June's point of view

My mind was a bit off as Dave and Becks were talking to me, due to the few drinks I had. It was harder for me to focus at that point, so I decided to be reasonnable and put my drink down. I didn't want to be wasted. This is not how you celebrate your engagement.

I studied the people in my house, and realized that there were much more people than when I first came in. I tried to study their faces to try to recognize them, but my vision was a little bit blurry, so I just let it go.

However, as I looked around the messy appartment, my stare met Tara's, and I felt a wave of courage washing over me, and stood up to go talk to her. I lost my balance at first, but then I gained my composure back, and walked towards her in a more condifent pace.

"Can we talk? P-Privately?" I asked through the loud music, stuttering because of the hiccup I had.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

I motionned her to follow me, and she did, taking her cup with her.

I didn't like to think that I was a bad person to let people underage drink alcohol, but this was a party, right? And there's alcohol at parties, because parties are normally organized by adults for adults, so the people present were responsible enough to take their own decisions on whether to drink alcohol or not.

Okay that's some bullshit. I just tried to reassure myself to feel less guilty.

As I arrived in my bedroom, I let Tara in, and closed the door behind the both of us. We both sat on the edge of the bed awkwardly before Tara decided to speak up.

"We keep meeting at parties, huh?"

"Looks like it," I chuckled slightly. "I didn't expect to see you here. Well, I mean, I didn't expect to see any of you, but certainly not you."

"I needed to talk to you," she lowly said, looking down at the floor, "about Prince."

I gulped. Of course, who else would that be about.

"We um-- we broke up."

Should you say something like... my bad? My drunk conscience asked me, and I chuckled a little.

"This ain't funny, June, what the fuck?" Tara shouted a little, visibly hurt by my behavior.

"I'm sorry, no it's not. I've been drinking too much, that's all," I said, shaking my head a little, trying to have my ideas clear and put away my consience's whispers. "What happened?"

"I can't believe you're so insensitive. I'm not talking to you in that state," she shook her head, standing up to walk away.

"No, Tara, please!" I called, standing up as well. "I-- I didn't mean to react like this. Like I said, I had too much alcohol. Please stay. We really do need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you while you're drunk. It's pointless."

"I'm not drunk, I'm just a little bit tipsy okay? Look," I said, lifting a leg up to show her I still had my balance (well, at least a part of it), "I'm fine. Please, sit back down."

She sighed heavily, and sat back down on the bed, "this is just so awkward. After what I told you back in New York, I thought you'd throw me out of your house."

"I'm not the resentful type when it comes to aguments about men," I chuckled a bit, rubbing my forehead. "Look, I'm sorry Prince broke up with – "

"Nah, I'm the one who broke up with him," she corrected me, and my eyes widened a bit. "Yeah, crazy, huh?" she snorted, before drinking from her red cup.

"I thought– I mean, why?" I asked, confused.

"Since he came back to Minnesota where I was waiting for him, he's been acting all weird. He was down, and I think I even heard him cry one night," she explained to me, and my heart shattered in a million pieces.

"Wow, uh-- why did you broke up with him, then?"

"He asked me to marry him," she blurrted out, and I couldn't hide the shock on my face. "And I refused."

I brought my hand to my face and covered my mouth in utter shock. Even if I wanted to ask her loads of question, I couldn't speak a word. I was shocked by his gesture, and let's admit it, a little bit hurt. Even though I was perfectly happy with my life now, about to get married to the one man I've ever loved, it was painful to see that Prince had moved on, but that he kept this distance between us.

"You're not going to ask me why I refused because you already know the answer, right?"

"I uh, no– I mean, I don't know the answer."

"You know just as well as me that I love him, but I'm still young, and I can't be married to a man who's in love with someone else. Who's in love with you."

"Tara, I didn't mean to – "

"Hey, stop," she cut me off. "He told me everything. I'm sorry I acted the way I did, and that I didn't believe you when you said he forced you to kiss him."

