The men all had that same greedy look in their eyes, except for him. It was different. Vastly different. It looked like adoration or maybe I was just mistaking it for lust, I always seemed to do that.
My hands were still tangled in the strands...
"He's out? What do you mean he's out?" I lean up watching the comforter slip off of my food-stained hoodie that wasn't even mine. The guys stare at me from the bed they've occupied the past two days as a phone glowed in the darkness of the room.
It was still morning when they had gotten the text from Eli. And yet on my phone, there were no messages. None. Not from Pete, not from Eli, not even from Cher. God, I haven't heard from her since we left for Italy.
My head falls back onto the pillow as I feel my whole world begin to spin around me. Was it going to be like this always?
"So where the fuck is he?" Blocking out any light that wasn't around me I place my arm over my eyes surrounding myself in a second coat of darkness. The two don't say anything having either no idea or do know and don't want to say where. Groaning I flip over stuffing my face into the fabric wishing the lack of oxygen would just kill me instantly instead of slowly. I've felt like this before, where I wanted the world to just swallow me up and never spit me back out. But that was when I was with Ira, this time will be different.
"Um, here. Actually, I'm just not sure where." Jeffrey is the first to speak among the pair causing me to let out another groan at his answer. How could he know but not know?
"What do you mean you're not sure? He's here in the hotel?" I sit up squinting as I'm nearly blinded by sunlight that had somehow slipped its way in through a crack in the curtains.
"Wel-" A knock sounds through the room causing a pounding to erupt in my chest out of nowhere. My hands grew sweaty as I held on tightly to the sheet beneath me hoping it was who I thought it was going to be.
Henry trudges over to the door opening it to the point where only he could see who he was talking to. Jeffrey rolls his eyes and continues on with reading the news or whatever bullshit he was doing on his phone. I start to pick at my nails anxiously waiting for Henry to reveal who was at the door but he never does, instead rather he shuts it.
"Hey, um, Ara?" He walks over carefully as if he was walking through an unstable minefield. "Could I possibly speak to you quickly?"
I glare at the back of his head as I get up causing my joints to ache from hours of not being to move. Is this what getting older feels like? We head weirdly to the bathroom where he shuts the bathroom door closed despite only one other person being in the room.
"Look. I don't want to be the dick here but." He avoids eye contact and instead looks in the mirror behind me showing of course him. "You need to leave the hotel room. And probably New York, for the time being."
"The fuck do you mean for the time being?" I furrow my eyebrows and lean back against the counter creating what more distance I'm able to between us.
"Here's a plane ticket. Your stuff is being taken down to a taxi." Still avoiding eye contact, guilt? Pain? Could it be he was actually hurting by doing this?
"I don't understand.." I speak more softly trying to keep my anger to a minimum knowing it wouldn't get anywhere with him. "Henry?"
"Please, Ara. I know we don't have the best relationship but please just listen to me." He looks at the shut door before finally looking me in the eyes. "Run. Get the fuck out of here and go back to Vegas. If you have to, go back to Ira. Just get away from here for good."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
