Page 104 of Somewhere We Belong

When I got back to my hotel it was nine-thirty. I told myself that I wanted to talk to Sol before she went to bed, but being with the girls, it slipped my mind. I spoke to her after I got out of the class, and we chatted for a little while. A part of me wanted to feel guilty, but I couldn’t. Colt was right. I needed this.

Undressing as I watch an episode of the Golden Girls, I got comfy before I called the guys. On the second ring, Theo answered.

“Darlin.” His smooth voice brought me comfort.

“Hey, I've missed you,” I said, leaning back against my pillows.

“We’ve missed you too,” he said, as I heard Colt asking if that was me.

There was commotion before I heard Colt speak. “Hey, Cielo, how are you?”

“Seriously, Colt,” Theo grumbled.

I laughed. “I’m good and you?”

“We are great, we miss you,” Colt said. “How did today go?”

“Oh my god, it was great!” I squealed, since I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to them earlier.

I went into detail about what the class was about and how people were so excited for it. Tomorrow we would have models, and we’d get to do some big transformations. Colt and Theo asked questions and genuinely sounded interested in what I was talking about.

“Damn, Cielo,” Colt said. “It sounds like you had a badass day.”

“It was so great, and it made me realize I needed to go to more education courses. Lauryn and I talked about possibly going to a Paris show next year,” I gushed, feeling so excited.

“Paris? Wow,” Theo said.

“Yeah, and it’s during the summer so maybe we could all come. Imagine we could see the Louvre and have coffee on a pretty patio,” I said, imagining all of the fun we could have.

“You’d want us to go with you?” Theo asked hesitantly.

“Um…. yeah of course,” I said, wondering if that was wrong to think about. “Is that bad? I mean you don’t have to, I mean it is far away and…”

“I think what Theo means to say is he loves that you are planning ahead with us,” Colt said softly. “We love that you are making plans, that means a lot.”

My heart warmed. “I want to make plans with you, I think I… Wait, where is Atlas?”

In my excitement I didn’t realize he wasn’t there. I wanted all of us together to make plans.

“Oh, he was called in to Monroe,” Theo said, sounding a little sad.

“Is everything ok?” I blurted.

“Yeah, they had a doctor not show up in the ER and they called to see if he could come in.” Colt sounded better, but something was still off.

“Why do I feel like there is something more happening?” I sighed.

“It’s nothing.”

“He’s been acting weird,” they said at the same time.

“Why do you think he’s acting weird, Theo?” I asked.

“I don’t know, just something feels off,” he said, and I could picture him shrugging, looking uncomfortable.

“It could be nothing, I don’t think we need to assume anything right now,” Colt said, bringing reason into the conversation.

“When will he get back from Monroe?” I sat forward feeling uneasy, but Colt was right.

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