The device that laid on my bed looked heavy, suddenly, like it weighed the weight of a brick. The cling film around the shiny box snickered at me, prodding me to unwrap Lazareth's very expensive graduation gift.

 I wasn't even sure if I wanted to lift the box up. My mind was racing and suffocating me more than my heart ever did. My palms felt sweaty and the nightgown Kath lent to me dug its lacy claws into my side.

 I don't deserve this, I whispered, unsure if it was in awe or in horror. My ears were ringing--no--screaming. It was like the wail of a mother losing her child that echoed in my brain, bouncing off the walls that screamed a GPA of 3.5.

The cling film giggled as I scrunched it into a ball, tossing it carelessly onto the ground. Kath wouldn't appreciate the mess I was making, but I'd take one of my many rain checks for that.

 The phone itself was stunning if the picture on the box was accurate. A glossy screen covered by a white phone case. The logo was unusual, though. I hadn't seen it before in any advertisements on the T.V., but maybe it was an unreleased model? That only made my stomach tighten more.

 Printed neatly on the back of the phone case right in the middle was the outline of two devil horns and a circle with triangles shaped like eyes crossing in bright neon green.

Open it! Open it! My mind screamed. Holding the levers to my body, it propelled my hand towards the curved top of the box, but my heart stopped it.

He doesn't even know us, it argued condescendingly. I could practically see the crease of its eyebrows. How do we know that there's no catch? What if we live the rest of our life in debt because of this gift?

He said it was a gift, my mind sneered. You don't repay gifts.

Sure, my heart pumped madly, scoffing. Maybe not now, but he's surely gonna come back and put our lives in a hellhole, just watch.

SHUT UP! I screamed internally, even though deep down I knew I was yelling at myself. Beads of sweat dribbled down my neck and my breathing hitched several times. I wanted to throw the box into a corner, but my brain held me back. 

Medicine, it chanted. Or...was it saying "open?" I wasn't sure, but I wasn't listening to either of them.

Abruptly, I rose from the bed, gasping over to my slouching backpack. Rousing the bag from its slumber, I clawed through the contents like an animal, searching. The phone watched me with a mirthful smirk as the tornado slammed around my head, swallowing me--making me go insane.

I shouldn't be doing this...I shouldn't... my hands tingled and my pulse raced. Quickly, I checked to make sure that Kath was still singing in the shower before dragging myself to the bottle of water she had snatched from the afterparty.

Medicine...Better...Present... my mind chanted repeatedly, forcing the dry pills down my throat before I could even get to the liquid required. They scratched my throat as they slid down into my stomach, taking my wheezing with them. My hands were shaking--they wouldn't stop. 

"Oh...Oh, God..." I pulled myself shakily back onto Kath's bed, reeling. The pills bottle smiled in my lap, shimmering with glee in the bright lights. I did it again. I shouldn't have, I know, but the panic...the fear...the mind...

I needed it to stop,  I consoled myself. They won't know. It's only this time...and last time...and the time before that. It won't happen again.

I told myself that. I let my heart stop thrumming. I let my mind stop nagging. I told myself that it was only a few extra measly pills. I would be fine. The panic was gone. I could breathe again. I was going to be okay.

 Slowly, the stinging in my chest receded and my heart was able to move around more freely. My lungs weren't compressed anymore and my palms were dry again. I was able to close my eyes without wanting to keep them closed forever--at least, for now.

 Out of the corner of my eye, the shiny case of the phone winked at me, smirking. Clenching my jaw, I picked it up again, taking a moment to close my eyes and breathe, the pills already working like alcohol. My addiction.

 "You look brand new," I murmured, pulling the ledge of the box and carefully taking the phone out of the styrofoam. A note was attached to the back of the phone case--a sticky note with Lazareth's handwriting in curly, cursive letters and purple ink.

I hope you like your graduation present. I noticed you had an older model on the day of the interview, and knowing how slow older models are, I wanted to give you this for your graduation. I wasn't sure which model you would like, but this is something the manufacturing branch of my company has been working on. The green reminded me of your eyes.

-Lazareth 

"He was looking at my eyes," I breathed, touching the base of my eyelid with a tremor in my hand. "God, how long had he been observing me!"

Probably just as long as you had been observing him, my mind sleepily snapped at me, drowsy from the extra medicine I had swallowed.

Saliva gathered in my mouth and my chest tightened. Setting both the phone and the case back in the styrofoam molds they came in, I dropped my head into my hands, squeezing the roots of my hair. Something warm coursed inside of me, like anger, and I bit my lip. Immediately, blood dribbled onto my tongue, relaxing my nerves.

"He's spending money on a girl he doesn't even know," I scoffed, wiping my eyes. "What am I supposed to do with this? I-I can't use it! It's so expensive! And...since when has Lazareth owned a manufacturing company?"

"Since always," Kath's hard voice replied. I shot up from the bed just as the bathroom door opened, revealing my completely dry friend clad in her pajamas, glaring daggers at me. If the stinging from my panic before wasn't painful, Kath's angry eyes sure were.

"Kath..."

"No, don't you Kath me," she scowled. "You purposefully sent me in the bathroom to open a present from Lazareth Noir! Do you take me for an idiot, Adrienne?!"

