State of the Body

Chapter 4 Dakota

When I walked back up to the house I didn't want to go back inside, so I sat down on the swinging chair. Then I heard the door open and Julie walked out.

"Can we talk?"

"About?"

"Alexis."

"What about her?" I made sure to sound like I didn't care, but even at the mention of her name it sent my heart racing.

"How about your guys' relationship?"

"I like her, she doesn't like me that's all there is to it." Julie sat down next to me.

"They broke up while you were gone." I looked up at her. She kept nodding. When she stopped she continued to talk. "We talked about it." I still felt upset by the fact that Alexis stayed with Edgar for so long.

"Congratulations. Now what do you want Julie? She opened up to you." She rolled her eyes at me.

"She talked to me afterwards about you, but apparently you don't want to hear what she said or what happened so..." She started to get up. My hand shot forward and grabbed her arm pulling her back down.

"Julie, I'm so sorry. Please tell me." She looked at me and slightly nodded her head.

"Well you see a while after you left Edgar stopped by." I rolled my eyes and she chuckled. "He asked to talk to Alexis and they went outside to get some privacy. I didn't want him to hurt her while you were away so I stood by the door and I just happened to hear part of their conversation."

"Oh yeah?" She nodded. "Well what did you hear?"

"Something about her being tired of the way he was treating her and how she had her eyes on someone else. She said she was sorry and that she knew he had someone special waiting for him, but she wasn't the one. Then she came inside and he of course left. She asked me if I thought she did the right thing which of course I told her she did. I had asked her what she was going to do now all she said was that she wasn't sure, but she knew it would be an adventure." I looked at the floorboards under my feet. They were different from the rest. They were light blue. I started thinking. Who had Alexis's eye? Who did she like? She didn't like me. Did she? Did she like...me? Or does she like someone else? Julie cut into my thoughts. "She also said that she was going to stay up and wait for you. I looked at Julie and started to stand. Julie grabbed my arm and shook her head. "Don't, I'll get her." She rose and started to walk towards the door.

"Thank you Julie for everything." She smiled at me and disappeared. I still couldn't believe that we got them for our coaches. We were really lucky. Julie and Jazmine were amazing. They were our instructors, our 'moms', and our best friends. I heard the door open. There she was. She walked to me and wrapped her arms around me and held on. I returned the hug.

"Dakota I'm so-" I pulled away from her grip.

"Don't."

"But-"

"Let's just enjoy the view, it is beautiful and the stars are really bright tonight." She nodded at me and took my arm. She wrapped it around her shoulders and she laid her head on my chest. We just stayed like that.

I woke up when a sudden cold burst of wind hit my face. I looked over at Alexis. She was shivering. I picked her up and carried her inside. I laid her in her sleeping bag and got up to go to my own when suddenly I felt as if someone was watching me. I turned around and saw-