"It's okay," I reassured her, trying to wrap my mind around what she just told me. "How did he react?"

"Well, he didn't cry in front of me, but he broke down. He was pacing all across the room like a crazy man, and he kept repeating how bad he was to people because he kept hurting them and lying to them. I tried to calm him down, and tell him that he wasn't like this anymore, but he pushed me away. I swear June, I didn't recognize him, he was acting like some crazy man. He mumbled things to himself that I couldn't quite hear, but he kept on repeating that he had to stay away from I don't know who."

"From me," I declared, looking down at the floor before looking in Tara's direction. "He wants to stay away from me."

"But why? He.-- he's in love with you," Tara said, and hurt was written on her face.

"And I'm in love with Michael, and I'm about to get married to him. He can't be near me for now."

"Oh, makes sense," Tara sadly said, looking down for a bit.

"But, I don't get it. Why did he say he was bad person? Did he say something more? Because what he did for me... This is not what a bad person would do. He put his feelings aside to make sure I was happy. He brought Michael I back together while he was in love with me. I don't understand."

"Like I said, he was acting crazy, he certainly didn't know what he was saying. I've never seen him this broken before," she sadly admitted. "Now I understand that he never really loved me back. I discovered him when he's in love by the way he talked about you. The way his eyes lit up when he pronouces your name, and the sadness in his voice when he talks about you. He's not okay, he's not even near to be okay. He's devastated, and he's trying to figure out a way to make the pain go away."

"That's why he asked you to marry him," I nodded in understanding. "You don't deserve this, I'm so sorry –"

"You're not responsible for this. Don't even feel guilty about all of this, okay? I don't think it would have worked anyways. I'm too young, I shoud enjoy life before thinking about settling down with someone."

"I just hope he'll find the right person," I sincerely admitted, looking at my friend in the eyes. "He deserves a good person, and I'm sorry I ruined him."

"I think you may want to read this," Tara told me, handing me a paper she had in her jeans' pocket. "I found this on the piano, among other sheets. When I read it, I thought at first he wrote a song for me, so I kept it. But then, all of this happened and I realized those words were not written for me."

I took the paper in my hands, and frowned in confusion, "Why do you think it's written for me?"

"Just read it. You'll see he's talking about the woman he loves, and that's not me," Tara slightly smiled, standing up from the bed. She exhaled heavily, "So, are we good now?"

"Uh, y—yeah, of course," I answered, standing up as well to give her a hug. "I'm glad we talked."

"Same," she smiled, breaking our embrace. "I'm going back there, you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few," I smiled back.

My friend nodded, and left the room, careful to close the door behind her. I sat back on the bed, and finally opened the folded paper Tara gave me, and started to read.

At first sight, I could say it was a song by the musical notes that were drawn just above the lyrics. However, I couldn't read the first verse, as a lot of words were crossed out, and almost illegible. The only words I could guess were "sorry", "liar", "fun", and "love". That was quite confusing, because I didn't know what he wanted to say.

Who lied? Who's sorry?

I pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the rest of my reading, slightly shaking my aching head.

"At last I can tell you what I've known so long.
My heart's been crying out to sing this song.
I don't care who knows it,
Cause there's nothing wrong.
Te amo corazon.

I'm so scared of losing you,
I really don't know what I'd do.
Can't bear the thought of another day apart,
My heart, my heart, corazon."

"Come here, then," I found myself saying out loud in a whisper.

"Once when I first laid eyes on you,
I saw heaven and earth anew.
Everyone else saw my brown eyes no longer blue.
Te amo corazon

At first I couldn't find the words to say,
How much you changed me in every way.
I just wanna thank you,
Each and every day.
Te amo corazon."

I read his song three times, trying to figure out why he wouldn't call me if he was so miserable without me. I tried to mastermind it, but no rational reasons came to me.

