Memories of a Life That Never Happened

Chapter 89 - Daydreams

Past Mica's window, the sky was still black when she woke up. Theo moaned softly beside her as he woke up with her movement. 

"What time is it?" he muttered, rubbing his knuckles to his eyes. 

A quick glance to the pink butterfly alarm clock on the bedside table indicated it was three minutes past three thirty.  

"It's early, but Abel's parents will be up in one hour," Mica told him. 

She rolled over to face him. Not even in her wildest dreams could she ever predict that one day she would wake up to find Theo on her side. Much less in Abel's house.  

When Mica touched his arm, she noticed it was worryingly cold. Only then she realized Theo had slept over the blanket. Her heart ached a little bit. How sweet and chivalrous was that?  

"You're freezing. Come here," she whispered and tugged the throw from beneath him.  

Theo rolled away to release the cover and then back to Mica's inviting warmth. Tenderly, she spread the blanket over him. Affectionate hands caressed the messy golden curls of his hair.  

"Where were you going?" he asked with a yawn.  

"To your house" she confessed with a conspiratorial giggle. "If you were standing me up for the second time, I wanted to know why." 

Theo squeezed an arm between her head and the pillow, and then hooked it around her neck. He pulled her toward him until his lips relished on the softness of hers. It was painfully delicious. How did he manage to stay away from her all this time? How did he expect to cope with her inevitable absence?  

Mica returned the kiss, every bit as hungry as he was. There was no room for doubt anymore.  

"How are you? What happened in the forest?" murmured Theo. "There's so much I need to tell you... So much I want to ask."  

Between soft kisses and caresses, Mica and Theo relayed to each other what they had been up to for the past few days.  

Mica was first. She watched his jaw clench and his hands fist while he listened how she had been knocked down during her escape. He held her so tight that it was hard to breathe when she shared Escobar's concern that she could be arrested. Finally, Mica related the visits she received the morning she was released from the hospital.  

Theo had much less to tell her, but he was describing the dinner at Joana's when Mica interrupted him. 

"It's strange, isn't it?" she asked, biting her lips. "Virginie told me the same story at the hospital. She says the meeting with those boys was unexpected and she didn't say a word about Nick and the pill. Why do you think she lied?" 

"I don't know." Theo turned on his back and propped his free arm under his head. Mica came closer, leaning her head on his shoulder. 

"Anyhow, now that I know the facts from you, I need to talk to my father. I need to tell him that it was all Nick's fault." 

"Please, don't," she said, tilting her to look at him with fearful eyes. "I promised Escobar I wasn't going to tell anyone."  

"Well, I have to do something. This is serious. You almost died. Virginie could've died too." 

Mica pulled in her lips and remained quiet for a minute.  

"He's your brother," she said. "What are you going to do? Have him arrested? Besides, without Virginie, there's no one to back up my story."  

Mica rested her head on his chest. He was warmer now. She listened to the beating of his heart. It was not racing anymore, but it was still faster than normal.  

"I don't know why she told a different story," Mica wondered aloud. "But I'm not going to contradict her. At least not for now."  

"To tell you the truth, it was the first version I heard. So I didn't make much of it. Besides-." He kissed her hair. "I couldn't think straight after my mom told us that our departure date was set." 

A wail left her lips and Mica knew her heartbeat had caught up to his. Her mouth trailed from his neck up, until it met his and they got lost in each other again.  

The shadow of a farewell had haunted Mica even before she knew she loved him, but it did not make receiving the news any easier. It was one thing to imagine the day they would wave each other goodbye. It was something else entirely to hear the clock ticking louder and louder in her ear.  

Every cell in her body was certain that this boy in her arms was someone she would never forget. He had changed her life too much. She would never quite adjust to her old routine again. Nor meet anyone like him. Boys would come and go, but no one could ever make her feel alive like he did.  

He was her first love and now that she knew he would be gone soon, she wanted to give true meaning to the word.  

Dawn was close as Mica smuggled Theo out of the house. They promised each other to meet again in the afternoon, on the river he had visited with his mother. She climbed the stairs on her toes and watched him disappear under the square trees.  

Then she went back to bed, closed her eyes and dreamt of a life where awakening in his arms was delightfully routine.