I couldn't help but notice Dane's eyes on me most of the movie. I tried to dive into the story again, it's been forever since I've watched this one, but it's hard knowing there is something else on his mind. It feels as if he sees a part of me in Hilary Swank's character. As if her sadness, her depression, her strength, her growth was something he was projecting in me. It made me entirely uneasy.
Once it's finished, I search all over for the remote, which has somehow got tangled in the bottom of all of the blankets. Dane's laugh fills the room as I fluff through all of them like a child having a tantrum.
"Easy there kiddo," he jokes.
"Got it!" I say proudly, holding it up in the air like a prized trophy.
After finding it, rejoicing like a loser, and finally turning the movie off, I look back towards Dane. He's leaning back against the headboard, head is tipped resting on the wooden frame as a pained expression takes over his face.
"Hey, you alright?" I scramble back towards where he's positioned.He's rubbing the area just above his brows in a circular motion, attempting to press away the pain.
"Just a little dizzy," he admits with his forced fake smile I have gotten to know all too well these days.
"Let me get you some water."
Turning to grab a glass from the kitchenette, my hands start shaking uncontrollably. I hate seeing him like this more than anything else. Seemingly hopeless, miserable, depressed. The fire that was once his passion for exploring this world and all of its possibilities was reduced to a dim flicker. My brightest star is fading, leaving me lost, searching for a pathway in the dark.
I've never felt more out of control.
It pains me to think of how stupid I'd been at the party again, thinking how upset I was that Dane held a future of uncertainty apart from me, when looking back now, all I hoped for was a future for him at all. What a selfish, childish bitch I had become. I wished in my heart we could be back in that space, talking about our future plans together, only realizing it was a dream life. A made-up perception that was incapable of reality.
His mental form wasn't present then, but his physical form isn't whole now.
I fill the glass with a forced, steady hand, then grab the medicine he needs before bed. I hate treating him like a child, making sure he takes them, but Dr. Tom said someone needs to be in charge of making sure the pills went down after what had happened.
"Well at least Dr. Tom said these pills seem to have the least probability of side effects as opposed to the others you've been on," I say with a flare of optimism in my tone.
"Yeah." He chuckles with sarcasm, rolling his eyes. "But thank you."
He drinks the rest of the glass of water along with the slurry of medications I hand him, then lays back into the warm comforter on this bed, opening his arms to me. I gladly snuggle up into his form, laying my head on his chest, arm around his waist, and legs intertwined. He wraps one of his arms around me, the other gently toying with the loose strands of my overgrown hair.
I look up at him, looking down at me, as we both release a calming sigh, staring into each other's eyes. He cups my face with his large hand, rubbing his thumb ever so softly on my bottom lip, as I simultaneously rub his cheek with the back of my fingers over his cheek bone down to his lips. We communicate our love for one another without words, only in shared silence to the beat of our hearts, proving our existence.
"Do you believe we'll meet again?" He startles me by asking the question quietly.
"Meet again?"
YOU ARE READING
A Sliver of Infinite
Teen Fiction"There's only one thing that's keeping me here, only one thing that's keeping me sane. The galaxy to my stars, the constellation that guides me home, the gravity that holds me down. It's her. It's always been her. But even she can't save me from my...
