ELYSE's POV
I spent the next week with the same routine. Wake up, hang out with Matthew and the rest of them, smoke, pass out. The morning of always involved me sulking around, swearing not to do anything again but then the cycle repeats itself.
I stayed off social media, ignored everyone's texts except for aunt Angela— incase anything happened.
While I was exhaling, smoke fogging my vision, my phone rung. I groaned and sighed, pulling it out of my back pocket.
"Damn, how many phone calls do you get a day? I forget you're famous." Matthew pointed out.
"Ugh, it's my PR manager. She's a fucking asshole. Why is calling me." I threw my phone on the couch next to me.
I waited for the call to end before reconnecting the joint in my hand to my mouth. Before I knew it, she was calling me again.
"God, can't she get the hint and stop calling?" Ellie scoffed.
"I know, right." I rolled my eyes before ending her call. Almost immediately, she called me again.
"Just answer it and see what she wants." Ares suggested.
"Alright," I nodded, "take this. I'll be back in a sec." I handed Matthew my joint and went outside to answer.
"Hello?"
"What do you want." I got straight to the point.
"You sure have an attitude as someone who's reputation is being absolutely smothered right now." She sounded like she had enough of me.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Haven't you checked social media at all? Congrats, Garcia, you're trending!" The sarcasm in her tone was quite hard to miss, "I hope you're having fun smoking weed with your old buddies."
"What— how do you know? Did Max tell you?" I asked.
"Wow, great to know Max is aware of this, aka your biggest rival. Great job, Elyse, so fucking proud of you." The sound of her clapping echoed through the mic, "And for your information, your 'friends' are real pieces of shit. You should see their social media, they're the reason you're trending. Now I gotta go fix your shit, because unfortunately it's in my contract to do so. Bye."
She hung up before I could say anything. I quickly opened Instagram and clicked on their accounts.
First it was Evie's stories.
Then it was Valencia's.
Then it was Ares.
And finally, Matthew.
Fuck. Fuck. Triple fuck. Fuck, fuck. I was fucked.
I opened Twitter. It was worse than I had expected. It was nearly the same as 2016 but this time, people were sending me death threats and calling me the disappointment of the year.
I rushed back into the house to take my things and leave, "Fuck you, guys."
"What the hell is your problem?" Ares snapped.
"All of you posted stories of us, me , while smoking and drinking for the whole fucking word to see when I specifically asked you not to post me." I mentioned.
"Oh, sorry, miss worldwide. But I'm not going to let you dictate what I do and don't post on my stories." Valencia spoke up, "The world doesn't revolve around you, hun."
"And I mean, I don't see what's the biggie in smoking some weed here and there." Evie shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"God, I knew hanging out with all of you was going to be the end of me. I can't believe I actually believed you guys could change after all these years." I scoffed in disbelief.
"Honey, nobody changes. Just like how you forgot about your bullshit phrase of 'I'm a better person' one hour into the first night. You're still the same Elyse we knew back then, maybe a bit older and richer but still the same." Valencia spat. "Don't blame us for your own mistakes."
"I'm never coming back here again. Fuck all of you I hope I never see any of you again." I left the place with a heavy heart. I was so so, completely and utterly stupid. Now that everything was all laid out in front of me, all I wanted was to reverse time and stop myself from doing the things I did.
My mind instantly went to Lewis. I opened our messages and found a single text.
Lew💜:
hope it was worth it.
My phone pinged, a message from Daniel.
dannyric💝:
Are u kidding?????
Another one from Seb.
seb🤗🤗:
I can't believe you Elyse
so disappointed
I thought you'd be better
Another from Toto.
boss (dad no. 2):
Is this real??
Fucking hell Elyse. You're ruining yourself. This is not the Elyse I know, you let me down.
My heart couldn't take anymore. I still had about 14 messages left from other people but it was too much to handle. Out of instinct, I smashed my phone on the concrete pavement, shattering it into tiny little pieces. Immediately, I was drowned in the feeling of regret. It was like this insane virus, spreading to each part of my body, twirling around each limb and squeezing the hell out of it till I couldn't breathe. That was how suffocated I felt. That phone contained the last few messages between me and my mom and even if I got a new phone, they'd disappear.
"Fuck! No! No! No! Please work." I scrambled to collect the pieces and open the phone but nothing worked. It was a lost cause, "Please! Please! Please! Fuck this." I threw it back on the ground and kicked it once it didn't work, "Stupid phone. Can't even fucking work!"
I got home, with an even damper mood than before. I did collect the remaining pieces of the phone, though, since I didn't want to just throw it away. When I opened the living room lights, I was jump-scared by Angela sitting on the couch, waiting.
"Oh my God, Angie, you scared the crap out of me." I put a hand over my chest as if it would slow my racing heart.
"Don't Angie me." She stood up and walked towards me. "I thought you said you didn't touch any drugs. I thought we were on our journey to getting better together. You're not grieving, you're destroying yourself. And I'm so disappointed in you."
This was my final straw. I fell onto the couch and put my face in my hands, then started sobbing. I don't know where it came from, but it just happened. I was finally crying, my whole body was shaking. Angie ran straight to my side.
"I'm so sorry, Angela. I'm so so fucking sorry. I'm sorry for lying to your face and for disappointing you. I swear—" I hiccuped, "I swear I didn't mean to. I wanted to tell you but I didn't want to worry you. You were finally getting better and I didn't want you to stop because I was being stupid and reckless. But I regret it all now and I promise, I promise from now on I'll start getting better. For you and for Mama and for everyone that cares about me."
She sighed, closing her eyes as she shook her head, "You should stop putting others before yourself, Elyse. That's what your mother always told me. And I'm afraid I don't believe you'll stick true to your promises."
"Trust me, this time I will 100% stop. Having to bare everyone's disappointment is so much worse. Please believe in me." I pleaded.
She sighed, "I believe in you. But remember, apologies without actions mean nothing."
I nodded. "I know, I'll try and make you proud. Starting tomorrow I'll be coming to the gym with you, I've been out of shape for a while, anyways."
"So no more Matthew and his junkie friends?" She raised a brow, as she assessed me— obviously not fully believing me. And I don't blame her.
"No more. I fought with them and that's the end of all that." I spoke with confidence, hoping it'll make her believe me.
"Will you be able to get back in shape with just 4 days till you have to get to Russia?" She switched the topic.
"I hope. But I was wondering," I started, "would you like coming with me to the race? I could really use some support seeing as when I get back half the paddock will probably be hating me."
"Of course, I would love that. Plus, why don't you text them and explain? See what they'll say." She suggested.
"I mean, I would. But technically that's not possible." I shamefully pulled out the broken phone from my back pocket, "I may or may not have gotten lost in the heat of the moment."
"Yikes." She inhaled deeply. "Well, I guess we'll have to buy you a new phone sooner than later, huh?"
"Honestly? I prefer to stay MIA for a while and talk to everyone face-to-face, you know?" I shared what I thought and she understandably nodded.
"Well, you gotta go get some rest if you're gonna work hard tomorrow, no?" She lightly tapped my thighs as we both stood up.
"Yeah, of course. Good night." I gave her a kiss on her cheek before we went in our separate rooms.
I entered my bed, feeling rather relieved she forgave me. One person down, a million more to go.