chapter seventeen | ghosted

IT'S BEEN DAYS since Mila had last heard from Gracie. The last time she had talked to Gracie was when she told her that she loved her, from there, radio silence. She hasn't even gotten an update on her day or the tour, she wasn't sure if she was the opener or not anymore.

If there was a chance that she had been replaced, she would never know.

What hurt the most was that Gracie wasn't talking to her. She wasn't sure if she freaked her out or not. She's tried texting and calling her, but she got nothing in return. When in desperate times, she even tried to talk to Jordan, no answer from her either. It seems that Jordan finally got what she wanted.

After escaping her thoughts, she realized where she had been for the past hour. Her manager's office. She was in a meeting, but she couldn't focus.

Mila blinked, her eyes refocusing on the large, minimalist office space in front of her. The sleek glass desk, the framed platinum records on the wall, and the soft hum of the air conditioning all felt distant like she was watching it happen through a foggy window. Her manager, Adam, sat across from her, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest of his chair. He was saying something—his mouth moved, his brows raised expectantly—but none of it registered.

"Mila," His voice finally cut through, sharper this time. "Are you even listening to me?"

Her head jerked up, eyes wide like a kid not paying attention in class. "Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm listening," She lied, sitting up straighter in her chair. Her hands fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, a thing she did to help with something like this.

"No, you're not," He replied flatly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk. His sharp eyes scanned her face, reading every subtle tell. "What's going on with you? You've been distracted all week."

She hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting to the side. She knew exactly what was wrong, but saying it out loud felt too raw. She was quiet for a moment, deciding to keep it to herself or open up about the problem. If Gracie were here, she would encourage her to open up and reassure her that it was okay to talk about her problems.

However, Gracie wasn't here right now.

"I'm fine," She muttered, her voice stiff and unconvincing.

Adam let out a short, humorless laugh, sitting back in his chair, and scanned her facial features for any sign of truth. Unfortunately, there wasn't any. "Wanna try the truth this time?" He asked curiously. Sure, Adam was her manager, but before that, they were best friends. They still are. They've known each other for years and know everything about each other. "You seem to forget that I know you better than anyone, I know all your tells."

She breathed, knowing there was no point in hiding it any longer. "I haven't heard from Gracie all week. She ghosted me." It hurt her just to say those words. She didn't want to believe it, but the longer it went on, the more she believed it.

She didn't have any other option unless she went to texting people that Gracie talked to regularly, she knew not to do that though. Anytime Tessa would ghost her for long periods at a time, she would ask people to check on her. Tessa would then result in calling her clingy, or accuse her of stalking her somehow. Along with that, a lot had changed about her, to some, she was unrecognizable.

Adam nodded with understanding. He remembered how this affected Mila when it was Tessa doing it. She was down for weeks, he couldn't let her go through that again. "I'll tell you what, leave it to me and I'll check in with Jordan and see what's going on." He suggested, soon opening his laptop that sat in the middle of his desk, now scooting it a little bit closer. "We'll come back to this later."

"Thank you, seriously," Mila spoke as she stood up.

Before Adam could say another word, she made her way out of the office to get a change of scenery. She could only hope that would get her mind off the situation until she could come up with a simple explanation for everything.

She needed it.

Mila stepped outside, the California sun beating down on her as she squinted against the sudden brightness. Her breath came in slow, deep pulls as she took in her surroundings. The city buzzed with — cars honking in the distance, and pedestrians walking past with phone calls and coffee cups in hand. It was a sharp contrast to the stillness in her chest.

She sat on the curb just outside the office building. She rested her elbows on her knees, fingers tapping anxiously on her phone. The screen then lit up with the familiar home screen photo of her and Gracie, faces pressed together, both of them laughing so hard their eyes were barely open. Something that once made her smile to the point her cheeks hurt now felt like a knife to the heart.

Her thumb hovered over Gracie's name in her messages. She debated on sending another text but hesitated. She knew that she had already sent too many — a row of blue bubbles with no response in sight.

Don't be that girl. Don't beg for someone to talk to you.

Her fingers tightened around the phone. She knew that voice. It was a voice that Tessa had planted in her head, but it wasn't Tessa. This was Gracie.

What if it's not different this time?

Mila squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head like she could physically rid of the thoughts. She tried reminding herself that this was different. Gracie loved her. She said it. She meant it...right?

Her phone buzzed in her hand, and for a moment, her heart jumped. She thought that it was Gracie, but she was quickly disappointed. It was a group chat notification from her siblings.

Lila: mom said we're doing dinner Friday night. you bringing gracie or nah? 👀

Eli: don't scare her off, Lila 😭

Mila's lips quirked up at the message, but the smile didn't last.

idk yet. i'll let y'all know. :Mila

She locked her phone and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. She then leaned forward and rested her head in her hands. She shut her eyes as she tried to block out the noises of the world. Just breath, Mila. Just breathe.

Minutes passed like that until the familiar sound of footsteps came up behind her. She didn't even have to look to know who it was. His cologne always gave him away — something clean, and sharp like cedar and fresh laundry.

"You look like you're spiraling," Adam said bluntly, hands shoved into his pockets as he sat beside her on the curb.

"I'm not spiraling," Mila mumbled, not lifting her head from her hands. "I'm just...I don't know."

Adam gave her a side glance, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're thinking too much, you always do that."

"I'm allowed to think."

"Sure you are, just not like this." He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him. His gaze stayed on her, soft but firm. "I called Jordan."

"And?"

