London, once blue, now red

Showering in doubt

Leah: "Isla, Isla, we are home." she says softly as she moves a strand of hair out of my face. I flutter my eyes open to Leah. All I can think about is how gorgeous she looks with her blonde hair. I removed my seatbelt and climbed out of the car, where Leah and Katie were waiting for me. We all walked up to their front door and walked in as Katie headed to her room, and Leah grabbed my arm, leading me to hers. I placed my bag at the entry of her bedroom door, sat on the edge of the bed, and then fell back, hoping to be swallowed by the bed's embrace. Leah walks over to her wardrobe and starts putting things away until she walks towards me. Putting her hand out, I take it, and she pulls me up to sit on the edge of the bed. Leah knelt in front of me and cupped my cheeks with her hands.

Leah: "I think you should have that shower now."

Isla: "Okay."

Leah: "Do you need help, or are you okay."

Isla: "I'm okay."

Leah: "Alright, there are towels in the cabinet. Use whatever products you want, okay?"

Isla: "Okay, thanks, Leah." I said timidly. Leah just smiles at me and brings me into a tight hug. I stand up and walk towards the bathroom to have a shower. I close the door behind me and look into the mirror. My eyes look tired, I look tired, but the person I'm looking at isn't me. What happened to the happy and cheerful Isla who was here a few hours ago? I wish she would have come back. I took a shower, taking my time, as I dreaded talking to Leah about what had happened. I hoped she wouldn't bring it up, but I had a feeling she likes to talk about things, which I wasn't very good at.

Leah's POV

As Isla closed the bathroom door, I couldn't help but think about what to do. I was worried about her, and I don't know how to handle this besides talking about it. I feel like it would be horrible of me to make her bring everything up so suddenly. The only person I can think to ask is Millie. Still, I don't want to overstep the boundaries of Isla and my relationship. I hope she understands this is out of worry and care for her, not out of spite. My heart races as my phone rings and rings until Millie suddenly picks up.

Millie: "Hey, Leah, how are you."

Leah: "I'm good, thanks; how are you."

Millie: "That's good; yeah, I'm good, what's up."

Leah: "Well, I don't know if this is my place, and I don't know if this is the right thing to be doing, and I'm worried Isla will hate me if I tell you, and I'm worried it might ruin our relationship because...." Millie stops me before I can continue.

Millie: "Leah, what about Isla? She didn't come home last night, and I messaged her but didn't hear from her. Is she okay?"

Leah: "Yeah, she's fine; she stayed the night at mine."

Millie: "Oh, okay, what's wrong then."

Leah: Well, um, we were at training, and she was working really hard, and she passed out after training. She is fine, but when we took her jumper off, she had blood on her sleeve, so I pulled it up, and she had cuts all up her arm. She is at mine now and having a shower, but I don't know what to do."

Millie: "Hey, Leah, it's okay. Don't worry. I know it's hard not to, but maybe something is bothering her. She usually only does these erratic things when something consumes her thoughts. You can just bring her back to our apartment if you want; I'm going to have to talk to her about this anyway.

Leah: "No, it's okay. I'll try to talk to her first and then see what she wants to do. I don't want to stress her out anymore than she has been."

Millie: "That sounds good, Leah, don't stress yourself out too much, okay? If you need anything, call me or text me, okay."