Page 23 of Being Julia

“We can talk about it tomorrow. You need to rest now,” I said to her.

London closed her eyes and turned her head.

“I’ll stay with her. You two go home and get some rest,” my mom said. “Connor, you need to try and get a hold of Joan.”

“I’ll go to their apartment now,” he said as he kissed my mom on the head. “Come on, princess, let’s go see if we can track down her mother and then go home,” he said as he put his arm around me.

I started to walk out of the room, stopped, turned around, and stared at my best friend, whom I’d almost lost. I looked down as my dad pulled me closer to him, and we walked out of the room. When we arrived at the building, we took the elevators up to the fifteenth floor, where London’s apartment was. My dad knocked on the door, and London’s mom surprisingly answered it.

“Connor, Julia? It’s almost three a.m. What the hell is going on?”

“Didn’t you get Ellery’s message, Joan?”

“Message? What message?” she said as she shook her head.

Suddenly, we heard a man’s voice from the other room, asking her if everything was all right. She told him to go back to sleep. The voice wasn’t Mr. Fitzgerald’s.

“London is in the emergency room from an overdose of drugs,” my dad said.

“What? She’s spending the night at her friend Ruby’s house. She told me she was spending the weekend there.”

“She lied to you, Joan. Ellery’s there with her now. We both tried calling you, but you didn’t answer your phone, and neither did Ron.”

Tears filled her eyes as she thanked us and shut the door. My dad looked at me and shook his head. We went up to the penthouse, and I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. My dad walked in behind me.

“Listen, princess. I want you to go upstairs and go to bed. I’m going to get your mom at the hospital. I’ll take you back tomorrow so you can visit London,” he said as he kissed me on the head.

“Okay, Dad. I’m scared. What if−"

“No what if’s, baby. She received medical attention in time, and she’s going to be all right,” he said as he hugged me. “Now, go to bed.”

“Good night, Daddy,” I said as I walked away.

It didn’t matter what my dad said. I was still scared and worried that London wasn’t going to be okay. I knew she had been using drugs and tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. I should’ve told my parents. Maybe they could’ve helped her before it got this far. I laid my head on my pillow, and when I closed my eyes, I only saw London’s half-naked, lifeless body lying on the bed.

A few hours later, I awoke, drenched in sweat from anightmare I was having. I lay there as my heart was pounding. I saw the door open from the corner of my eye, and I turned my head to see Collin standing there.

“Is London going to be okay?” he asked.

“The doctor said she is,” I replied.

“Good. When you go and see her, tell her I said hi.” He smiled.

“I will. Are Mom and Dad up?”

“Yeah. They’re in the kitchen having coffee.”

I threw back the covers, climbed out of bed, and headed downstairs.

“Good morning.” I yawned as I grabbed a cup from the cabinet.

“Morning, princess,” my dad said.

“Good morning, honey,” my mom said as she kissed my head.

I poured some coffee into my cup and sat next my dad.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

---