Jay and Lada descended the back staircase, ears tuned to the sounds coming from the party. The bar was close to their apartment. It was an easy stop after work, but hard to leave before dawn. Inside, a heavy silence hung over the crowd as everyone stared at the TV screens. The news anchor's voice wavered, barely masking her fear as she recounted the day's grim events. P.J. and Lada entered quietly, offering modest waves to those around them.

"A breath of fresh air!" Tory exclaimed, rushing over, unsure of whom to hug first.

The project coordinator switched off the plasma screen, and the flow of news faded away. The bar erupted in a chorus of joyful shouts and greetings. A crowd of colleagues rushed toward P.J., squishing him in a flurry of enthusiastic hugs. Lada felt a tight knot in her chest. All she wanted was to send Puppy back to bed and handcuff him to the board to be sure he stayed right there. But Jay warmly greeted everyone, making sure to give each person enough attention. The party naturally shifted to a celebratory mood. It was filled with warm smiles and light jokes among close friends.

By three in the morning, the director finally decided it was time to wrap up. Tomorrow morning, the team has a final meeting to sign the schedules. But for now, the main cast sluggishly made their way to the hotel lobby. They were reluctant to part ways, even for a few hours of sleep.

Lada was still reeling from Puppy's sudden appearance at the film studio. The surprise left her no time to process it, and her emotions had swung wildly from low to high. But now, she was determined not to dwell on anything negative. Walking down the hall, arm in arm with her best friend, she pushed aside the image of the girl with Jay on Instagram. She reminded herself that his personal life was none of her business. She laughed at the guys' jokes and random chatter, savoring every moment. Even if P.J. didn't have a few days off to spend together, she was living in the moment.

"Hot chocolate, anyone?" Tom suggested, playfully pulling Tory towards his room. The group stopped and looked at each other. Spending the rest of the night together felt both familiar and like something from the past. The next second, they found themselves drifting toward Tom's cozy living room.

The comforting scent of hot milk and chocolate filled the room. The group settled down with cups: some in armchairs, some on the sofa. Lada rested her cheek on Jay's shoulder and lowered her head. She could listen forever to her friends' purring voices.

"Did you get to listen to the news?" P.J. asked Tory and Tom. "Was anyone else taken?"

"Yes, a girl," Tormenta answered, lowering her eyes. "An eighth grader! A baby... All this is just horrible..."

"When are you leaving?" Tom shifted the conversation.

"Well, actually..." Puppy spoke too loudly and lowered his voice, realizing Lada had probably fallen asleep on his shoulder. "I have a short vacation," he finished the sentence, looking at his friends in the dim light of the table lamp.

"And how do you plan to spend them?" Tory said, impatient. She reached under the blanket and squeezed Lada's hand. Lada's fingers were cold, and she wasn't responding.

P.J. smiled: "I wanted to ask if you guys..." he never had a chance to finish the sentence.

"Lada, what's wrong?" Tom interrupted his friend, turning on the full lights in the room with the remote control.

The guys' eyes turned to their friend. She leaned against P.J.'s forearm, her head tilted to the side, and her eyes were wide open and glassy. Puppy couldn't see the girl, but his friends' reaction scared him. He abruptly got off the sofa to see what's happening to Lada. The girl swayed, losing her balance without P.J.'s support. She blinked, stretched, and sweetly yawned. Then she noticed three frightened pairs of eyes on her. Her own eyes widened. Lada turned back to check if anyone was behind her. "Why are they staring like that?"

"What's wrong?" she asked, surprised.

"Are you falling asleep? Should we take you to bed now?" Tom asked, shuddering as he saw a ghost. "You scared me to death!"

"I wasn't sleepeng, I listened to you..." The girl mumbled a confusing response.

There was a long pause, then Tory entered the conversation: "What Puppy was talking about?" Tory wouldn't take her frightened eyes off Lada's face.

Lada raised her eyes to the ceiling, trying to remember the last five minutes, but all she could recall was a dark room with thick, threadbare glass built into one of the walls."Mmm... looks like I actually fell asleep for a second," the girl mumbled.

The guys breathed a sigh of relief.

***

The morning had arrived sooner than the friends had expected. Tory was bustling with tubes in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Puppy and Lada were still wrapped in each other's arms on a tiny sofa. P.J. cautiously looked at the girl. He expected her to blush and make hasty, irrational moves. He expected her to blush and make hasty, irrational moves. Instead, she stretched, fluttered her eyelashes, and snuggled into his shoulder. P.J. felt ticklish.

"Good morning," he laughed. "How did you sleep?"

"I haven't slept this well in a long time, Pups," she replied from somewhere under the pillow.

For some time, the four of them tried to deny leaving the cozy confines of the living room. But finally, they extracted themselves from Tom's enchanted room. Lada went off to freshen up in the girls' wing. P.J. also hurried, hoping to grab a quick shower when Tory caught him at the door. He scanned her body with a discerning gaze. The girl looked fresh and pretty, with light makeup and clean clothes. P.J. surmised that somewhere in Tom's apartment was a perfect spot for her personal belongings. He glanced down and noticed that even her sneakers were new!

