I walked downstairs with the girls, and all the boys were sitting in the kitchen.
"Finally!" Blake yelled when he spotted us. "You guys take forever!"
We all laughed, and Amelie crossed the room, kissing him.
"Shots!" Griffin yelled, pouring them out. "To Bailey! We love you, girl."
As the party got underway, the house filled with people. Josh and I were dancing when I turned towards the door to see Nessa. I turned back to Josh, a worried look on my face. "Nessa's here," I said.
"What do you mean?" Josh asked.
"Nessa is in our house."
"How much have you had to drink?" he asked, grabbing my hand.
"Josh, that's not funny. I'm sober enough to know that she's here."
"No, I'm asking if you're sober enough for us to talk to her."
"Oh! Yeah, let's do it."
Josh looked around the room, pulling me by my hand when he spotted Nessa near the front door. "Upstairs. Now," he said to her. She didn't question it as she led the way to his room, making herself comfortable on the bed.
"What's up, Joshie Poo?" she asked, clearly a little tipsy.
"What the fuck are you doing, Ness? You wrote me that letter about moving on and being happy with Bailey. Why are you calling and harassing her? Why did you leak our relationship to the press?"
Nessa laughed. "People change their minds, Josh. I shouldn't have let you go." She crossed the room, putting her hands on his chest. I watched as she stood on her tiptoes to whisper to him. In her inebriated state, her whisper was loud. "Ditch her, and meet me back here."
Josh grabbed her wrists, sitting her back down on the bed. "We are not together anymore, Nessa. You are going to leave Bailey and me alone. Your behavior is highly inappropriate."
Nessa pouted on the bed. "Did you ever love me?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Did you ever love me or did you always know that it was going to be her? Was I just a distraction to you?"
Josh sighed, looking back at me apologetically. "You know that I loved you, Nessa. I loved you so much, but we were not good for each other. We were toxic. It's time for us to let it go."
Tears spilled onto her cheeks. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "Letting you go was the hardest and most painful thing I've ever done. I shouldn't have turned against either of you."
Josh looked back at me again, unsure of how to handle the situation. "Nessa, come with me," I said, grabbing her hand and helping her to her feet. I led her to my room. "How much have you had to drink, Nessa?"
Her words started to slur. "A lot."
I nodded. "Okay. Let's take your makeup off. How does that sound?"
She nodded, and I swiped a makeup wipe across her face. It wasn't the most effective skincare routine, but it would have to do for now. I handed her some sweats and a t-shirt. "Go ahead and get changed, sweetie."
She changed and looked at me strangely. "Why are you doing this? I've been horrible to you."
I looked at her with pain in my eyes. "Because I've been you. I've been too drunk to make good decisions, begging someone to want me back, and the only place it took me was in bed with someone else. If I knew that you were like this and didn't do anything about it, I would never be able to live with myself."
Nessa hugged me suddenly. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Let's get you into bed," I said. I pulled back the blankets and grabbed a water and a bottle of Advil. "Take one of these for me."
She didn't question me. She laid back in my bed, staring at me as I moved around the room. "Here's the trashcan, just in case you feel like you're gonna be sick. You've got your water. Extra blankets are in the closet on the floor. Sleep tight, Nessa." I walked out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind me.
Josh was waiting in the hallway. "What did you do?"
"I took care of her. I think that's all she ever really wanted," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I don't want to go back downstairs. Can we just go watch a movie?"
Josh nodded, leading me into his room. He threw me some sweatpants from his drawer. "Here are these so Bryce doesn't freak out again. You know where the hoodies are." I walked over to the closet, searching for the perfect one. I settled on the gray crewneck that Josh had been wearing when we met the first time. We climbed into the bed, and I settled in underneath his comforter.
Josh flipped through Netflix before flinging the remote on the bed. "Why is there nothing to watch?"
I chuckled, picking up the remote and flipping through. "You were right," I laughed. "Let's just watch Criminal Minds."
I pressed play and leaned into him. I had grown used to the smell of his cologne the past few days, but its smell was still so intoxicating. "Josh?"
"Yes, Bails?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too, mamas. What brought this on?"
I shrugged. "For the first time since I moved to LA, I feel happy. I feel like everything is going right."
Josh wrapped his arms tighter around me. "I could get used to this."
"Good," I began, "because I'm not going anywhere."
Josh chuckled softly. "What's your brother think about that?"
I relayed the conversation that I had had with Bryce earlier that day. "I think Addi reminded him that I'm not a little kid anymore."
We sat in silence for a little while, watching random episodes as he held me. I turned to look at him. He looked so peaceful, snoring lightly. I kissed his cheek softly, nestling my face in his neck. A million thoughts were constantly racing through my mind all day long, but something about being so close to this man silenced the worries that ruled my entire life. I smiled into his neck and let myself drift to sleep.