When someone claims they need you, they just want to be around you, even though it hurts. By those words Prince wrote, it was clear to me that he needed me, and I needed him just as much. It's true that, he certainly didn't need me the same way as me, but I craved for his presence; this feeling of completeness when he's around.

I collapsed on the bed, huffing heavily through my mouth, and stared at the ceiling in thought.

Why doesn't he just call and talk to me? I don't want to rush him, that's why I'm not calling, but maybe I should? Or maybe should I wait until he receives the letter I sent him?

I groaned, and stood up from the bed, placing the piece of paper on my nightstand and headed to the living room where the party was still going on.

"June, you might want to know this. This is bad," Caleb came to me, as my thoughts were somewhere else.

"Not tonight, Caleb."

"But, June th –"

"Not tonight," I repeated, this time looking at him in the eyes. "I need a drink," I said, searching any type of alcohol with my eyes.

The first bottle I noticed was a bottle of tequila, so, walking passed Caleb to reach it, I pourred myself some in a clean cup.

As I looked in the distance, I noticed all of Paulina's newbies were gathered in the kitchen. They didn't talk to me since the very beginning of the night, while I thought they wanted to.

I just guessed they were as rude and weird as their manager. No suprise here.

I shook my head, and drank down in once, and had another drink. I made a face, and studied the people in my living room. Becks was dancing with Dave and Naomi along with other people I didn't know. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed Caleb was gone and was now next to Crystal, both seated on the couch. Caleb was visibly trying to wake Crystal up, but she seemed to be passed out.

As much as I didn't want to go there and see what the problem was, I couldn't help it: a sudden motherly instinct was telling me to check on my newbies.

"Oh, June!" I heard someone call after me.

I turned in the voice's direction, and noticed Rebecca walking towards me.

"What's up?" I asked, knitting my eyebrows to try to have a clearer vision of her.

"Where have you been? Tara's been out of your for at least fifteen minutes."

"I uh, I needed some time for myself," I simply said. "Who are those people?"

"Oh, models the newbies invited," Becks shrugged, "and they're all sexy, if you ask me."

I laughed, "they're not as sexy as my fiancé. Not even close to it."

"Stop bragging, and let's have a drink in your honor," she laughed, linking her arm with mine.

I took another look towards Caleb and Crystal, and apparently things were getting better, as Crystal had a guy I didn't know all over her.

Where's Caleb? I asked myself, as Becks continued to drag me through the living room. I scanned the room with my eyes, but he was nowhere to be found, while he was there a minute ago.

"There she is!" Naomi cheered, handing me yet another shot of tequila. "I hope you'll be a satified and happy married woman!" she loudly said through the music.

"Girl, she's with Michael Jackson, you know damn well she'll be satified!" Dave laughed, and we all laughed along with him. "With those hips thrusts of his," he said, mimicking Michael's dance moves.

I laughed my ass off just as the rest of my friends, and drank my shot of tequila, which earned me a little grimace, "you're crazy, Rogers."

"Ok, tell me I'm wrong," he challenged me, crossing his arms on his chest.

"I can't," I chuckled, as Naomi was pourring me yet another shot. "Easy there, I don't want to end up the same way I ended up at Brooke's."

"Come on! It's a big day, you're engaged!" my friend cheered, raising her shot in the air. "To the future Mrs. Jackson!"

My group of friends raised their glass as well, and we all drank our shot, laughter being the only thing that I could hear.

"Thank you for being here guys," I sincerely said, my words a bit damaged by the hard liquor that was coursing in my veins. "I love you."

"We love you too," they all cheered in unison, which caused me to laugh.

"Now, who's up for a little dance?" Tara asked, clapping her hands together.

"Oh, me, me!" I said with glee, taking Tara by the hand to go on the 'dancefloor' where people I didn't know were already dancing. "Seriously, who are they?" I asked to Tara in a loud voice, chuckling.

"Ask them!"

I took a man by his forearm, and pratically yelled in his ear, "Who are you?"

