Ruben or August

Chapter 11

'This place could host twenty odd guests, but you still chose to sleep in the same room as me?' I asked looking over at Ruben who was getting undressed taking his jeans off, revealing his boxer shorts. I quickly looked away feeling my cheeks take a deep shade of red and not wanting to invade in his private life. It was really late, or really early in the morning and I had tiredly watched them eat pasta in an awkward silence desperately wanting to go and get away from all the drama this day had brought.

'Well. It seems like it.' He said with a grin on his face. 'Keep...keep to your side and... don't touch me then.' I said trying to put on a serious stare on even though I felt truly embarrassed to sleep with a man. He nodded and slowly pulled the duvet of his side of the bed before getting into bed with me. He turned the light off and for a moment we didn't say a word. The moon's light was reflecting on the bedroom wall and my eyes slowly got used to the light. I couldn't help but wonder what on earth I was doing here, why I had accepted to let Ruben stich me up without any anaesthesia and why I had trusted him and more importantly why I had changed so much since I had started talking to Ruben.

'You stutter less now.' He stated breaking the silence. 'Yeah... I... I was thinking about that.' I said slightly stuttering as he caught my off guard. I slowly turned my head, looking towards him. 'You're less set in your ways too.' He added looking towards me as well. 'You still need to put a coaster under your... your tea at breakfast tomorrow.' I said trying not to laugh. The room slowly got filled with our laughs mixing in together not thinking about Jace or the accident or our disastrous dates, well actually this bed date, late at night or early in the morning was probably one of the best.

'Are you sleeping?' I slowly asked whispering scared to wake him up. 'No.' he almost immediately answered. 'I... Can you hold my hand? I... I hate sleeping in other places than my house, or my mothers.' I said. He didn't respond at first and I wondered if he thought that I was some sort of immature and incapable girl, but then the sheets moved slightly and I felt his hand gently take mine and squeeze it safe. 'Thank you.' I whispered before falling asleep.

The rays of the sun work me up early the next day. For a moment I just laid awake listening to the birds chippering and Ruben's light snores. I could hear water running somewhere outside. I didn't know whether to go down and see what the garden of this villa looked like, and by the name of it, it must be besides a lake. Maybe a tiddly green lake.

I slowly slid out of bed trying not to make too much noise to not wake the half-naked boy next to me. Walking towards the door, I couldn't help but stop and stare at the mirror, looking at my bruised and stitched-up face with a huge Band-Aid on it hiding half on my left eye brow. I slowly looked back just to make sure Ruben was still sleeping, and when I heard his faint snores I slowly lifted up my shirt and looked at my black ribs and the few cuts on my chest. Sighing, I quickly walked away from the mirror and quietly left the room not wanting to see more.

I walked through the corridor admiring the magnificent paintings on the wall. I wondered if they were from well-known artists. They were beautiful, they illustrated towns and mountains with loads of detail. And then one of the paintings looked familiar, it took me a minute to picture where I had seen the house on it before, and I then realised that it was the one I was standing in. On the painting you could see the house from where I had been locked in the car. The front of the house. And then on the side we could see a lake, a green lake.

I quickly opened the kitchen's sliding door and walked out onto the terrace. It looked over the lake and to my surprise it wasn't green but a nice shade of turquoise blue, it made me want to swim in it, go and dive, and feel free. I sat down on the terrace and admired the view, taking in the sun. My stomach then rumbled interrupting my peaceful moment with the nature and the singing birds. I got up and for some reason I decided to cook some breakfast for everyone, even though I wasn't sure that it was the right idea.