Antipodes

Fifteen

New York soaked in the greyness this morning. The weather had changed as fast as in a speeded-up movie. And under her sheets, Roxy was struggling in her perturbed sleep. She felt as torn between several hands pulling at her clothes. The thunder muttered and she wide opened her blue terrified eyes. She was breathless like after running a marathon and her throat was dry.

She tried to get up but she felt the room around her spinning, she then decided to begin by sitting first. She stretched in all directions then realized that she was in her bed but that the clothes she was wearing did not belong to her, it was men's clothes. And she was sure -more or less- that Sam had not spent the night with her. Ryan would have gutted him. Ryan...

She thought about yesterday and the memories struck her as a slap. "Oh my God", she exclaimed in her head, "he saw me naked, he saw me naked, he saw me naked !". She took her face between her hands and sighed. She got up and glanced through the window looking at the pouring rain "So that's where all the noise comes from", she told herself.

She moved forward to the half-opened door of her bedroom  and took  the corridor leading to the kitchen, she was starving. She hoped deep down in her heart not to find Ryan, so she went there walking on her tiptoes and sneaking like a cat, maybe he was still asleep. When she got towards the dining room, a voice made her jump.

"Sit down", said the voice.

"Dammit, you scared the shit out of me!", she exclaimed her hand on her chest..

"Oh, really?", he said in a sarcastic tone that she hardly appreciated. "Sit down", he repeated without even raising his head once and by pulling the chair at his left.

She sat down heavily on the chair, pretending to sulk. He said nothing for too long, he didn't even look at her. He was wearing his reading glasses - he has reading glasses? was all she could thing about - and was in front of his laptop screen typing God knows what sipping on his coffee. 

"So?", she asked tilting her head on the side.

"One second", he told her raising a finger. He typed something else then closed his laptop sharply and turned towards her. He was staring at her straight in the eyes.

"You remember what happened I suppose?"

"Yes", she said looking the other way. She was ashamed to admit it to herself but he intimidated her by looking at her like that. 

"Good", he said in a quiet tone. "You and I know perfectly that it was not the first time", he added raising an eyebrow. She nodded. "Do I have to worry? Do I have to speak about it to Kath?"

"No!", she exclaimed.  "It won't happen again", she promised.

"I don't know if I can trust you".

"Are you serious?", she asked him, kind of irritated.

"You could have died Rox!", he screamed at her. "Do you have any idea of how fucked up I felt?"

"I'm sorry",  she said taking his hand. "Ryan, please, I don't want to go back there. And dad will freak out!"

"I know, this is exactly why I didn't call him. Look, I really like the fact that we're living together and stuff but..."

"But what?", she interrupted him.

"But if you want to stay here, you'll have to follow some rules".

"Rules?", she asked raising an eyebrow. Even her dad didn't have rules.

"One, stop interrupting me when I talk. It is so damn rude", he started and she smiled. "Two, open the fucking windows when ask you to!", she laughed. "And three, please, find yourself another friend than that Kacey bitch". She was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.

"What?", he asked her. "You have other friends, right? Like Maddie and Alan?"

"It's Adam!", she corrected him. "Wait, you remember Maddie?", she asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah, of course I remember her. Her hair was fucking blue !" 

"Okay, you're way too awesome to be my brother! Damn, you remember someone because of the colour of his hair?"

"It was blue", he repeated as if it was obvious her. "On another note, I got the job".

"Oh my God, this is amazing", she jumped at him and hugged him. "I'm so proud of you, I fucking love you, brother mine".

"I love you too, sister mine", he said hugging her. "Don't you ever freak me out like that", he tightened his grip and she heard him sniffing.

"Are you crying?", she asked him trying to loosen his grip.

"No", he said with tears running down his cheeks. They were tears of joy, he still had his sister. She was alive and he was grateful to whoever answered his desperate prayers. Even though, he wasn't that religious anymore. "Can I ask you to do something for me?", he asked.

"Of course you can", she said.

"I need you to come with me somewhere".

To my blue haired friend. I'm sending you candies, flowers and buckets of coffee ! 

The song is for your hair, it's called Blue Monday :D