Julia: goodmorning
Dom: goodmorning princess
Julia: 🥺 how did you sleep?
Dom: the two hours that i was asleep were pretty good
Julia: you slept for two hours??
Dom: yeah i wasn't really tired
Dom: i wrote some lyrics
Julia: you did?
Dom: yeah :)
Julia: but for real how come you slept so little :(
Dom: i don't know
Dom: i didn't feel so good and i kept thinking about things, it happens sometimes
Julia: :(( i'm sorry
Dom: don't worry about it baby
Dom: how did you sleep? are you in school again?
Julia: good and yes i am 😔
Dom: aw that sucks i'm sorry
Julia: life sucks
Julia: by the way
Julia: can i use this as lockscreen?
Julia:
Julia: it's from the day of the party
Dom: aren't you still mad at me?
Julia: dom..
Julia: i'm not
Julia: i told you it's fine
Dom: why do you forgive me so fast?
Julia: do you WANT me to be mad at you??
Dom: no
Dom: no
Dom: i don't
Dom: it's just that you forgave me within a few hours or so
Julia: yes because i know you felt guilty and that it was genuine so why would i stay mad at you
Dom: idk :(
Dom: but of course you can put that as your lockscreen that's so cute
Julia: you're worried about our fight still, aren't you?
Julia: is that the reason you slept so bad?
Dom: yeah it is
Julia: baby i told you multiple times it's okay :( and i mean it
Dom: no but like i was so fucking stupid and i ALWAYS fuck things up for no reason
Dom: everything good gets fucked up by myself
Dom: all the time
Julia: that's not true
Julia: and you didn't fuck up anything between us
Dom: no but i nearly did
Dom: and this isn't the first time
Dom: things like this always happen and everything is because of me
Dom: i feel like i bother everyone
Julia: stop saying that
Dom: i just hate myself ok
Julia: dom stop saying that!!
Julia: you're not bothering ANYONE and no one hates you
Julia: you're literally the best person
Julia: remember when i told you a while ago
Julia: that you've only been good to me and you're one of the best persons i've met
Julia: i genuinely mean that
Dom: watch me ruin our relationship as well because of my mental health
Julia: no
Julia: i would NEVER break up with someone because of their mental health. literally never.
Dom: still
Dom: i'm gonna do something stupid
Julia: no you won't
Dom: how do you know
Julia: dom please stop thinking about yourself like that :( i wish you could think about yourself the way i think about you because that would make you feel so good about yourself
Julia: i think a lot of good stuff about you
Julia: where are you? at work or at home?
Dom: at home
Julia: in your studio?
Dom: no in bed
Julia: did you eat something yet?
Dom: yes
Julia: when?
Dom: actually i didn't
Julia: honey could you please go out of bed to eat something? please?
Julia: for me?
Dom: i'm tired
Julia: go eat and then sleep okay
Dom: okay
Julia: yeah?
Dom: yeah okay
-
Julia rang the doorbell for the third time. She actually wanted to yell his name, so he knew it was her, but she wanted to keep it as a surprise. So she just prayed he would get out of bed and open the door.
Getting him out of bed was her main goal in the first place.
When no one answered after ten more seconds, Julia knocked on the door three times, and this time she heard someone walking, which caused her eyes to lighten up.
"I'm fucking coming, jesus."
The lock was taken off the door and Dom opened it. He looked more tired than ever, also looking insanely pale.
"Hey," Julia said softly as she watched how his eyes widened in surprise.
"Julia? What are you-"
"I wanted to get you out of bed. This was the only way I was sure it worked."
Dom bit his lip that started to tremble a little. Then he pulled Julia into a hug, burying his face in the crook of her neck. His body was shaking, probably because of the cold air coming from outside. He was only wearing his short sleeved band shirt and some sweatpants.
Julia pushed the door closed with her foot and made sure she didn't let go of Dom. They stood like that for a minute, no one saying anything. But by the way Dom's body trembled less and less Julia knew this was exactly what he needed.
"I'm sorry," Dom mumbled. There was pain audible in his voice that broke Julia's heart.
"Don't," Julia said, "we wouldn't talk about it again."
Dom sighed and sniffed. "Right."
Finally they let go of each other and Julia smiled weakly as she wiped a tear away from his cheek.
"Thank you so much for coming," he said quietly. It was strange to see him like that. She had seen him sad before, but not like this. Normally he was rather energetic instead of quiet and pale.
Julia kissed him softly, stroking his hair out of his face. "You can go lay in bed if you want to. I'll make you food, whatever you wanna eat."
"Can't you come lay with me?" he asked, pouting. Julia only frowned.
"Now, for how long didn't you eat?"
