*Trisha*

We spent most of today running errands.  Casey, myself, James and Maggie. I took them out for lunch, then we did a little clothes shopping. James got a haircut while Casey and I got our nails done at the same salon.

 It's fun hanging out with Casey. I don't have many woman friends with the job I have but she is really easy to talk to. This is something I can't say about Julia. I just can't see myself hanging out with her. In the very beginning we spent a lot of time together in preparation for the big Gala event and Julia WAS fun to hang with, but that was before everything got crazy. Before her and Nate broke their contract with NBC's America's Voice. One of the biggest things you were not allowed to do was get involved with your coach outside of America's Voice. Julia did just that. Then Nate fucking fell in love with her. Now she's a complete mess of a person. Not her fault of course but hanging out with her...yeah. That's just not going to happen.

Yet, after James got his haircut, he asked Casey if we could possibly bring him to The Avalon to see Julia. Of course, Casey said yes. She'd never say no.  But I'm sure as hell not going into that place. James knows this.

******

*James*

"Thanks for bringing me, Case." I say gratefully. I can tell this is the last place Trisha wants to be and not surprised she's choosing to wait in the car. I even made the girls stop at Julia's favorite fast-food place to grab her some grub.

"No problem. Take your time, ok? Tell her we said hi. I'll come visit her soon." Casey can also sense Trisha will not be saying those words.

"C'mon Mags." I wait for Maggie to hop out of the car and Casey puts her leash in my hand, making sure my grip is good before letting go.

The nurse inside leads me to Julia's room where she is sitting up in bed, looking bored out of her mind. She doesn't see me yet as I stand in the doorway, so I observe her for a moment. She is staring aimlessly out her window from her bed. She looks so sad.

"Hey." I startle her but the minute Julia sees me her face brightens right up, and she smiles. "Sorry I haven't come to see you for a few days. This place isn't my favorite place in the world. I've been avoiding it."  I admit. Maggie jumps right up onto Julia's bed and snuggles with her. It's the cutest thing. "Casey and Trisha are in the car. We were out running errands."

I walk in and hand Julia the McDonald's bag.

"Mcdonalds. You're favorite heart healthy food. If you're not hungry I get it."

"Aww. James. Thank you!" She takes the bag and puts it on the table, then practically jumps out of her bed and into my arms with excitement. I've missed this. I hug her for so long it's ridiculous. "I've missed you so much." She buries her head in my chest.

"I've missed you too." I sit on the bed next to her and lean my forehead on hers and close my eyes. This would be the time where I'd kiss her. And God, do I want to kiss her right now.   But I can't. I'm with Trisha now. I force myself to turn my face away and bury it in the crook of Julia's neck, hugging her instead.

 I can feel her body shaking and it's not the kind of shaking from detox. She is holding back her tears. She's about to cry. I pull away a little to see her face.

"Aww, sweetie. You ok?"

She nods yes but then shakes her head no and buries her face into my chest again, clearly crying.

"What's the matter?"

That's when I realize it. I realize Julia knows.

"Nothing. I'm being stupid, sorry." She wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and pretends to smile. I see right through it.

"We tell each other everything Julia. That's what best friend's do."

"You've met someone, huh?" She looks down and wrings her hands together nervously.

"Met someone?" Shit. Yep. Didn't take Julia long to catch on at all. We ARE best friends. Of course she would sense something was up when I didn't kiss her.

"You're moving on. Any other time you would see me you wouldn't hesitate to kiss me. That's ok. You're not mine to keep. I'm happy for you. Just....sad." She opens up to me. I don't know how to respond. The words just won't come out. Instead, I put my hands on top of hers and let out a slight sigh. "I'm happy for you." 

"I'll always love you, Julia. You know that." I remind her but the air in the room feels thick with tension now.

"What's her name? Where did you guys meet?"

"Babe..." I hesitate. I can't tell Julia who I'm with. We haven't gone "public" with this news. Trisha would kill me. But Julia is my best friend. I tell her everything. Always have.

"What? You're obviously seeing someone. Did you get back with Lindsay? Or meet someone new??"

"I didn't get back with Lindsay. I mean, yes. I've slept with her a few times here and there... but I didn't meet someone knew. I-I mean... Yes- I'm se-seeing someone..but.." I stutter, having a hard time with this conversation. I drop my shoulders and look down at her with sympathy. Sympathy because I know this very well may hurt her feelings finding out I'm seeing Trisha. Of all people.

"So... her name is...?" She drags her words out, trying to get me to answer her.

"Julia......"

"James." She laughs.

I'm gonna have to tell her. I take a deep breath before answering.

"Trisha. It's Trisha."

