Second Chance (18 page)

“I don’t think I’ve slept that long since I was
—
”
and she
stops to
consider t
his
, resting a finger on her chin
.

“In the womb?
”
I offer and she
grins
.
Her
eyes light up wh
en she smiles
.
It’s annoying
.
S
he
presses a hand against her temple
like she’s in pain and I point to the glass of w
ater on the nightstand
.

“Thanks,” she says
.
She takes a sip
and grimaces
.
I sit down at my desk
chair, the furthest spot
away
from her
in the room
, the safest spot
,
and watch her come back to life.

“Do you have anything stronger?”
s
he asks
.

I raise an eyebrow
.
“You want stronger water
?
A
re you used to something lead-based?”

She takes another drink and shakes her head
.
Yep, too early for sarcasm
.
“I’m used to coffee as thick as
motor oil
.” 

I open my mouth to
inform
her
that
this isn’t a
fricking
hotel, but
when she pulls her covers off to reveal her bare legs and pink panties, I lose track of
thought
.
She
throws me a questioning
glance
and
I divert my eyes and try to look ind
ifferent, like her body has no e
ffect on me
.
I point out her
jeans
are on her
duffle
bag
.

She blushes and t
he color reaches all the way to her lips and my eyes are drawn to them for a second
.
She lifts her nose and sniffs the air
.

“
Where are
Heidi and Klaus
?
”
she asks.

I stare
a
t her
.
“Who?”

“My
tennis
shoes,” she says
simply, like I should know.

I
roll my eyes
. S
he’s obviously as
random
as ever and for some reason this knowledge
irritates
me
.
Maybe I was hoping Dylan would change
.
Grow up
.
Mellow out
.
Her
unpredictable
mind is
what I love most about her and i
f she could suddenly turn boring
,
it would really help me get over her
.

I
tell her
they’
re airing out
on the balcony
and
I suggest
that she pack a shoe deodorizer the next time she travels.
Then, as if I care, s
he tells me she bought
her shoes in
Munich and
that
they’ve been her best friends these past few months.

“They didn’t give
me a single
blister,”
s
he says
triumphantly
and wriggles her
long, pink
toes in my direction to prove it
.
I stare at her
naked feet
dancing in the air in front of me
and something pulls on my heart but I pull back
.

She swings her legs over the side of the bed and smiles
into my eyes like we’re best
friends
.
S
he
star
ts to explain the history of her
shoes,
how
they’re named after this wonderful German couple she met
who
gave
her directions when she was lost
—

I stand up and interrupt her because this is getting ridiculous
.

“
Dylan,
I don’t
care
about
your shoes
.
That’s not
the most pressing issue right now.” 
She blinks back at me and
waits
.

“What are you doing here?” I
say, louder
than
necessary
.
Her grin is gone
.
The sparkle in her eyes fade
s
.
She looks
disappointed
to see anger
, not happiness
in my eyes
.
What did she honestly expect
?
She looks down at her hands and thinks about
my question
.
A few seconds go by
.

“
I wanted to see you
,” she says
simply
.
But it isn’t
simple, I want to tell her
.
I
fold
my arms over my chest and hit her with a hard stare.

“It’s been
over
four
months
,” I
point out
.

“All the more reason to pay you a visit,” she says, like I should be happy, like I should be
skipping and
cart
-
wheeling and
welcoming her with open arms and
daisies
and
a tandem bike ride into the sunset
because she finally got around to fitting me back in
to
the
travel plan she calls life.

“
You’re not thinking of staying here, are you
?”
I ask
.
It’s more of a threat than a question
.
I thought I was over her
.
But it’s easy to convince yourself you’re over someone when they’re five thousand miles away
.
You eventuall
y forget the way they smell,
the way their skin tastes and the sound of their voice
.
Until they show up one day
,
and
,
just by looking in their eyes you spiral right back to the place where you started
.
 

She stands
up,
no longer s
hy that she’s only in a
T
-shirt and underwear
.
She takes a few steps towards me and
I have to mentally pretend she’s my cousin to keep my eyes from falling to her
naked
legs
.
She
registers the
angry
look
on my face
.

“
I’ll do whatever I want
,” she says
.
“Unless I’ve missed some breaking news
story
,
this is still a free country.”
She
pushes pas
t
m
e and grabs
her
jeans
.
I
glare down at her
, annoyed that
she’s
annoyed
.
She has no right.

“You can’t just show up
and expect to stay with me,” I say
.
“I have roommates.”
And a date with a really hot girl, I’m tempted to add
.
Who wears clean clothes
.
And

showers
regularly
.

Dylan
turns and
frowns
at me
.
“I never
expected
to stay with you,” she says as she tugs her jeans on
.
“
I
was just taking
a power nap.
”
She stumbles as her foot catches
in the jeans
and I grab her elbow to steady her
.
My fingers
bristle from
the contact of her skin
and I drop her arm
.