Scarlett, Emma, and Anthony returned hours later, exhausted from their skiing adventure and shopping excursion. Nothing a little shopping therapy can fix, Emma thought as she deposited all of her shopping bags in her room.

She sighed and flopped on the bed, closing her eyes. As soon as she did, she saw Eric shoving Carter against the wall by his neck. Her eyes flew open. Not again, she groaned. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the event from her brain. Her heart started beating faster again, as it had been doing the whole day just by remembering the exact damn thing.

Something had to be done. Emma knew she had to talk to Eric, but deep down she was scared, although she failed to acknowledge it and passed off the emotion as just being nervous.

Emma never thought there would be a day in her life where she would be scared or nervous to talk to Eric, her childhood friend!

She got up from the bed and marched towards Eric's room. She raised her hand to knock, however it just hovered there, inches from the door. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the thumping of her heart, she knocked. But she might as well have just brushed her knuckles across the wooden door, for even she didn't hear the knock and wondered if she had imagined it.

Emma's hand hovered near the door again, she shuffled her feet and then dejectedly dropped her hand by her side.

What was she supposed to say to him? Why did you almost kill Carter? How would that conversation go? No, she thought. She couldn't do it, couldn't find the strength to face Eric like this.

Things needed to calm down first and then she would talk to Eric and Carter. She remembered something that Scarlett had said to her when they were shopping earlier and knew just the way to put things back on track. Smiling, Emma felt a little better about herself and walked back to her room with purposeful steps. I can do this.

***

Eric was lying on the bed, aimlessly staring at the chandelier hanging from the roof. He watched it glitter and wink at him as it caught the light whenever he tilted his head. How long had he be lying there, doing this mundane thing over and over again? He had shut himself off completely from his thoughts.

Even just a sliver of remembrance gripped his heart in a vice grip, making it hard for him to breathe. All the events in the past few months rushed back to him like a huge tidal wave, drowning him in a sea of emotions, ripping him apart in every direction.

Eric heard footsteps outside his room and immediately sat up, he could hear the blood rushing from his head and felt a little dizzy. When was the last time he ate? Not important, he decided as he saw the shadow of the footsteps halting in front of his door.

His breath hitched in his throat, eyes glued to the door as he waited with anticipation. He knew it was Emma, could feel it in his bones.

Had he heard a knock? Did he need Emma so much that he was imagining things now?

I should go...

But what would he say to her? How will he meet her disappointing eyes? Eric broke out in a sweat and started to hyperventilate.

No, no, no... not again.

He wished to talk to Emma but didn't at the same time. His eyes dropped down to the shadow of her footsteps, and when Emma shifted her weight from one foot to another, his heart palpitated and his breaths became short and shallow. Eric wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans and just waited. That was all he could do, right?

He let out the breath he was holding and felt the crushing weight of disappointment as he watched the footsteps retreat. Couldn't Emma even bear to look at him now?

How had his life come to a standstill at this, the lowest point in his life. How he wished he could rewind time to a few months ago when he was just... normal and carefree.

Why me? Eric thought thinking back to the event that had ruined his life piece by piece, like a domino effect. But wasn't he the only one responsible for his actions? Wasn't he the one who called the shots at the end? There was nobody to blame but himself, he thought with a heavy heart.

Eric picked up the deluxe pillow beside him and screamed into it, directing all of his pent up frustration into it.

***

Dinner time rolled around faster than expected and soon Anthony, Emma, and Scarlett found themselves sitting on the dinner table and staring at the two empty seats in front of them, reserved for Carter and Eric.

Robert, the hotel manager, came around and asked Anthony whether they would be joining or not. Anthony's expression only hardened before shrugging weakly. He looked at Scarlett and found her expression matching his worried one.

"I'll go ask them," said Scarlett as she made her way out of the dining hall.

Scarlett went up to their rooms and knocked on their doors simultaneously, then waited patiently. They both opened within a second of each other and visibly recoiled when they met each other's gaze.

Eric gulped and felt his ears growing hot, he wanted to apologize but the words got stuck in his throat.

He remembered all the good times he shared with Carter, the times he was inspired by his unwavering determination to be successful, the times when they bonded over their favorite mystery books and movies and so much more. However, Eric just couldn't click with him no matter how hard he tried, so he stopped eventually.

And now bonding with him was out of the question. Should have thought that before attempting to kill him, he thought bitterly. He still doesn't know what possessed him to do that.

Without his medicine, Eric was emotionally unstable, confused and felt depression hitting him at odd times during the day. He would try to set things right, he promised himself, and then tried apologizing to Carter again.

Eric cleared his throat, grabbing Carter's attention and said, "I... I'm sorry Carte-"

"Forget it," Carter seethed before going back in his room, but a hand shot out to stop him. It was Scarlett.

"Please," Scarlett whispered, eyes frantic and silently begging him. "They are waiting for you downstairs."

This seemed to have thawed out some iciness surrounding Carter and he sighed and nodded, then with one last glare directed at Eric, turned and went downstairs.

Eric winced as he saw the bruises on Carter's neck. Bruises that he had given him.

"You need to fix that," Scarlett said softly to Eric, her eyes trained on Carter's bruises as well, and then looked at him straight in the eyes. "Come on, let's eat. You look horrible," She smirked.

Eric felt a smile tug at his lips despite what he was feeling. Scarlett had that effect on him, she was like the little annoying sibling he never had.

"Alright," Eric said.

Time to mend things.

