𝐕𝐞𝐢𝐥 || ✔

𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

"I've never flown before, so I'm feeling a bit nervous," I admitted as I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of Koa's car. He had picked me up early to head to the studio, and from there, we'd all take the same car to the airport. "Have you ever flown before?"

"More times than I can count," Koa replied with a yawn as we entered the studio. I couldn't blame him for being tired; it was barely four in the morning.

"Thank you," I said, attempting to take my suitcase from the security guard, but it slipped from my grasp as soon as he let go. This thing had to be at least half my body weight. I'd basically put my entire closet in there.

"I got it, sweetheart," he said, smiling at me. "I'll take it to the car for you."

"Oh," I zipped up my jacket. I’d lived in Chicago my whole life, but I’d never gotten used to how cold it was, and I don’t think I ever would. "Thank you..." I furrowed my eyebrows, struggling to recall his name.

"It's Zev," he reminded me.

I smiled. "Thank you, Zev," I said before heading into the studio. Stepping inside, I felt relieved; it wasn't warm, but it was warmer than it was outside.

"Oh, she was outside," Teddy remarked as he and Koa sat on the couches.

"Zev was helping me." I took off my hoodie and made an attempt to push down my hair. My hair was a little curly, so of course it looked a mess in any circumstance ever. “I think he—” I cut myself off when my phone buzzed, interrupting me.

"If you need to take that, Joey, go into the other room," Teddy leaned his head on the pillow that was beside him.

I assumed it’d just be a scam call or something, but it actually wasn’t. It was Lucas. Aileen hadn't been calling and texting me a ton recently, and as much as I did love her, I didn't want to talk to her at all right now. Lucas hadn't done anything wrong. He was always incredibly sweet. I couldn't ignore him.

I walked into one of the rooms by the lobby we were in, answering my phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Joey," Lucas greeted me warmly. "How are you?"

"Um, good," I replied. “Is something wrong?”

“I'd assume you knew there was.” I could almost hear the smile in Lucas’ voice. He was just constantly smiling. “Aileen's been upset lately and I don't know what happened. I asked her and she didn't want to tell me, so I'd assumed you knew.”

I sighed. “Yeah, um… it was just this whole thing with Cisco that happened.” I explained. “She was there and I asked her to kick him out and she didn't and he said some not very nice things to me.. and she didn't defend me.” I felt even more upset with Aileen saying it out loud. “I just got really upset with her.”

“Okay, I understand.” Lucas told me. “I'll talk to her about that, k?”

"Sure," I nodded even though Lucas couldn't see me. "I know you have to get to work, so I'll talk to you later." I told him. "Bye."