Lisa sheepishly walked back into the hotel; her long coat tightly wrapped around herself as she brushed her feet on the door mat in the entry of the hotel; it is freezing! Even compared to New Jersey; it is cold! "Ma'am," a young man behind the desk at the hotel room paused Lisa as she quickly shuffled to the elevators; "are you staying in room 308?"

"Yes… why? What's happened? Is everyone alright?" Lisa wiped a loose hair back from her face.

"Everything's fine," and then the man blushed slightly and lowered his voice to indicate privacy, "we had multiple phone calls earlier about some particularly… loud activities happening in the hotel room; we'd like to ask you and your partner to please keep other guests' stays in mind in the future,"

"Oh, oh!" Lisa wrapped her hand around her mouth in horror, "okay, I'm so sorry, I'll… pass the message on. Thanks," as she walked over to the elevators and began mashing the 'up' button as much as she could to just get out of this awkward encounter.

Lisa walked into the hotel room to see Greg sitting on the couch watching a video on his phone, "everything alright?" he asked, taking an earbud out and turning his head to face her; his expression blank and rather unreadable.

"Everything's fine…" Lisa started, "I just wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier, I don't know what came over me. I said some downright awful things to you and James. I was tired and frustrated, and while what you both did was extremely inconsiderate," she placed her handbag on the kitchen bench; "I shouldn't have behaved in the way or said the things that I did," her eyes teared up.

"I forgive you fine, I don't care," Greg continued, and then paused as he was putting his earbud back in, "James is still pissed however, I'd leave him alone and stay out of his way for now if I were you," he put his earbud back in and pressed play on his phone.

"Where is James? I thought he'd be with you," Lisa frowned, Greg ignored or didn't hear her as he continued watching his video, Lisa walked over and tugged the cord out from his ear, "where's James?"

"He's gone to have a smoke in the smoker's area," Greg frowned at her, "but like I said, he's really pissed off at you still and probably will be for a while. Leave. Him. Alone. He's taking some time out to calm down, he's always had a fiery temper. Now if you'd excuse me, I'm trying to watch a video to do some research on his condition and learn about it. Being a supportive boyfriend here,"

Lisa laughed, "James doesn't have a temper. Sure, he's been abnormally on edge during this trip, but he's always so calm and with the flow, he has just changed the last couple of weeks, probably from stress,"

Greg tipped his head back and laughed, "James? Calm? No temper? Please tell me that you don't think we're talking about the same James here. I'm talking about James Wilson, I don't think I know the James you're talking about,"

"He's usually a lot more stable than you!" Lisa argued, putting her hands on her hips, and Greg just shook his head and chuckled quietly.

"No, he's not! You're just seeing more of him now and seeing him outside of the hospital environment for the first time. That's all. James is James is James. All this is right now is just another one of his temper tantrums, although the video was saying it was called something else. Splitting? Stay out of his way until he approaches you. I've had twenty years of practice of this, Lisa. Trust me, just listen to what I have to say and you'll be fine," Greg looked her dead in the eye as he went to put in his earbud again.

"Greg! This is serious!" Lisa nearly yelled.

"My God, your voice is grating! Have you considered a career as a professional screaming pig impersonator?"

"Not a real thing. Greg, I'm worried about James. I'm worried about his personality changes, he's always been so level-headed and calm, but he's had a recent change in personality, doesn't that concern you? There are so many medical reasons alone why that should be a neon red flashing warning sign to you, I'm worried about him," Lisa pleaded.

"If he had personality changes, then yeah, I would be concerned about his health. Of course I would, I'm his boyfriend for heaven's sake! But James is the same as he's always been, and up until the impulsive suicide attempt where he took my pills- he's actually been on his very best behaviour in this trip," Greg carried on.

"He's-," Lisa started.

"Every time he's been frustrated, he's walked away from a situation instead of, I don't know, beating whoever or whatever has stressed him to a pulp. He's always given warnings before he's acted. He's restrained himself in stressful situations. I've known James for twenty years, Lisa, don't forget that. I know him. The first time I met him, he was in jail because he threw a pint glass at someone for playing a song on the juke box because he was going through a breakup. He caused ten thousand dollars in damages, started a bar room brawl, and nearly murdered a guy for a song on the juke box. James is just James. Nothing has changed. No diagnosis or word for anything changes who he is and always has been, I just accept James the way he is, positives and negatives," Greg shrugged.

