Parachute [Book 4]

Chapter 41 - I Love You Will Still Sound The Same

Marley Lynn

***

When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was. It wasn’t my bed – and Ryder wasn’t lying next to me as he always was when I woke up. The bed was too small for that. When I turned over, all I saw was a framed photograph of Santana and her girlfriend, Dani, and my phone lying in front of the photo, the screen facing down.

The very moment I saw the photo and my phone, I remembered where I was and how I had gotten there.

Suddenly, the good night’s sleep I had gotten had meant nothing. Ryder still wasn’t talking to me and he and I were still fighting. He still hated me, I’m sure, and he still had Emma to be his lover instead of me. Nothing had changed overnight.

I sat up in Santana’s bed and stared at myself in the mirror at the end of the bed. I looked terrible – there were big bags under my eyes, even though I had gotten a full night’s sleep, my hair was greasy and knotted, and I had broken out badly on my forehead. Probably from the stress of Ryder not loving me anymore.

I fell back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, letting out a loud sigh. I couldn’t believe that this was happening; the past twelve hours have felt like a dream… a dream I couldn’t wake up from.

A knock sounded from outside the room I was in (the knock just sounded like someone tapping their foot against the ground), and the blue curtain separating the rooms was pushed aside, revealing Santana and Rachel in their pajamas. “Hey Marley.” Santana smiled softly at me, shutting the curtain behind her. She slowly stepped over to me in her bed and sat on the edge, just beside my feet.

Rachel followed Santana and went around to the other side, sitting directly across from Santana. “How are you feeling? Are you… okay?” Rachel put her hand on my foot over the bed sheets, giving me a sympathetic stare.

I stared at the two of them carefully, watching the way their eyebrows were creased in worry, and the way they both seemed to be biting on their lips. They were so worried about me and my state, and it made me feel so lucky to have such great friends. “I’m alright.” I croaked out.

Rachel shared a worried glance with Santana. “Do you want to come out and have some breakfast with the three of us, Marls? Just get something to eat to make yourself feel better? After, you can have a shower if you want and you can-“ She stopped talking for a second, took a deep breath, and then lowered her voice. “Then you can go back home and get things sorted out with Ryder if you want.”

I bit on the inside of my lip and diverted by gaze away from Rachel to the ceiling. I really wanted to patch things up with Ryder – I would feel whole again and maybe not as shit as I did – but at the same time, I thought that he might not want to. He might have decided that this was the end for us and I didn’t want to have to face that situation. It would be the end of the world in my eyes.

“You don’t have to, though.” Santana quickly shot it. “You can hang out here for another night if you want. I don’t mind sleeping on the bed again.”

Rachel turned on her side, her knee digging into the side of my leg. “Was she sleeping on top of you last night?”

“Yep. She slept on top of me… and damn, I love her and everything but my back now is killing me.” Santana said, stretching for a brief second before looking back down to me. “So, what do you say?”

I shrugged and sat up in the bed, combing my hands through my knotted hair. “I guess I’ll come have breakfast… but I can’t say yes about going back to apologize to Ryder.”

Santana was fine to shrug off the subject and let me do my own thing, but Rachel was persistent in me going back to Ryder and knowing the reason. “Why won’t you, Marley? It’s never good to keep yourself fighting with your partner for such a long time.”