Learning to Swim

Chapter 18

I'm soo sorry for how late this is! The past two weeks have been kinda crazy. Anyway, i hope you like it :)

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Chapter 18

“Dakota, you have to get up,” Liam’s voice cuts into my sleep-filled mind. I groan and then roll over, burying my face in the pillow. I hear Liam sigh and then I feel him brush the hair off the back of my neck. His lips press softly against my neck, making me shiver.

“Go away,” I tell him, my voice muffled due to the pillow pressed against my face.

“You’re gonna be late for school,” he says and I groan again. I was up way too late last night and I just want to remain in this warm bed for as long as possible. As I regain consciousness, though, I start to become more and more confused. I have no idea where I even am or why Liam is here. And where is Addie?

“What….,” I sit up suddenly, looking around to see where I am. It takes me a second to realize that I’m in Liam’s apartment. I have no memory of how I got here, though.

“You fell asleep when we were driving home from the police station last night and I thought I would just bring you here,” Liam explains.

Last night starts coming back to me, causing me to shiver at the memories. I still can’t believe that Dane attacked me. Or the fact that he has been basically stalking me for at least a year. How did I never even realize? Aren’t you supposed to get some kind of feeling when someone is watching you? I don’t remember anything that would make me think I was being followed. Somehow that makes it scarier to me.

After Liam called the police we waited inside the restaurant until they showed up. They searched the area for Dane, but they didn’t find him. I’m pretty sure he must have gotten a ride with his friends that were with him earlier in the night. Anyway, the police took Liam and me down to the station so we could file a report. They took pictures of the bruises on my wrist and of a few cuts Liam got when he was fighting Dane. It seemed like we were there for a long time before they finally told us that we could go. The police officer told me that he would contact me sometime today to let me know if they were able to track down Dane. Until then I’m just supposed to go about my routine like normal.

“How are you feeling? You really scared me last night,” Liam asks me and I give him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I was in shock I guess. I’m fine now, though,” I reply.

“Good. So, do you want me to make you breakfast? I’m make the best cereal in the world,” he jokes and I roll my eyes at him.

“Actually, I should probably leave. I need to get Addie from Marie’s and I really do need to go to school today,” I tell him and he gives me a doubtful look.

“Are you sure? I don’t think you should be going places alone. Not when Dane is still out there.”

“I can’t just stay locked up inside forever. I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you could just stay here today? Until you hear from the police officer whether they were able to track him down,” Liam insists, but I shake my head stubbornly.

“I can’t miss school and neither can you. Do you think you are going to get into medical school if you keep skipping school?”

“I don’t know, Dakota. If something happened to you, I don’t…,” he trails off and I sigh deeply.

“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’ll be at school. I will be surrounded by people that I’m sure would notice if I was being attacked or something, okay?”