Before the Darkest Storm

Chapter 23

(Edited very lightly, so you will find mistakes but please ignore them.)

Chapter 23

The grumbling in my stomach was a reminder of my missed dinner from the night before, and my lack of breakfast from this morning. If it wasn't for my stomach's loud complaining I would have remained in bed well past noon, but as I heard and felt the tremble of the continued noises I knew I had to get up. Grunting bitterly, I got out of bed and padded towards my bathroom. The tears from last night encrusted themselves around my eyes, and the motion of crying contributed to the swelling and redness of my face. Real attractive Ana. I thought to myself as I turned on the tap and ran my toothbrush underneath the warm water. I pushed the on button on my brush and tried to let the vibrating noise drown out my thoughts. The tooth brush stopped for a brief second indicating for me to move to the back of my teeth.

Once my toothbrush turned off by itself I hopped in the shower to rinse off my face from the remains of last night's emotions. I sighed as the warm water ran over my shoulders, and past my covered knee. It seemed like ever since I moved into Seb's apartment my water usage had significantly increased. I ended up taking a shower at least twice a day on most days, which was ridiculous considering that I never really did anything to get too dirty in the first place, well except for last night.

Oh god. Last night! I was sure that Seb was going to want to talk about what happened yesterday. I was surprised that he hadn't pushed for all the information last night. What was I going to say to him, when I myself, wasn't sure about what had happened? Yes, I saw footprints, but was I sure that they were fresh? They could have been there all night. They could have belonged to Colby, or one of the men that Seb hired for security. Maybe I had just imagined hearing the noise of the pebble drop; after all I hadn't really seen anyone. What if it was all just a part of my paranoia? After the past few weeks, would anyone really be surprised to hear that I had an over active imagination?

Letting out a puff of air, I stepped out of the shower and dried myself up. My knee wasn't as sore as it had been last night, so I was able to walk without the slight limp. Before my shower I had removed the gauze and plastered on a brown waterproof Band-Aid on my knee. Begrudgingly I got dressed in a maxi skirt and vest top before walking into the living room, praying that Seb and Julie were gone.

"Ana, we've been waiting for you." A dreadfully cheery voice called out making me cringe. I was not in the mood for anyone's peppiness today, even Julie's.

"Oh?" I asked, trying my best to be polite. There was no reason for me to take my foul mood out on Julie.

"Yes, Seb's taking us out to lunch." Julie announced getting off the couch in a pair of navy blue shorts, and a cropped shirt. Didn't she own any jeans or dresses? I shook my head, what Julie wore was really none of my business. "He said I could choose where to go, so I picked Thai food. Is that okay with you?"

I loved Thai food, but the idea of spending lunch with Julie and Seb was not very appealing. "I'm actually not feeling well. I think I might just order in something." I told her and went over to the cabinet where Seb kept all his menus.

"What's wrong?" Seb's deep voice sounded and I reluctantly looked up to see him walking down the hallway.

I shrugged my shoulder at him, and returned my gaze to the menus, looking at them with more interest than I actually had.

I could hear Seb's footsteps as he moved, but I didn't look at him. I was scowling intently down at a Chinese menu when I felt a hand on my forehead. Overcome with shock I took a startled step back and looked at Seb in confusion.

"You don't have a fever." Seb's eyes were focused on mine, and he was standing too close for comfort. I purposefully took two large steps back and tried to raise an eyebrow at him, even knowing that I probably looked silly, because I couldn't actually raise a single brow by itself.