Trust Me

Chapter 8

Olivia

The idea of getting a decent amount of sleep had now been thrown straight out the window. It was almost seven in the morning, and I'd probably gotten a total of four hours of sleep if that last night. I had been having these awful nightmares about Daniel these past couple of days, so I tried to avoid sleeping at all costs just to skip the torture. These nightmares were mainly about the fire, intense heat, and fear of this vicious cycle.

Every time I drifted off, I would soon wake up in a panicked state, feeling like my skin was burning and on the verge of tears. To keep myself busy, I tried to binge-watch TV shows and drink lots of those awful canned espresso drinks, anything to keep me awake. It'd been only two days of this, and I could tell my new sleeping habits took a toll on my body. Between that and the emotional state that I was in, I may as well just be a zombie.

I sat up in my bed and pushed the fluffy white bedding off of my body, exposing my skin to the cool air in the room. I couldn't help but raise the white shades that covered the window that my bed was pressed beneath before glancing out at the city below me. The sun was just beginning to rise above all of the buildings, and it was absolutely beautiful. Watching it brought a sense of calm over me, which I never really felt that often these days.

Sighing, I pulled myself up from the bed and stretched my limbs before sighing out in satisfaction. Since I couldn't sleep, I may as well just get up and go do something productive. A vanilla latte was definitely a must on my list for the morning as I still had not gotten one since being back in the city. I also really needed the caffeine.

This new apartment building was only a block away from Filtered, which was very exciting news for me. I could just go there, relax and catch up on some homework that I desperately needed to complete. I'd been out for a long time, and playing catch up was going to give me hell, and I knew it.

I flicked on the light in my closet and stared at the few pieces of clothing that I had left. We hadn't gotten around to do any shopping with me being home and resting in Oswego, so that would definitely have to be done soon. Of my limited options, I decided to just throw on a simple pair of black leggings with my oversized NYU sweatshirt. I glanced at the bird's nest on top of my head in the mirror and tried to play around with it a bit but made no progress. I might have even made it worse.

"Hello, black beanie." I muttered to myself before placing it on my head and strolling out of my bedroom as I did so.

My black knee-high winter boots were sitting by the front door, so I plopped down next to them and shoved my feet inside them. Cassie had already left for campus for her morning classes, so it was pretty quiet besides the sound of me ruffling to put my shoes on and the heater system warming the place.

As for me and school, I decided that I didn't want to go back until after the trial was over tomorrow. There would only be one week of finals left, so it wouldn't be too much for me to handle, I hoped. All of my professors were extremely understanding of the situation and were having me finish the in-class work at home and email everything to them on the due dates, which I appreciated. I don't think I'd be able to focus if I had to go back on campus before getting all of this drama sorted out.

As I made my way outside, I shivered slightly as the cold, icy wind blew past me burning the skin of my cheeks. I no longer owned any scarves to wrap around my face to protect me from the chill, unfortunately, but at least the little coffee shop was a short walk away.

I could see Mrs. Smith standing behind the register chatting with some of her customers as I approached Filtered. The little gold bells jingled against the smoggy glass door as I pulled it open. Mrs. Smith looked up instinctively to see who had just entered, and a huge smile spread across her face as soon as she laid eyes on me. I watched as she brushed past a few of her customers she had been speaking to in a rush to get to me before pulling me into a huge hug.