Page 89 of Change My Mind
“Four?”
I took another shaky breath. “The floor beneath me. Your dress. Your arm. My leg.”
My next breath was easier.
“Three?”
“Your heartbeat. The hum of the fridge. The party outside.”
“Two?”
“Whatever your hair smells like and whatever your body lotion is.” I couldn’t drill down into the specific scents. Clara let it slide.
“Thing you can taste?”
“Honestly, nothing. I think I’ve forgotten to eat today.”
We were quiet for a moment.
“You feel better?” she asked quietly, loosening her tight grip around me.
“I can breathe properly now, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It wasn’t quite, but it will do.”
I pulled back to look at her just in time to see her eyes shift to somewhere over my head. I followed her eyes, half terrified that she was looking at Addie.
I couldn’t face her right now.
Thankfully, it was Jesse.
“Can you take him home? I’ll stay at my parents’,” Clarasaid to him. It took me a moment to figure out where Clara meant when she said ‘home’.
“I’m fine. I can go back to mine,” I protested, struggling out of Clara’s hold.
Clara scoffed in my ear. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I have a feeling it is to do with my sister, so you are not going back there right now.”
“Nothing is going on,” I shot back. Too quickly.
“Look, you don’t have to tell me. But you can’t be here, and you cannot be alone. So, you’re going home with Jesse, you’re gonna take some time, and then we will reassess tomorrow.” Clara’s voice left no room for fighting.
Jesse’s hand came into view, and I let him pull me up.
“You can go out the back. I’ll make sure it’s closed properly behind you,” Clara said.
“Are neither of you concerned that one of the guests of honour is about to leave?” I asked. One final attempt to be left alone.
They both shook their heads.
“The people who are going to be up in arms about it are not people we really care about. The ones who matter are going to understand that people,you, are more important than a party,” Jesse said.
Tears threatened to escape my eyes.
“If it makes you feel any better, Becky told me he invited himself, and Ads didn’t know how to stop him from coming. And Mum was exclusively speaking French when I left to follow you. She only does that when she disapproves of a person’s presence,” Clara said, a hand squeezing my shoulder.
That made me laugh, the sound wet with unshed tears.
“It doesn’t right now, but thanks for trying.”
