Chapter 44
Mireya
Play - Help I’m Alive by Metric
Not yours
My eyelids flutter as something bright breaks through my vision. A groan escapes my lips as I turn around in the small twin bed, but my body shivers and I start to tremble.
Bits of last night start to run through my mind and my memory seems hazy to say the least. How did I end up here? I don’t remember coming back to the dorms.
Why do I feel so confused?
I blink slowly and a figure comes to view, Damien.
“Mister Caldwell.” My voice cracks and my throat feels so dry as I push myself up to sit up, leaning my body against the headboard.
“Now you won’t call me Damien again?” He turns around to look at me, “Fine then, good morning, Miss Vitelli,” he says sarcastically.
My mouth feels dry like I’ve swallowed a handful of cotton balls.
“Why are you here?” I tell him blankly, reaching for the bottle of water sitting on my nightstand.
“I brought you back here because you were too drunk,” he replies, handing me the bottle I was trying to reach for. I watch him zone in on some of my drawings.
“Still unfinished,” he whispers.
I don’t reply and let him pick some of them before putting them back where they were. Then after a few seconds I ask, “Do you know what happened?”
He shifts in his chair before shaking his head at my question. “It looked as if you could have been drugged.”
I blink rapidly, some images of last night returning in my head. A plague mask, a laugh.. then warmth.
“I’ll ask around the venue you were at and see if there were any unfamiliar faces there last night.” He adds, as I sink further into my bed, pulling my covers up to my body.
“You get nightmares, don’t you?”
“Why would you say that?” I ask, confused.
“You were crying out in your sleep.” I watch him sit back in the chair, glancing up at the ceiling. “I won’t ask questions if you don’t want to talk about it.”
I didn't know what I could reply, so I stayed silent for a moment.
“Here, take these,” he says gently. “They'll make you feel better.”
I glance down at the bottom of the bed, noticing the bottle of aspirin. “Thank you, sorry for last night. I’m going to rest a bit more today,” I reply bitterly.
He nods and whispers something before leaving, “Next time, call me sooner. Don’t give me the chance to arrive too late.”
I pull the blanket higher, as if it could hide me from what he just said. That’s when I hear the click of the door closing behind him as my thoughts continue to swirl around in my mind.
The feeling of someone going out of their way to take care of me feels so foreign. I never know what to do in these situations, so I allow it to wash over me as I settle back to sleep for a little bit longer.
“What's wrong with me…” I whisper to myself, covering my eyes with my hands. I focus on steadying my nerves.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Like a mantra, I continue doing this method focusing on how the air enters my body and expands my lungs. It should work. It always does.
“Mireya!” I hear Hayzel’s voice as she bursts through the door, yet again.
“Hayz, I’m not in the mood,” I tell her honestly as I close my eyes harder.
I hear her scoff as she drags the covers off of me.
“I need to tell you about the guy I met last night.” I wince as I open my eyes, adjusting to the lightening of the room. Hayzel must’ve switched the lights on when she came in.
“What guy?” I grumble.
“Reya, he was so mysterious.” She pauses for a brief moment to fan herself, and I bite down on my tongue to stop myself from laughing at this.
“I take it you slept with him then?” I ask her with a smile.
“Birthday girl gets whatever she wants, remember?” She wags her eyebrows at me before continuing, “and it was the best sex I’ve ever had.”
I let out a small laugh as I gently push myself back up to rest on my headboard. “Did you enjoy your birthday?” I say softly, moving over to make some room for her as Blue jumps back on my chest. He wants to know too, apparently.
“Yeah, I did.” She crawls in next to me caressing his fur before continuing, “I know it wasn’t really your thing anymore, but thank you for being there for me.”
I turn my head to the side to glance at her, and offer my pinky finger, “I’d do anything for you. To purgatory and back right?”
She smiles at me, lacing her pinky finger through mine. “Always.”
I set our linked fingers down on my lap and close my eyes for a second.
“Are you okay?” She asks, laying her head on my shoulder.
“Yeah, just had a rough night.” I missed the part where Damien thought I was drugged last night. I don’t want to worry her for now.
She pops her head up to glance at me again. “Is that why Mister Caldwell was here this morning?” She says teasingly.
“You’re hallucinating,” I lie with a faint smile.
She tips her head back to laugh before continuing, “could’ve fooled me,” she pauses. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did, he’s totally hot.”
I whack her with the corner of the blanket. “That’s not the case.” I shake my head at her, “He’s taking care of his students, he would’ve done the same if he saw how drunk you were when I left.”
We both laugh as our heads rest on each other, then she turns to look at me again. “You can sleep some more, if you want.” She moves more comfortably on the bed and wraps an arm around me and Blue who fell back asleep already. “We don’t have classes until later.”
I close my eyes, letting the exhaustion win this battle and I hear her whisper again, “Mireya…”
“Yeah?” I feel her hand snake around me and her chin resting on my shoulder.
“I love you,” she tells me and I smile, letting myself feel everything.
“I love you too,” is the last thing I remember saying before succumbing to sleep.