I suddenly wake up, startled by the chatter around me. I stretch out my sore arms and legs and yawn, looking around for Alice or Nick. I notice we are at some sort of bus stop or resting area. I look at my phone, surprised to see it is past eight. I walk out of the bus, and look at the old beat up restaurant in front of me: Wild Coyote Saloon.
“Hey, sleepy head!’’ Nick yells from the door of the restaurant. I smile and jog up to him. “Finally awake, I see. I can’t believe you didn’t wake up once! This is like, our third stop.’’
“I’m a heavy sleeper, what can I say?’’ I chuckle as he pulls me in for a kiss. I quickly pull away, a weird feeling in my stomach. “Do they have a bathroom in there?’’
Nick gives me a strange look, but nods and points to a door inside the restaurant. I clutch my bag and walk into the bathroom, locking myself up in a stale. My chest feels tight and I feel a pull in my stomach. What is wrong with me?
I try to slow down my breathing. ‘I need to eat something before I pass out’ I think to myself. I walk out of the stale and turn on the faucet, leaning in to get a sip of water. I reach into my bag, grabbing my Seroquel bottle. As I swallow the pill, I hear the door open behind me.
“Holy shit, Sophie!’’ Alice whisper-screams. “Since when do you do drugs? Can I have in?’’ I quickly put back the bottle in my purse, shaking my head.
“I swear it’s not what it looks like.’’ I feel myself start to panic. Alice cannot learn about my pills. And neither can Nick.
“Yeah, okay,’’ she winks at me knowingly. “I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything... You’re more fun than I thought, Soph. How did I not know this after almost two years?’’
I laugh it off. Her thinking I was into popping pills was better than her knowing the truth. I run my fingers through my straight light brown hair, trying to unknot them as I walk out of the bathroom, hoping Alice would drop the conversation once we got to the table.
“Why do girls always go to the washroom together?’’ Nick asks, letting out an overdramatic sigh.
“It’s our way of exchanging secrets’’ Alice winks at me again. “Besides, how else are we supposed to talk behind your back?’’
Nick complains a little as I eat a bite out of his omelet with a nervous smile. Anything to distract him from what Alice said works with me.
“Whatever!’’ Nick rolls his eyes and looks at his watch. “We should head back to the bus before the bus driver leaves without us.’’
“You mean mister ‘go back to sleep’?’’ Alice asks innocently. “Oh, sorry, I meant to say Grant, the kind gentleman who is driving us all the way to New Chicago. At least he’s hot!’’
They both laugh and I follow along, guessing it’s something they talked about when I was sleeping.
Nick looks around, trying to catch the waitress’s eyes. Impatient, he snaps his finger to get her attention and I can’t help but to be a little bit embarrassed. With an annoyed look, she comes over. Nick handles to check after arguing with Alice a little and we get up to leave.
I’m about to step on the bus when something stops me. It’s that strange pulling feeling in my stomach again. I look out to the woods, searching for the reason behind this feeling. I feel my heart start to pound again and regret not having had the time to order something for myself. Nick pushes me a little and I climb onto the bus, still a little shaken by the sensation I was forgetting something.
Alice and I start talking about a guy she thinks is cute. “I swear he was looking at me like a piece of steak though.’’ Nick laughs at her remarks.
“I saw the way you looked at him to,’’ he comments. “I’m pretty sure he was mirroring the way you stared at him.’’ Alice gasps dramatically and punches his arm.
“Well, he was almost as hot as the bus driver.’’ She says un-ironically.
As we continue to chat, Grant sits down in his seat. I hear him turn the keys and swear under his breath. I turn to look at what is making him upset when I realise something is wrong. The driver gets up and clears his throat.
“Well, it seems we have a problem,’’ he says in an irritated voice. “The bus won’t start and we’re still three hours away from the next stop.’’
I wipe my forehead with my sleeve, stopping for a second. “Come on, Soph, the lady said it wasn’t too far.’’ Nick encourages me. I continue pulling my suitcase on the bumpy road that seems to lead to nowhere. The sun was hitting hard and I was still wearing a hoodie and an old pair of joggers, and my lack of breakfast made everything more painful. The thirty-five passengers of the bus were all walking on the side of the road, pulling all of their luggage behind them and grunting profusely. The owner of the beat-up restaurant had told the driver there was a small town a little way down what looked like a private road. And a little way was beginning to become an hour-long walk under the scorching sun. I was all for a little exercise, but this didn’t cut it for me. “Oh, my god, we’re here!’’ Alice exclaims, pointing to a large sign on the side of the road. “Moonstone Fall’’ she reads with a suspicious look on her face. I see a couple of building
I smile as I fold back the letter. I can’t hold in an excited giggle at the thought to see my aunt in less than two months. I grab my phone, dialing my mom to tell her the good news about her sister. After a couple of rings, she picks up. “Hey, Sophie! Is everything okay?’’ Dad asks on the other end of the line. I’m a little surprised that he picked up mom’s phone. “I’m okay. Is mom there?’’ “Oh, yeah, she’s driving. Let me put you on speaker phone.’’ “Sophie! I’m so happy you called!’’ I laugh at how desperate she sounds. Mom and I were always close, and we hardly ever fought. “I’m fine mom, though we did get into some kind of situation...’’ “Do you want us to come get you?’’ Dad asks, cutting me off. “Don’t be ridiculous, Marc. I’m sure she doesn’t want us meddling in her affairs.’’ My mom chimes in with a smile in her voice. “Though, if you do need us to come, we will be there.’’ She adds seriously, making me chuckle.