"I'm high as fuck," he laughed, his eyes almost closed while he was dancing. "And they call me the Provider here."

What the fuck?

"The Provider? W–"

"June, that's our song!" Dave came running at me, cutting me off as 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' by Whitney Houston played.

Dave took both of my hands and started to make my sway like crazy. I laughed out loud, dancing along with him as Becks was using my polaroid camera to take pictures of us dancing.

At that point, it was impossible for me to focus on more than one thing, and my only preoccupation at that moment was visisbly to enjoy myself and celebrate.

But in the meanwhile, shit was happening.

As I was laughing and dancing with another glass in my hands, I noticed some agitation around the spot where Crytal was. My laughter died down, as I squinted my eyes to have a better look at the scene that was going on before my eyes.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I asked myself.

I stopped dancing, and I looked all around the appartment, and remarked that Paulina's newbies were no longer here.

I decided to go and see what was happening where the group of people was gathered, pushing through some guys I didn't know.

"What the hell did you do, Ross?"

"I don't know, man! She's fucking weird, one minute she was fine, and the other one her eyes rolled at the back of her head!" he exclaimed, panick filling his voice.

"What did she take?" another guy asked.

When I finally reached the couch, I brought a hand to my mouth, as the sight of an inconsious Crystal caused my blood to run cold.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" I yelled, pushing people to run to Crystal's side.

"I-- I don't fucking know! She was with those guys the entire night, and--"

As the guy was babbling about what had happened to my newbie, I didn't quite listen to him as I realized she was barely breathing.

"Crystal, hey sweetie, wake up. It's me, it's June," I panicked, giving her cheeks little taps. "Squeeze my hand if you can hear me."

No squeeze. No reaction.

"Crystal, open your damn eyes!" I shouted, as I was completely panicked at this point.

Still nothing.

"All of you get the fuck out of here!" I yelled at the people that was standing here, looking at me and Crystal witout moving.

I took Crystal's arm and wrapped it around my neck as I helped her up.

As I was struggling to take her in my arms because she couldn't walk, a guy has the decency to come and help me supporting her. We walked to the front door, as Dave, Becks, Naomi and Tara came running to us.

"What happened?" my manager asked, as I kept walking with the guy and Crystal to the front door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking her to the hospital, she's barely breathing!" I yelled, not turning to address her. "Give me my car keys, they're in my purse!"

"You can't drive in that state, and you can't go there alone!" Naomi reasoned, but I didn't listen, and opened the front door.

"Here, your keys," Dave said, giving me my keys. "Now let's go, I'm coming with you."

"No, none of you is coming with me! I'm going there alone, and you take care of this place and put everybody out. Now!"

"June--"

"No, this is my reponsabily, and this party is yours!" I cut Becks off, and headed outside.

Still with the help of the unknown guy, we put Crystal on the back seat of the car, and finally I left for the nearest hospital in Montecito.

My vision was still blurry, and my legs and hands were shaking like crazy, but I needed to stay focused on the road while stepping on the gas.

"You're gonna be fine, you hear me?" I asked my newbie, who was still incounscious.

Tears were threatening to fall from my eyes as I took a look at her in the rear-view mirror. She was pale, and she really seemed lifeless. I felt like the worst manager in the world at that precise moment, just like when Paulina drugged Sheila.

My eyes widened as something clicked in my mind.

When I left, Paulina's newbies were no longer here, and didn't bother to say goodbye. They left like some robbers would. Were they the one responsible of Crystal's state?

I didn't have much time to think about it, as I reached Montecito's Emergency Room around three thrity in the morning. I got out of the car, and barged into the bulding, panicked. A bunch of people where in there, but I couldn't care less: I had to save my newbie's life.

"Please somebody help! I have my ne-- my friend, she's unconscious! She's barely breathing!"

A man in a white smock came running to me, and put his hands on both my shoulders, and I looked at him.