"P.J., who was that girl in your dressing room the other day?" Tory decided to be blunt, blurting out the question without any preamble. Seeing his questioning look, she added, "The video was posted on your band's account."

He looked confused. "What girl? What video?" He instinctively reached for his pockets to grab his phone, but then stopped himself.

"Not that it's any of my business," Tory added formally. "But seriously, tell me what's going on with your personal life!"

Provide insight into my personal life, as you seem more informed about it. "I don't understand a thing," P.J. said with a smile. He was trying to smooth his eyebrows, now resembling question marks.

Tory reached into the pocket for her phone and opened Instagram. Then, she scrolled through some fan accounts and, voilà, found a copy of the recording.

P.J. looked over her shoulder.

"Umm... that's Marnie. And an unprecedented invasion of my privacy." Jay shivered, unconsciously wiping the spot on his cheek that Marnie had kissed in the video. "She's my future co-star..."

Jay saw in Tory's eyes that she needed all the details. So, he explained, "The film has a British production. Some scenes will be shot in England." A couple of weeks ago, we had an unscheduled scripting session. The director gathered the main cast for test shoots. "Two days ago, some of the cast, including Marnie, came to our concert in Liverpool.""

Tory shook her head disapprovingly and put her phone away.

"How did Lada react?" he asked, rubbing his forehead and accidentally biting his plump lip, which started to bleed. P.J. liked that, with Tory, he could get straight to the point without any formalities.

"I couldn't find her all evening. Then Tom scoured the closed studio and found her with that same glazed look we saw yesterday. "You know," she suddenly continued, changing the subject, "Your Marnie was part of our show until she caused a scandal." In the end, she was replaced... by Lada!"

P.J. whistled. "No, I didn't know. One thing's for sure, our producers made an excellent decision." The guy smiled, licking the remaining blood that was still oozing from his lip.

They were silent for a moment. Tory could see her friend was about to say something.

"I want to shield her from all the difficulties that come with the job," P.J. closed his eyes helplessly.

"Hang in there, buddy. I also don't know how to help yet. She makes a confident debut on set, impressing everyone around her. But she doesn't have the experience to handle harsh situations, criticism, public attention..." Tory's breath escaped in a despairing exhalation. "And falling for a co-star on top of it all – that's really tough."

She wanted to hug her friend. But Tom appeared in the doorway. He grabbed her hands and pulled them back. Tory's hands landed on his butt. She laughed, then skillfully twisted away and gave him a playful slap on the head.

"Why didn't you call? You should have warned us you were coming!" Tom said, slipping into the role of a "good cop," in opposition to Tory.

"Tom, I haven't been able to find my phone for weeks. I have no idea where it could be! I contacted our director through my agent. But they argued about schedules. The conversation got so intense that I didn't want to ask him to contact any of you in such a mood. I thought it'd be better if I surprised you. And...," he hesitated, "I only memorized Lada's number, so I called her from friends' phones, but she didn't pick up."

"You don't remember my number?!" Tom grasped his chest convulsively and slumped to the floor slowly. The friends burst out laughing.

"Wait, did you try using 'Locator' on your iPhone?" Tory asked, suspecting something was off. "This is a pretty serious issue. Your phone has personal accounts, photos, bank details, and contacts of famous people. It could be a disaster if that information gets into the wrong hands."

P.J. raised his shoulders: "What could I do? We called it, but no one answered. Eventually, the battery will die, and hopefully, the data won't be shared with the strangers."

Tormenta slapped her forehead, doing a facepalm move, and blew a curly black strand out of her face. "Oh my God, Jaden, you're such a caveman! Do you remember your password?"

Tory pulled out her phone again. She made Puppy enter his password into an app. It found the lost phone's location!

Jay eyed technology skeptically. "Umm, Tory, I lost my phone in England. But the location shows Los Angeles." The phone couldn't have flown here on its own, right?"

This time, it was Tory's turn to raise her shoulders. "We can deactivate your phone right now and erase all the data," she suggested.

"Well," Puppy hesitated. "What if we buy me a new phone first and sync the data?"

"Oh look, the neurons are finally connecting! That's what you should have done from the beginning."

Friends grabbed their backpacks and went to the nearest Apple Store.

"Jay, you didn't get a chance to tell us about your plans for the break. What are you up to?" Tom posed the question with trepidation, unsure of fitting into his friend's packed calendar.

"I couldn't check the plans with you guys, so I had to improvise. My parents longed to spend my birthday with me. I've arranged four tickets to Denver, hoping you might somehow agree to visit my folks."

Tormenta squealed with delight. She hugged Jay, smearing her fresh makeup on his hoodie. Tom towered over them and scooped both friends into his arms. After some puppy-love affection, the friends, thrilled by the news, quickly bought the new phone and erased the info from the old account. Half an hour later, they dashed off to breakfast. They eagerly awaited Lada's reaction to the news of their holiday together.