Behind The Glass Door

Chapter 22

Lacy:

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Parent's weekend was only in a few days, but I was incredibly nervous to see my family for some odd reason.

I didn't know if I should tell them I was dating Riley or if I even could tell them that I didn't know if I was straight or not. 

"Lace," Riley tore me out of my thoughts, the smell of her room intoxicating me.

"What perfume do you wear?" I asked her.

"That's not important, you need to study for your math test, you can't get a fifty-six again," she told me seriously.

"I know, I'll study I promise but every time I'm in your room or around you, all I can smell is you. And when I'm in my dorm, I can still smell you, so I'll smell everything around me to see what smells like you but I can't find what smells like you. So what perfume do you use?" I asked.

"Bare Vanilla by Victoria's Secret," she sighed. "Now go back to studying," she told me.

"It smells nice," I hummed.

"Are you high? Study, please," she laughed at me.

"I've never smoked a day in my life," I smiled, lying my head in her lap.

"I find that hard to believe," she muttered. "Okay. You fly a kite four feet off the ground with three hundred feet of string. There is a forty-mile-per-hour wind, and the kite forms a twenty-nine-degree angle from the ground. How high is the kite from the ground?" she spoke as I tried to pay attention to each word she said.

"If the kite's only four feet off the ground then why is the slack for the string three hundred feet, then how is that possible? It's not," I rolled my eyes.

"Math doesn't make sense but this is on your test and you can't fail this one," she said.

"Since the triangle is four feet off the ground you need to add four inches to decide the height of the kite from the ground. So the kite is a hundred forty-nine point four inches from the ground," I sighed.

"Good, that was good angel," Riley said, kissing my head.

"Trig is so easy," I huffed.

"Then do you want to study for the Night quiz? It's the final," 

"I finished that book already," I said.

"There's no shame in studying the basics though," she stroked my hair, making me relax.

I inhaled and sighed, tilting my head back into her touch and releasing all the tension in my body. Oddly, my love language is physical touch, at least that's what it is with Riley. With one touch my whole body could fall into a sanctuary.

A year ago and from the ages of thirteen until now, I never thought I was able to have my sanctuary to go to when I needed to cope instead of acting on bad impulses. I would never believe my therapist when she told me that I could be serene and in my mindset all by myself with positive thoughts. But now I know she was telling the truth, my body felt like it lifted and I was being risen to heaven's gates, my body was floaty and my head was calm.

I could feel everything in such great detail, her fingers on my scalp and the sound of my strands of hair moving against one another. I could feel the tranquility rushing through my bones like a sugar rush. I inhaled deeply but I couldn't hear it, music played on in my head as a smile tugged on my face. I felt Riley's fingertips opening my eyes and inspecting them. 

"Not bloodshot," she muttered, but her voice was distant.

I giggled and moved my head around in her lap, inhaling deeply and sighing with a smile. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac played on a loop in my head, like I was smoking grass, burning my bra, and the year was 1968.