Page 94 of Heartstruck at Dawn
W.S:I can hear you crying.
What?
Me:No, you don’t. It’s not March.
W.S:I’m here, but I’m not back yet.
I didn’t know what to reply, so I closed my eyes, knowing I would lay in bed all day, doing everything except sleeping. Was he really in his apartment? Perhaps William found out somehow about the fight, and that was his way of asking if I was okay.
A knock. It came from the wall next to William’s bedroom. The piano wasn’t a figment of my imagination, after all. I stared at the wall but did nothing.
Two knocks.Ugh!
I stood up and knocked back, placing my forehead on the wall afterward. I shouldn’t have done that. I know better than to play along to William’s games. Slowly, I sat on the floor and rested the back of my head against the wall. I needed a few seconds before I could stand up again.
W.S:Door.
Me:Not you too.
W.S:Me too, what?
Me:Ordering me around.
W.S:I like it best when you’re the one giving the orders.
My doorbell rang.
W.S:Better?
Me:I hate that doorbell. Knock.
W.S:Are you trying to turn me on?
He knocked on my door. I took a deep breath, knowing it was a bad idea, but I was crumbling. And whatever compass William used to identify the moments when I needed someone the most worked like a charm. He showed up every single time, even when he was supposed to be a million miles away.
Me:I need a minute.
I combed my hair because I wasn’t going to pretend like I didn’t care about how I looked in front of him. I washed my face with cold water, but there wasn’t much I could do to hide the red rims bordering my eyes, giving me away.
“Hey,” I said, persuading myself to smile, an afflicted smile for sure. “Aren’t you supposed to be … I don’t even know where you’ve been, but—there?”
“Ireland.”
“Ireland.” I nodded once. He wasn’t as far as I thought he was. It felt as though.
“I flew back yesterday to go to the Super Bowl. Tobias and I will fly to Miami in a few hours.” He stared at me, but I didn’t know what else to say. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to see Nathan in the next couple of days while trying not to drown in this ocean of feelings.
A single tear threatened to ruin my recently washed face. But I swallowed it back and felt the trail of it burning my throat.
“Nathan?” He raised a brow.
“On his way to Miami.” I took a slow and deep breath in.
“That’s not what I meant to ask,” he said with a tad of exasperation.
I shrugged.
William looked over my shoulder and saw Nathan’s portrait hanging behind me. He licked his lower lip with a frown but said …nada. That was new. I thought he was going to ask me to take it down. Which I wouldn’t.
