You Can Run To Me

Sixteen

Light streamed in through the open curtains, forcing Nat's eyes open. She took her time about it though, not wanting to leave the dream. Because maybe it was real, and she would turn her head and see him there, sleeping soundly. Or perhaps he would be awake, and she would sense his shadow moving over her as he saw her eyes flicker and moved to greet her. That was the crux of it, after all. Some kind of reassurance that it hadn't all been some pathetic fantasy; that would be too embarrassing, even though no one would ever know.

So she clung to sleep like a mountaineer, though she didn't even really want to wake with a guy who was little more than a stranger lying next to her. As long as she was wearing her clothes, right? She took a slow, deep breath and opened her eyes.

It was bright, obviously, and she spent a moment staring at the ceiling contemplating the various noises in the room. There was definitely someone snoring. A soft, inconstant sort of snore. Thinking about it, that was probably what had woken Natalie in the first place. She was already almost completely certain of the truth, but the time had come to see it with her own eyes. She reluctantly turned her head to the side.

Empty sheets.

She'd been expecting it really – especially given the rules about guys in girls' rooms (and vice versa, of course), and the shared room – but that didn't stop disappointment rearing up in her, almost bringing tears to her eyes. She had been really sure for a moment there that she would open her eyes and he would be real. But he wasn't.

Now all she wanted was a distraction, so she quietly propped herself up onto her elbows to try and guess who had gone the furthest base with their partner; she would have preferred a tub of good old vanilla ice cream, a rom-com and a box of tissues, but unfortunately none of those things were to hand, so she just had to make do.

As she looked around the room, she first saw through the window that it had stopped snowing for the New Year, leaving the sun free to light up the frosted rooftops with its snow-slaying light. Natalie imagined the sound of the dripping as the snow melted away, imagined all of the dripping coming together into one great roar of noise that would drown out every treacherous though in her head.

Her gaze passed fleetingly over the slumbering forms of Daniella and Lianne, who had evidently made it back at some point during the night, before finally settling on Sylvia's bed. Sylvia's empty bed, neatly made just like it was last night, and it didn't look like anyone had slept in it. Natalie stared at it for a moment, then startled into action.

"OhmyGod where's Sylvia?" she said, just loudly enough to wake the snobby plastics. She wasn't sure why she thought they'd care, but to their credit, they did pay some attention. The groaned a little and tentatively held their hands to their temples in with a wince. They sat up on their elbows and tried to look at Nat through bleary eyes, cringing at the light.

"Huh?" mumbled Dani, "what about Sylvia?"

"She's not here," Natalie replied quickly. "I don't think she made it back last night."

Daniella paid her the courtesy of frowning slightly and looking a little concerned. Lianne, meanwhile, was much more pragmatic about it.

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine. She probably just went with some guy and she's fine. Just let me go back to sleep and she'll be fine."

"You don't get it, do you? Sylvia wouldn't just go with some guy." Then Nat paused, feeling guilt wash over her. That Canadian guy. She'd let Sylvia go off with him when she clearly wasn't quite in her right mind. Oh, God, she could be anywhere by now.

And that was just it. Natalie had no idea where she'd be or how to find her. She fished her phone out and tried calling her, ignoring the protestations from the other side of the room (it really was some kind of miracle that Nat wasn't just as hungover, given how many glasses of the 'alcohol-free' free drinks she'd had), but all she got was the dial tone. Maybe she'd turned it off or lost it or something. But that meant that Nat had absolutely no way of checking Sylvia was okay. She had no idea where she could even start looking, and she couldn't remember the guy's name. So she would just have to wait and see. She pulled out her earbuds and played herself some comfortingly depressing songs.