One Night ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Nine

In this chapter, any italicized sentences you read will be Alex's inner thoughts/inner voice.

There will also be mentions of drug use, but no explicit details.

~*~

ALEX

It was around 9 a.m. when I woke up. I took a shower late last night and fell asleep in my bath towel. The sun peeked through the thin grey curtains of my window, caressing the uncovered skin of my thighs and arms. I let out a satisfied sigh, being fully rested. It was the first night of peaceful sleep I'd managed to get in a couple weeks.

Rolling onto my back, I stared intently at the glow in the dark stars adhered to my ceiling as I stretched out my stiff arms and legs. Nani put those stars up for me years ago. I vowed to never take them down. As weird as it may sound, those stars made it feel as if she was still here with me today.

As if when I tossed and turned on restless nights -which was almost every night- she was holding me. I'd sit up and count each of those stars, a spiritual hug and kiss from her wherever she was.

Oh, how I missed her.

The image of her smiling at me with her thin rosy lips as she climbed down the ladder filled my head. Nani was my favorite person in the world. I'd have loved to know how she was doing, how her mother was doing and if her condition ever improved. But for now all I could do was wonder. I had no way to get in contact with her. It'd been quite a while since she was last here.

I grasped the two ends of my fuzzy orange towel in between my fingers, securing it as I shifted into a sitting position. For a few minutes I pondered whether I should just lay in my towel all day, until I remembered Ethan would be coming over soon. He'd enjoy me even in a paper bag, but if not for his sake, I wanted to look decent enough for my own.

For the time being, I slipped on my fluffy socks and made my way to the bathroom to freshen up. The thing I liked about having short hair was the fact that I didn't have to do much with it but fluff and go. After that, I threw on a loose-fitting crew neck sweater over my bare chest and stepped into a pair of shorts.

In the kitchen, I stood by the Keurig with my favorite black polka dot mug, waiting for my chamomile and lavender tea to finish brewing. I'd just run out of hot chocolate, but tea was a great alternative.

If Sienna knew I was about to have tea her eyes would bulge out of her head. I'd always call her an old lady when she'd be in her bed underneath the blankets with a cup in one hand and a book in the other. But here I was just about to do the same right on my couch. Instead of a book, I'd have a TV remote.

Sweet smelling steam clouded the atmosphere around me, and I inhaled it fully. Like air being released from a balloon, the stress tightening up my muscles had slowly begun to ease away.

With my piping hot tea in hand, I shuffled to the couch, preparing to browse through Netflix. Before I had the chance to sit down though, there was a knock at the front door. I set my cup on the coffee table in front of me with a groan.

"Really? I was just about to get comfy," I muttered to myself, trudging to the door.

I'd never checked the peephole on the front door a day in my life, but something prompted me to do it today. Being only 5'5'' living in a house presumably built for giants, I had to press one hand onto the mahogany door for stability, while I stood on the very tips of my toes to become leveled with the hole.

All in the same instant, time slowed down, and I was moving in slow motion until it seemed that every clock in the world stopped, along with the beating of my heart.