In the spotlight

23

Sofia Christensen

My body turned in a half-asleep state, waking up my mind in the process. I sighed as I turned again, waiting to see if a dream would overtake my consciousness once again. My attempts were in vain after all; suddenly, I was very uncomfortable. I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light of the sun that was already high on the horizon.

I turned to the other side with my vision still blurry and placed my left hand next to me. Confusion clouded my still-slow mind as I groped on the bed before turning my whole body in that direction. Surprisingly, only an empty other half greeted me.

I squinted my eyes as I sat up in bed. The sheets fell off of my naked upper body while I tried to rub the tiredness out of my eyes. I leaned towards the nightstand next to the bed, tapping my phone's screen to reveal the current time.

11:28

Goddamn, I must have been very tired. A multitude of memories rushed into my mind upon that thought about last night. My face flushed with red as I felt goosebumps rising all around my body. After waking up today, I hoped that Matteo felt at least somewhat the same about me, but his absence from the room didn't really support my hopes.

I mean, it is almost noon after all. Maybe he went to the bathroom or down to the kitchen for something to eat. I counted back from 3 in my head and swung my leg down to the floor, followed by the other one. I stood up feeling a little lightheaded, but compared to how much I was drinking yesterday, this was the best hangover I could ever wish for. The Russian and Norwegian blood always helped me out here.

I picked up my underwear from behind the couch where we threw it yesterday, then headed towards the door to spread it wide open, letting in fresh air while I continued to dress up. I spotted my white dress laying on the floor near the other side of the room. I bent over to pick it up when I spotted an unfamiliar item behind the smaller chair.

I pushed the furniture away with one hand and reached behind it with the other. I grabbed the fine leather and pulled it up, finding out that it was a wallet. I turned it in my hands, inspecting it from every side. It wasn't my wall for sure, and as much as I hated digging in other people's belongings, I opened it to see who the item belonged to.

The insides had some cash, papers that looked like airport tickets, and lots of different cards. I pulled out one that looked like an ID, and the picture gave it away instantly. Suddenly the loud thumping noise came to my mind, reminding me of when he threw it away yesterday. I blushed once again as I felt an unintentional smile show on my face again.

I slid the ID back to its place and buttoned the wallet up. I will give it back to him during breakfast, I thought. I pulled my dress over my head and turned my back towards the standing mirror to help myself while pulling the zipper up.

As I turned back, I noticed the current state of my face instantly. My hair was all tangled from sleeping, while my makeup was in complete ruins. The lipstick was smeared all around my lips, mixed with blush and foundation under it. My mascara completely flowed away in lines and dried in spots on my cheeks.

"Holy fuck." I burst out loud after this not-so-pleasant surprise. I ran straight into the bathroom and grabbed the towel closest to my reach. We filled up a corner with makeup removers since we planted them in every bathroom just in case. I scrubbed my face for a total of 10 minutes and brushed my hair before I was deemed to go. Maybe it was for the better that Matteo wasn't in the room once I woke up.

I grabbed the wallet before I headed towards the door, turning the doorknob until I heard the familiar click voice. The corridor itself was empty and very quiet, which made me feel unsettled. Since nobody could be found on the first floor, I turned towards the staircase and headed down to the kitchen, where I would definitely find at least someone.