Julia stares at me for a moment like she heard me wrong.

"Trisha? As in....Trisha?" Her voice cracks and it breaks me. 

"Yeah, listen. Julia. It just kinda happened. I mean, we've been friends for a while and had a moment or two before the car accident..."

"You don't have to explain to me..."  She mutters and her bottom lip quivers. She's trying to be so strong right now. "I think you should go, though. I think you need to leave."

"Babe.... C'mon..."

"I- I really think you need to leave. James, go. Please go." Julia begins to cry.

"Julia, can we please just talk about this?" I cup her face and gaze at her, feeling awful for making her feel this way.

"Of all people." She whimpers and turns her head away from my hands. "Go." She demands. I can see she is about to lose control. Because of something I'm doing. I hate this. "GO!"

I nod and get up quickly. She's trying to warn me, and I heed her warning, respecting her wishes that she doesn't want me here anymore. I frown feeling a bit heartbroken though because I wanted to spend time with my best friend.

"C'mon Mags." I pat my thigh a few times, but Maggie doesn't budge. We just got here and even the dog wants to stay to visit. She knows Julia is now sad. "Maggie, let's go." I say more sternly, and the dog obeys and gets off the bed.

"I'm sorry, Julia. I never want to hurt you." 

"Well.... this one hurts. This one FUCKING HURTS!" Julia bursts into tears. "GO James!"

My own tears build up as I realize how bad I hurt Julia. I walk back out to the car and shake my head when the girls see me. I wipe my eyes before getting back in.

"What happened??" Casey asks.

"She found out." I say to Trisha who knows exactly what I mean. Casey, however, does not.

"No. She found out?? How?!" Trisha shrieks. We were supposed to keep this under wraps.

"Can we just go home?"

"Wait. Found out about what?" Casey peers at Trisha.

"Really, I just want to go back home." I continue and look out the window. Maggie lays her little head on my lap, and I pet my dog.

"You told her. Why the hell would you tell her James?!!" Trisha raises her voice.

"Please don't yell in front of Maggie. She isn't used to it." I say while my eyes are still looking out the window. I keep petting the dogs head to let her know it's ok.

"Sorry, but......can someone please fill me in?" Casey's eyes dart from me to Trisha.

"I still don't know why you would tell her. I thought we agreed on-"

"I had no choice." I shake my head.

"So, she knows you and I are together... great. Just great."

"Wait..." Casey is beginning to catch on. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops. "Are you two saying.... wait..."

"Shit, Gallo. Julia's gonna go tell Nate."

*****

*Trisha*

The rest of the car ride everyone is silent. James is clearly upset. I'm pretty pissed off he told her. Casey stays quiet and drives but you can cut the tension in the car with a knife. Nate notices right away when we get up to his flat.

"Was shopping not good today?" Nate asks from the couch, splurging on pizza with Jonah. "Dinners in those boxes." He points to the pizza while I put the groceries away.

"It was fine." I stand with the fridge open and then glare at James. "You know what? Can someone else put away this shit. James, I need a word with you." I walk straight to Nate's room, the farthest room from the main living area so no one can hear us, James drops his shoulders and follows me, closing the door behind him.

"We AGREED to keep this quiet James." I glare at him.

"Right. But she kept asking. Listen. Trisha, she just knew. She's my best friend. Of course she would know I was keeping something from her."

"You could have just lied. Or come up with another name. Or say you hooked up with Lindsay. Anything else! You could have done Anything else."

"She knew something was up, Trisha. She knew right when I walked in and didn't kiss her, ok? I tell Julia everything. We don't keep anything from each other so when she asked who I'm with now... I had to tell her the truth. I will NEVER lie to her."

"Ugh. You're impossible." I open the door, having nothing more to say and we walk back out to the living room. Nate looks up from his phone. The motherfucker knows, doesn't he? Word travels fast.

"You've GOT to be fucking kidding me!!" He bolts up and glares at James and I, startling everyone in the room and making the dog bark. Casey takes Maggie into James's room and closes the door, already aware of the situation. But Jonah stares at everyone, watching it all unfold while eating his pizza. Jonah is a Diva. He loves this kind of drama. I can't help but shake my head and smirk at him a little.

"Do you know what this does to Julia? C'mon James! And YOU! REALLY??" Nate points at me. "You know how she thinks you are better than her. She's always trying to live up to your FUCKING standards!" He grabs on to his chest harshly and turn away. "I need air."

We stressed him out with this news. He heads to the balcony for air and Jonah, being the good friend he is, follows him out, grabbing the blood pressure cuff on the way.

