day he died... I don't know, I can't explain it. Something changed. And he did his best to act strong, be there for us but... but I don't know if he ever took the time to grieve himself. Cause a month later it was my 25th, so he the thing he was best at - acting.  He put on a happy face and... planned out what was supposed to be the best day of my life."

"Supposed to be?"

Virgil nodded in confirmation. "And it was a... a really great day.  Roman wanted it to be perfect.  And it was... until - until I didn't have a soulmate."

Thomas gasped involuntarily. "You don't have a soulmate?"

"No," Virgil peeled his hand away from Patton's holding his blank wrist up to the cameras. "My wrist was blank, and Roman really took it hard. He's always been a hopeless romantic like that. And he really just wants - he really just wanted us to be happy," Virgil murmured. "And then of course it didn't help when Patton didn't have one either," Virgil nudged his boyfriend lightly. "Looking back, it was so obvious that Roman was acting like he was okay, but I - I just brushed it off, let him have his space so he could work out... whatever he needed to work out. And then... a couple weeks later, Roman decided to move out to LA."

"And you guys didn't stop him? You didn't think that it was a bad idea?"

"Of course we thought it was a bad idea," Virgil countered. "But Ro lied to us. He told us that he'd been working a lot lately because he'd been contacted about an audition for a movie. He told us he sent a self-tape, took a brief trip to LA for the callback, and found out that he got the part. And he decided that it would be best for him to move to LA," Virgil shook his head. "Gotta admit, Prince wasn't the smart one in the friend group but it was a wicked plan. I mean... what were we going to do?  Tell him that he couldn't chase his dreams? And besides, what if that was the kick he needed to get himself back on track?"

"And what did you do when you found out that the movie never existed?"

"Well Ro lied about that too," Virgil explained. "He told us that the cast was fantastic, but the director was a homophobic scumbag and he'd quit. And we never questioned it, we just asked him if he was okay and if he was moving back. Ro said that he'd stick around for a little longer, see if he could make the most of the situation while he was there and if nothing was working out, he'd come back. And we didn't question that either cause things were pretty crazy here too. Patton and I were moving into a one bedroom apartment - without Princey and Logan, we couldn't afford the rent of our old place. And... looking back, Ro got really distant. I didn't really think much that either - I knew he was working a lot trying to make ends meet.  Living in LA is expensive and we were distracted."

"So you were shocked when you found out he commited suicide?" Thomas asked.

Both Virgil and Patton nodded their heads sadly.

"There were no signs? No notes, no last minute texts?  Nothing?"

"No, nothing," Patton shook his head,  clearly grasping at straws to keep himself together.

Thomas paused. "And what about Roman's soulmate? How much did you know about him?"

Virgil shrugged. "Not much. Roman was the oldest out of the four of us, so his name came up first. Whoever it was, he seemed happy. I don't know if he'd met him yet or anything. Roman always changed the subject on the few times that I asked. Just said that I'd find out one day and left it at that."

"So you have no idea who it is?"

Virgil's eyebrows scrunched together. "I'm not really one to pry," he excused.

Thomas glanced back down at his notes.  "A lot of people seem to think that Roman's soulmate might have had something to do with his death.  Do you agree?"

Virgil hesitated.  "I mean... I don't know," Virgil rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.  "I... I think it was a lot of things.  To say his soulmate alone to blame?  That... that doesn't make much sense to me.  But I guess we'll never really know," Virgil finished softly, eyes dropping to the ground.

Thomas's hand rose to his earpiece, listening carefully as he was given more instructions.  "More on the interview with the best friends of Roman Prince, a man who sudden committed suicide after getting the lead in the new Alfred Hiccoplucas movie, in just a moment," Thomas said and the cameras cut out.
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