"She said that Gracie's been slammed with rehearsals. They just started prepping for the next leg of the tour, and it's been pretty intense." He looked at her carefully as he spoke, measuring her reaction. "Said she hasn't been answering anyone, not even her friends."

"Not even her friends?" She repeated. She didn't fully believe it.

Adam nodded. "That's what Jordan said."

Mila stared straight ahead at the street in front of them. Her eyes locked on a random crack in the pavement. It was like every sound around her faded into static. Her gut told her something wasn't adding up. If Gracie was too busy for everyone, why hadn't she just told her that? One text, one quick, "Hey, I'm swamped but I'm thinking of you," and it would've been fine. It wouldn't have been that hard.

Her lips pressed into a thin line. "Did you ask her if I was still the opener?" Mila's voice was quieter now like she wasn't sure if she wanted the answer.

Adam tilted his head, hesitating for a second too long. "No, I didn't ask."

Mila glanced at him, her jaw tightening.

"Should I have?" He asked, trying her read her expression.

"I just..." She ran her hands over her face, exhaling hard through her fingers. "I don't know, Adam. I don't know anymore." Her voice wavered, and she hated it. She hated that she sounded like she was going to break at any moment, even if she wasn't.

Adam leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "Look, you're still the opener. I'd know if you weren't." He reassured.

"You don't know that."

"Yeah, I do." His eyes met hers, steady as ever. "I know how these things work, Mila. If they were gonna drop you, they'd make a big show of it. Contracts would be pulled, notices would be sent, and managers would be on calls for hours. Trust me, you'd know."

"Then why does it feel like I'm about to lose everything again?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her voice cracked at the end, and she felt that familiar burn in the back of her throat.

"That's because it's happened to you before, but you have to remember that Gracie isn't Tessa." He reminded, wrapping an arm around her. He hated seeing her like this. After everything that she had been through, she didn't deserve any of it. He just didn't know how to make it better for her. "She wouldn't just do that to you, have faith in her."

Mila let out a breath and wiped the fresh tears from her eyes. She nodded, now looking over at her best friend, flashing him a sad smile.

"Wanna go for a taco?"

"Yeah, I could go for a taco."

Gracie sat in her bedroom in her shared apartment with Audrey, reading over every note that Jordan had left her from rehearsals of the week. It consisted of all the things that she wanted to change or add, which meant more work added to Gracie. She felt like she had been running on an empty battery all week.

Not only that, but she felt horrible for not saying anything to Mila.

She stared at the many unsent messages from her girlfriend, the girl that she loved so much. The girl that she knew she was unintentionally hurting. "Hey, just checking in. Call when you can. I miss you <3" is what the most recent text from Mila said. She opened the chat, thinking of the right thing to message back. It could be anything as simple as "I'm so sorry for being MIA, rehearsal has been a bitch. I miss you so much <3" Literally anything would be good.

It wouldn't hurt to call her either. Her thumb hovered over the call button, but before she could Jordan's name popped up on the screen. It was yet another text about the schedule for tomorrow. For now, she chose to ignore it.

Once she swiped it away, she finally hit the call button.

As the phone rang, she waited to hear Mila's voice, but she heard the answering machine telling her to leave a voicemail instead. Mila must be sleeping. She knew that she should have texted her during her breaks, but she barely had one as is. Jordan was working her overtime, it was slowly killing her.

To make it worse, she couldn't see Mila. She had no time or energy, she felt horrible about it.

"Hey, I know it's super late, but I wanted to sincerely apologize for going MIA like that. I've been super busy, but I'll call you tomorrow, I promise. I might even find the time to visit you." She started. She thought about her next words carefully, she didn't want Mila to think that she reached out to shut her up or because she had something to feel guilty about. "I miss you so much and I miss you like crazy, I'd do anything to be there with you right now. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Again, I'm so sorry and I love you so so much."

With that, she hit the big red button, sending the voicemail on its way. As she set her phone down, her bedroom door opened. She looked over to see Audrey with two cups of steaming hot tea, something she desperately needed. "Want to tell me why Mila texted me asking if I had heard from you today?" She asked curiously as she walked into the room and handed Gracie one of the cups, soon sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I've kinda messed up with this one," Gracie replied, moving to sit next to her, and letting out a sigh.

"Let me guess, work and Jordan got to you so you focused too much on work and ghosted her along with everyone else in the world except for me and Jordan?"

"That's exactly what happened."

Audrey sighed and then took a sip of her drink. "I thought so." She replied, glancing over at her. "Mila is a great girl, one of the best people that you've been with and she loves you. I don't want to see you two splitting up because of Jordan. Both of you deserve better than that." She added, soon earning a nod from Gracie. She knew that she was right, she was always right. "You have time to fix this."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I mean, she didn't believe in love at all for a long time there until she met you. You changed her, G. You mean the world to her."

Mila meant the world to her too. She loved her job more than anything, but she could lose all of this tomorrow and be okay. She didn't know what would happen if she had lost Mila, she didn't even want to think about it. She knew she had to fix this. "You're right. I'm gonna put my foot down and tell Jordan what's what, I will make the time for Mila."

"Good, have fun and tell her I said hi." She spoke with a smile. Audrey then stood up from the bed. She flashed her friend one last smile before she left the room, leaving her best friend alone once again.

Tomorrow, she was going to do everything she could to fix her mistake. Anything for Mila.

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AUTHORS NOTE !

i'm sorry to be this way

guys, but it's just straight

depression from here. i

can only apologize. anyway,

i hope you all enjoyed and

i hope there's no mistakes!