"Ma'am, please calm down," he soothed. "I'm doctor Meyers, tell me wh--"

"She's-- she's dying! And I-- I" I was hyperventilating at that point, and I needed to calm down before I have a panick attack.

"Breathe, ma'am, and tell me where is your friend?" he gently asked, removing his hands from my shoulders, as two other doctors came in my way.

"Sh—She's in the car," I said, realizing that I was crying as I choked on my sobs.

I turned around and headed outside to my black Mercedes that was parked on the ambulance's spot and opened the back door.

"Bring a stretcher over here!" the doctor yelled to his colleagues as he was running after me.

"Please, tell me she's going to be fine," I cried, a shaky hand covering my mouth.

"You need to tell me what happened, Ms. Wellington," he asked, as he was checking Crystal's pulse.

I didn't realize right away that he recognized me. My only focus was on the unconscious girl that was lying at the back of my car.

"W—We were having a party, and I don't know what happened, I—I didn't watch what she was doing, I--"

"Okay, keep calm, we've got this," he assured me with a curt nod.

The doctors arrived with the stretcher, and in a expert move, they put Crystal on it, and headed back inside.

"Where are you taking her? Can't I come with you?"

"No, you're coming with me," another doctor sternly told me. "You need to sober up, and for that you need vitamins."

"B—But she's only eighteen, and--"

"Yeah, she's only eighteen and you let her drink alcohol and certainly do drugs too. Trust be, she's better off without you," he snapped, and I frowned at his behaviour. "And I think you should tell the policeman that the car he's penalizing is yours. You know, being who you are, he's certainly going to take off his fine," he sarcastically said, before scoffing "Freaking celebrities."

I shook my head at him, and ran back outside where the policeman was.

"Excuse me, sir! I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be parked here, but--"

"Then why are you?" he asked, still wirting on his little notepad.

"Because my friend was barely breathing, and I panicked, I came here in a rush," I explained, panicked.

He looked up at me, and his expression didn't change the least bit, so I understood he didn't recognize me. Thank God. I don't like any favor just because I'm well-known.

"And what's your excuse for smelling liquor this badly?"

"I don't have any excuse for that, sir. I know I shouldn't have taken the wheel while I had alcohol, but it was a life or death question."

"I'm going to move your car, and you're going to go in there to do whatever you came for. But I'm not done with you."

I barely nodded, and rushed back inside to see where was Crystal, but she was nowhere to be found, just like that motherfucking mean doctor.

This was going to be a long, and difficult night.

***

As I was uncomfortably sleeping on a chair beside Crystal's bed, I heard people coming into the room, and opened my eyes, realizing that it was a doctor putting Crystal back in her room. I stood up, and winced in pain as I forgot I had still my vitamins IV on. My stare crossed the clock on the wall which read ten in the morning.

And I had to be at Neverland at 1p.m for Michael's family get together.

I was only sleeping since seven in the morning, as doctors kept running tests on Crystal which took ages.

"What happened to her? Is she okay?"

"Yes, Ms. Wellington, she's going to be fine, you can relax," the doctor reassured me.

This wasn't the same douche I had earlier. This was the nice one, Dr. Meyers, that took care of Crystal as soon as we arrived at the hospital.

"Oh my God, thank you!" I sighed in relief, giving him a tight hug. "Thank you so much, really."

"You're welcome, ma'am," he chuckled, patting my back gently. "We had to pump her stomach because it looked like she had different drugs in her system."

"Drugs?" I exclaimed, my eyes widening. "W—What kind of drug?"

"Some drug which is basically methamphetamine, alcohol, and-- and cocaine."

"Cocaine? No, you have to be wrong," I denied, shaking my head from side to side. "Crystal is eighteen years old, and--"

"I know, she wouldn't do such a thing. I think you know just as well as me that drugs are flowing in your field. She may be eighteen, but people know how to sell this shit to young people like her, if you may excuse my language."

