"Turn around for me." Georgia says from behind me as I stand in front of the mirror, getting my pants tailored. I sigh in annoyance so that now I am facing her. "Hmm." She hums in thought.

"We've been here for two hours," I point out. "I have plenty of suits." And it's not like I needed her help, I can shop for my own suits.

"Stop being a baby," Liv says, coming around with two glasses of champagne. She offers one to Georgia which she takes. "It's my wedding and you're one of Corey's groomsmen so you're going to wear what I tell you to wear. Now turn back around, these slacks make your ass look good."

"Whose idea was it to pick navy blue suits?" I complain some more, I hated wearing anything that wasn't a black suit.

"Corey's suit is white, the navy blue groomsmen suits will look so good in the pictures." Liv says. "By the way, you still haven't got back to Corey about going to his bachelor party."

"That's because I'm not going."

"What?" Georgia and Liv both say in unison.

"Why not?" Liv exclaims.

"Because it's stupid, be thankful I'm actually going to show up for the ceremony." Not to mention how much of a stupid tradition bachelor party's were. My phone vibrates in my pocket, signaling a text message and when I reach for it, it was Beau.

Beau
It wasn't a date.

She must've had a night last night if she's just texting me at this time. I would be lying if I said I didn't move my couch momentarily to face my balcony in hopes that I saw her arrive home. Sending that text on my end was petty and I acknowledge that.

Before I can respond, Liv is snatching the phone from my hand. "Beau?" She reads my screen. "Are you talking to your ex-girlfriend again?"

I snatch my phone back and slide it in my pocket. "No, we're just friends."

"She lives here now, the coincidence." Georgia says, mumbling the last bit.

"Ooh," Liv claps. "Why don't you invite her?"

At this, Georgia looks up with a furrow between her eyebrows. "Excuse me?" I say.

"Well maybe not to the ceremony, but after would be okay!" Liv is way too friendly for my liking.

"That's not a good idea, she doesn't know any of you."

"Yeah, I doubt she'd want to come." Georgia adds.

Liv shrugs her shoulders. "It's just a suggestion, if she doesn't want to that's fine but there's no harm in asking." I discard what she said, there's no way I would invite Beau considering I don't even want to go in the first place.

Suddenly, an idea pops in my head. If I invite her, maybe she'd bring whoever the hell this new guy is.

"Well anyway, I've got to run. I need to go pickup my dress and Corey and I have dance lessons at six." Liv rambles as she collects her purse and coat and walks off.

Georgia sets down her glass and the magazine she had in her hand and looks at me. "So are you?"

I look at her with confusion. "What?"

"Are you going to invite her?"

I sigh, removing the suit. "I don't know." I still hadn't decided. It'd be nice to have her around more but I know part of me is curious about the new guy.

"If so, tell me so that I can start looking for a new date." She stands up and begins to walk towards the door. "I've got some last minute appointments that I have to get to, I'll see you around." Before she can fully leave, I grab her wrist forcing her to stop.

"I'm not going back to her." I say even though I don't really believe that myself, but I know it's what she wants to hear.

"I would hope not. I'm actually trying to help you and having her around will fuck that up." She says and I let go of her wrist so that she's able to walk away. When my phone begins to ring, I answer.

"Yes?" I say into the receiver as I gather up my things.

"We need to talk." My father replies, his tone sounding much more serious than usual.

"Can it wait? I've got some shit of my own I have to deal with." I hear him sigh on the other end.

"It's got to do with your mother."

"What do you mean?" I furrow my eyebrows as I make my way to my car. "Is she alright?" I hear my father shuffle on the other end and sigh in exasperation. It was very obvious he had some stuff on his mind.

"Your mother and I are separating."

—

Beau.

"...And they managed to get him to agree to my terms, he's not allowed to fight me if I choose not to send Brooke over, he's not allowed to have women around Brooke until he knows he's serious and he's not allowed to question me on my private matters any further. Oh, and he has to pay me child support, twice the amount for the first few years of Brooke he missed." Cami rambles over the phone as I twirl my fork in my pasta and swivel in my chair.

I was on my lunch break and I had the place to myself, apparently people take their break pretty serious here. All the lights were off except the ones in my office.

"That's great, I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, you can thank dickhead for me." She jokes. "Speaking of which, you're not seeing him again are you?" I roll my eyes, knowing she can't see me.

