The day I decided to change my life

Chapter 7: Scared

I woke up breathing heavily. It was still dark in the room. It might have been just an hour since I fell asleep. I had had a nightmare, a terrible one. When I returned to my apartment from a night in the club, my boyfriend awaited me. He was furious, just like the last time we saw each other. His bloodshot eyes looked at me angrily as he approached his body towards mine. He started to say things that I didn't even wanna remember again. Things that hurt me, and he knew that. I was alone, my parents died, I just had him. He raised his hand to hit me, but this time he couldn't. I woke up first.

Unconscious of what I was doing, I wrapped my arms tighter around the person sleeping beside me. Tears fell down my cheeks and I buried my face into the mattress.

"Riri?" Luca said with a husky voice. "Are you okay?" He held me tight in a comforting embrace as his hand caressed my back.

"Yeah." I nodded against his chest. "Just a nightmare."

"It's okay now." He said lowly, his hand never leaving my back. His chin rested on the top of my head. "You're okay."

And with the feeling of being safe and taken care of for once in a very long a time, I let sleep surround me.

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"A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while..."

I opened my eyes slowly, the dim light that came from the window allowing me to do so with ease.

I loved that song.

I ran my hands along the bed, enjoying the softness of the covers as I stretched myself like a cat.

"...I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died..."

A smile curved my lips as I sang the words I knew all too well.

"Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die..."

Still not opening my eyelids at their full capacity, I turned to my right lazily.

The sight almost scared me if it wasn't for the fact that I got more embarrassed than anything. Luca was leaning against the bathroom's doorframe, his arms crossed as he watched me, a smirk on his face.

The fact that he was only wearing a towel resting low on his hips and his bare chest was covered in tiny droplets of water, didn't help to the heat that came up to my cheeks.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." He smiled as he disentangled his arms, walking to his closet to grab a T-shirt he slowly put on. "I see that you like my wake up song." I nodded with a little smile. "My mom used to play it every morning to wake me up for school. It always made me start the day in a good mood."

He got out of the closet, fully clothed now and came back to the bed. "I thought you would like it."

"I do."

Silence fell upon us as we stared at one another, a smile on our faces.

"Do you wanna have a shower? Breakfast?"

"A shower would be great. What time is it?" I asked with a frown.

"One."

"Then I think breakfast is out of the picture."