***

Anthony let out a sigh when he saw Eric and Scarlett enter the dining room, he wasn't expecting that but somehow Scarlett had managed to get them both downstairs. He squeezed her hand as a silent thank you when she took her seat next to him.

It was probably the longest and awkward dinner of Scarlett's life, well except that one, thinking back to the time when she discovered her father had... well, it doesn't matter now, she thought darkly.

How she managed to keep the secret from her mother was a miracle, but she had, for her family's sake. Scarlett couldn't believe how much her life had changed this year, first the rivalry with her father, then losing him, one of the most important persons in her life... she squeezed her eyes shut, it was physically painful to even think about it. And as for her broken relationship with her father... Scarlett couldn't care less.

Throughout the whole dinner, Scarlett watched Eric opened his mouth to say something, hesitate and then say nothing. She watched how he bounced his legs, his panic-stricken eyes, the sweat beading on his forehead, how he stretched the collar of his sweater as if he had a hard time breathing...

So it was no surprise that when dessert was announced, Eric got up suddenly, the sound of his chair scraping against the carpet, a sharp and clear noise breaking the dead silence.

However, Emma was quick to react and blurted, "Let's all go to the common room!" she all but shouted, but then lowering her voice she softly said, "Please..."

Eric watched as Emma gulp and realized how desperately she wanted this, so he agreed, the action which astounded everybody as they all looked at him, but then hastily agreed as well.

"Carter?" Emma asked, biting her lips when she noticed Carter hadn't said anything. If anything, his expression was so hard, it almost looked as if it was set in stone.

"Alright," sighed Carter, taking a deep breath. He just wished the night would end already.

***

A few minutes later, they were all seated in one portion of the common room, with the other portion occupied by Levi, Charlotte, Ella, and Mark. They were all sitting by the fireplace, drinks in hand, quietly conversing.

As soon as Anthony stepped into the room, he immediately felt the warmth coming from the fireplace. The fire burned and cackled slowly, casting beautiful shadows on the faces of the people sitting around it. The room was huge and was divided into two areas, the fireplace and the seating beside the windows.

The huge Christmas tree beside the fireplace reminded him it was Christmas. A time to be happy, not sulking. But what was he to do?

He acknowledged the other guests by nodding as he passed by them and took a seat on the plush sofa. The others followed suit and once again, the group was shrouded in awkward silence.

"How about a toast?" Emma inquired, breaking the silence. "To our friendship."

Anthony wanted to laugh out loud at that but controlled himself. Carter failed and snickered mockingly as a response, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious," Emma glared, "I know... stuff happened, but let's not think about that and ruin this trip, okay?" She looked at everyone straight in the eye. "Let's try this again. How about a toast to our friendship? I'll make my special drink!"

"I don't drink," Eric said next to her.

"Since when?!" Emma said sharply, her manicured eyebrows pulling together. "You love my special drink!"

"Since..." Eric hesitated, eyes darting automatically towards Anthony and then back towards Emma, "It doesn't matter."

"Is it about not toasting to our friendship because of earlier?" Scarlett joined in.

"Let it go, guys," Anthony interjected, coming to Eric's rescue. He knew why he won't drink, couldn't drink, in fact.

"No," Scarlett continued, "Are you that bitter Eric?"

"No... it's just," Eric paused, what could he say?

It was getting harder for him to breathe again, he pulled at his sweater's collar, feeling it too restricting. He looked at Anthony and found him tense.

Anthony nodded his head in a negative manner, conveying his warning to him. His eyes were sharp and focused as he desperately tried to think of something that would ease the situation. Unfortunately, he came up with none.

Any excuses would be a futile attempt, Anthony knew deep down, and this was all because Eric was a party boy to put it in simpler terms. Everybody knew that. So saying he can't drink raised everybody's suspicions even more.

This was a mess.

Anxiety gripped Eric's heart once more and took over his mind, as he started to bounce his legs wildly and gulped.

Looking at his right side, Eric found Carter staring coldly at him, saying nothing, just staring. His heart started pounding even harder in his chest, feeling each heartbeat. Carter's expression, his bruises... bruises that he was responsible for, for the thousandth time today Carter's face flashed in his mind as he was struggling to breathe, clawing at his hand.

It was all too much to take in, he knew he had to apologize and make things right. And if he had to drink for that, so be it. Even if it was extremely risky and could jeopardize his health even further.

Taking a deep breath, Eric said, "A toast... to our friendship, and especially for Carter. I'm sorry."

Carter felt a fleeting sense of sympathy for him, but it was gone as soon as it had come. He knew something was wrong with Eric, that much was obvious, but what? If only Eric would tell them... he sighed inwardly and gave a curt nod to Eric.

Carter decided he would try to be normal again, after all, Eric had apologized two times. And maybe he shouldn't have had challenged him the way he did at breakfast this morning.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Eric felt an impending sense of doom. From the corner of his eye, he saw Anthony fall back in his seat in exasperation, his hand flying to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"That's great! I'll go find Robert to help me make the drinks," Emma said, smiling encouragingly at Eric. She stood up and then swiftly left the room.

Scarlett got up too, excused herself to go to the washroom, and then went in Emma's direction. Anthony frowned at that but then shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it.

Emma returned with the drinks a few minutes later, with Scarlett just behind her. As Scarlett handed Eric his drink, he knew it was going to be a long, long night. 

***

Hey Guys! What did you think of this chapter? Any guesses to what's wrong with Eric? Would love to hear your thoughts!

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