"No, of course I'm not." I'm starting to think it's real this time. I have to admit, I did think he wasn't serious at first but now I'm thinking otherwise. "I'm starting a new chapter now."

I hear Cami sputter on the other end. "You move to his side of the world and expect to turn a new chapter? Just how delusional are you?"

"It's not like that. He doesn't want to be with me anymore and I have to move on." And I intend to, just not at the moment.

"How's your journaling coming along? Still seeing your therapist?"

"It's kind of hard to do so when our sunrises aren't exactly the same." As for journaling, I stopped at around the time I started packing for London. Maybe a bit before that.

"Sounds like excuses to me." She teases and I put my food away when the lights come on outside my office. When I see it's Jackson, I sit up straight.

"Hey, I'll call you around this time tomorrow, okay? I've got to go." After bidding goodbye, I put my phone away and stand up, knocking on the door to his office.

"Come in." He says and I do, watching as he takes a seat behind his desk and rolls up his sleeves. When he looks up, he looks expectant. "Can I help you?"

I don't exactly know why I was here, but I had the feeling from last night that he was upset after how we ended it. I don't exactly know why I switched up like that, maybe a part of me was warning me to not get so close in fear of repeating old patterns, but it isn't like I had any romantic interests towards Jackson especially since he hasn't shown any towards me.

"I was just wondering if you had any pending pamphlets? I—I wouldn't mind doing them." I say, coming up with the first excuse I could find in my head.

Jackson bites the inside of his cheek and looks around his desk before looking back up at me. "Why?"

That's a good question, I've got about three unfinished ones at my desk. God, the people pleaser in me and not letting things go. "I'm about to finish my own and my computer takes ages to print new ones." I lie. "I was just seeing if you needed the extra help." I begin to back up when he doesn't say much.

"Wait." He picks up a folder from his desk, quickly skimming over it. "I've got this one on The Ego of Fragile Men and How To Protect It, if you want it?" When he looks up at me, he held a deadpan expression as he holds it out to me. I scoff, snatching it out of his grasp. "If you wanted to, you could've just apologized."

"For what?" I retort.

"I dunno," he shrugs, shoving his hands inside the pockets of his slacks. "For whatever made you feel like you needed to come over here."

"I don't need to apologize to you, I didn't do anything to you."

"I didn't ask you to and who said you did?"

He was so nonchalant and it was getting on my nerves. "You're so—" I fist the folder in my hands, crumbling it a bit. Before I could say anything else, I leave and leave the door open behind me. Whatever, I meant what I said. I didn't owe him an apology, how he feels is none of my concern.

So then, why do I feel like shit about last night? Feeling like shit was a bit excessive, what I felt was guilty. But guilty of what? I meant what I said. I don't owe Jackson an apology, we had drinks and had a good time but at the end of the day we're coworkers.

I'm in the middle of taking notes on a paragraph when my office door opens. When I look up, it's Jackson. I sigh and look back down. "I'm busy."

"I know what your problem is." He says, walking close to my desk.

I look up again. "I don't have a problem."

He then takes a hand out of its place in his pocket and points at me. "You're uncomfortable because I'm not hitting on you, aren't you?"

I have to laugh, sitting back on my chair to look at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sure you're used to being hit on back in America and the fact that I'm not hitting on you makes you uncomfortable." He claps his hands once as if he's figured out some big mystery and grins.

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it though?" He cocks his head to the side. "I'm sorry, usually when I come to work I focus on that and not on what color of lingerie you're wearing."

My mouth falls agape at this. "If I knew you were this creepy I wouldn't have agreed to go out with you. I think this counts as sexual harassment in the workplace and I could tell." I cross my arms and a smirk creeps up on his lips.

"I'm sorry I'm not worshipping the ground you walk on." He continues to mock me.

"Please get out of my office." I say as I flip him off to which he flashes me a grin and leaves.

—

Harry.

I stare at the clock on the wall, wondering why the minutes feels like hours and the seconds feel like minutes. I wonder what the hell I did to deserve so much shit to be thrown at me in under the span of a month. Is this my karma?

If only I believed in that.

"Thank you." My father says to the bus boy as he places his scotch neat in front of him. My finger rolls circles on my temple as I lean on the arm of the chair. We were currently sat at the lobby of his hotel, fancy was an understatement. My own hallway didn't even look like this.

