The Boy Who Stole My Dreams

Chapter 10: Losing Myself

"You can feel the light start to tremble,

Washing what you know out to sea,

You can see your life out the window, tonight,

If I lose myself tonight,

It'll be by your side."

~ One Republic

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The most physically painful thing I had to face the morning after a late night party was trying to pry my eyelids open which I was sure, had elephants sitting on them. My head felt heavy, of course, because the elephants sitting on my eyelids had their butts on the rest of my face. My body was glued to the bed and although my body hurt to be lying there, I couldn't gather all the will power in the world to try and sit up. My ears continued to ring with loud music although I was sure the music had stopped ages ago. My throat was parched and all I craved for was a glass of cool water. I looked around for my water bottle which I usually keep on my bedside table, only to realize I wasn't in my room at all.

Where was I?

I'm pretty sure Aaron dropped me off to my house. Wait.

I don't remember any of that.

All I managed to recall was setting up Aaron and Sarah and eating those tacos, those heavenly tacos, with the bean and cheese and spice.

The spice. Why was the spice ringing bells in my ears?

Suddenly my head began pounding as though there was an alarm clock lodged in my brain and I felt sweaty. Like I had said before, I was not a person to sweat, and my sweat glands only acted up for select occasions. I shut my eyes much tighter and began playing some soft music in my head trying to distract myself from the chaos disturbing my brain. The sunlight streaming brightly onto my eyes wasn't helping. Just then I heard some feet shuffling probably towards the room in which I was. I didn't know why but I suddenly had the urge to remain still and pretend to be asleep.

I went back to my original position and lay still till I could feel the mattress sink beside me. I felt the warmth of the person's hands, cupping my cheek, stroking it tenderly. Somehow, those calloused fingertips seemed to ease my otherwise sore body. Those hands made their way to my neck, probably feeling for my temperature, slowly moving up to my forehead with the back of the hand. By the typical smell of his citrus cologne, I assumed it to be Skyler. Slowly, he moved the tendrils of hair that were covering my face, away and gently ran his fingers through my hair. I felt my breath hitch for a moment at his gesture.

Then, very unexpectedly, he reached for my hand and squeezed it tightly, mumbling to himself something along the lines of, "It's gonna be alright."

His words seemed vaguely familiar. I faintly recalled him saying that to me, only this time it looked like he was trying to convince himself. The soothing effect his voice had on my erupting nerves sent glimpses of what seemed like another dream coursing through my mind. A few bits and pieces seemed to come back to my memory, of him trying to calm me. The more I tried to recall, the more it went out of reach sending sharp shooting pain in my head.

At that action of his, I slowly opened my eyes making it seem like that was the first time I was waking up that morning. Or was it afternoon?

It took him a few seconds to notice I was awake. He was in a classic white v-neck tee and a pair of black jeans. His hair sported a look that showed that he had run his hand through them several times. His eyes had circles underneath them and lacked that brightness, which seemed to return the moment he locked eyes with mine.