“That’s not my bed,” Austin muttered as they left the room. I heard their footsteps echo down the hallway, drifting further and further away. I heard Austin whispering. It didn’t take agenius to figure out what he was telling them.Boy drugged girl, girl and her friend needed somewhere to sleep…
“Okay, okay,” I heard the girl mutter. “But can I talk to her? Please, please, please?” I tilted my head at her words, wondering what she had to say.
“Seren, babe,” I heard Zane’s voice next, closer now, like they were walking back toward the room. “Let her be.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” she muttered.
“I’m always on your side,” he said with so much love in his voice, “but it’s not your business.”
“You’re both boring,” she sighed.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Austin told her. I could tell they were right outside the door now.
“Fine,” she said, but then her head popped into the doorframe.
“Hi, I’m Seren and Austin is my best friend,” she said excitedly. “Blair, right?” Her body was moving like someone was trying to tug her away.
“Hi,” I said slowly, but a smile spread across my lips as I watched her. “Yeah, I’m Blair.”
“Austin is the best,” she was speaking fast, like she knew whoever was tugging her was about to succeed in pulling her away any second. “He’s seriously the best, he’s the nicest ever in the whole—okay, okay, fine, I’m going,” she gave me a last wave before she finally disappeared from the room.
Austin walked in a second later, a sheepish look on his face like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. He shut the door behind him, shaking his head toward the ground.
“Sorry about that,” he told me. “She’s uh, yeah, that’s Seren.”
“Your best friend?” I asked him, quoting her words. “I would have assumed that was Levi.”
Austin laughed, looking at me finally. “Levi’s a good friend, for sure, but… she’s my best friend. We have… well, we have a unique friendship. She’s special to me.”
“That’s sweet,” I told him. I could see it in his eyes just how much she meant to him. He spoke of her like one would speak of their baby sibling. “She’s honestly like the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Austin nodded, not like he was agreeing, but as if he had heard those words a thousand times before. “She’s beautiful.”
“I’m a little jealous,” I said the thought before I realized how pathetic I sounded.
Austin tilted his head at me, his eyes softening even further. “Seren, she’s… have you ever seen pictures of a hurricane over the ocean, right before it rolls in? It’s gorgeous, of course. The way the dark clouds form against the blue of the water. People spend their entire lives trying to get the perfect picture of it,” Austin told me, and I wondered what he meant.
“But,” he continued. He was still staring at me. “I much prefer the rainbow that forms after a light rain, instead.”
3
I’ve never been able to sleep well in places unfamiliar to me.
Even if the bed I was sleeping on was as soft as what I imagine a cloud to be, my body sinking down just the perfect amount into the memory foam. This bed was expensive, I could tell without ever seeing a price tag. The blankets were heavy, perfectly cocooning Cherry and me in a ball of warmth. The house was silent, and the steady air from the fan spinning above us completed an almost perfect sleeping atmosphere.
But because I knew I was lying in a bed that belonged to a stranger, my sleep was light. The kind where you drift between two realities, tossing and turning, waking every so often. Still, I was asleep. Until Cherry sat up like the comfortable mattress had electrocuted her.
Her sudden movement jolted me awake, pulling me sharply from my uneasy sleep. I opened my eyes quickly, my gaze snapping to Cherry’s face. She was sitting upright, tracing her hands over her body as if checking two things at once: that she was alive, and that she was still wearing the clothes from last night. Panic flashed across her face as she glanced around the room, her eyes widening. I could practically hear the thoughts racing through her mind. Then she looked at me, like she had only just realized someone else was in the bed with her. Relief washed over her face when she saw it was me.
“Blair,” she said groggily, her voice rough and scratchy. “Where the fuck are we?”
“Hey,” I blinked, then gently wrapped my arms around her. My fingers tangled in her bright red hair, and she let out a small gasp as the strands tugged against her scalp. I didn’t pay it any mind.I just pulled her close, the worries that had flooded me last night evaporating. Cherry was fine, just like I knew she would be.
“Blair,” she said again, slower this time. “I appreciate the love, but can you tell me why I can’t remember anything from last night, why my head feels like it’s splitting open every time I blink, and why it feels like there’s lead pumping through my veins? Also, why are we sleeping in a bed that is neither yours nor mine?”
I sighed, pulling back but keeping my fingers looped around her wrist. “Cherry, it’s… complicated.”
She raised a brow. “What are we talking here? Movie, multipart docuseries, or a twenty one episode third season?”
