Page 145 of Bring You Back

Good for Her

Julian

Her voice filters through my ears as my eyes crack open to morning, then immediately fall closed again. Camille shifts, still in my arms, and I squeeze her closer to me. This is my plan for today. Or for at least another hour. My body wrapped up with Camille’s in sleep. We both could use the extra shuteye.

Now the words register.You’re such a liar.They must register for Camille, too, because we tense at the same time.

Reyna.

My eyes snap open, but I don’t look to Reyna. I don’t try to find out if she’s still standing in the door that I stupidly left open last night, staring down at us with the same hurt and disappointment I’ve become conditioned to seeing pointed my way. Instead, my stare lands on the beam of light casted along the bed, bright and illuminating, forcing me and Camille center stage.

The sun is mocking us. Having a fucking field day inside this room.

Camille pushes up, but stays close to me, her sleepy stare pinned toward the door, and in that brief moment, I’m hoping I imagined Reyna’s voice. I’m just paranoid, feeling my own guilt for not telling her the whole truth that she’s manifesting in my dreams. But Camille releases a sigh and flops over to her back, and I know Reyna is still standing there.

Maybe my reflexes are sluggish from having just woken up, but I don’t jerk away. I don’t jump up to explain myself, act like I’ve been caught doing something wrong. Because I haven’t. So why would I? Camille and I were just sleeping. But I still should’ve closed the door. It came built in with a lock. Guests are the only people who could get privacy in this house.

I release a sigh of my own and rub a hand down my face, face the girl waiting for me at the door.

The first thing I notice is her dress—the light green one I love. No ripped jeans. No boots. No trace of Camille. Reyna’s back to Reyna. And that somehow makes me feel worse. Makes me wonder why she’s here. What she was going to say to me before she walked in on this.

The sudden worry shoots a spark through my body, a need to get out of this bed and save the words that would’ve come before the ones she just said.

My body moves right as hers does. She runs off down the hall and my head tells me that if I don’t go now, I’ll lose her—in every sense of the word.

I will, anyway.

But I have to tell her the whole truth. If I don’t, we’ll just keep going round and round. I have to get over the fear and heed my father’s advice. Learn from his mistakes, and my own.

I’m on my feet when Camille says, “Go.” The sound of sleep in her voice tries to pull me back to the covers as her word pushes me toward the door. “But Julian?” I stop, turn, my hand on the frame. She’s leaned up on an elbow, her eyes telling me we can’t keep having repeats of last night, repeats of this morning, right now. She’s impatient with me, and I am, too.

“I know,” I assure her, then I’m running through the hall, pausing to slip on my shoes before continuing out the front door, down the driveway. At the street, I spot Reyna walking the curb, her back to me, hugging herself like she does when she thinks no one is looking.

She got one hell of a head-start.

“Reyna,” I call as I race to catch up to her, which turns out to be abadcall as the announcement of my presence makes her walk faster away from me. “Stop!”

“Fuck off, Julian,” she calls over her shoulder, and there’s something raw in her voice that slows my speed, but I push forward, tell myself I can’t be a coward anymore.

“Will you juststopso we’re not yelling in the middle of the fucking street?”

She slows her pace enough to whip around and face me. “Worried the neighbors will find out what an asshole you are?” She continues on, increasing her speed.

“Reyna!”

She crosses the street to put even more distance between us, and a car turns onto the road. Going faster than it should be in this neighborhood and moving straight for her. At least it looks like it is. The car shows no signs of slowing down and Reyna’s not stopping.

I call her name one more time as I sprint, finally catching up. I grab her arm and pull her out of the road to the sidewalk, my breathing spiked. “What the hell was that?”

“I was gonna make it,” she insists, yanking her arm from my grip. The car goes by, and I see that she wasn’t in immediate danger of being hit. But it doesn’t matter. She should’ve gotten out of the way. Spared me a potential heart attack.

She scoffs. “Don’t act like you care.”

“Icare, Reyna.”I’ve just had to care about myself, too.

“Yeah, about mybody,” she spats. “That’s what it’s always about, right?” She takes a step back, preparing for another escape, but I’m not in the mood for another chase.

I reach for her, bring her to a stop. “That’s not true.”

---