~Ronnie~

It's been a few months since Max and Alva went back to Florida and Val left for her apartment. She still talks to Mikey, Alvanis and Max occasionally, but she never comes over. There are times when Michael goes to see her but Val never comes back here. Probably because she hates me and I don't blame her. Michael had walked in on me last night with some random girl from the bar. He just shook his head and left my room. I've been unintentionally picking up girls who could resemble Valentina, maybe a little bit. I sit up in bed, head pounding from binge drinking, and look down at the still sleeping person next to me. I stand up and pull the blanket off her.

"Get up. Time to leave."

She sits up, yawning, confused. She checks her phone.

"What? It's barely 9am."

I gather her clothes from around the room and toss them at her.

"Exactly. You should've been gone hours ago. Get dressed and do your walk of shame."

She starts dressing slowly, looking around the room.

"Are you famous or something?"

Fuck, not this. I sigh and walk into the bathroom.

"Did I do something wrong? I thought we had a nice time last night."

"Oh my god. I don't even remember your name."

She tosses her underwear at me.

"It's Ashlee. You can keep those as a reminder of our night."

I roll my eyes and narrow them. She's starting to get super annoying.

"Look. I didn't ask your name, I don't really fucking care. All we did was hook up, it was nothing special. You are NOT anything special. Now would you please leave my fucking house."

She slaps me and storms out of my room. I follow her to make sure she doesn't break anything. She's screaming the whole way down the stairs and Michael is just standing by the front door, watching.

"You are a horrible person."

"Tell me something I don't know."

I stop her at the bottom of the stairs and shove her panties back in her hand. I smile wide and she slaps me again.

"You won't forget about me!"

"I could never forget someone who's as bad at fucking as you are."

She gasps, holding back tears, and slams the door closed behind her.

~Michael~

After the girl leaves, I just shake my head at Ronnie, who just shrugs.

"Another unsuccessful attempt at finding Valentina's replacement?"

He waves off my insult.

"She hit me twice. So she's closer than anyone else."

"Val never hit you.."

He holds up a finger to me.

"She did bite me though. I have a scar from it."

I just shake my head. I don't really have anything to say to him. He's destroying himself because he's too stubborn to admit he really liked Valentina. Speaking of Val, she's supposed to come over today to see me. I haven't seen her in a couple weeks. I miss her. As far as I know, all she does is sit up in that apartment everyday. I'm not 100% sure though.

"Plans for today?"

"The usual. You know. What about you?"

"Maybe a different bar tonight."

"Maybe you should stop drinking?"

Ronnie grin at me.

"Where's the fun in that?"

I shake my head. Jesus Christ. It'll be for the best if I don't mention that Valentina will be here in a few hours. He'll probably be out at another bar, picking up girls, by then anyway. These drunken nights are going to get him in a lot of trouble eventually. All of the sudden, my phone blows up with notifications.

~Alt Press~

AP Reporting: A twitter user by the name of XxEscapetheFallingVeilxX released a series of photos and screenshots not too long ago that have gotten a lot of heat already. The photos show user Ashlee Marcs (LeeMar) and FIROfficial's Ronnie Radke (RonnieRadke) all over each other in a bar and later, allegedly in Radke's house, conducting in explicit sexual acts. Marcs, who mentioned the acts were completely consensual, says everything was going great and then Radke "publicly embarrassed her and then threw her out of his house". She also states it was not her who originally released the photos but feels better sharing them and telling the truth, rather than letting rumors spread. We reached out to Falling In Reverse's front man Ronnie Radke but thus far, he has not responded to the posts. This comes months after faceless user "Valen Emers" (ValOnFyre), who runs an art blog, dismissed claims of a relationship with the notorious playboy after being tagged in multiple posts across Twitter and Instagram.

Fucking hell. There's no way Ronnie can get out of this one.

"Ronald!"

"What? I'm making coffee."

"Ronald, get in here!"

Ronnie storms into the living room, annoyed.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"What?"

"Have you glanced at your phone at all today?"

"No, it's upstairs. Why?"

I hold my phone up for him to see. My twitter is still open to the link countless fans have sent to me.

