Page 35 of Awestruck at Dusk
“Thanks, Billie.” She smiled.
I found Mimi in the kitchen and brought her over to meet Zara. Mimi smiled at me and guided Zara to the kitchen where I knew she’d take good care of her. Then, I grabbed the tiger dress and brought it with me to my bedroom.
It was my second shower of the day, but this felt like a necessary one. I wanted to take the smell of smoke off me and William’s stupid cologne out of my nostrils.
Styling my short hair was more complicated than my long, boring hair. I missed it. I liked the short hair too, but I had cut it on an impulse. However, the freeing sensation I experienced when Frankie cut it had been amazing.
I decided to blow-dry it, attempting to make it slightly wavy and parted in the middle. I dabbed a bit of peachy blush on my cheeks and cherry lipstick on my lips.
Wearing a coat would be necessary because I was destined to freeze my ass off on the way there if I didn’t. I could always take it off once I arrived. This wasn’t the kind of dress that was made to hide behind a coat.
I walked out of my bedroom wearing my cozy, knee-length robe because I wanted to change until the last minute when I knew Nathan would be almost here. Zara sat in the dining room, her plate empty, her hands on her phone, her attention on the screen.
“Wow! Looking great, sis,” Zara said, looking up at me. I was back to being hersis. Surely the food agreed with her. I swear I sensed an edge to her words before when she mentioned the premiere photographs.
While I showered, I thought about two options. She was either jealous of the misleading shots of William and me or being protective of Nathan. I didn’t blame her for either of those two possibilities. There was a third scenario that was basically an entanglement of the previous two.
But I was sure something bothered her.
The doorbell rang, and Zara fired up from her seat. I walked toward the door, but she flew past me and said, “It’s Will. I got it—coming!”
Zara opened the door, and William stared at me with a lifted brow. My hands moved to the flaps of my robe just to make sure everything was where it had to be.
“Glad to see you’re back in one piece,” I said to him. Maybe getting him to talk would stop him from staring at me like that. “I heard your engine roaring all the way to the rooftop.”
It worked. He laughed.
“The engine feels great when you’re sitting inside the car,” he replied, brushing a golden strand off his forehead. Zara pushed her suitcase with a frown, rolling it abruptly toward William. He stopped it with a foot and lifted the handle. “Easy, tiger.”
Zara rolled her eyes at him. “Let me grab my backpack,” she said, heading toward the living room. “What took you so long? I need to take a shower and get dressed if we want to be on time,” she complained.
“Any—fun plans for tonight?” I asked, already bothered by the obvious fact.
“Ah, yes.” William looked away, his golden-brownish brows moving up and down, seeming uncomfortable. As if he would rather not answer my question. He pointed at Zara and said, “I need to tire her out.”
“Funny,” she said, unamused. “Let’s go. See you around, Billie. Have fun tonight.” Zara approached me for a hug that I wasn’t expecting and left. It was clear that she was in a hurry to leave.
William nodded, held the doorknob, and pulled it to close the door, but he stopped a second before shutting it.
He parted his mouth to speak, looking at the floor. He smiled and looked up at me, meeting my gaze, no, trespassing it.
“Aren’t you gonnahike upthat robe?”
I shook my head with a smile. How to forget?
“Never,” I said with a laugh.
“Never say never.” He dropped the suitcase’s handle for a second, brushed his lip, and rushed out to roll mysis’sluggage after Zara shouted his name, leaving me to wonder howthe fuckwould I sleep at night for the next week that she’d be around. Not that I was getting much sleep anyway.
I didn’t understand how to handle this sister dynamic. I thrived as a single child.
Nathan texted me to let me know he was running late, so I grabbed a book and took it to my bedroom. But I couldn’t read a single word because all I heard was Zara laughing through the wall. And the sound wasn’t as far away as I would’ve liked it to be. She was inside William’s bedroom for sure.
A thousand minutes later of me staring at the same page of my book, I heard a few doors shutting and then … silence.
They left. Together.To tire her out,William said. I’m sure they were going to some fancy party or some shit like that. And I only dreaded the moment when the night would eventually come, and they returned to William’s apartment. Again, together.
Maybe I could sleep in the guest bedroom this week—anything to avoid listening to their interactions a wall away.