As we are walking back to the entrance of the hotel, we cross Grant who has his eyes locked on Alice. She winks at us and splits, joining him at his table. Nick and I pretend not to notice and go back to our rooms. “Want to join me?’’ Nick asks before closing his door. He smiles sweetly and I nod. I step into an identical room to mine, except for the TV, which is on. He invites me to sit on his bed with him and I follow him, more than happy to cuddle a bit. I barely have time to sit next to him before his lips are on mine. I let out a surprised giggle, but kiss him back. His lips become a little more pressing as they trail down my neck and onto my collar bone. His hand grabs my hip, squeezing softly before he slips his fingers under my shirt. He grazes my ribs and I can’t help but feel a little ticklish. Nick pulls up my shirt and I let him pass it over my head. His lips hungrily come back on mine and he places himself between my legs. I start to feel
A light knock on the door breaks my fixation on the cardboard box I was staring down. It had gotten here almost an hour ago, but I hadn’t built up the will to eat it yet. Hell, I didn’t even know what it was. I turn my gaze back to my untouched meal, deciding I didn’t feel like answering the door twice in the same hour. I felt drained. The person behind the door knocks again. “Sophie?’’ I hear Alice say from the other side of the door. “If you need to talk, I’m here for you.’’ She sounds worried and sincere. I sigh as I get up, dragging the pile of blankets behind me. I really don’t want Alice to feel bad over something that has nothing to do with her. And I especially don’t want her hearing only Nick’s side of the story. I unlock the door and open it a crack before heading back to the bed. I hear the lock click back into place as Alice closes the door behind her, following me silently. She looks at me with pity in her eyes and I already regret letting her in
I rub my eyes as the sun rays filtering through my window wake me up. I can feel how puffy my face is and sigh at the thought of how I must look. I stretch and groan as I roll out of bed, dragging my feet to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and wash my face, hopping I’m at least presentable enough to go out and buy myself some breakfast. I wanted to go to the small cafe I had seen in the plaza when we first arrived in town. I drink a glass of water, accompanied by my morning Seroquel. After a good night sleep, I wasn’t so sure about my plan. Why did I need to trick Nick into leaving me alone in a random town in the middle of nowhere? I felt like I should just talk with him and explain that I need time for myself. If he discovered the ruse as he was boarding the bus, he would probably feel put on the spot and be even angrier, which was not something I wanted. After brushing my hair and changing into a light summer dress, I leave the hotel and walk to the plaza.
“You are the one destined for me.’’ He says, staring into my eyes. My heart skips a beat. “I’m sorry, what? That’s crazy! We’re total strangers, how can you be so sure.’’ I know the answer before he responds. I could feel it deep within me. The tug that had been motivating my action in the last week had led me to him. “Don’t you feel a sort of pull inside, telling you this is right?’’ He confirms my thoughts. “I know this is all kind of odd to you, right now. I’ll start over: my name is Simon, nice to meet you.’’ He puts out his hand and everything in me screams to take it and never let go. He shakes my hand slowly, never breaking eye contact, and I know he feels the same. “I’m Sophie,’’ I end up responding. Then I think of Nick. And Alice. “Listen, I do believe you when you say this is... normal for your culture. But I am supposed to leave in a couple of hours. I’m here with my boyfriend.’’ I half-lie, feeling bad already. I w
“So you’re just ditching us?’’ Nick screams at me pushing me back. “How stupid are you? You’re just going to stay alone in this random town with no way out? Think of everything that could happen to you. I won’t be here to help you and your parents are hours away. What were you thinking?’’ I feel my anger build up again, but stay silent as he screams at me. “I need time alone,’’ I say as flatly as possible, but even I can hear the poison in my words. “So you think I’m just going to leave you behind? I love you, Soph...’’ For a second, I see the hurt in his eye and feel bad. “If you love me, you’ll give the time I’m asking for.’’ I say in a softer tone than I had hoped. My anger is already fading at his puppy eyes. Silent grows thick between us and his gaze slowly loses its softness. “You’re actually doing this?’’ He asks, once again furious. Fighting with Nick often felt like a rollercoaster. One second he was sweet and
After my conversation with mom, I go back to my room and let my eyes scan myself up and down in the mirror. I think back to what Nick had said. ‘You’re not nearly pretty enough to have such a bad attitude.’ I look at my nose, that I had always considered to be too wide, my brows, too thick, my eyes, too wide-set. And I just hated how small they were when I smiled. I sigh and look away. As I look at my clothes, I realize I don’t know how I’m supposed to be dressing. I try to think back to what Simon had said to me. Instead of remembering the words he had spoken, I can’t help but picture him in my head: the way his eyes had lit up when they had first met mine, how he hadn’t taken them off of me until he had to leave. The tug in my stomach made itself heard again. I shake my head to get rid of the images and settle for jeans and a tank top under a clean hoodie, that I lay flat on my bed for when I have to get ready. ‘Why do I even care?’ I ask myself. ‘I shouldn