When Sara got back from her morning stroll, we showed her the pipe that the plumber removed from her bathroom sink and replaced a new one with. Sara was just shocked by what she saw and was just scarily speechless.
She even insisted on moving out of the apartment tonight but Tegan convinced her to just change her locks and secure her windows and vents. We also showed her the bullet case that the plumber saw from under the tub, but that just gave Sara more creeps. We couldn't get Sara to get out of her room all day, and we never got the chance to talk to her about it and ask about who might have broken in the apartment.
She just stayed inside her room, and not coming out if not to get something to eat or drink. Tegan and I made calls so we can at least help Sara out.
After reporting the incident to the management, we immediately got body guards on our doorstep and security roaming the apartment. While waiting for some feds to arrive in the afternoon, Tegan and I stayed at the balcony for some wine and music—She played and I poured drinks and took pictures—a rather familiar scene from the days we used to hang out at her place in Vancouver.
Not long after, Sara then finally went out of her room and joined us, this time she looked rather relaxed.
"you ok?" I asked as she sat down with us.
Sara nodded and smiled as she wrap her arms around a throwpillow.
"to say I'm stil in shock is an understatement." she said. "I still couldn't believe someone's been in my house while I was away."
Tegan then took another glass and poured wine for Sara.
"I just find it really weird" I said. The two looked at me. "I mean. who else has keys to your house? Stacy?" I added as Sara loosened up on her seat.
"That's impossible. she's in California, is she?" asked Tegan as Sara turn to her.
"yes, at least that's what she told me, last time we spoke was what, 2 weeks ago? we'll never know til my landlord shows us footage from the security cameras."
Tegan looked surprised as she hand over the wine glass to Sara.
"2 weeks?!" I asked.
Sara smiled and nodded.
"yeah.. 2 weeks. Have been on the rocks with her since last month" Sara said before taking a sip of her wine.
"I thought you guys worked it out? Why haven't you told me about this?" Tegan asked, as she stood up to sit near Sara.
"There's really nothing I could do if I don't know the reason why she's acting so weird, so I'm just letting her do her thing. But I don't think she'd be in her right mind to fly over here just to try and kill herself in our bath tub. She knows better than to do that."
Sara continued to drink her wine. I was just sitting there, trying to observe their faces and wanting to just rape the shutter button, seeing their priceless reactions, and raw emotions. I just had to jump to it and immediately took consecutive shots of Sara. She then looked directly at my lenses and gave a smile instead of a frown I was expecting.
"you're not getting paid for this, until next Monday, don't forget that" She said jokingly.
I laughed and said "that's fine. You'll never know which one I'll use and, either way you will pay me when you get your artwork"
Tegan stood up and butted in "Oh that's what you think! we're actually tight on budget so we're kinda thinking of getting the artwork for free, if that's okay?" Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head.
I was just sitting there, staring at Tegan and waiting for her to break it and say she's joking.
"shut it tegan. she's kidding, Jo, I know you're a bit gullible, but please dont let this person abuse your talent." Sara said "but regarding the budget, are you able to work for a minimum? can you give us a bit of a discount for this?" she added.
I didn't know what to say; they're starting to freak me out a bit. The 2 were just looking at me waiting for a response, but I was just sitting there with my camera on hand, and just waiting for them to tell me they're being their old mischievous selves.
"for fuck's sake, tell me you're kidding." I said, giving them sharp looks.
Tegan and Sara looked at eachother calmly, "I told you she's gullible" Said Sara.
They laughed together and I just ended taking another photo of them. I shook my head after taking the shot. Tegan then messed my hair up and entered the living room saying "let's have dinner bitches."
We had a small dinner, just a bunch of green stuff and some berry smoothies by Tegan. I'm gonna have to get used to eating healthy food while I live with Sara, definitely not gonna have meat for a long time.
Right after dinner, the inspectors came to look into the apartment. We insisted to stay, however they were very persistent in moving us out while they still try to see who did this, and to secure us, making sure no one wants to put Sara, or Tegan in danger.
We weren't really allowed to take anything with us except for those we came with, so Sara had to leave some of her important items in the house. We we're requested to leave the state and to make sure that we're not being followed around we were escorted on our way out of the apartment. We arrived at an office uptown, and met with a couple of people. I had to stay outside for a while, as they do bit of an important meeting of some sort, and make secured personal calls to family members telling them of what happened, while I'm not allowed to make any calls yet.
Tegan then came out after a couple of minutes and asked me to come inside; And as soon as she closed the door she said right away; "we're flying to LA tonight."
I smiled in response, but she was quite serious so I decided not to say anything. "but don't be too happy about it. It's prolly gonna delay the start of the project, and it's gonna delay paychecks and allowances too. I hope you understand." she said, sounding really apologetic.
"that's totally fine, as long as I'm near home, I'm good, forget about the allowance, I'll be okay at home." I said.
"well.. I'm afraid you need to still stay with us, we need you to work close, and we need you around 24/7" Tegan said, still sounding a little sorry for me.
"oh.." LA and Santa Barbara is about 3-4 hours away, I'd take that than not be able to come home when I want to at all "can I still visit home though?" I asked.
