Afterlight ✔️

chapter twenty

— Chloe Romano

I stood emotionless in Justin's living room, not knowing much else I could do. My mind was still in shreds, trying to figure out what to do next at this point. Conclusively, the last two days have been a living hell for me and I couldn't stop thinking about everything that has happened in the past. I wished I had figured out a way to erase it out of my head, well– Not all of it, but at least the bad memories.

The morning was tough, but it progressed over time. I used the past two hours for napping and showering, and eventually Justin joined me for the nap. After figuring out I couldn't sleep much longer, I came downstairs to clean up the mess that was in the living room and kitchen. I knew it was going to take a while and with Justin wanting me to ignore it and distract me, it'd take days without help. It was obvious that Justin didn't want me to clean the mess up, he kept kissing me whenever I picked something up or simply just took it out of my hand, telling me he'd do it himself and I should just rest. It was very thoughtful of him, but what but he didn't understand was that I felt direful about everything what happened to his house. Chairs were overturned, glass was shattered.

The sight of it all was horrendous, and I was sure it had to do something with either me being alive or me being with Justin. I walked into the kitchen to start putting the chairs back on their legs and scooting them under the table, trying to make the house look almost halfway decent, to feel a tap hit my shoulder.

"Hey, I told you we'll just clean up later." Justin rasped tiredly, rubbing his eye with his finger. He had obviously just awoken from the nap, and he looked so young, so lovely. "I want to take you out for breakfast." He came around in front of me, placing a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Are you sure? It'll be better if we got this over with first." I suggested, tucking one last chair under the table.

"I'm really hungry, and I know you are, too." He threw his hands into the pockets of his salt and pepper colored sweatpants. "We haven't eaten in a day."

"You're right." I nodded, agreeing with him.

It was crucial that we needed to eat for which we were too tired to do before our nap, but now wide awake, it was the perfect time to go out and eat something. But I didn't want to spend too much time at the diner eating, I wanted the mess gone since it was a constant reminder of how badly people thought of us living together.

"It's not going to take long. Trust me." He said, reading my thoughts. He snatched his car keys off of the counter. "We'll eat at the diner, then we'll come right back home."

"Okay." I smiled slightly.

"Let me get my wallet, first." He smiled back, darting towards the bottom of the stairs. "I didn't take it with me, so it should be in my room."

Immediately, a quick thought came to my head. "Justin, wait!" I squealed over at him, bucking my head in the direction his body was in.

"What's up?" He paused, peering over at me, completely stopping everything he was doing.

"Thank you." I grinned, running my hand through my perfectly blow dried hair.

"For what?" He chuckled.

"For everything."