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She had no choices now She had a destiny she’d never known about, probably didn’t want, and ot how much that sucked My heart pounded in my chest for no reason "I’m sorry"
She blinked as if surprised, and then she turned to the side That expanse of exposed skin was killingMoving toward her before she could speak another word, I caught the edges of the robe The backs of ht as her body stiffened Her neck craned as her eyes widened, met mine There was so much depth in them, more than what I’d realized before There was so much emotion Confusion Unease Innocence Oh, but there was more Fear existed in their depths, but so did curiosity There was a crater-sized part of me that wanted to slip the robe off her shoulders, to see how she’d respond, how deep that innocence ran, and if the curiosity I was tracking in her gaze, in the way her lips parted, was stronger than the fear
I tugged the edges together "Distracting," I murmured
She exhaled softly as pink infused her cheeks Reaching up, she grasped the edges just below ainst her skin, scalding me For a moment, neither of us moved We seemed to be stuck in a ain," she whispered
They tended to do that when I was feeling anything strongly, and I had lot of feels right then--all of theo and forced a step back from her "What did you realize?"
Several moments passed before she spoke, and when she did, I noted the change in her voice The sound was huskier, softer Interesting "I don’t know if my mom is crazy anyhtered el who visited her It wasn’t an angel It was… God, I can’t even believe I’ to say this, because it does sound really crazy, but it was Apollo"
"Yeah, it was hi the wet bar I wanted another beer
Josie forged on "And she said that everything that happened last year with the natural disasters, the whole world on the brink of as the world on the verge of ending She was right, wasn’t she?"
I nodded "Kind of like the gods bowling with Earth"
"There…there ht she was hallucinating--it randparents--they put her on meds Antipsychotic meds And those meds, if you aren’t schizophrenic, it can… You shouldn’t be on them Ohto cruut twisted with helplessness as I stared at her The glassy sheen to her eyes told ood with that shit Emotions--they were bad But I stepped toward her
Her chin rose as she drew in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders The shininess in her eyes was still there, but no tears fell I stopped halfway to her, wondering what I was doing She exhaled roughly "I want to go hoo home?" Seth repeated He stared atspoken that night And there had been a lot of crazy
I’d used everyon keepinghim bust into the bathrooht I was in there drowning myself And I really couldn’t believe I’d been totally naked in the same room as him I was kind of naked now, since this robe left so little to the i to think about that I was pretty sure he’d gotten an eyeful of my breasts in the bathroom anyway
At least noas a couple of feet fro at ht in front of es ofat e flutter danced low in htly luuy ever looking at s or so But in thatood chance I would’ve stood there and let hi those thoughts aside, I rose as I reached for o hoh ht that any of what she had been saying for years was true?
Seth folded his arms as he eyed me "And you can’t just, I don’t know, pick up the phone and call her?"
"I can, but I want to see her" Frustrated and feeling about a thousand other e aped open again Clutching the edges, the flutter was back when I noticed the way he seemed to breathe deeper I needed to focus--and not on the flutter "I don’t expect you to understand or even care, so I’o into the e apology I need to deliver with probably a garden of flowers--is not phone-call appropriate I want to be with her I want to hug her Okay? So I need to see her Not call her"