Lizzie

Tammy looks pale; who wouldn't after having so much alcohol in her system, not to mention the drugs? Jesus, it's bad. So bad. Yet her mood isn't as down and low as both Lilly and I thought it would be.

"I just feel shit, guys." She's saying as she sits on her double bed with fluffy white pillows propping her up. Her legs are bent and she has her right leg crossed over her left leg. Her toned and tanned legs peek out from her denim cut-off shorts. Her blonde hair and she has a lot of it, is sitting on top of her head in a messy bun.

"Don't you feel anything? Like anger, like you want to beat the living crap out of that guy?" I ask her as I sit next to her on the bed, Lilly is at the foot of the bed facing us. She's resting against the brass and iron bed end, looking more mournful than Tammy, who has just gone through hell and back.

"Not really. It's happened, what can I say. My folks are flying in, they'll be back first thing tomorrow morning." I'm sensing that she doesn't give a shit and isn't really looking forward to them coming back at all. To be honest, she and her little sister have done a great job so far without them being around much anyway. As far as parenting goes, they're shit at it. Their nanny, housekeepers and private tutors do most of it for them.

"Where's Willow?" Asks Lilly. Tammy starts to pick off the red nail polish she's wearing and sighs.

"In her room. She doesn't know what has been going on but I really ought to go and spend some time with her."

"Why don't you bring her in here? We can do girl stuff. Unless you wanna talk?" Lilly holds her breath; we both want to know more about last night to see if we can help Tammy in any way; however, it's pretty evident that she really doesn't want to talk about it at all.

Lilly and I made a pact that we weren't going to mention anything about Denver and Brandon trying to find the guy. My stomach is still in knots. What if something has happened to either of them? I'm guessing this is part of why Lilly is looking so concerned, too; this isn't all just about Tammy.

"Sure, let me call her." Tammy unfolds her beautiful legs and pushes herself off the bed. "Willow. Come here." She yells from her bedroom door, then comes back, throws herself onto the bed, stomach down, grabs one of her yellow scatter cushions, and cuddles it to her side. "This is so shit, right!?"

Lilly and I both nod. So fucking shit. Like the worst kind of shit you can imagine. "I don't even know how I feel. I guess like a loser and also that it was all my fault. The police have questioned me today; I've had tests run."

Lilly interrupts; her voice is definitely no-nonsense. "Don't ever say you were to blame, Tammy. Don't ever say that. You're not. He was a prick for lack of a better word, but none of this is on you. He can't get away with..." She stops. None of us can bring up the R word. It's not that we're trying to hide from it, nor that we're scared to use it; only we don't have to spell it out to our best friend.

"If I hadn't been so damn keen to do drugs with him, this wouldn't have happened."

"Maybe not to you," I say before continuing. "But it sure would have happened to another girl, and maybe he's done the same to someone else." She shrugs her shoulders in a maybe kind of way, and Willow comes through the door. We instantly drop the conversation.

She looks so adorable she'd melt your heart if you could see her. Wearing pale blue jammies with teddy bears on them and holding her favorite teddy in her arm, she slowly pads into the room and hoists herself up onto Tammy's bed. "Hey sis. Are you feeling any better?" She asks in her soft voice. Oh my, she melts my heart; all I want to do is cuddle this little girl up, take her home and to be loved by my own mother. No child deserves parents who can't be around for them. It goes to show whether you're a down-and-out junkie on the road to ruin or rich as they come, there are still parents out there who totally suck at being parents.

Tammy sits up and cuddles Willow into her chest. Willow rests her head on Tammy's delicate shoulder. She's so slender her collarbone looks like it would easily snap in two. "Nah, sweetie. It was just a nasty bug."

"Sure, only you had to go to the hospital?" Willow's blue eyes are huge, like saucers as she looks into Tammy's eyes.

"Sure, little sis. Just needed to be checked out properly. Don't worry your pretty head about it. How about we braid your hair, cutie?"

"I'd love that. Okay then." Says Willow. I reach over for the pink brush that sits on Tammy's bedside. Lilly smiles; you can see it in her face – the longing to have a baby Willow when she gets married to Denver. Okay, so he hasn't proposed; they're still young. Hell, we're all still young even though we think we're adults; we're not really. But he will. It's on the cards for those two.

That pulls at my heart as I think about Brandon and the massive crush I have on him. I'm not even sure if it's just a crush that will pass, or if it's something else. What if I'm actually in love with him? Holy fucking shit, that is going to be bad news. I check my mobile and catch Lilly checking hers too.

"Oh, my God. What is wrong with you two? Can't you leave your phones alone for an hour or two? You must both be so lovesick." Tammy says with a hint of mockery in her voice.

"Don't be stupid. I'm definitely not love sick for Brandon." I say, huffing, and instantly place my phone back on the bed beside me. He hasn't messaged, and I'm now really worried. It's gone nine, and usually he'd have messaged me back. I don't want to think what could be happening right now.

Lilly shakes her head; there's obviously no message from Denver either, not since we were in the car and he'd messaged to say that he and Brandon were out taking care of business. If that doesn't mean what I think it means, then I'm going to eat my hat.

"What's going on?" Tammy asks as she finishes Willow's braid and kisses the top of her head. "Mommy and daddy will be back in just one sleep." She says, trying to comfort the little girl. Willow's face lights up.

"I know. I'm so excited to see them." My heart breaks because they'll probably only stay a day or two before leaving to some other exotic location to spend time on someone else's exotic mega yacht. It sickens and angers me.

"Nothing's up," Lilly says. "Just checking if I've got a message that's all." Tammy smiles.

"What y'all gonna do when you go to college? You'll be glued to your mobiles." She laughs. I smack her lightly on the arm.

"It's going to be weird," says Lilly. "I'm so not prepared to be separated from Denver. I'm considering swapping out colleges and going to stay here." She lets out a little sigh. I feel for her.

"What? No way? You're not talking about dropping out, are you?" I ask. Tammy's mouth has formed an O.

"What's dropping out, sis?" asks Willow.

"Nothing, Willow; you don't need to worry your pretty little head about that. How about we go and tuck you into bed? Nanny has the night off because I'm at home."

"Don't want to go to bed," she says. Of course she doesn't, not when there's a girls' night going on. I wouldn't either.

"The sooner you sleep and wake up, the sooner mommy and daddy will be here." Tammy cajoles her. Willow looks as if she is assessing the situation, then nods.

"Okay, come on then." She hops off the bed. I swear she's the cutest little girl in the entire universe.

We watch as Tammy leads her little sister by the hand out of her bedroom to her own princess room. I glance at Lilly. "This doesn't feel so good. What if they've gotten themselves into big trouble? My stomach is in knots."

"Yeah, mine too," she says. "Denver isn't a fighting man. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm sure he can hold his own, only he's not like Brandon. You know Brandon has that whole bad boy thing going on and has been in a few fights." She runs her hands through her beautiful auburn hair. I can see how scared her eyes look. And it's true, Brandon has been in a fight or two. Okay, so a few more than that. After each one, he's naturally been grounded by his parents, but it's as if trouble kind of follows him.

"I'm positive they'll be okay," I say, not feeling as confident as my words. To be honest, I'm scared shitless. What if the other guy, if they find him, has a knife? What if Denver or Brandon get seriously hurt?