I watch as he takes a drink from his glass, avoiding eye contact. As if I were mom and he was breaking the news to me about wanting a divorce. His sipping, obnoxiously slow. His gaze, sad, empty. And the god damned clock on the wall barely even moved an inch since I've been here.

"Is the suspense really necessary?" I break the awkward silence. He finally sets his glass down and sighs, supporting his arms on his thighs and he leans over, still avoiding my gaze. "For fucks sake." I groan.

"Can you give me a god-dammed moment?" He retorts and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"This isn't the first set of parents I lose to divorce and I am not a child, I think I can handle the responsibility of bearing that burden from you."

"Do you have to be such an ass all the time?" The look on his face told me he wasn't taking this whole ordeal lightly. "And we're not divorcing."

"I think separation is the equivalent of divorce."

"It's not."

"Well then it isn't a good start."

My father rubs his face in annoyance, from the situation and from my snide remarks. "It doesn't matter, it's not legal. Your mother just needs some time to herself. Elija gave her so much grief, I think right now she's learning to deal with his loss."

"If that's the case, then the last thing she needs is to be alone right now." I've seen my mother at her lowest, being alone won't exactly make her feel any better.

"She won't see me. She went back home a couple of days ago."

"Well then I'll go be with her a couple of days, I'm not doing much thanks to you."

"Harry." He says. "She won't see you either."

I sit back on my chair. "Why not?"

"She got home to a package, apparently there were some—things in there."

"Things?"

"Video tapes." He says and I look down momentarily. "Tainting video tapes. Tainting for your mother and I and your future with the company." It's as if I've lost the ability to speak or even muster up a thing to say. I thought I had gotten rid of everything that could point back to me. My mind begins to run with what could potentially be on those tapes but I know for certain, nothings far fetched. "This shit, it's all too much for her. She's heartbroken."

Now I understood why he couldn't just tell me all this over the phone. Was it karma? Was it a coincidence? It doesn't matter, I don't believe in either.

"What do you want me to do?" This was far from damage control. 

He runs his fingers through his hair and tugs. "I don't know." He sighs. "Just keep your act straight while I sort some shit out, alright? Stay out of focus." He finishes off his drink and walks off towards the elevators, leaving me there on my own.

—

Its been a while since I've spoken to Beau, however with everything going on around me I haven't even had the mere energy to check my phone to see if she's texted me back from last time. The more this shit hits the fan, the more my vices mock me. I pass by a liquor store on my morning runs and late at night workout next to a couple of teenaged "drug dealers" with a trust fund.

Once again, the universe feeding me shit while I'm already down.

I try my best not to self medicate when I feel a panic attack, I find that usually a cold shower helps. It's hard to focus on your running thoughts when you're too busy trying to catch your breath under the stabbing of the cold water.

As the days progressed, the day of the wedding arrived and I was not mentally prepared for this. It's be easy to leave it and not show up, but I figured I've already let enough people down and the year wasn't even over yet.

I contemplated on what Liv said, about inviting Beau. And maybe that's why I was on my way up to her floor, because apparently my legs speak for themselves. My fist makes contact with her door three times, each time I dreaded it and almost walked away after each. She couldn't be at work, it's Saturday. When she doesn't answer, I begin to back off before I hear the sound of her door unlocking.

Her hair was disheveled and she was in pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt that I recognized as my own. I decide not to point it out as I tried to regulate my heart beat.

Looking at her this way was always my favorite part of the morning.

She looked confused as she squints through a pair of glasses that I never knew she owned. "What are you doing here?" She asks with a yawn before looking at me up and down. "And why are you so formal this early in the morning?"

"Liv and Corey's wedding is today." I say.

"Isn't it a little too soon to be dressing up?"

"I'm one of the groomsmen, I was already on my way."

"Oh." She nods. "Nice of them to let you wear your work attire." She half jokes as she sifts on her heels.

"This isn't what I'm wearing." This suit was too nice. She does an oops face and scratches her eye behind the glasses. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to join? Liv wanted me to ask."

At this, she stands up straight and all look of exhaust leaves her face. "Um," She says. "I don't know, I don't really have a dress since this is so last minute. Besides, I wouldn't want to impose, they don't really know me." She gives a nervous laugh.

I retrieve the invitation from the pocket of my coat and move it towards her which she hesitantly takes. "In case you change your mind." I say and walk off towards my car.