"But he's always so composed at work," Lisa mumbled.

"Duh, he's at work! And unlike mine, his boyish charm doesn't seem to have an effect on you, so while I get to do crazy things all the time, he doesn't. I've dealt with James for two decades, Lisa, and I know him better than anybody. You're a roller coaster, and I'm Mount Everest, and you're telling me that you've touched the sky. You're an accidental jalapeño in your sandwich, and I'm the Carolina Reaper, and you're telling me that you know heat, its incomparable. Now, let me get back to my video, please,"

Lisa nodded and left Greg be, trying to decipher out what he meant by his metaphors. Maybe he was right, maybe this just is who James has always been. Lisa was sat on the side of the bed, frowning at the dirty underwear that had been kicked off the bed and was lying beside the wardrobe, when she heard the door click open and then close. "Hey, baby," James sounded relaxed and went over to Greg, giving him a kiss, "what are you doing?"

"Watching a video," Greg smiled back, and James raised his eyebrows, "not that kind of video. God, you're insatiable today, aren't you?"

"Only for you," James purred, climbing up on the couch and crawling over to Greg.

"Lisa came back," Greg told him, placing a pausing hand on his chest, and throughout the room you could hear a pin drop.

"Really?" James dramatically sighed, flopping back on the couch.

"Really, really. I told her that you want some space, and I think she'll give that to you. But yeah, she came back," Greg finished.

"So, no sex now then?"

"No sex."

James playfully groaned and grumbled as he rolled off the couch, dragging his feet, while Greg teasingly laughed at him as he got up from the couch and walked into the bedroom, totally ignoring Lisa. James unplugged his phone from the charger and walked back into the lounge room, "wanna watch a movie then?"

"Okay," Greg shrugged, and they settled in, and Lisa felt more isolated and alone sitting on that bed, despite being in the same hotel room as two people who she adored; she felt so desperately, utterly lonely.

"Boys?" Lisa came out of the bedroom to see them on the couch together watching a movie, "I thought I might go out and get some McDonald's. What would you like?"

"Umm, Big Mac for me," Greg answered, looking over to her with a smile.

"And for me too," James said flatly, not removing his eyes from the TV.

"Easy then," Greg smiled, "two large Big Mac meals then, I'll have a Coke, and you want a Sprite, I'm guessing?" and James nodded.

"Great," Lisa plastered on a smile, grabbed her wallet and keys and headed for the door.

Upon returning, the TV was still going, but neither James nor Greg were on the couch. Deciding to just leave them be, that they might have headed down to the smoking area, Lisa placed the bag and drinks on the counter and put her wallet back into her bag, deciding to go for a quick lie down to avoid them as Greg had suggested.

Lisa opened the door and in that instant saw James lying on the bed himself, trousers and underwear off, and Greg further down the bed, giving him a blow job; "get the fuck out!" James screamed, snatching the alarm clock off the bedside table and throwing it hard at Lisa, who quickly closed the door and heard the alarm clock smash into the door, around where her head would have been.

About twenty minutes later, Lisa was curled up on the couch with her head resting on a pillow and underneath the blanket, watching a nature documentary and trying to stop herself from crying at how much James seemed to just purely hate her now. She'd just wanted to blow off some steam; but all that did was make James hate her. Greg limped out from the bedroom wearing only his underwear, as he gave Lisa an apologetic smile and nod, "sorry about that," as he grabbed the bag and drinks, and limped back towards the bedroom.

"Nothing for you to be sorry about," Lisa said, and just heard the door click behind her as Greg closed her off. Maybe everyone will have calmed down in the morning. When we have to go back to the ranch… Lisa thought to herself, feeling alone, regretful, sad, and scared. She watched an antelope on the TV running from a couple of lions, "come on, escape. You can do it," she whispered.

"The antelope attempts to escape from the lion, but it makes a wrong decision, a wrong turn, and is quickly caught, killed, and eaten by the lion and his companion," the man narrating the documentary concluded, and she saw the antelope be dragged by its neck across the savannah. Lisa, now on the brink of tears and feeling more desolate, turned off the TV, got up and switched off the lights, and curled back into the bed, hoping and praying that tomorrow, James would be in a better mood and headspace and have forgiven her.