My Favorite Stranger

16

The morning quickly turned dull after Jessie left. She left earlier than she originally planned, remembering that she had no extra clothes and needed to shower.

Mya was stuck in a muddle due to waking up so early and the fact that Jessie was gone. Now she was alone in bed, naked both inside and out. Anxiety starting to rattle her nerves, chipping away at the last bit of her drowsiness.

Jessie's words last night replayed over and over in her head once she closed her eyes. It genuinely made her sad and affected her as if she was the one going through it. She couldn't help but think about the future of Jessie's fate.

Of course, they could keep in contact and text each other, but would it make things harder? Surely she wanted to know if Jessie was doing well. She would love to hear about how her family was and most importantly, how she was.

Mya sighed softly, opening her eyes back up to her cellphone that was on the pillow Jessie was resting her head on. A part of her felt useless because she couldn't offer any helpful advice even if all Jessie needed was an ear. Mya liked to think she was still helpful whenever she had the energy to be.

More intrusive thoughts presented themselves at the forefront of Mya's mind. She shut her eyes once more, allowing them to come and go freely, a flash of a memory from her relationship with Tristan.

He was upset one day after work, ranting and going on about a problem among his family members. Mya was always good at listening, remembering every word that was said, and offering comfort without being overbearing.

She knew better than anyone else that just because someone was telling you about their problems didn't mean they wanted a solution or for you to fix it. They just wanted someone to hear them out without judgment or ridicule.

But she wanted to help Jessie more than she wanted to help herself. She wanted to heal someone's heart — or at least a piece of it, maybe.

Mya wanted to be happy about the great change she was beginning to feel submerge her being. It was on the list of the millions of other things she wanted. And while Jessie was just a call away — for now — she still felt so out of reach, just like healing.

Another grisly truth rose to the surface, causing Mya's eyes to water even while closed. She couldn't be with Jessie while still reeling over the loss of Tristan. That just wasn't right. It wasn't her style.

Jessie deserved more than anyone else to be loved completely, fully, without any emotional baggage being dragged along. She deserved someone perfect and well put together, which Mya concluded she was not. Therefore being a potential candidate to being Jessie's lover was torn to shreds.

Love to Mya was a high-risk investment that could leave you with a slew of currency, but nowhere to cash it in, and getting a currency exchange was damn near impossible. Feelings are terrorizing things and people are terror.

Mya cried quietly, hiding under the soft comforter and holding onto what little she had left of this week. This gut-twisting, marvelously confusing, thrilling, immutable week.

There was so much shame in her body she didn't know how to expel any of it.

Somewhere on the roller coaster of sobering truths, and daydreaming about each day that had passed a little too fast, Mya had fallen back to sleep. She was dreaming a wonderful dream, with Jessie and other faces she couldn't place.

It was a dream she wished would last forever, but abrupt knocking at the door made Mya jolt awake, the sun burning brighter on her shoulders now.

"Housekeeping."

Mya cracked a smile, realizing that it wasn't actually housekeeping. Now she wanted to laugh because she slept the entire morning away and is now waking up to Jessie knocking on the door.