Page 12 of Embers in the Dark

That has us all laughing, and I have no doubt River will be richer by the end of shift.

CHAPTER 4

Baylee

“Mandy,do you have that little black dress you bought when we went to that cute boutique on Main Street last weekend?” I yell from her closet.

“Yeah. You need to borrow it tomorrow night?” she responds from the kitchen.

She’s making margaritas and I’ve been counting the days left to spend time with them. Myles is working late and I can’t help but feel the relieved he hasn’t asked to hang out tonight. I’ve been avoiding telling him about the call I got from Orange University last week. I’m running out of time and I’ve already accepted the transfer, but he still doesn’t know about my move.

I’ve started packing my few belongings, but I’ve avoided having Myles over at my place, opting for his apartment whenever we hang out. He doesn’t care to be surrounded by my friends, so he doesn’t ask many questions, which works in my favor right now. The furniture isn’t mine to take, so all I have are clothes and a few books to move back to Boston. Luckily, all that will fit in my compact car.

“Yes, please,” I grumble.

“Don’t sound too excited, princess,” Mandy says as shewalks in with the dress on a hanger, margarita in her opposite hand. “I had it hanging in the laundry room.” She smiles.

I sigh as I reach for her dress, eyeing the margarita. “Sorry, I just don’t really want to go out to be around all those stuffy assholes tomorrow night.”

Mandy pulls the dress away from my grasp and hands me the margarita instead. “Why don’t you take this instead to ease your frustrations a bit and come hang out with us.”

“I like that idea,” I say, grabbing the offered drink as she moves out of her room and into mine to lay the dress on my bed.

A smile stretches across my face as the realization hits me that I can relax with my roommates tonight since none of us have plans. Tomorrow, I have to play nice with Myles and his coworkers, while my roommates are headed out for the weekend for a concert. They’ll be gone for two nights with a few others in our apartment complex to see their favorite musicians on a summer tour.

We live off-campus, in a portion of housing that is university-owned but feels more like apartment buildings. It gives off that independent vibe for us without the dorms, although we still feel that vibrance of university life.

Because school’s still out for us at Singer and we live in a very university-rich town, it’s very quiet here in the summer months. Most of this complex is semi-dormant from June until late August. It’s half-filled for now, but in a few days it will start to fill up. Once the semester begins, there won’t be a quiet hallway around us.

After my call with Orange University last week, I came home and couldn’t contain my excitement. My roommates could sense something was up and I was bursting at the seams to tell them. Despite knowing I’d be parting ways with them, they were pushing me to go. They know how much I’ve fallen in love with the sports side of physical therapy and this would really help me in the course of my career.

That doesn’t mean we weren’t all a bundle of crying fools once the high wore off, because we love living together. We vowed we’d stay in touch. I’ve lived with them since sophomore year and all of them told me I couldn’t pass this opportunity up, explaining that this was part of my future. As much as I thought I was going to take days to think it over, the decision was made right then. They made me call the next day to start putting things in motion.

My parents are the only other people I’ve told up to this point. I made them swear not to tell my siblings because I didn’t feel like being harassed on our text thread as to why I’m making this decision so close to graduation.

I haven’t figured out housing yet, but if needed I can move in with my parents. I put my name on a waitlist at school for housing if something opens up, but the likelihood is minimal of something opening up this close to the semester starting. I’ll start apartment hunting, but I have something bigger I need to figure out first.

My stomach hurts at the thought of telling Myles I’m leaving. Yes, I’m a chickenshit and I’ve never been this person in my twenty-two years on this planet. I’m being an absolute coward about this whole thing right now and I know why—Myles overreacts about everything.

I don’t know what’s switched between us, but he wasn’t always like this. Recently he’s just so tense. No matter what I do, he’s on edge and I’ve noticed I seem to be the only one to push these imaginary buttons that take him to another level. I’m probably overexaggerating the reaction he’ll have, but I don’t want him to dim the light I have from my acceptance into this program. I want to bask in this glory a little longer before he might blow it up for me. The problem is, I’m running out of time. I don’t think it would be right to tell my boyfriend I’m transferring schools as I’m driving off with boxes in my backseat. I doubt anyone would take that very well.

I got myself into this program with the hard work I’ve put into my grades at Singer. But since being with Myles, I feel like he’s just pulling me away from my dream of becoming a physical therapist. I might be irrational in my thinking here, but I’ve felt like he’s insinuated on more than one occasion that I shouldn’t even work if we were to end up together. But what really worries me is that when I hear him speak about me to others, saying I’ll be his future doting wife, I don’t correct him. I just stand there and take it.

The Baylee pre-Myles would never take that shit. Little by little, Myles is pulling me apart and muting me. And I have no idea how he’s making me into this version of myself. I see it happening right in front of my eyes, but it’s like I fear he’ll lash out if I speak against him.

The longer I’m with him, the more I find myself cowering, scared to push his buttons. He’ll look over at me sometimes with his icy-blue eyes that once captivated me and reminded me of a clear blue sky but now feel like a cold plunge into frigid waters, and I find myself shuddering. They rake over me and no longer bring me comfort.

He’ll now lean into me and degrade me with his words instead of telling me how much he loves me. I long for the nights he used to tell me how much he couldn’t wait to get home and kiss me all over. Instead, he’ll find ways to remind me why I need to cover myself so others won’t look at me, because I’ll draw the wrong kind of attention. He demeans me, calling me attention-seeking and a show-off.

I feel a shiver come over me as I get into the hallway toward the kitchen. I shove the thoughts of Myles to the back of my mind, hoping I can finally have a night where I don’t let his words consume me, like I find myself doing most days.

Pulling me out of my thoughts, Mandy finds me in the hallway and grabs my hand, “Let’s go sit down and chat. It’s been a long week and you’ve been working a ton. You deserve to celebrate your win with us.”

I’m walking along, and the minute I sip her drink, I hum my approval. This one is strawberry and it’s my favorite of all her margarita mixes. I follow her down the hall and sit once we reach the kitchen island. Mandy continues to serve more drinks for our other roommates, Alexis and Brianna.

“So, where’s the dinner tomorrow?” Brianna asks while looking for some snacks in the fridge.

“That swanky restaurant near the school,” I say between sips of my drink. “The one with all the nice cars lined up every time we drive by.”

---