"yeah! of course, you get a few days off and of course during downtimes, you can go home"
"then I'm fine with that!" I said
"and also I wanted to-" Just as Tegan was about to say something, Sara went out as well.
"oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" She asked as she close the door back.
"nah.. any news?" I asked Sara. she just shook her head.
"ok, well.. I do hope they figure it out right away." I said.
"yeah, I hope so too." she said.
Sara then turned to Tegan, "did you tell her?" Tegan nodded.
"aparently she doesn't care about the delayed paycheck, and allowance." They turned and smiled at me.
"I told you she should work for free." Tegan added.
I shook my head and said "don't start" we just laughed it off and came back inside.
"are you guys ready?" a woman came out and asked us.
"we're leaving now?" Asked Tegan. The lady nodded;
Sara and Tegan looked at eachother with a bit of worry.
"when is Lindsey coming back?" I Asked Sara.
The lady looked at me "do we need LB? I mean, we have her." she said.
I frowned and looked at Tegan. "aren't we supposed to actually wait for her at least?" I asked.
"yeah and I never actually got the chance to tell her about this whole situation cause she's on a plane back here." tegan added.
"I'm sorry but your plane leaves in 3 hours, if she doesn't make it back at least an hour from now, we're gonna miss the check in" Tegan scratched her head.
"what time is she supposed to land anyway? can't we just meet her at the airport?" Sara asked Tegan.
"she should have landed now but she's not responding to any of my calls or texts" Tegan just sighed and went for her bags.
"shall we go now?" the lady asked
"yeah." Sara said.
They loaded our bags on the van and we left as soon as we were done. We arrived at the airport in no time and met with Lindsey on the way. Fortunately Lindsey's got a couple of days off so she can come back home with us to LA. They immediately booked her a flight but there were no seats available until tomorrow afternoon, so she had to stay at a hotel for the meantime, with this, Tegan decided to reschedule her flight so she can accompany Lindsey.
I immediately texted Emy through the phone Stacy gave me, regarding what happened to the apartment, and told her we will be coming back in LA; but unfortunately I haven't received a reply.
Sara and I slept through the whole waiting before we board the plane. Everyone else was up while they were waiting, and looking after our stuff. So during the flight, we were the only one wide awake while everyone else was sleeping. We chat, ate, drank wine and played a few card games to keep ourselves busy.
"are you excited to see Stacy?" I asked her as we lie back in recline just looking up at the plane ceiling
"nah. I kinda don't wanted to see her."
I frowned. "Why?" Sara looked at me. I then turned to her.
"I just don't feel like it. I don't know what happened to us. It's like, she's a totally different person now." Sara shook her head.
"i'm sorry. I hope you can still work it out" I said. Sara Looked back up at the ceiling without a word.
"anyway, I missed hanging out with you. Let's go out on our day off." I smiled
"sure" I answered her back.
Calm as I may have sounded answering Sara back with a casual "sure", it definitely is not what it looks like. I kinda freaked out and had to go to the restroom to calm my nerves down.
I turned my phone on and immediately sent a text message to Emy again, telling her what Sara just said and asked what it might mean to her when she said "go out". I just wasn't really too comfortable thinking that it was a date, or maybe she's just causally asking me out as a friend.
I don't want to really make it a big deal, but something doesn't seem right, and usually in situations like this, my hunch is right. But it's as if a part me of me wanted this to be a date; the fact that Sara and Stacy are still technically a couple doesn't really make it safe. I mean she started taking Emy out on dates when she was still in a relationship, so it's possible she'll 'stray' this time.
I let out a sigh and crossed my fingers after I sent the text message, then fixed my hair and calmed myself down as I opened the door. To my surprise, Sara was standing there, holding her tummy and looking rather a bit constipated;
"come on, my bladders gonna explode." I immediately got out of the way and quickly walked towards my seat.
My heart was racing, unexplainably and I couldn't come to calm myself down- so I tried closing my eyes for a nap, but before I know it, in about an hour, we were ready to land.
We arrived at LAX around 5 in the morning; and the moment I set foot on the ground I immediately called Emy using the business phone again, but she was not picking up, I called her again but this time, her phone was unreachable.
"Hey, did Emy ever told you that she changed numbers or exchanged phones with anyone?" I asked Sara.
"no, we actually havent spoken yet, why?" she said as she shake her head.
"I just called her but her phone's not ringing now." I said.
"no voicemail?" Sara asked as she open the door for me as we enter the airport. I just shook my head as I try to dial her up again. After about 5 more attempts, I gave up.
"just email her, she'll read that for sure." I just nodded. "don't be sad now, you'll see Emy soon, okay?" Sara said as she pat my back.
I smiled and just said "okay" I wasn't really sad cause I miss Emy or anything like that, I'm just totally nervous because of what Sara said earlier during the flight, it came out of nowhere, but then we're old friends so I think we can catch up outside the "work" environment, still—maybe it's just me giving it meaning.
After immigration, we immediately filled our carts; I've been dying to take a much needed cigarette break so I hurriedly placed my luggage, but just as Sara and I was about to exit towards the driveway, to our biggest surprise, Stacy came running towards her; crying.
