steal my thunder ✷ owens

𐚁 𝟎𝟓. 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

4 years ago...

LIGHTNING FLASHED, ILLUMINATING the dark sky and heavy rain pouring down. Thunder rumbled, the vibrations running through the ground and under the crusty motel bed.

Arizona woke with a start, her chest heaving up and down, and her palms sweaty. She felt like she couldn't breathe, all oxygen leaving her lungs and weakening her for survival.

A soft sob managed to leave her lips as she pressed her hand down on the sheets that felt like sandpaper, the springs creaking under the weight of her worries.

Her shirt was soaked with tears running down her face, her body shaking with guilt of her past coming back to haunt her.

Arizona suddenly felt like she was eight years old again, crying in her best friend's bathroom over the nightmare of watching her mother get torn away by a tornado.

And even worse, she felt like she was still in high school, desperately trying to get that grant which ended up killing her best friends. She could hear her own screams faintly echoing in her mind.

Subconsciously, Arizona brought a shaky hand up to her face, her fingers running over the scar that ruined her once pretty face.

She cursed that rusted metal for ever calling her name and daring her to hold on tighter. If she didn't, she would be with her friends and mother, not still living in a hellhole and trying any way possible to get out.

Hearing a groan beside her, Arizona turned to see Javi waking up, his eyes heavy and his chest bare. His curls were a disaster, sticking up in different directions. "Ari, what's wrong?"

Arizona's eyes widened as she slowly looked down at her own body, which was covered with a thin sheet. A cold breeze nipped at her skin as memories from the night before flooded her mind.

The bar. The dancing. The one too many drinks. The tears. The comfort of her best friend's hand running softly against her arm.

"Oh god..." Arizona muttered, throwing the sheets off of her and running to the bathroom. She didn't care if she didn't have any clothes on (she did: a tank top and shorts), her only thought was making it to the toilet.

She couldn't hold it. The bile rose in her throat and before she could even get to her knees she was throwing up into a rundown toilet, which could probably give her a disease.

She pressed her hands on either side, her face paling and her body becoming sticky. Arizona tried to empty any thought passing through her mind into the bowl in front of her, but it wasn't enough to stop the tears.

The sound of Javi's footsteps pounding on the floor grew, and soon he was wrapping her hair in his grasp, holding it up and out of the way. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, whispering soft phrases and rubbing her back.

That just made Arizona want to throw up even more, not knowing that if what they did was something out of love or of the fact that they were just too intoxicated to remember anything.

Resting her head on her forearm, Arizona breathed heavily, tiny drops of sweat rolling down the side of her face. She felt absolutely miserable, and wondered if she had purposely done this to herself. It didn't seem like something she would do, but here she was...so maybe she had changed.

"You okay, Ari?" Javi asked, sitting on the ledge of the bathtub next to her. He had found a hair tie lying on the counter, so he used that to hold her hair back instead of his hand.

"I feel like shit," she mumbled, her voice echoing incoherently through the toilet bowl.

Javi sighed, though he let out a little of a chuckle at her state. "You always do the morning after."

Arizona groaned, sitting back and resting against the wall. She pulled her legs up to her chest and just stared, not being able to form a thought that meant anything in particular.

Her mind was just reeling back to her past life. Of everything she had done. Of all the pain she had suffered through.

And yet here she was, sitting on the floor of an old motel, her best friend staring at her in worry. She wondered how she had gotten to this point and how she could possibly find a way to get out.