Midnights: The Valley of Ogressia

Chapter 2

I walked out of my bedroom and headed down the hall to the kitchen. Celeste was sitting at our small, black rod iron table and chair set, enjoying a bowl of cereal.

" Cameron! Girl what happened to you last night?" Celeste jumped up from the table, wrapping me in a huge bear hug, I could tell she had been worried, and I felt horrible for doing that to her. I never wanted to hurt her, and I started to try to find the worlds to explain what had happened the night before, but I don't even know How I got home.

I started to answer her question, but as I opened my mouth to speak, I noticed that the clock on the stove read, 7:56 am. I had to be at work in 4 minutes. Wonderful! I was never late to work, or at least I haven't been in the 3 years I had worked for the law firm. Bleaker,Jameson and Dobes was a prestigious law firm that specialized in divorce cases, and child custody hearings. Every once in a while we would get a client with something harder to deal with, but I never had to deal with those cases. I smiled at Celeste, turned and ran down the hallway getting to my side table where my phone was charging. I quickly dialed my boss, Toni Maitlen, and explained that I over slept.

" Toni, I am so sorry! My alarm didn't go off, and I just woke up!" I panted into the phone. I was holding my phone in one hand, and dragging out clothes for the day with the other. I was frantically looking for a shirt to wear when I caught a glimpse of myself in my mirror. I still had on the same clothes from the night before. I stopped and walked closer to the mirror inspecting to see if anything was ripped, and found nothing of the sort. I started to open my mouth to speak again, but Toni cut me off.

" Cam, sweetie, calm down! You have never missed a day of work, and have also never been late. This is not a big deal. Take the morning off. Nothing is pressing, so just be here later," Toni was a short, squatty woman, with a very deep voice. She had been a smoker her entire life, so her voice had a disticnt sound of heavyness. She was a great boss, and she knew how hard I worked for her, so I knew she had been sincere about telling me to take time off.

" Toni, I will be there by 9, I promise! I will shower right now, I don't need a morning off, I have a few files that I could work on," I had finished gathering my work attire, and was getting ready to head to the bathroom, I had just turned on the water when Toni laughed into the phone.

" 1 pm Cam, no earlier. For Heavens sake enjoy a cup of decaf today," Toni laughed to herself, and it made me smile. We said our goodbyes, and I started to relax. Toni had been so good to me, and I hated to not be there, but if she said it was ok, then I guess I had to trust her.

I really needed to figure out what had happened the night before. I really didn't remember coming home. The last thing I remember was sitting on Nathanial's couch, and laying my head on his shoulder. I would still like to know how he knew I had texted Celeste, and had I told him I had a roommate at all? I don't remember ever bringing her up. This was starting to seem strange.

I left my room again to find Celeste sitting in he favorite chair, a chaise lounger she brought with her from her old place. It was a faux suede red leather, very soft to sit on, but it was not a place I sat regularly. She sat with her legs beneath her, like a small child listening to a story.

" Well," her bright auqa eyes staring at me, " Girl I know you are not gonna hold out on me!"

She smiled, her teeth a brilliant white next to her beautiful ebony skin. She was a gorgeous woman, and we had been best friends our whole lives. She lived next door to me growing up, and she and I were hardly ever apart. We had a brief stint where we did not spend to much time together. I went to Yale on a scholarship, and she went to the University of Southern California. It was hard to be apart, but we made a deal to move in to a nice apartment when we were ready to join the work force. Cel worked for a local radio station doing PR work, and selling advertising. She worked in the afternoon, so we always had the chance for dinner to just sit and catch up. I had never lied to her, and she never to me, so I felt compelled to tell her everything.

" I'm waiting," Celeste said tapping her finger to her watch. She was smiling at me, and I felt like I could tell her everything, and she wouldn't judge me. I loved her like a sister, and I knew she just wanted me happy.

" Ok, so, while you flashed you pearly whites at the bartender, I sat all alone in the back nursing my diet Coke. I started to get up to get another, when I slammed my knee on the table and almost fell," Celeste let out a huge laugh. I smacked her playfully on the leg, and tried to continue my story. "I was close to smacking my face to the floor, when I felt a pair of hands on my waist," I explained.

" So did this, pair of hands say anything," Cel asked, raising her eyebrows. I can only imagine what her clever little brain was concocting. I started to laugh.

" He told me his name, Nathanial. That was pretty much it," I replied," then he just kinda stared at me. He had the most intense gray eyes. They were almost silver. He had a gorgeous smile, not as pretty as yours, but, wow. It was like I was entranced by it."

" So, Mister good smile, looks at you, and you leave with him? You, who hates to even talk to strangers in an elevator, left a bar with a man? I must have missed the memo where you and I switch lives," Celeste joked.

" I know," putting my head in my hands," I don't know what I was thinking." I tried to think back on everything that had happened. I just felt safe with him, but how could I convey that to Celeste? Would she understand?

" Listen," Celeste replied," It's ok, I knew it was bound to happen one day." She pretended to cry, even going so far as placing her hands on her face, and letting out fake sobs. She was so overly dramatic.

Cel wiped fake tears from her eyes, and began walking down the hallway towards our bathroom. She stopped in the doorway, and turned to flash me her brilliant smile.

" Mamma's little girl is growing up. Ok enough teasing I gotta get my butt in this shower." She rushed into the bathroom, and started singing in the shower. I giggled to myself as I walked past the bathroom and down the hall.

I headed back into my room and stood in the doorway. What a mess! The clothes that Celeste had brought in from the night before were still all over the floor, and now I had added a pile of my own clothes to my bed. This was going to take for ever to clean, thankfully I had the morning off. As I started to clean up my floor,I saw something sparkly on the floor. I got down on my hands and knees to get a closer look. I got closer to it, and reached out a hand to pick up two tear shaped pale lavender stones. I didn't know where they came from, but I was going to find out.