She stirs in her sleep, and I keep my arm around her for as long as I can before she tosses and turns into another position. Her faint cries as she dreams about a better life are painful to hear.
I have no idea what comes next for her. Was this her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it's gone?
Anger will be the expected emotion when we wake up, but I didn't realize it'd consume her the moment her eyes opened.
"Why is this happening? I did so well. I can't freaking believe this."
I rub my eyes and summon the energy to match hers. "What exactly did the email say?"
"They had chosen their candidate but to keep applying if other jobs come up. They won't come up, not at their company."
"Maybe they already had someone in mind since they decided so fast. Sometimes companies have to interview anyway to show they had the position open for external candidates."
"But that's so unfair. Don't give me hope. I thought this was it for me."
Amelia's close to shouting, which is fair given the circumstances, but I interrupt her so I can remind her where we are and how she's dressed.
"Keep talking, but I'm going to open your door. If someone came up, it wouldn't look so good… how we are."
Amelia looks down at what little clothing she's wearing. A pair of cotton panties that show off her butt cheeks and a thin enough tank top I can see her nipples poking through.
"Right. And you inside my sheets would cause a mutiny."
She pulls her shirt over her head and when she exposes her bare chest, it sends a blistering wildfire of heat throughout my body. As I swing the door open, Amelia and I register the same instant footsteps are approaching.
"Shit," she whispers, and motions for me to hide in her closet.
"Put a shirt on," I demand because being in her room isn't a faux pas, but being in her room while she was naked from the waist up sure is. Plus it might be my mom looking for me, and this house isn't big enough for me to be missing so early.
Amelia understands my nonverbal reasoning and grabs something off her messy floor right as I lean my body against the doorframe.
Bruce rounds the corner while Amelia slips a T-shirt over her head.MyT-shirt. I must have left it in here from some other night and never collected it when I went back to my side of the house.
"Hey, you're both up early," Bruce acknowledges.
My arms are crossed on purpose as a sign of defense. Maybe he'll think he's interrupting an argument rather than me sleeping in her bed all night.
"Everything okay?" he asks.
"No, everything is not okay." It takes a second for Amelia to realize her shirt is, in fact, not her shirt. But she hides the shock well. "I didn't get the job, Dad."
"What? They already called you? No."
"They emailed me last night. I ran into Theo in the hall and was telling him."
"Oh dear, I'm sorry."
He enters her room for a hug, and I wonder if the sigh that came from his lips is filled with relief. His daughter will be sticking around longer than intended.
"This isn't how the real world works." I expect Amelia to stomp her feet into the ground.
"What do you mean?" I ask as they end their embrace.
"I should have gotten that job. The timing was perfect. Everything was lining up for this to be the job for me. But no, I'm working at the same place I was in high school, and my ex is getting married to someone who willingly accepts his infidelity. How is that fair? My life is so far from where it's supposed to be at my age. Nothing turned out the way it should have. Nothing."
"Beckett is getting married?" Bruce gasps. Heisbehind on the gossip.
"Yes. I kept praying it was all a huge joke. This has to be a joke, right?"
