Page 35

Guiding me through crowd, he pulls me toward the exit, and as he swings the door open, the hot, humid air suffocates me. Sticking to my body like a second layer of skin.
“Come on,” he mumbles as we make our way down the sidewalk.
“The stars are so bright Cole, look at them,” I smile, spinning around as I float across the concrete, gazing up at the night sky. One shines so brightly, I think it may explode, and I wonder if it’s her watching down over me.
“Aria,” Cole’s sigh is almost visible, “Why did you take Molly? Where did you even get it?”
“Mmm because everything is so fucking beautiful Cole. Don’t you feel it? It’s all I want to feel.”
“Oh my god,” he mutters, pulling me closer to him, and tucking me beneath his arm, “I can’t leave you alone at your place, you’re staying with me tonight.”
The euphoria plateaus, but the sense of floating and being bathed in love remains as we walk through the quiet night, the four blocks from Oasis to Cole’s apartment. Pushing open the door, he guides me inside and walks me through the living room, to his bedroom. Flopping down onto the bed, I sink into the plush comforter and run my hands across the soft fabric.
Pressing my face into the gray cotton, I savor the softness against my skin.
“Come on, you need to drink, eat, and take this.”
Rolling over to my back, I push up on my elbows and Cole drops a pill into my hand.
“What’s this?”
“Magnesium.”
I shrug and place it on my tongue, taking slow sips of the water to wash it down. He tries to hand me a banana, but my appetite is non-existent so I push it away. Setting the bottle down on his night stand, I lean back against the pillows and sprawl across the bed.
Cole takes a throw blanket from the foot of the bed and grabs a pillow, tossing it to the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not leaving you alone while you come down from the E, I’ll sleep down here on the floor.”
“Cole?”
“Yeah?” he turns around to face me.
I can feel the euphoria lifting, and all I want to do is sleep, but a sense of loneliness and dread starts to peek through the waves of love and joy. I don’t want to be alone.
“Can you just lay with me please?”
“Sure thing,” he smiles as he crawls into the bed next to me.
Turning into him and resting my head on his chest, I focus on the rhythmic sounds of his breathing. Liam should be creeping into my thoughts, but instead I close my eyes and see Travis’s face.
I took the Molly to feel something other than longing and sadness for once, and it worked for a little bit. In the dark cover of the night, the club, and the drugs, I can tuck away my pain, but when the high starts to wear off, all the things I don’t want to feel roll right back in.
“Ar?”
“Yeah?”
“Is everything ok?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, rubbing my feet against the cool, smooth sheets.
“We’re all worried about you. You know that right?” he brushes my still damp strands of hair away from my cheeks.
I nod and sigh, “Mmhmm.”
“I know you’re not happy. The Aria I know doesn’t drink herself stupid all the time and buy drugs off of dark street corners.”