Page 38 of Just One Bite
Chapter Twelve
Olivia
My hand reaches for the surface as my lungs burn with water. I’m drowning.
Help me.
Someone, please save me.
I can’t breathe, but I reach. Hoping. Pleading.
Thunder wakes me, and I shoot up in bed. Lightning cracks, and I rush to the window to draw the curtains. Another rumble of thunder vibrates through me as I sit on the edge of my bed in the dark.
It wasn’t supposed to storm, just rain. I swear it wasn’t. Otherwise, I would have prepared.
With trembling fingers, I go for my phone and check the weather. There’s a storm warning for the next two hours. I dig through my closet for my headphones, but I must have left them in the studio when I dropped off my ballet stuff in one of the lockers. It’s fine.
I dial Eva’s number first, my leg bouncing. Nothing. I try Emma next. She isn’t good at comfort, but it’s better than nothing.
She doesn’t answer.
No. No. No.The thunder snaps again, so I put my hands over my ears.
No, this is fine too. I don’t need help. I’ve dealt with this before; I can do it again. It’s been so long since I’ve been alone during a storm. My sisters and Ialways shared a room, and having them there made a difference.
It’s the emptiness of it I don’t like. The lack of calm. That’s why I always have headphones. How could I forget my headphones? I listen to ballet ballads all night, and my mind drifts back to variation. There’s certainty there, imagining myself dancing alone in the music.
Without music, I’m alone.
My brain is half asleep, churning out spirals of thought faster than I can keep up with.The rumble shakes the room, and I put my hand over my heart and breathe in for four counts and out for five.I stand to warm myself at the hearth, but my fingers won’t warm.
She’s never coming back.
It’s always like this. The combination of thunder and the memory of that haunting truth. She’s the only being who would make this better. She always knew what to do and what to say, no matter how panicked or scared I felt in the night.She should be here.
Wobbly and lightheaded, I stumble into the hall and another crack of thunder booms and lightning illuminates the dark hallway.She would answer the phone.
Moving always helps. Anything is better than being alone in my bed. The common room is my first thought, but I find myself staring at Parker’s door.
It looks just like mine. Same sapphire handle and wooden design fixed with gemstones and pained filigree. But there’s one word lingering in my head at the sight of it.
Home.He did say he wanted me to stay with him. Would he care if I woke him up?
I’m still half asleep, not thinking clearly, but I remember the feeling of his touch and the safety in it. I shouldn’t. What am I expecting him to do?
Shivering in the dark hallway, I stiffen as thunder shakes the floor again, then I bang on his door. The worst he can do is turn me away, and if he does, I’ll go sit in the common room with my humiliation. It wouldn’t be my first time being embarrassed in front of him.
The door opens to a shirtless Parker with his pajama pants falling below his hip bones. He sleepily moves the hair from his eyes. “Olivia?”
“Can I … stay in your room?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Change your mind?”
My fingers bend around the doorframe as the thunder shakes the building again. “Please.”
I just need to get somewhere quiet. Safe.
His eyes soften. “Ah. Got it. Yeah, come on.”