"I did eat a cracker after you said I had to eat something," Dom said seriously, but Julia only shook her head and grabbed his hand to take him to his kitchen. It was pretty much a mess; messier than normally. But she'd just clean it when he was asleep.
Julia made scrambled eggs for him, which Dom completely finished even though Julia could see he had a hard time doing that. After that they just laid down in Dom's bed, having a movie on but as the last time, not really watching it.
They weren't kissing this time, though. This time Dom was telling Julia about his thoughts and how he felt. And at the moment that was the best thing they could do.
"And depression never just... leaves you know. So even though I'm doing better, I still have days where I feel like this. Sometimes more days in a row. I think it won't ever leave me."
It was painful to know that Dom felt like this sometimes, and from what he told Julia, she knew he felt like this every few weeks. He told her how he couldn't get himself to do anything: eating, sleeping, getting out of bed, not even showering. The only thing he could do was write.
"But you're doing better than a year ago?" Julia asked him, stroking his cheekbone softly with her fingers. They had their heads rested on their pillows, looking at each other while their faces were just half a meter away from each other.
"Much better," he said immediately, "even better than a few months ago."
"That's good," Julia said. "I can remember when we just started talking and you told me you stopped doing many things because you're depressed. It made me so sad."
"Now I think about it, I'm doing even better than back then," Dom said while a tiny smile formed on his face, his eyes lighting up just enough for Julia to notice.
"Just not... now," he continued, the smile fading away as quickly.
"But that's good," Julia said proudly, stroking his face again to get him to look at her. "You said falling back was normal sometimes."
Dom nodded and shrugged. "Sometimes small things trigger it, and I make a big thing out of it and all of a sudden I feel like this."
"And the fight triggered it," Julia guessed and she knew she guessed it right by the way Dom bit his lip and nodded.
It felt good how he had opened up to her about it. Now she understood it wasn't necessarily the fight he was still sad about, but it had just triggered his sad feelings which were hard to get rid of again.
So instead of telling him again that it was okay and she wasn't mad anymore, Julia pulled him closer to her chest. Dom let out a breath slowly and buried his face in her sweater. Very slowly his tensed body became more relaxed and his breathing became more steady, and that's when Julia knew he finally fell asleep.
It felt so good having Dom's body against her, knowing everything was alright with him and nothing could happen. She figured cleaning the kitchen could wait. There was no way she was going to let him go until he woke up again.
-
Dom slept for four hours, which was exactly right because every part of Julia's body was numb from holding him as close to her as she could. It also meant he had slept for a total of six hours now, which was perfectly fine.
"I should make dinner," Julia said as she was stretching her arms and legs not too noticeable since she didn't want Dom to feel guilty.
"Considering it's 9pm," she continued, causing Dom to laugh. Her heart flattered a little when he laughed. She was happy she could see it again. He was already doing better.
"You're probably hungry as fuck," he answered.
"A little," Julia lied. She actually felt like she was starving.
"We could also order something," Dom proposed, "I don't want you to put so much effort in-"
"So you don't know me yet, huh?" Julia cut him off, leaving him confused. She stood up and laughed fondly when she saw him frowning.
"I fucking love cooking. It's my favorite thing to do."
Dom's eyes widen a little in surprise and then he laughed. "So I took you all the way to that fucking restaurant only to be beaten up by Brendon while you could've cooked for us at home?!" he exclaimed, acting offended. Julia laughed even more and sticked her tongue out.
"I'm not that good. I could never make burgers like they do there."
"So the bruises were worth it?"
"Definitely."
They looked each other in the eyes for a few seconds, both smiling widely. Julia realized that deciding to come over to his house was the best thing she could've done.
"So don't expect too much of the pasta I'm gonna make for us," Julia finally said, turning around and opening the bedroom door to head to the kitchen.
"I fucking love pasta," Dom said, "any kind of pasta is good."
She knew that. That was how she knew he had it at home. Plus, it was something she could easily and quickly make so she wouldn't actually starve to death.
As the pasta was cooking, Julia took the opportunity to clean the kitchen a little bit. She didn't want to do too much, not wanting to look like a try-hard. But she knew Dom would appreciate a little bit of cleaning.
Julia was just stacking everything on top of each other when she found a letter, folded out, on top of a plate. Her first instinct was not to read it, obviously, but as she moved it away, she saw a little logo on the top of it. It was the logo of a record label, she recognized it.
Slowly, Julia picked up the letter to look at the label better. Then she couldn't help but scan her eyes over the paper, just to see whom the letter was from exactly.
She still didn't read everything, but one sentence caught her eye.
We're excited to invite you over to Los Angeles for a collaboration with us as a start for your possible new career.