"She's one of the nicest girl I know, and she's always the last one to have a drink, considering that she's underrage and--"

"About that," Meyers cleared his throat, "Officer Milo wants to talk to you about the presence of an underage woman at a party where alcohol was within everybody's reach."

"She's a model, we were having a party with some of my friends, and she was part of the people who organized this party for me, what the fuck?" I yelled, frustrated at that point.

"J-June," Crystal's weak voice called from behind me, and I immediately turned around in a swift move.

"I'm here, I'm here," I soothed, rubbing her hair back. "How are you feeling?"

"My stomach hurts, and I—I'm r-really thirsty," she spoke in a barely audible voice.

"Here," I said, handing her a drink of water with a straw. "What happened to you?"

"I—I don't know," she said, after she took a sip of her water. "I--"

"Crys?" a manly voice I knew asked, and I didn't bother to turn around. "What the hell, Crys? Are you okay?"

"Hey," she smiled weakly, as Caleb took her hand in his. "I'm fine now, thanks to J—June."

Caleb glared at me, throwing daggers in my direction, "Yeah, thanks to June, of course," he spatted, which caused me to frown.

"What is your problem?" I asked, taken aback.

"Um, I'm going to leave you three here. Page me if something's wrong," Meyers annouced, ad he left the room.

"You really want to know what my problem is?" he harshly asked me, clenching his jaw.

"Uh, yes? What's the matter with you, boy?"

"Boy?" he scoffed. "I'm no freaking boy, and it's like I'm more of a man than you're a responsible adult!"

"Excuse me? What the fuck is wrong with you, and who do you think you are to talk to me the way you are? I'm your boss!"

"Oh yeah, you're my boss, right," he sarcastically laughed. "Such a great boss that let her newbies by themselves for a whole week just to enjoy her newly found happiness with her fiancé. You had no right to left us behind like you did for a whole week just because you're going to get married! Ever since things with Michael were tough, we were there for you, but you were never there for us! All night long I thought you'd come to talk to us, and see how things have been going on during the week you let us down, but you never came talk to us, and you totally ignored me when I came to you to tell you that Paulina's newbies were doing cocaine in your damn kitchen!" Caleb shouted in my face, red from anger.

"I--"

"I'm not finished," he cut me off, and I couldn't stop him. "You were so busy enjoying yourself, and laughing, and drinking, and enjoying your friends's compagny last night that you didn't even realize what was going on in your own damn house. I was so disgusted that you ignored us the way you did that I left. Did you even notice I was no longer here?" he asked, and then scoffed again, "Who am I kidding, of course not. It's all about you being high on cloud nine with Michael," he scoffed and went on, "you disgust me, June Wellington. I thought this job would be an amazing opportunity to work with the most beautiful and nice woman I know, but I was wrong. I don't want to work with you anymore, I fucking quit."

I was speechless, I couldn't speak a word, I was shocked by what Caleb just threw in my face. He laid a kiss on Crystal's forehead, and left the room without speaking another word to me.

I felt Crystal's hand covering mine, and I looked down at her, as tears fell from my eyes.

"Y—You're not a horrible manager. Don't feel guilty for b—being happy," she weakly said to me, squeezing my hand.

"Good, you're awake!" Officer Milo exclaimed, coming into Crystal room without knocking. "Now you can follow me to the police station, ma'am," he said, as he was coming in the room.

My eyes widened at his annoucement, and I regain my voice again, "W—What? I can't, I have to stay with my friend, and--" I raised my arm where my IV was, "-- I'm kinda... tied up, you know?"

"Don't be a smart ass with me, Ms. Wellington," he warned, coming closer to me. "You have no right to be a smart ass while you're stupid enough to drive while you're drunk."

"I wasn't drunk, sure I had a few drinks, but I wasn't drunk!" I protested.

"Drunk or not, you broke the law when you decided to drink and drive. Now I'm going to get Meyers so he can take this IV out of your arm, and you're coming with me to the police station."