Like No One is Watching

Chapter 3

I woke up to bright light in my apartment the next morning. Anthony must have let himself out last night and let me sleep. I didn't remember drinking so much to be blackout drunk, but it happens. When I get through the pain of light, I stumble to the kitchen to get ibuprofen and water. Before I made it, my stomach flipped. Barely making it to the restroom I coughed up what I thought would be a combination of alcohol and bile, but it was almost as if it was an overdose on pills. I had done pills in high school to numb my pain. It never was this bad. I needed to sleep. I slouch next to the toilet falling asleep once more.

A few hours later, I woke up once more in my bed. I was asleep as I was a few hours ago. I don't remember getting here. Last I knew I was in the bathroom sick as could be. I sit up keeping my blankets on my chest. I was still in my outfit from last night, but my corset was loosened to allow me to move.

"You're awake," I hear a person say. I remember the voice from the night prior.

"Did we?" I ask confused. I hadn't been blackout drunk since I left home.

"No, we didn't, I wanted to make sure you were safe. Someone gave you something last night. I had run to get myself a change of clothes when you woke up last time," the green-eyed mystery man explained. I nodded softly not sure what to think. I hadn't been drugged at the bar before especially by Anthony.

"Anthony never has tried to drug me before?" I questioned. He laughed at this shaking his head.

"One of the idiots must have done it. Guys will bump into girls and drop something into the drink in their hand if they are desperate enough," he shook his head.

"Oh, so can I know your name?" I mumble feeling stupid.

"Call me Jett," he smiled.

"Juliet," I whispered.

"How are you feeling?" He asked with a smile. I wasn't used to this caring thing.

"I'm fine. You can go you don't need to stay. I've nursed my fair share of hangovers," I mutter almost at a growl.

"Okay. If you're sure," he looked upset, but I couldn't handle being cared for and hurt again. Not by another person, not anymore, I refused to be hurt by another person again.

Once I heard him leave, I stood from my bed grabbed everything for a shower. I let the water hit my skin and let all my worries of last night wash down the drain. I kept finding myself thinking of Jett. He was sweet and nice. Everything I once wanted in a boyfriend. He seemed like a good person but that's why I couldn't be around him. It wasn't good for him.  I wasn't good for people to be with.  Every good person gets hurt with me. I couldn't hurt another person again. I wouldn't hurt another.

My day continued like any other day where I'm hungover. I slept, caught up on So You Think You Can Dance, and ate fried food. Unsure of what to do I grabbed my phone and started to think of choreography and my class tomorrow. It was a basic dance class, Tap 3. I loved tap dancing it was my strongest style of dance. Lyrical, what I was doing for choreography, was self-taught but was arguably more emotional. There was something about being able to pound out whatever aggression is inside on the floor. I grab my taps, 2-inch character shoes with unique taps. Most tap teachers hate my shoes at first but move on when they hear the sound, I get from them. My taps are referred to as bell taps, they are a unique sound but beautiful. I put on If My Friends Could See Me Now by Cy Coleman and just free tap. I needed to get this angst out before I exploded. When I finished dancing out my emotions, I went to the kitchen again. I was more observant apparently because I saw a note with some pain killers above it. The note read:

Call me anytime.

Jett

(811)555-5890

I smiled looking at the note. I quickly put his number into my phone. He was so sweet I didn't deserve someone to care for me, but he wanted to be a part of my life.

-Hey it's Juliet 😊

-U found the note

I smiled at my phone like an idiot. What am I doing? I can't feel this again. Checking the time with a sigh, I realize I was late for my general education class, math. Thankful that I had done the assignments for the semester in all my general education courses already. They shouldn't have made me take any of these as I had AP credits pull from high school, they said I would take 1 semester and be done. All I will have to do after the next 5 months is dance courses.

-I missed class wanna chill?

I quickly texted Jett. Surprisingly he agreed. I had 10 minutes to get to the coffee shop across campus. Quickly I through on leggings and a tank top to sprint across campus. I made it to the shop as he was walking in out of breath.

"Did you sprint here?" He laughed. I nodded as I tried to regain my breathe with my hands on my knees. My leggings were a deep purple I think they called it Blackberry when I got them and a tank top that has a built-in sports bra. It was the coolest shirt I've ever had.

"Yeah," I laughed. Standing up, I smiled softly going to order a Carmel Macchiato.

"Nice and nice order," he laughed as he ordered a second one.

I nodded and walked to the couch. We chatted about nothing and everything. Suddenly a sentence he said last night hit me, "You told me to use what I'm running from and to not feel the need to run from it. Why?"

"Because in choreo, I saw that you were hurting. Last night I saw a young girl trying to run from reality. Our assignment is to make people feel what we want them to feel. You have a gift for that. I'm struggling with mine because I don't know what to make them feel. If you used the real pain you ran from last night, you'd make magic," he looked at me. A chill ran through me.

"Do you want me to help you?" I whispered. He nodded eagerly. To this action, I laughed, "Then let's go to the studio." We got our coffees and went to the studio to find a song and style he wants to make everyone feel.