"Can you turn off your alarm? Please? It's my only free day," Senna said, waking Julia up who instantly groaned as she just got woken up from her deepest sleep.
"What?" Julia mumbled, turning around just to hear her phone ringing.
"Your fucking alarm. Turn it off," her sister said annoyed, sounding just as sleepy and irritated as Julia was.
"I never even-"
"Well it's going off so make it shut up!"
Blindly, Julia tried to reach for her phone when the alarm already stopped, leaving the girls both with their eyes open in the now silent and dark room.
"Thank you," her sister mumbled before she turned and was all silent again. Julia frowned, just now realizing it really was coming from her phone even though she never even set an alarm. She hadn't set one for weeks.
Despite the fact that the alarm already stopped, she still grabbed her phone to look at the screen. It was two in the morning, which was probably the reason why they were so tired and why the room was still dark.
Once Julia's eyes were used to the light coming from her screen, she saw she had a few notifications. When she saw she had four missed calls, she realized the alarm probably hadn't been an alarm.
It took another few seconds before she could read what was on the screen. There wasn't even a name. Just a number.
Who would even try to call her at two in the morning?
Julia shrugged and decided to just turn off her volume and go back to sleep. But that was when she noticed the texts too, from the same number.
-
+1-541-7**-****: hi. it's ashley. if you see this, could you please respond? it's very urgent and serious.
+1-541-7**-****: i know it may seem random but it's important that you reply so we can talk
Julia: fuck off you're not ashley
1-541-7**-****: huh
1-541-7**-****: yes i am
1-541-7**-****: this is julia right? i hope it's the right number. i got it from dom
Julia: stop messing around. i've been through shit like this. i'm trying to sleep goodbye.
1-541-7**-****: i'm not messing around? it's ashley, i'm sorry if anyone ever pretended to be me but i swear it wasn't me
Julia: how do i know lmao
Julia: the "other" ashley seemed pretty legit
1-541-7**-****: well they weren't
1-541-7**-****: listen. +44 1302 ****** is dom's number. you can confirm.
1-541-7**-****: check that in your phone
Julia: yes it is
1-541-7**-****: how could i know if i wasn't ashley?
Julia: idk?
Julia: anyway it doesn't matter. IF you're the real ashley i don't wanna talk to you either
Julia: for pretty obvious reasons
1-541-7**-****: no no that's why i'm texting you. it's about that.
1-541-7**-****: someone has been messing with you
1-541-7**-****: i had no idea wtf was going on until dom texted me about it
1-541-7**-****: he told me about pictures and we tried to search the pictures you were talking about but we couldn't find them
1-541-7**-****: but i swear we both have no idea what you're talking about
1-541-7**-****: dom never cheated
Julia: lmao stop this. multiple people told me he cheated. even ashley did
1-541-7**-****: i AM ASHLEY
1-541-7**-****: IDK WHO TRIED TO BE ME BUT THEY WERENT REAL
Julia: just stop. i'm blocking you
1-541-7**-****: no no no
1-541-7**-****: no wait
1-541-7**-****: wait it's so important please listen to me
1-541-7**-****: look at this
1-541-7**-****:
1-541-7**-****: he never responded after this
1-541-7**-****: but i swear to god someone made it all up
Julia: then how come they looked so real?
1-541-7**-****: just send me the pictures. send me them.
Julia: just fuck off
1-541-7**-****: YOU DONT BELIEVE ME AFTER THAT SCREENSHOT?
1-541-7**-****: listen. i'm dead serious. dom doesn't respond anymore and he's in doncaster. i'm in la. you're the only one who can help him
1-541-7**-****: i promise the pictures are fake. just send me the fucking pictures
Julia: *link sent*
1-541-7**-****: what the hell
1-541-7**-****: they do look real. but they're edited. i got the real picture in my gallery. i remember this day
1-541-7**-****: hang on please.
1-541-7**-****:
1-541-7**-****: this is one of them
Julia: oh
Julia: but if they're edits why would they do that?
1-541-7**-****: to ruin your relationship with dom. i don't know who did it but they're either jealous or they don't like you or dom.
1-541-7**-****: they're from long ago.
1-541-7**-****: please believe me. idk what else i can do to convince you it's me
1-541-7**-****: can i call you?
Julia: yeah. okay. hang on.
-
Julia was shaking like crazy as she stood up from the bed and walked into the hallway, to the living room where no one could hear her talk.
Everything was just so confusing.
She nervously sat down on the couch and let her finger hang above the call button of the number she just talked to, until she pressed it. Her heart started racing waiting for the person to pick up.
"Hi," a voice on the other side of the line spoke, sooner than Julia hoped.
"Hey," she breathed out. Everything in her told her she should just hang up and go back to bed. Still, her phone seemed to be glued to her hand that was holding it to her ear.
"Are you alright?"
It was her. It really was Ashley. Even though she had only heard Ashley talk one time, she instantly knew it was her. She just had this sweet voice Julia remembered being jealous of.
"Oh my god," was the only thing Julia could bring out while her mouth fell open and she stared into the darkness of the living room.
"Breathe. I know it's confusing. I just need you to stay calm and breathe," Ashley told her. It messed with Julia's mind like crazy. For weeks she had absolutely hated Ashley for what she had done to her. But it didn't even seem to be true. It seemed like Ashley was an innocent girl who wanted the best for both Dom and Julia. Even after everything that had happened.
"I'm sorry for-"
"Not the time," Ashley cut her off. "It's alright for now."
Julia nodded while letting out a shaky sigh. "So everything was made up?" she asked quietly, confused.
"Everything. And I'm sorry that happened to you," Ashley answered. She sounded stressed, which made Julia realized that she wasn't just talking to Ashley because Ashley could explain everything. She was talking to Ashley because something was wrong with Dom.
"Do you know where Dom could be?" Ashley asked her as if she could read her mind.
"I don't know," she said, "maybe at home. It's a twenty minute drive for me."
"Could you please check up on him? I feel like there's something genuinely wrong."
Once Ashley said that, Julia immediately felt sick. She thought about the screenshot Ashley sent her, of what Dom had told her. He really had no one anymore, which means he had no one who could stop him from doing anything.
"And don't try to text him. I tried. Please go find him," Ashley continued.
It was hard for Julia to go from hating Dom for weeks to being concerned about him. But it slowly started to hit her that it was real. And she had no reason to hate him. Instead, he needed her.
So she nodded at what Ashley told her and jumped up from the couch, searching for her car keys.
"I'll try."