Page 59 of Beautiful Storm

“Luke!” I scream his name as he disappears out of sight, sending my pulse skyrocketing. He’s leaving. He’s actually leaving.

“Come on. We have to go.” David grabs my hand and we run down the stairs, only making it to the next level before the smoke overwhelms us. “We have to get out using the second-story balcony,” David says, the panic clear in his voice. “It’s too dangerous to go down.”

I nod as I cough, covering my mouth with my arm and following him to the master bedroom, helping him break through the door.

My chest aches and I sweat while shaking the handle, praying it will open. “Please, come on. David, what do we do?”

“Step back.”

A broken chair smashes into the glass and it shatters in seconds, the noise drowned out by the sound of the flames.

David pushes the sharp glass away before crawling out and moving toward the edge, his voice a distant echo as he waves at me to follow.

I’m scared. My body shakes as I watch him disappear over the edge. But I can’t will myself to move. My lungs tighten as I struggle to take in air, and when my vision blurs, I jump into action.

“Come on, Amelia. You can do this.”

Closing my eyes, I climb over the railing and find a tree branch to step onto, my heart frozen in my chest until my feet touch the ground.

Voices filter through the air and I take off in a run, as fast as my tired legs will allow. I pause when I make it safely into the tree line, but barely get a moment of respite before I’m coughing again, this time uncontrollably, a second wave of panic running through me. I’m going to need help.

I can’t be near this. It could ruin my chances of getting into college. Mom will call my dad. She’ll use this as a way of getting back into his orbit. And I can’t handle that again.

I suck in a frantic breath and turn around, slamming straight into a hard chest. A police officer. I’m doomed.

“Come on,” he says, his tone soft but his eyes full of annoyance. “Let’s get you to a medic.”

My panic increases and—

My alarm goes off at four thirty and I wake with a start, my heart slamming in my chest. When I last checked the time, my mind was still reeling at two a.m., but I must have fallen asleep at some point because the annoying tone erupting from myphone definitely woke me from the depths of nothingness, and now I feel like death.

I swear I was dreaming about something, but the imagery sits just out of reach in my mind. Though I can still feel how it affected me. Only I can’t dwell on it.

Today’s the day. The crew are setting up, the players have been briefed, craft services are ready to go. Within hours I’ll be calling “action” for my first ever prime-time job.

And I’m a goddamn mess.

As if it wasn’t difficult enough having to function knowing I was pregnant and hadn’t announced it yet, I now have my impending nuptials to agonize over. Am I crazy for considering it? Maybe. But Luke’s reasoning was good, and like him, I want to protect this baby. I want to do “whatever it takes,” even if that means marrying a guy I can’t stand to be in a room with.

I wish I could start over—reprogram myself so I can’t access all the memories of our past—then maybe this would be easier.

I know that he’s trying. I’ve seen the change in him since I told him I was pregnant, but we’ve tried to mend our friendship before—at least I thought that’s what we were doing—and I walked away from that far worse.

There’s a strong possibility we’re not meant to be friends.

But co-parents don’t have to be friends; they have to be civil and understanding, willing to negotiate, compromise, talk things through. As long as we can do that, we can make this work.

My phone buzzes across the wood of my side table, and I grab it to silence what I assume will be a follow-up alarm, but instead I find a message from Luke. It’s a photo of a director’s chair that’s poorly edited to include my name.And dammit if it isn’t cute. Until I read the accompanying text.

Luke: Scandal on the Storm set. Director marries the star of her show. In secret

God, he’s annoying. What am I doing?

Amelia: Don’t make me regret it before it’s begun

Luke: Alright baby mama, but in all seriousness… you’re going to kill it today. Show that fucker why you’retheman

Dammit, Luke. My chest tightens and I fight not to let my emotions move in. Now is not the time for him to be nice to me.

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