Page 18 of Love Legacy

Once the song finally ends, I bolt from the DJ platform, heading straight for the front door. Once outside, I lean against the exterior of the building, bracing myself on the wall. I gulp down the fresh air, trying to catch my breath. I rub my hands on the wall behind me, the brick cutting into my palms, into my fingers, grounding me back in the moment. My heart rate beginsto slow, but I still can’t hear anything. Everything sounds so muffled at the moment.

I’ve had only a handful of these episodes before, all within the last year, during everything that happened at High Valley. The last one? When I told my parents I was accepted to Pinebrook University and I would be moving to New York.

I mentioned something about these episodes to my grandmother, she said it could be anxiety, that my mama dealt with something similar when she was younger. She suggested I should see someone about it, but when I tried to bring it up to my parents, my daddy just said I should pray on it.

Normally, I’m okay with managing my stress, but every once in a while, I get extremely overwhelmed. Like today…

I feel a hand grab my arm, jolting me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Sage outside with me, her brow furrowed with concern.

“Hey, are you okay, Naomi? You bolted out of there pretty quickly.”

I take a deep breath, centering myself, before answering, “Hey, Sage, sorry about that. I’m fine, I was just—”

“Having a panic attack?” she finishes for me, giving me a sympathetic smile. “My roommate Cora gets those from time to time too.”

I bite my lip, nodding. “Yeah, I just—I just needed to get out of there and get some fresh air.”

Sage holds her arms out. “Is it okay if I give you a hug right now?” I step into her arms, wrapping mine around her waist. She squeezes me tight, resting her cheek against the top of my head. “I’m sorry for pulling you up there with me. Next time I’ll check in with you before I just force you out of your comfort zone.”

“Thanks for checking on me, Sage,” I say after a moment, muffled since my face is buried in her chest.

“Of course, my Georgia peach, that’s what sorority sisters are for! Now are you good to head back inside, or do you want to hang out here for a little longer?” she asks me, leaning away just a bit so that she can look me in the eye.

“I think I’m okay.” I pull away, taking a tissue out of my purse to dab under my eyes.

“Awesome, because the drag show is over and I can already hear them playing my song,” Sage says, doing a little salsa dance and eliciting a laugh out of me. She throws her arm around my shoulders as we walk back into the club to join the rest of our sorority.

7

Sage

After I checked on Naomi and made sure she was alright, we both had made our way back into the club. She was currently dancing her heart out on the dance floor with Maeve, and I was sitting next to Theia back in our booth.God, my feet arekilling me. As cute as these boots were, I always forgot they are horrible for going dancing in. They didn’t have as much cushion and support in the soles as I needed, and they trapped the sweat from my feet and ankles. I was taking a moment to give them a break before my ankles swelled, because then, I would be done for the night.

Theia’s phone pings for what seems like the billionth time and I glance over to see Aaron’s name flash across her screen before she quickly clears the notification. Aaron is her fuck knuckle of a boyfriend, and lately, he’s been getting a bit too possessive and controlling for my liking. “Is that Aaron blowing up your phone right now? What does that asshole want?”

She tenses but tries to play it off with a roll of her eyes. “You know how men are, he’s just trying to make sure that I’m safe tonight.”

I look her straight in the eyes. “No, no, I don’t know ‘how men are.’ I’m gay as fuck, remember?” I say with a laugh.

Theia laughs too, some of the tension releasing from her body as her shoulders come down from her ears a bit. “Right, silly me. He’s just still adjusting to this whole long-distance relationship dynamic.”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. I snort. “Yeah, two hours is so long distance. One and a half if he comes straight from work.”

Theia playfully shoves me. “You know what I mean. This is the first time in the almost six years we’ve been together that we haven’t been in the same city together. He’s not used to it yet.”

Her phone buzzes again, and this time, Aaron is calling her, but she declines the call.

“What about your gap year in Costa Rica? You guys weren’t together then.”

“Yeah, but this is different. He was busy with law school then and I was quite literally unreachable by phone unless you had the compound’s satellite phone number, which I did not give him.”

“So then why doesn’t he just live with you and commute from campus?”

Theia shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t think he wants that long of a commute. Either that or he’s still hopingI’ll change my mind about the PhD program and come back to Jersey with him.”

Her phone buzzes again with yet another call from Aaron, and I grab it, having had enough of the harassment. I decline the call for Theia and power her phone off, silencing all further notifications.

“Sage! What did you do that for?” Theia asks incredulously, her eyes wide in surprise.

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