Lovestruck (EDITING)

10: Where Have You Been?

I wake to the sound of muffled voices coming from downstairs.

It's pitch black in my small bedroom, meaning I must have slept all day. Feeling around my bed for my phone, I remember the old friends that my mom told me were visiting today. That must be them downstairs, I assume, my fingers finding my phone and pressing the home button so that the screen lights up. It's 7:43pm.

Frustrated at myself for sleeping the day away, I climb out of bed and turn on my small bedside lamp to give myself a small amount of light. The old lamp flickers slightly as it turns on but lights up the room surprisingly well. When I feel my stomach growl, I decide to get dressed and go downstairs to find something to eat. I walk over to my dresser, pulling out the first items I can find. An oversized white beatles t-shirt and some black yoga pants is what I end up wearing when I look at myself in the mirror, pulling my freshly washed hair into a messy bun and applying chapstick. Once I decide that I no longer look like I was hit by a bus, I open my bedroom door and make my way down the stairs, wondering who these old friends of my mother's are.

At the bottom of the stairs, I turn into the kitchen and take a bottled water from the refrigerator before wondering into the living room to introduce myself to my mother's friends. When I walk through the door, my mom's eyes immediately dart up to me from the photo album she and another woman with short dark hair and tanned skin are giggling over. Next to them sits a girl, around my age, with her feet on the older woman's lap who I assume is her mother due to how much they look alike.

"Skye, you're awake!" My mom stands from her seat, picking up her wine glass, and rushes over to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders as she introduces me to the women.

"You remember Carmen," she reminds me, gesturing towards the older woman, "And her daughter, Tasmin."

The two women look up at me and smile the same sweet smile as I nod my head with uncertainty. That uncertainty disappears the moment that I lock eyes with the girl, Tasmin. I instantly recognise her deep brown eyes and high cheekbones and begin to smile at her. Memories of us as children flood my mind as she stands, smiling widely and almost charges at me, the way she would when we were kids. She pulls me into an embrace and I watch over her shoulder as her mother's smile widens.

"It's been a freaking minute!" She giggles, stepping back from the embrace and looking at me.

I almost feel embarrassed by my choice of outfit when I see her high waisted black jeans and baby blue cropped cami, which compliments her skin tone perfectly.

"You got hot," she grins at me before pulling me into another, even tighter embrace and I laugh, hugging her back.

"Where have you been?" I manage to ask when she releases me from the embrace.

"New York, didn't you know?" She looks at me, still smiling, and I shake my head. "I got into the gymnastics program over there years ago and, when we got tired of flying back and forth, we decided to move over there permanently. Don't you remember?"

Images of Tasmin and I doing gymnastics as kids take over my thoughts, images of her always being much more impressive than I was, images of my disappointment when she got into the New York program and I was stuck here in Chicago. I do remember all of this. I just can't believe how long it's been.

"Oh, gymnastics, yeah. I remember. You were always better than me at that," I smile at her before continuing, "So, what made you guys come back after all these years?" Just as I ask my question, I hear the bathroom door open down the hallway.

"Jayden's here too," Carmen informs me. I assume she saw my eyes dart to the hallway in confusion.

"Oh," I try to sound excited but fail as I struggle to remember who Jayden is.

When the tall, dark haired boy steps out from the hallway and freezes as his eyes find me, my heart almost stops.

Memories of long drives and camping trips, of us playing legos for hours, of us going swimming at the local pool and going down the water slide countless times flood my mind, before every memory is clouded and completely overshadowed by the memory of last night.

The memory of his lips against mine, of his hands on my waist, my hands in his hair.

The memory of him taking my drink from me and the memory of me laughing in his face and walking away from him. I knew I recognised him. He recognised me too.

Overwhelmed and unsure of what to do or say, I turn on my heel and walk out of the living room, through the kitchen, up the stairs and across the hallway into my bedroom. I regret my decision to flee as soon as I get to my tiny bedroom, with no room to breathe.

Without much thought, I decide to go to the only place where I feel as though I can truly breathe. I stride across the small room over to the window next to my bed, opening it and climbing out onto the roof.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! Much more to come :)

Vote and comment please xx

fancyauthor xoxo