STAR, justin bieber

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Adira stays silent for a moment, watching Vicky's lifeless body twitch under her gaze. She almost revels in it. "Yeah," Adira finally confirms. "It was a couple weeks ago, just before you woke up. I kicked him out."

"Why?"

Adira laughs. "Stupid question," she answers, shaking her head.

Vicky's eyes crinkle in bewilderment, then she breaks out in an uneven smile. "I just thought you put everything to rest after we broke up."

Thought. Thoughts are dangerous, making us believe in the unreal—the impossible—before reality bares its claws, scraping at us until we can no longer deny its presence. Until all we have left to do is accept the remnants of what could have been floating away from us, like threads of printed memories falling to the ground. Forgotten forever.

Adira's eyes flick to the beaming light, glued to the ceiling and washing over them like a halo. "I don't think we should talk about this right now, Vicky."

Vicky wrinkles her nose and her eyes narrow—her telltale signs of disagreement. "I think we should. I don't want shit like this to hang over us."

"Things can just go back to the way they were. Nothing has to hang over us." Adira rolls her eyes. "You're supposed to be resting, anyway."

"A, I'm serious."

"I am, too."

"I didn't mean to hurt you when I got with Joey, you know?"

Adira crosses her arms. "Okay."

"Is that it?" Vicky snorts.

"Yeah, that's it. Just because you didn't mean to doesn't mean you didn't."

"I'm sorry," she relents, sighing.

"I'm sure."

"Like"—she sighs again—"unbelievably sorry."

"Can't change the past, Vicky."

"I wish I could."

"You can't."

Vicky closes her eyes at her words, basking in the silence for a few moments. "I think I just wanted to be happy, or be loved, or feel like I mattered to someone. He made it so easy. He made me feel so special. I was head over heels for him," she admits, slightly chuckling at the memory. "I didn't think enough about your feelings, though, and I know that. I would've never forgiven you if you stole my boyfriend. I don't know how you did it."

The only sound in the room is Vicky's heavy breathing, as if she is almost gasping for air, before Adira says, "I think I relied on you and Mikey a lot. It would've killed me if I had to give you up back then, but what you did got easier as time passed, then you guys broke up, and a weight lifted over my shoulder."

It was true. Slightly. She had fought Vicky countless times in her head, throwing words at her, hoping that somehow—magically—she would hear them. It eventually exhausted her, then Vicky came crying to her one night, weeping over her cheating boyfriend, and she guiltily believed her work had paid off.

"So, you did hold a grudge against me?"

"Did you expect me not to?"

"Yeah, I guess," Vicky says, eyes flittering to Adira's slumped figure. "Just because, I mean, it never felt like you had a grudge, but sometimes I would catch you staring at us. You looked so sad, and it made me feel so, so guilty."