"I don't! Kath I..." I looked back at the present and the note. "He told me not to open it in front of anybody, okay? Why are you getting so angry about it, anyway?"

"Because I don't trust that guy," she growled lowly, striding over to her bed. She picked the device up, turning it around in her hands.

"Don't get any fingerprints on that," I warned, sitting cautiously beside her. "I'm going to return it to him."

"Good luck trying," Kath scoffed. "If I know anything about Noir from the articles I've read, is that you have to accept a gift from him. It's basically a law, Adri."

"I don't have to," I rebutted, snatching the phone back. I reached for the phone case, snapping it into place. The logo warmed on my palm. "It's too expensive, Kath! And for me? He's only known me for a couple of weeks!"

"Welcome to celebrity speed dating," Kath grumbled, her eyes hooded. "Look, Adrienne, like it or not, you're already caught up in his world. There's no door to the exit."

"Well, I'm going to find one," I stated firmly. "I don't want to be in this world, Kath, no matter how attracted I am to Lazareth. He's a billionaire. I'm a...well, I'm a college grad. We live in two separate worlds. They aren't supposed to collide."

"Yeah? Well, thank Alvarez, then," Kath said. "You can talk to Noir about this later, Adrienne, but--" her eyes lit up eagerly, any trace of her previous anger disappearing like chocolate does after sitting for a mere few seconds in front of one of my brothers. "let's turn this thing on! See what it does! It's an unreleased model, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." I handed her the note Lazareth enclosed with his gift. "Don't you need a SIM card for that?"

Kath snapped her fingers. "Right." She took my old phone from my bag, switching the SIM cards and toying with a few of the buttons on the phone. The screen blinked open, revealing a bright white light and a buffering neon green devil logo. 

  After leaving Kath to toy with the buttons for a few more moments, she finally got to the home screen once all of my information was downloaded. Almost immediately, the mail icon popped with two new emails. 

"Do you want to check it out?" She asked, handing me my present. "It's pretty dope, I gotta admit. Leave it to Noir to get the goods."

"It's dope?" I repeated, giggling. I scrolled through the apps, marveling at the brightness of the screen and how quickly everything moved. Lazareth was right. This is definitely faster than my old phone.

 "Hey, you want me to put your pills away?" Kath asked, shaking the bottle. 

I snapped my head up so quickly I thought I would break my neck, my heart spiking. "Uh...yeah. I don't know why they're out now..."

"Neither do I. You're only supposed to take these in the morning..." she eyed me with her dark, intimidating eyes, maybe almost more intimidating than Lazareth's! Quickly, I looked down, avoiding eye contact, and she sighed. My bag rustled with her putting the pills away, and internally, I sighed.

 "Lazareth sent an email," I said, tapping her shoulder.

"What did he say?"

I frowned, swiping at the screen. "Nothing...the subject is kinda vague...oh..."

"What is it?" Kath's warm breath fanned on my neck from behind me, craning her neck over my shoulder to see what he sent me. She gasped.

"Is that an..." her giddy eyes met mine, alight and shining brighter than the moon.

I blushed, tugging on my nail with my teeth. "It is. It's an application to work in Olympian Deals!"

"Eee!" Kath squealed, shaking my shoulders. She hugged me tightly, shaking me again. "I can't believe it! You got an application!"

I shrugged. "Not even an interview request too. An actual application."

"He was probably assessing you when you interviewed him..and at the graduation," Kath rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do about it, Adri?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned at her. "Do you think I'm going to accept it?"

She raised her eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you? You like Noir, don't you?"

"Firstly, his name's Lazareth," I smirked. "And secondly, yes, I do like him, but I don't even know the guy, Kath! He could be some psycho ax murderer for all we know!"

She giggled. "That's true, he could...but he owns the biggest company in the world, Adrienne. He makes a ton of money, per hour! Can you imagine how much money you'd make if you worked for him?"

"It would be a lot," I agreed. "But, apart from me not wanting to be a part of that world, don't you think we'd only distract each other from our work?"

"I don't get that part," she said after a few moments of quietly thinking. "I mean, what would there be to distract you two from? Obviously, there's some chemistry, but you keep holding yourself back cause he's a billionaire and all and you don't want to get into that world--!"

"I don't," I agreed. "But if I do like him, Kath...if I feel more than just a thread of attraction to him, then I know I would be willing to face my anxiety to be with him. But keep going."

She rolled her eyes at my smirk. "Okay, so you might get into his world if you fall completely in love with him. But even if you do, without the romance bit, what other distractions will there be? What, you think Noir's gonna jump you? Make out like in those cheesy movies?"

I shoved her off the bed playfully, giggling. "No! I mean--God, I wish! But no...not that. I just...I can't explain it right now, Kath. I need more time."

"I get that," she nodded, taking her place back on the bed. "But please be careful of him, Adrienne. Even if you don't apply for that job, I don't think graduation will be the last we see of Noir."

"It probably won't," I agreed. "But I have another option in mind for work, now that you mention it."

"Really?" Kath raised a curved eyebrow, peering at the other email in my inbox. "What other job requests have you gotten? Where is it?"

"Keating Enterprises."