The Winner

Blame's On Me

*Nate*

Once again I wake up alone, feeling like shit. I roll out of bed and sit up. The empty whiskey bottle  falls off the mattress and shatters all over the ground. Today's gonna be extraordinary, isn't it?

I leave the broken glass and step over it to head to the bathroom. All I can think about is Julia. How she is. If she's still passed out. The thought that James is the one taking care of her instead of me leaves a pit in my stomach. 

It's days like these I wish I was just a normal guy with a normal job. People would die to be in my shoes yet all I want is to be in James's shoes. There's absolutely  nothing I can do about it. He's the right person for her. I told her this myself. Yet, the jealousy I feel now is so strong it's starting to consume me. Whenever I look at him I want to be him, just so Julia will love me.  Like Macy, Julia is gonna be really hard to get over.

What I need to do is let her go, but I can't. I want to be around her twenty-four-seven. I want to make sure she is well and healthy. I want to be the one to take care of her. What I need to do is find a better doctor for her. The blame's on me for taking her to Dr. Reed. I should have done the research myself. Trish is usually excellent with this stuff. I don't know what happened. Either she didn't do enough research or didn't care enough. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt in hopes she truly didn't know  Dr. Reed would be like that. If Trisha did know  and scheduled the appointment anyways we're gonna have an issue. 

She knows Julia is sensitive. She knows this would never be a good fit. If Trisha did this on purpose just to check the box off her to-do list because it's Julia, I'm gonna be pissed. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it because she's traveling with me to Austin tomorrow. I'll get  the truth out of her this week for sure.

*****

*Julia*

 I took three full Ativan pills last night. Each pill is 2mg. That's the highest dose in pill form which means I took 6mg at once and only slept a few hours. I feel completely normal, which I guess a good thing, but also alarming. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't want to sleep this day away.

"Happy Birthday." I whisper and kiss his cheek as James starts to wake up. He squints one eye giving me an "It's too early" look and smirks.

"It's just another day." The half asleep man pulls me close to his naked body. We never did get dressed after last night and both fell back asleep. 

"Noooo, it's James Gallo's birthday today." I poke him in the side knowing this big bag of muscles is very ticklish. He squirms instantly. I kiss all over his face and forehead to annoy him more so he wakes up fully.

"Alright, Alright." He groans. "I'm up." He pulls me on top of him and pushes my hair out of the way. "This is the best birthday morning I've ever had." 

"Oh yeah?" I continue kissing his face while on top of him. James looks over at the alarm clock. 

"As much as I'd love to continue this," He sighs. "I should go home and get ready for church." He pecks my lips and rolls me back on to the bed. One thing about James. When he has his mind set on something , nothing gets in his way. Even if it's church.

He grabs his clothes off the floor and looks over at me. "Come with me?"

"To church? I don't know. I don't think that's my thing." I KNOW it's not my thing. I've never been to church before. It all looks- intimidating. I sit up and lean back on my hands, unfazed that the covers have fallen down exposing me from the waist up.

"C'mon. It's my birthday. I want to spend the entire day with you, baby." He looks me up and down, kneels on the bed and kisses me. I melt instantly with the kiss and the way he calls me baby sometimes. "It's James Gallo's birthday, remember?"  He says as his mouth travels down my neck. "Come to church with me."