Head in the clouds.

Chapter Sixteen.

Exhaustion eventually took over and after walking Charlie home safety I decided it was time to go home as well. My eye lids felt heavy and every step was getting more difficult. Lying down on the grass I hadn't realised how low on energy my body actually was, the blinking of my eyes became more frequent making the light of the street lamps flicker in the darkness. After several wrong turns and near misses with cars I made it back to my apartment building. The lights which had been on when I left were now extinguished which meant that Cara was sleeping or she had left, my mind couldn't decide which one It wanted to be true. The stairs were a killer and by the time I had made it up the many flights my legs were coping with a dull ache and my blood could be felt pumping harshly within my veins. I opened the door as quietly as possible, I may have been angry but I wasn't about to storm back inside waking her up and I was too tired to start a fight. Every single light was off and so the dull glow of the moon was the only thing aiding me as I fumbled desperately for the light switch. The lights came on as soon as I flicked the switch on and I was suddenly taken aback as my eyes couldn't cope with that much exposure. Once I was adjusted I made my way through the apartment checking each room, not for security reasons but because my brain wasn't really cooperating with the rest of my body which really just wanted to go to bed. The bedroom was just as dark as the rest of the place had been, the bed was empty but the sheets were messy. I flopped down on top of the duvet not bothering to change out of my clothes, as my face brushed against the pillow It felt warm, which meant that Cara must have recently left. I didn't dwell on that thought or the quiet crunching that sounded as I slowly went to sleep.

Getting out of bed was already one of the hardest challenges mankind faces, what makes it even worse is when the sheets have a death grip on your body and your phone alarm is blaring somewhere in another room. After five minutes I had successfully made it out the maze that was my bed and I started hunting for my phone which could be heard but not seen. Now I don't know when I turned my phone alert tone up so loud but I was kicking myself for doing it. After a while I actually started to get used to the sound which made it ultimately harder to locate the device, my brain was becoming gradually mushed by the ringing, so much so that I didn't notice someone walking through the front door.

If it was a robber my day would have hit rock bottom and I probably would have chucked myself down a flight of stairs.

"What the hell is that noise?" Her voice echoed around the apartment, overlapping the ringing. I turned around and she was standing there with her hands covering her ears trying to block out the noise.

"It's my phone; I have no clue where it is!" I yelled as I flipped the couch cushions, I honestly felt like falling to the floor in the foetal position and crying for days. I'm not sure whether it was because of the shitty-ness of my love life or because I was convinced I would never find my phone and be forced to burn my apartment to the ground to make it stop but either way the feeling was overwhelming. Cara took her hands away from her ears and stood frozen, just listening. I was confused... again. Then as quickly as she had entered she took off across the room and into the study where the sound died down instantly. My ears buzzed with the after effects of the ringing and my chest deflated in relief. Cara walked cockily out of the study the phone held triumphantly over her head like a prize. I sprinted across the room and enveloped her in a hug, the contact of her skin on mine sent electric shocks all through my body and it was like I was able to breathe again after being submerged in water. She hugged me back her arms snaking around my body.

All too quickly the events from night before came back, everything Charlie and I had discussed replayed in my head. I stepped back fighting against her grip.

"You need to leave." The words slipped out automatically, like poison from the fangs of a snake.

"What?"

"Please you need to leave. I need more time to think everything through. I need time to think you through."

"I still don't understand." Her voice sounded desperate but she didn't move from where she was standing, her face was calm. I could feel all my emotion bubbling to the surface.

"I've always need you more then you needed me, just admit it. You're always here when you could be anywhere else. Seeing you with your new 'fake' boyfriend made me realise that this isn't about me breaking us apart, it's about me letting you go, because you should go." I was out of breath; the words came out quickly knitting themselves into sentences that hurt like bullets. She didn't say anything she brushed past me quickly and slammed the door shut behind her. Suddenly I was exhausted again, this time I found the bed quickly without having to adventure around the apartment. As the settled down something crunched from within the sheets, I shot out of bed pulling everything back so the mattress was exposed. A small delicate piece of white paper was placed at the centre of the bed, it was crumpled slightly at the edges. I picked it up on the back of black elegant words stretched across it.

I need you the most.- Cara x