Stacy embraced Sara as soon as she got a hold of her. Sara was looking at me, as if asking to pull Stacy away from her.
"are you okay? I heard about what happened" Stacy asked as she let go of Sara, but she moved away a bit from Stacy.
"I'm okay." Sara said.
Stacy embraced her again I felt the need to just leave them alone so I made a few hand signals, telling her I'm going outside. Sara just shook her head and gave me a look, as if saying not to leave her alone with her Girlfriend.
Sara then carefully pushed Stacy away.
"Stacy, uh.. This is Jo. she's our new art director; she's that friend tegan and I were talking about.." She said, breaking the ice.
Stacy turned to me. "hi, nice to meet you" she said shaking my hands as if she never met me before.
We stood there waiting for someone to talk, and just move on from the awkward scene that Stacy started.
"so, where are you guys staying?" Stacy asked.
I smiled and said, "well, I have a house down at santa barbara, so that's where I'm staying."
I then turned to Sara. She was quiet, and doesn't really know what to say cause their assistant hasn't said anything about accommodation yet.
"well, Tegan's still in New York, so for the mean time I'll be staying with Jo." She said; not only did that got me off guard, but it definitely shocked Stacy; her eyes widened, but she shook it off and forced a smiled.
"well, aren't you going to stay with me?" she asked.
Sara shook her head and just looked down. "no." she said, trying not to catch Stacy's eye.
"okay then. very well, I should get going. call me" Stacy said without looking at any of us. She then slowly walked away. I wanted to run to her and comfort her a bit, but Sara's friend in me decided against it after I recall what Sara told me about her.
Stacy gave me one last look, I then mouthed "I'm sorry". Part of me was sincerely sorry, and another loathes her for being such a bitch towards Sara; but then I can't help but feel bad for her having to drive all this way, worried about Sara and she gets this back from her.
Stacy smiled a bit, then turned back, walking away from us; and once Stacy was out of sight, Sara pulled me away.
"seriously, Santa Barbara?! that's like 3 hours from here" she said.
I stared at Sara with disbelief.
"well forgive me I wasn't briefed about this." I said. "And who would've thought she'll come barging in here? That was so weird."
"Right?! Just now when something bad happens, here she comes rushing to the rescue when all those times I needed her she just couldn't care less." Sara said, shaking her head as we walk out of the airport.
"but seriously, you're coming with me?" I asked, still rather surprised by the fact that she's staying with me than Stacy being here at the airport.
Sara just smiled "I don't know. I guess. might as well go on a little vacation."
As we travelled to my house via Uber, Sara had this blank expression on her the whole time, she's been staring out the window, if not down on her shoes or her fingers. I have this feeling that she might be a little upset that she had to decline Stacy like that, but I don't think she had any other choice but to do that after shutting Sara out for 2 weeks.
"you ok?" I asked, nudging her by the elbow.
Sara looked at me and said "I'm sorry, I just… still couldn't figure how in the hell did Stacy found out we were flying in today"
Beats me.
"I had no idea, you tell me. Isn't she part of your 'management' now?" I asked; This girl's got a knack for working with her girlfriends.
Sara nodded. "she is.. but.. someone could have at least told me that they informed her... and you know what's odd? she didn't even call me the moment she found out. and she had to wait for me at the airport just to ask if I was okay."
She was just staring at me, and I could feel how upset she was.
"I don't know, I guess she wanted to make that big gesture?"
Sara sighed as she turn to the window, brushing off my suggestion. "I wanted to just... I don't know. I just want her out of the picture for the mean time, I can't help but be annoyed by her presence after all this shit going on." she added.
I just sat there quietly, not knowing what to say; I sort of feel like Stacy's got a lot on her sleeve, I mean she did tell me the first time I met her not to tell Sara I was introduced to her before I left for New York.
"I know all this is just taking its toll on you right now, I may not have the best advice to give cause I barely know anything about you guys now, but I just want you to know that as a friend, I want to make up for the lost time," I said. "I'm just here if you need me. you don't have to say anything if you don't feel like it, if you just wanna.. you know, get your mind off things… just like the old days." I said.
"thanks. I did miss you after all, so I think you also need to really make it up to me and Tegan for keeping us off your life for that long." she said. I'm glad that sort of lifted her mood.
I scratched my head and gave off a nervous laugh, feeling guilty of shutting them out.
Sara then faced me, and crossed her arms; her eyes narrowing—as if telling me she was about to debrief me.
"Were we bad influences to you?" she asked, grinning but obviously feeling a bit worried for what happened to me.
I shook my head. "of course not. If anything else, you guys were one of the reasons I made it out of college alive; so I kind of… felt like I disappointed you all and instead of making up for it, messed myself up… I just… can't stand to have you guys see me like that, it was embarrassing."
Sara's smile faded, her face going blank once again to the thought of the past.
"and also.. I know, it's been years since the last time Tegan and I talked, but it wasn't until recently that I feel like I can face her again… so… here I am." I said. with Sara just nod in response before sitting back without saying a word.