"Fantastic." I huff and sit down on the couch. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"I'm sorry, ok?" James sits down next to me and clumsily takes my hand in his. "Julia just knows me. I don't even have to speak."

He reminds me of the weird connection they share that they've had since day one and I now wonder if James and I will ever connect in that way.

I'm gonna say a hard no to that.

******

*James*

Things are already starting out rocky between me and Trisha. To be honest, it reminds me of Nate and Julia's relationship. Always butting heads. But she's still so fun to be around and I'm really starting to get stronger feelings for her even though we may not get along perfectly.

"How are you running faster than me!" Trisha huffs and puffs on the treadmill next to me. We decided to come down to the gym because Nate is clearly pissed at the two of us. "Just a few months ago you weren't even walking, hot stuff."

"Persistence pays off. I don't give up." I give her a nod to slow down my treadmill so we can move on to the next thing.

"You're barely even breaking a sweat. You've really come a long way, James. I'm proud of you." Trisha hands me my towels as we get off the treadmills and I wipe my forehead.

"So does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" I wrap my arms around Trisha's waist and pull her into me, swaying back and forth a little while we talk.

"I wasn't MAD at you.... just... I don't know. When it comes to Moretti, things are so complicated." She gazes up at me with hungry eyes. I smirk and press myself into her more.

"You know. I could take you right here and now and no one would know." I feel the familiar twinge just thinking about that.

"Um...right here in a wide-open gym where anyone could see us?" She gawks at me now.

"Live a little. I'm sure you've had sex in public places before." I lick my lips and harden against her. The look on her face tells me maybe she hasn't but she doesn't answer me.

"James. Get that look out of your eyes. We can't!"

"We can." I start walking her backwards until she hits the wall. "Right here. Right now."

"No really, we can't. Anyone could walk in. Seriously, James." Trisha pushes me off her playfully but she's serious.

"You're no fun Trisha Banks. Live a little." I hate to think about it, but Julia would have NO problem having sex in a public place. Hell, right up against a wall in the Marriott Lobby. Or the time Paul almost caught us fucking on the chair behind the desk. Or in a hospital with Nate sleeping RIGHT next to us. Or in Nate's BEDROOM with Nate sleeping right next to us. Julia was wild like that.

I look around the room, knowing there is no way I can conn Trisha to have sex here. 

"Fine. That bathroom down there. Fuck me in that bathroom." I whisper into her ear.

"James..."

This time she doesn't say no. I take her hand and drag her to the small restroom. She locks the door for me since I can turn the little lock.

"Really? You want to have sex in here???" Trisha looks around the tiny bathroom. It's just a toilet and a sink. That's it. But it looks clean, and nobody is every down here so probably barely used.

"We're going to have sex in a public place. Well....if you want to call this a public place." I don't give Trisha a chance to respond. I lean in and kiss her passionately. Trisha gives in, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling me in for more.

 I spin her around, so she is facing the mirror, and her stomach is against the sink. I stand behind her and look at the two of us in the mirror while ticking my hips against her.

"Pull your pants down." I demand in a lower tone of voice. At first, she looks a little shocked but then her eyes meet mine through our reflection in the mirror and I can tell they are filled with lust. She pulls down her pants and underwear and then without turning around, reaches behind to pull my shorts and boxers down. I spring out and press against her ass.

"I can't believe we are doing this." Trisha whispers. I curl my back and lean into her, so my lips are close to her ear.

"This is the part where I fuck you." I say lowly and slam into her full force, making her scream out. I cover her mouth and begin fucking her. "Shhh.. follow the rules. You have to be quiet." I whisper and lower my hand.

"Then you may want to keep your hand over my mouth." She closes her eyes and moans, making me slap my hand back on her mouth.  I pick up my pace while looking at us in the mirror and Trisha grabs on to the basin of the sink for dear life.

*****

*Trisha*

This is SO unlike me!  I mean, Nate and I have done some crazy things a little, but only Nate.  Even then, I don't recall ever being with him in a public place like this. Granted it's not like a bathroom at Target or something but for me, this is public! 

James is a bit wild. I never would have guessed. He's so sweet all the time yet his demeanor changes when he has sex. His voice becomes lower, he's demanding and knows what he wants. It's sexy as hell.

The way he has me moaning against his hand is ridiculous right now. Like I can't control myself. I hit my high within just a few minutes and James is right behind me. Literally and figuratively. 

It's like any disagreements we had earlier have been thrown right out the window. James grabs on to my ponytail and pulls me so I arch my back, and finishes with a few low grunts and hard slams to my body.

"Christ." I mutter

"And that's how you have sex in a public bathroom." He laughs and is back to sweet, funny James.

This guy is going to be the death of me, isn't he?!

*********