Me Too

25

Sofia pushed against my body, shaking me awake. She was shivering and as I cracked my eyes open, I saw I had taken the entire blanket from her and turned my back to her. She was rocking too fluidly and voluntarily to be sleeping. She was trying to wake me up on purpose.

A smirk came to my face as her seemingly closed eyes batted nervously. "Sofia," I enchanted. I giggled under my breath as she struggled to play dead. "You're such a little liar."

She turned red, concealing her laugh in her puffed cheeks. I kissed her forehead and turned onto my hip, tossing half the blanket over her. It landed just under her chin, and as I sat up, it draped over my waist. I petted her head with one hand and held my weight on the other.

"Sofia?" I sigh, stroking her arm as it snaked its way around my body, pulling herself close to me. "It's time to get up."

Her sassy pout made my heart tickle. She dropped her head in my lap, her hair was everywhere. Such a beauty queen, so graceful. "No."

I lean towards her, flicking her messy hair behind her ear. "Yes."

"Why?"

I think of my dream. I think of what I said lucid and of what she told me then. It is fuzzy, maybe it is my brain telling me I shouldn't try so hard to remember. It is warning me to let this go. "We've got to call Ryan."

"What?"

"I want to tell him. Soon."

Sofia opened her eyes and lowered her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

I shrug. "I promised to wait until you were ready, but I can't do this. I have to tell him. And I think Sabrina deserves to know too. They're not going to say anything, but you're right, they deserve to know before everyone else does. An internet comment won't suffice for them."

"Dove-"

"It's something I want to do together, but if you don't want to come with me to tell him, I will go alone. I have to get over this. It's been driving me crazy," I say. I run my hand through my tangled hair. "If I don't tell him face to face, he will be mad, and he might do something to us when we do finally come out."

"Is he dangerous?" Sofia sat up, mirroring how I did. She was filled with concern, whereas I was twitching with anxiety. "Chloe, what do you mean do something? It's Ryan, he's harmless- emotional, but harmless."

I look down between us. "He is dangerous to me. It's not like him to do things to anyone else, but he's unpredictable after what happened with Thomas."

"What did he do to you and Thomas?"

I dismiss her, flicking the blanket off of me. "I just want to tell him in person. Please. We can tell Cameron, Ryan, and Sabrina. Then everything else is up to you."

"Why Cameron?"

I get up from my knees and tip toe to the bed that was leaning off the frame. I push the corner back into place. It was exhausting trying to do that much- yet it was so simple to throw it. "He's going to notice when we get to work on his film. You're not exactly distant."

She knelt on the floor by my side of the bed across from me, resting her elbows and chin on the bedding. "So, you do want to help him?"

"Something might come out of it. I have to wait and see." I put a pillow up by the headboard and sigh. "It might help me get out of my head a little."

Sofia got to her bare feet, smoothing out her hair and putting it in a bun out of her face- she was getting nervous and she knew that I noticed. "Yeah, working and getting out of the house would be good for you. You need to have something to work on besides travelling, depriving yourself of sleep, and over thinking everything."