y/ns POV
"In the jurisdiction of California, and by my power I hearby grant Dove Cameron with all back pay, including insurance for health and dental along with the agreed upon residuals. Disney may not contact her or speak about her in the media until the order runs out in 2027." And the hitting of the gravel on the wooden stand is all thats heard next before Dove crashes into me hugging both me and Danny.
"You did it!" She squeals into me
"No your testimony did it!" I say right back to her and she smiles.
"You both were fantastic up there. Real work of art." Danny beams and we are all smiles after winning a case we were sure to lose. I really doubted Dove, and I was pissed she didnt take the settlement but now look. Im the first lawyer to get residuals above 10% granted to any actor/actress.
"Now lets celebrate!" Dove exclaims
"thanks guys but I need to head home. have a drink for me." i say before going into the offive in the courthouse we claimed as ours and gathered up the rest of the work. My phone goes off and I glance at it seeing Scarlett calling me.
"Hey baby.''
"Hi! How did court go?" she asks. She was up with me last night on Face Time pretending to be the other party.
"oh my god babe i got her 22% residuals" i brag
"no way! y/n!! thats amazing!!!" she squeals. I love how happy she is for me.
"so crazy. I cant believe that he granted it, he also put a media protection out for her for 5 years."
"wow thats so awesome. she must be happy" she says
"Oh yeah dove is ecstatic. Shes going out with Danny right now and I rather not know if they go home together at the end of the night." i laugh and she laughs too. "I miss you." i say
"i miss you more, only two more weeks!" she says and i sigh. still too long.
"How have you been feeling? We are not going to test until you come home right?" i ask
"Nope, unless I get my period, I want to test with you in person." she says smiling into the phone screen
"Sounds good to me baby, it's your choice. but still didnt answer my question. how are you feeling?" i ask again.
"i feel good, nothing new." she says and i feel alittle disappointed. I wish she said nauseous or something because that would mean maybe it worked.
We've been a lot better since that day I flew to Australia. I told her how overwhelmed I was feeling and she's been helping me a lot with it. I also am seeing Melanie twice a week. Only thing I have left to do is go to an AA meeting which Melanie thought would be a great idea as well . I just haven't made that step yet.
"I can't wait to see you." I say into the phone.
"Me too! God I miss you" She says in an excited voice.
"Two weeks to long" I mumble
"I'm already finishing earlier than expected." She whines reminding me
"You're right I'm sorry."
"I gotta go babe! I'll call you later okay? Oh! Call Lizzie. She said she hasn't talked to you in a while. Only a couple texts here and there. Everything ok with you and her?" She asks and I almost forgot about Robbie for a second.
"Yeah we're good. I'll call her" I say even though I know I won't.
I haven't spoken to Lizzie in person or on the phone since Robbie came to my house that morning. 14 days without seeing someone I saw or talked to almost every day and it still stings. I knew she would get suspicious but I try to answer some of her texts so she won't get worried. That's all I need, her barging in my house and Robbie catching her here.
I enter my front door and scream like a little girl in a haunted house when I see Robert sitting at my dining table eating frosted covered animal crackers. "What the hell! You know I have a heart condition right? Those are for Rose!!" I tease him and snatch the bag out of his hands.
"Sorry. Your still dodging my calls. And you gave me a key" he says holding up the spare key I gave him. I had it wrapped in Ironmans colors because I'm funny.
"I've been busy. But we won! So now I'm not busy." I say throwing my briefcase and keys onto the table and putting the animal crackers onto the kitchen island.
"You need to go to a meeting and get a sponsor." He flat out says.
"I've been doing so good." I whine
"Have you craved it?" He says and I nod my head yes.
"Then you need a meeting." He says "just come to one. I go to one that's low-key with lots of celebs. You'll fit in perfectly." He says
"If I go to a meeting, it becomes real. It means I have an actual problem." I confess.
"You do have a problem. When things get hard you spiral and get drunk. You hide your problems with alcohol. You have a problem y/n. Now own it" he says patting my back.
"One meeting?" I question and see him smile.
"Just one. Cmon!" He pulls me out of my house and into his nice ass Porsche.
We pull into a church parking lot and I laugh. "If I step foot in there I will burst into flames"
"luckily for you, the meeting is in the basement of the church" he laughs and gets out of his car. When we walk into the entrance that looks like it's coming out of the ground I see the room set up with long cafeteria style tables with the attached benches. I glance around before we get fully inside and recognize a couple faces. The most prominent one is Dax Shepard.
"He's like a god here" Robert jokes and signs us both in on the little clipboard. I glance at him and he smirks. "I used a fake name for you. You don't have to even sign in but I like to see my signature on things" he says and I laugh. Typical Robert.
The whole meeting experience is weird but comforting. I listened to a couple people talk about their experience with alcohol and how much better their life is without it. I just felt like I couldn't relate to them. I've been down bad, living on the streets and drinking and using anything I could get my hands on before. That's not where I am right now. Right?
"Does anyone else want to share anything?" Dax asks the crowd and to my surprise Robert stands up. He walks on stage and takes his sunglasses off and tucks them into his shirt and runs his fingers through his hair.
"Hi. I'm Robert and I'm an alcoholic and drug addict."
"Hi Robert." The whole room says and I have to stifle a laugh. I can't take anything serious.