-day of the interview-
"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Bryce yelled, jumping on top of me.
"Sir, I am exhausted. My interview isn't even until three, so I don't have to leave here until two. What time is it anyway?"
"Eight," he said, sitting up next to me. "I'm just excited for you. You should be excited, too."
"I am excited," I said, rolling over to look at him, "but I bet that I would be more excited if I got a full night's sleep."
Bryce chuckled. "Go shower, goofy. Jaden is making some breakfast right now, and when you're done, there is a cup of coffee with your name written all over it."
"Leave then. Shoo!" I joked, closing the door behind him as he left the room.
I quickly showered, relishing in the feeling of the water rushing down my back. I wouldn't admit it to any of my friends, but I was terrified of this interview. Aside from Fletcher stopping us when we went out, I had never been interviewed in person before. There were a few phone interviews here and there, but they had exclusively talked about Bryce.
I blow-dried my hair quickly, running a flat iron through it. There was a knock on my door before I could get dressed or put any makeup on. "Let me get dressed real quick!" I yelled, pulling on jeans and a tank top. "What's up?" I said opening the door to find Josh standing there.
"Hey, mama. I'm so excited for you today. How are you feeling?"
I sat back down at my vanity, applying my makeup. "I'm good. I feel great. You know, very excited. Just super good."
Josh sat down on the bed. "You're lying to me, Bails."
"Ugh, fine. I'm terrified. This is the first in-person interview that I've ever done. Plus, they said they want to know about me. I've never done an interview that wasn't almost one hundred percent revolved around Bryce."
Josh stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me. "You're going to be great. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Are you taking an Uber to the interview, or do you need a ride?"
I quickly weighed my options. "They said that I could bring someone with me. Do you want to go?"
"Um, yes. I thought that you'd never ask," he said, sitting back down on the bed.
I stood up, grabbing a blazer from the closet. "What do you think?" I asked, spinning around in front of him.
"You always look beautiful," he replied, pulling me into a hug.
Being wrapped in his arms relaxed me quickly. Something about this man made me feel safe, and I never wanted to let that go.
The ride to the studio was short, yet nerve-wracking. "Are you sure that I'm gonna do okay?" I asked. "I'm really worried. What if they don't like any part of my interview, and it just never airs?"
"Don't be silly, baby. How could anyone not love you?" His confidence in me boosted my self-esteem drastically.
"Alright, then. Let's do this."
We walked into the studio, and I was immediately directed to a dressing room. Josh and I were early, so Jennifer wasn't ready for me yet. We sat and talked for a short time before a producer knocked on the door. "Miss Hall, we're ready for you, if you could just follow me."
I followed her, my palms sweating and my heart feeling like it would beat out of my chest at any moment.
I stood just offset, watching as Jennifer began. "This is Jennifer Thompson with Hollywire, and we have a very special guest today. Please welcome Miss Bailey Hall!"
I walked onto the set, shaking her hand as I sat down next to her. "Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here."
"Alright, let's go ahead and get started. Why don't you start off by telling us all a little bit about how you got started in social media?"
"Oh, yeah, for sure. I got started in social media on my own account when I was about thirteen, but prior to that, I was in a lot of my older brother, Bryce's, content. His fans were constantly commenting, asking when I was going to get my own account, so finally, I did."
"So, you're close to your brother then?"
I nodded. "Our dad left when Bryce and I were both young, so when we both got a little bit older, Bryce started to kind of take on that dad role for me. He was there for my first heartbreak. He taught me how to ride a bike. When our mom was at work, he was making me dinner and checking my homework. Even now that we're both adults, he's still always watching out for me, always making sure that no one's going to hurt me and that I'm not going to get myself in trouble."
"That's sweet that you guys have such a strong relationship. Is it hard competing with him in the world of social media?"
"No, we don't really compete. Some of our content is similar, but for the most part, we have different audiences and completely different content. For example, I post a lot of TikTok dances. Bryce does, too, but his whole thing is kind of the 'I know that I can't dance' type of thing. One take, and he'll post. I've got to do at least four, usually more."
Jennifer laughed. "I know how that is. I did that one dance a few years ago, the really easy one, and I still was horrible at it. So, you moved to LA about two weeks ago, right? Tell me a little bit about that."
"Yeah, my mom and I talked about it and decided that it would be best for me to be surrounded by other influencers that have similar goals to my own. Bryce offered to let me live in Sway with the boys, and I've had a couple of bumps in the road, but I wouldn't trade the friendships that I've made here for anything in the world."