"Oh fuck. That's not good."

I glare at him, angrily. They tagged Val's twitter even though she only posts sketches and paintings. She's gonna see this and get upset. Even after she publicly denied the relationship, angry fans wanting to see her face, harassed her for weeks.

"Mikey, I swear I had no idea anyone, including her, took pictures. As far as she knew, I was just a random guy. When she left she had no idea who I was."

I sigh. Of course he has to get involved in drama. With the pictures, there's no way he can deny it.

"Do not leave the house today. Stay off social media. Actually, stay off your phone. Do not respond to anything."

Ronnie just nods and I exit out of twitter. I pull up Valentina's number, I want her to find out here so nothing gets out of hand. She's coming anyway. Being a few hours early isn't going to kill her. She never gets up before 2pm though.

~Valentina~

I'm trapped in an endless flurry of nightmares I can't seem to wake up from. I'm back in the old house and Arthur has found me. He's chasing me and screaming, holding a torch. He says he wants to watch me burn to ashes. I turn a corner and suddenly, I'm at a dead end. He's getting closer and closer. I hear a phone ringing in the background. Just as the fire touches my skin, I jolt awake. I'm drenched in sweat and shaking, I take a moment to breathe before answering my phone.

"H-hello?"

"It's Michael."

I sigh in relief.

"What's up?"

"I need you to head over, now."

I check my clock, frowning.

"But it's only 11am.."

"I know. Get ready."

"Yeah but.."

Michael interrupts me.

"Now!"

Before I can protest, he hangs up on me. I close my eyes for a second and I get a text from Michael.

"GET UP VALENTINA! I will show up at your apartment!"

"Fuck. I'm getting up, damn."

"Good. See you in 20 Val!"

I stand up and scratch my head. He's in for a surprise. Since he last saw me I've cut my hair, dyed it and I've lost some weight. I jump in for a quick shower and put on essential makeup, trying desperately to cover the dark circles under my eyes. I slip a basic black dress over my head and put on flats. 30 minutes later, I'm knocking on the door. To my horror and surprise, Ronnie opens it.

"How can I... Valentina?"

"Hi Ronnie."

He lets me in and closes the door.

"I barely recognized you."

"Yeah, I made a few changes."

As I walk into the living room, Michael interrupts our conversation. He gets up and wraps me in a big hug.

"You're late."

"Technically, if you hadn't rushed me over here, I'd be early."

He smiles and looks at me.

"I love your hair. It looks really nice on you."

I smile and spin around for him.

"Thank you."

He comes in close to my face.

"Have you been eating? And you didn't do a very good job covering up your dark circles."

I roll my eyes and plop down on the couch. He does this every time I see him. I'm sure he has better things to worry about.

"Stop nitpicking Michael, that's not why I'm here."

He sighs, giving up and sits next to me on the couch.

"I know.. I just worry about you."

"There's nothing to worry over. I'm fine."

The conversation drops as Ronnie's phone rings. Michael watches him as he answers.

~Ronnie~

I was silently listening to the conversation from an arm chair before my phone rang. I agree with Michael. Val doesn't look too healthy. The dress is awkwardly hanging off her and the concealer barely covers the dark purple marks under her eyes. I would say something to back up Mickey but it's not really my place. I know Michael told me to stay off my phone but when I looked at the caller ID, it said it was Max's number. I leave the room to answer, catching the look Michael is giving me.

"Max! Best friend!"

"Don't give me that bullshit Ronnie!"

I take the phone away from my ear for a second and just look at it. Max sounds pissed and I can hear Alvanis yelling in the background. They must've went on twitter today. I sigh and bring the phone back up to my ear.

"Relax! What's wrong Max?"

"You can't tell me you haven't seen the posts! They're all over Instagram and twitter! They even brought up Valentina! Why do you always pick the crazy bitches to be your girlfriends?"

"Whoa there. She is not my girlfriend."

"Are you sleeping around? You know just because I'm in Florida, doesn't mean I can't beat your ass!"

I sigh. Alva starts screaming louder and I can barely hear Max.

"Dude.. Can Alvin please shut the fuck up so I can hear you?"