No Status Quo

8. Surprise

When my eyes open, I'm the first one up. A chink of sky is visible between the velvet curtains. It's the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between in night and dawn. Everything is quiet except my friends' slow, deep breathing. I glance over at the dark shapes they make on the floor beside me. Kate's sleeping beside me, one arm over her eyes and the other around her stuffed dolphin. Cam's facing the other side some feet away, not snoring which he usually does—for which I'm thankful. Amy's on the sofa, so that her silhouette is raised above Rory's—who's beneath her. Her arm curves to the floor, her fingers inches apart from Rory's. I wonder whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea makes me feel strangely lonely.

The DVD player is on. I guess we all fell asleep at some point, I can't remember whether we finished the movie or no. I sit up slowly and push the comforter off my legs. When I'm turning the player off my gaze falls on my phone. He must've messaged now right? It's a whole new day.

I stand up, grabbing my silk night-robe and the phone before quietly leaving the room.

The mansion is eerily quiet at this time, not to mention awfully cold. I shove my hands in the pockets of the robe as I climb up the stairs. It's four. Olivia must be asleep as well, I assume as I pass her room on the second landing.

I shoulder my own bedroom door open while unlocking my phone with my hands.

Please be there. I pray silently. Please be there.

My heart sinks when the inbox opens. Five texts from Payton, Three from Coach, nine plus texts from Amanda—my fellow volunteer at the zoo and great, none from the person I was hoping it would be.

Not believing it, I refresh the inbox. Still nothing, stupid inbox.

Waves of thoughts run through my mind. Did something happen to him? Is he ill? Is it his mom? Something else wrong?

I type a text but then, hit delete.

What will he think? Total way to sound like a creep Gina. Still, friends can ask friends, right? There's no harm in that. One little text won't hurt.

Don't. You'll screw this up. My conscience yells.

Shutting it out, I sigh.

Gina: You okay?

There. But what if he isn't okay?

I run my hands through my hair, my heart pounding in my chest. I don't even know why I'm worried, it's really odd. I walk towards the big three-way mirror In my walk-in closet, tapping on Ren's name in my phone. I stare at his profile picture as I try to sift through everything I've been feeling. How can I possibly feel like I care about someone after only knowing him a matter of days?

After a few minutes of looking at his picture, I place my phone down and straighten up to look at myself. I force a smile on my face then take a deep breath to calm myself down. Maybe his phone isn't charged. Maybe he's at a relative's house where there's no internet connection. There's absolutely no reason to freak out. Yes, he's alright, safe and sound. He's probably busy with some work and not dead in a ditch—

Oh, God.

My forced smile fades away. Even if something did happen to him, it shouldn't be affecting me. It shouldn't be affecting me at all. We're just friends who've talked a few times, that's it. I look down at my clammy palms and my eyes widen. Is this even me or someone else in my body?

I look back up at myself, "What's happening to me?" I whisper, even my face looks off. I couldn't eat anything even though I wanted to.

"Gina?"