"I wanted to tell a story not just about me but about someone else who means so much to me. I have to sit back and watch her destroy her life because she thinks she's stronger than her cravings. But you and I all know that those cravings sneak up on you when you least expect it." I listen intently to him. Feeling bad for taking this as a joke.
"The last time I drank or used, I was clean before it for 6 months. I got news that I lost someone very close to me and chose to show on the outside I was strong and everything was fine but it wasn't. I thought I had it under control and just wanted a sip of beer. That sip turned into a 6 day bender that my wife found me almost dead inside a dirty infested motel in a different state."
My eyes are watering just hearing him talk about himself. He never shares those kind of stories with me and I always wondered why.
"But watching her destroy her body, and her relationships with everyone around her, and being so well at hiding her true feelings, I see myself in her. And god am I scared." He pauses to clear his throat getting choked up himself. "I want to see her raise her family. I want be there with her when we go to see every sports game along the west coast, I don't want to do it in memory of her. I need her to be the one to bury me, not the other way around."
Fuck, I didn't know he felt this way. I can't help but let the tears pour down my cheeks but I make sure I don't make any noise. I feel nauseous at the fact I've hurt him so badly all this time.
"I just want her to fight for herself. Thanks guys. It feels good to get that off my chest." He says before he steps off stage and walks back to the seat next to mine. He places his sunglasses back on, as I wipe my face clear, then slides into the bench next to me. He doesn't look at me but puts his hand over mine as he looks ahead listening to the next person.
It is killing me inside knowing how he feels about me. But I need to prove him wrong. I need to work on myself and maybe he is right. Maybe I should come to more meetings, get a sponsor, do the steps. Which I don't think I can do. I barley have time now so how can I attend meetings. At least I know I can talk to Robert about it.
After everyone is done sharing there's really bad coffee being served and everyone is mingling. I'm ready to go, not wanting to talk with anyone but Robert is talking to Dax and another guy who's back is to me so I don't interrupt.
"Coffee sucks right?" I hear a voice next to me. I turn and recognize the woman in front of me as Demi Lovato.
"I've had worse" I say
"How are you doing?" She asks and I'm surprised. Does she know me? Duh I'm married to Scarlett Johansson. I forget my wife is a superstar sometimes. Of course in my eyes she always is a superstar.
"I'm okay." I smile and she furrows her eyebrows.
"You know I'm the queen of saying 'I'm fine' 'I'm okay'" she says laughing. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asks and nods her head out the doors. I follow her outside and she sits in a small rocking chair while I sit in a plastic chair across from her.
"I struggle with the whole system of this. Do the steps and you're cured. It's kind of bullshit." I say
"Maybe. But to some it really helps them. Do the meetings scare you?" She asks
"I barley have time now. How do I attend meetings, work the steps on top of everything else I have going on."
"This is the first meeting I've been to in a month. I've been busy too. I believe that you don't have to attend the meetings if your doing the work. Carve out time for yourself to remind yourself every morning why you are staying sober" she says
"So I don't have to attend meetings or make amends" I say
"While I recommend on trying to make amends if it bothers you, nothing says you have to do it" she replies.
"I didn't know that"
"Sobriety isn't black and white. There's lots of colors. Just have to find the ones that work for you." She says and smiles.
"Hey kid. We gotta go in getting yellled at!" Robert yells near his car as he waves his phone around at me.
"Thank you for this." I say to Demi.
"Anytime." She smiles.
This was a weird interaction I didn't expect to happen but I'm glad it did. I climb into the car and Robert speeds towards my house. We haven't spoken much but there's not much to be said. He knows I will talk to him when I want too. He pulls into my driveway and smirks. "Did you have fun on our adventure?"
"It was iiight" I joke and he laughs. "Do you want to come in?"
"No no I have to get home." He says
"Can we come over dinner once Scarlett gets home?" I ask stalling leaving.
"Of course kid. Susan would love to have you girls over. We will set it up" he says and unlocks his doors.
I pause and look into his eyes, and he quirks an eyebrow at me and smiles "if you kiss me I will throw up all over you" he says in the most serious tone.
"What!" I crack up laughing and he does as well.
"I wanted to say thank you. That's all" I laugh out and I wrap him in a hug the best I can inside the tiny car before getting out.
"Did you seriously think I was going to kiss you!? You're like a father to me" I question before closing the door.
"You had this look in your eyes, it either you were going to kiss me or kill me so I went with the lather" he laughs.
"See you later" I chuckle before closing the door and heading into my house. I place my keys on the table and take my shoes off before heading into the kitchen. I'm starving but I don't want to cook anything. I go through the take out menus while chugging some water. Pizza and wings sound good, so I quickly order that before I go upstairs to shower. As I'm walking up the stairs I notice the light on in the bedroom and the doors closed. That's weird, maybe I forgot to shut the light off but I know I left it open this morning. I approach the bedroom door leaning my ear against it. No movement. I slowly open the door and see rose petals on the floor infront of the bed. I follow them up the best and onto the bedspread where I see Scarlett laying there. She has only a black lacy bra with matching panties on and is sat on the middle of her bed with her legs spread. Her hair is perfectly straightened in a perfect Bob and she has her makeup done in a flawless natural look. She looks ethereal and my jaw drops seeing her. She wasn't suppose to be home for two weeks.
"Took you long enough"
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Y/n working on herself. That's a good look.