Her Curse...

11 ~ Hibiscus | Edited

     I blinked my eyes open slowly to the light, wondering for a moment if the whole night had been a dream. Hailey hurt from something I did, waking up by being punched by Lucas, mad at me for "taking Hailey from him," Hailey fighting Lucas in a fit of pure rage, and then almost drowning when he accidentally threw her off the cliff, doing CPR and mouth-to-mouth to try and bring Hailey back, believing she was gone for good, and then Hailey really coming back, and kissing me.
     Mirthlessly, I chuckled, as an ache cut through my abdomen, a place where Lucas had certainly loved punching. So it was definitely real. Something resting on my chest stirred, snuggling closer to me at the sound of my voice. I blushed softly, it would take a little time getting used to not having to hide that I liked Hailey, and...well, openly showing my affection for her.
     A stray strand of her hair tickled my nose, and I smiled, chuckling for real this time. I lifted my hand and pushed a lock of her brownish auburn hair behind her ear. When she was awake, I'd say she was more beautiful than cute, but when she was asleep, she definitely was more cute than beautiful. How, I didn't know. But that's just how I thought she looked.
     Maybe it was the way she always seemed to smile when she was asleep. Just a little. And how she liked to pull her hand under her head as a sort of cushioning for her cheek. Or how she twitched slightly at every move anyone made.
     Maybe it was something else.
     But either way...she was precious to me. Hailey murmured something quietly and reached over me with her arm, towards my hand, but missing. I gave her my hand, and she gently twined her fingers with mine, then pulled our joined hands close to her body. It made me...happy, the things she could do while asleep. In the past, she'd said my name when I freed her from her nightmares, and after we left Primrose, when I woke up in the middle of the night, she'd grabbed onto me by the shoulders and muttered something about waffles being part of a balanced diet. Yeah, it was weird.
     I blushed as she moved her leg on top of both of mine, turning her body more towards me. Has she been wanting to do this? I asked myself. As if reading my mind, she whispered out my name. My face was surely red now.
     Nervously, I laid there. It wasn't as if I wanted her off me, because she was warm, and gentle in her actions. But at the same time, I was afraid of keeping her there, in case Lucas tried to hurt us again. He said he wouldn't, but he'd been so angry...I didn't want to run the risk of us getting hurt.

     "Good morning." Hailey said after a while, followed by the movement of her hand to her face to cover what I assumed was a yawn. She untangled her fingers from mine and pushed off my chest, looking at me. "Sorry." She said. So she hadn't known she fell asleep on me. "It's fine." I said, sitting up, noticing how my left leg was in between both of her own legs.
     Hailey stretched out, and then moved so she was sitting next to me. "Are you still hurt from yesterday?" She asked. I gently poked my stomach, knowing it would hurt, but doing it for show, and winced. "I'll take that as a yes."
     "Thanks."
     "You're welcome."

     Surprising both of us, the door opened. Sora was standing there, a bit of sadness shining in her blue eyes. "Riot's here to say goodbye before she goes home." She said. "Oh, okay." Hailey seemed to be acting strange around Sora then, probably because of what I did. When she stood up, she held out her hand for me to take.
     Gently, I took it, allowing her to help pull me up, before we got off the bed, facing Sora. "'Kay, let's go." She said, turning and walking down the hallway. Hailey and I followed.
     "What took you guys so long?" Lucas asked as soon as we got downstairs. "I went to brush my hair in the bathroom before I got them." Sora replied. "Ah, you guys are here. Thanks for coming, I found something that might be of use to you." Rachel's voice said, as she peeked around the corner of the wall.
     "What is it?" Hailey asked as we all walked into the kitchen. Rachel held out her phone, open to a picture of something. "We don't have spray paint like this here." Lucas said. "Hold on, that art style...it looks like the one of..." Sora ran over to the counter and picked up a book at the looked heavy, before flipping through it quickly. "Callo! That art style is found everywhere there." She said, holding up the book. There were pictures of flowers drawn across the pages, similar to the one in the picture Rachel had shown us.
     "My hand..." Hailey held up her hand, comparing it to the book and the picture. "If it really is from Callo, then we have a chance of finding who cursed you, right?" I asked. She nodded eagerly. "Then it's off to Callo you go. They have a ton of magic there, you guys'll fit right in." Rachel said.
     "Where was the picture taken?" Lucas asked. "Over by the meadow me and the group use. If you go from there into town, then take a right almost all the way out, it's on the left." Rachel explained. "Thank you Riot!" Hailey hugged her tightly. "Ack. Bear hugs." She said breathlessly, and as she was released, "No problem. I know how much you want this."
     "To Callo!" Hailey pointed her finger straight up and almost ran out the door, before turning back. "Where's Callo again?"
     We all started laughing. "Here's a map, I colored the route in pink." Sora said, helpfully holding up a piece of paper. "Holy crap, how'd you do that so fast?" I asked. "Art skills. Memorization." She smiled, her eyes shining as Hailey took the piece of paper from her. "Be safe. Please. And don't get yourself killed, Hailey." Lucas walked forward and put his hands on Hailey's shoulders.
     She looked a bit uncomfortable, probably remembering last night, before nodding. "I'll be fine. Bye Sora, bye Lucas."
     Before she could run out the door, Rachel caught her. "Not before I say bye to you." Rachel said. "Bye Riot." Hailey murmured, wrapping her arms around Rachel's neck. "Bye, Ghost. I'll tell Naomi where you're headed. You too, Grey."
     "Thanks Rachel. And tell my parents I'm fine."
     "I will. Bye."
     "Bye!" I called, picking up our bags that were by the door, and following Hailey, who'd started running out the door in the opposite direction Rachel had to go. I put a hand gently on her shoulder, and she stopped running when she saw me, taking her backpack from me. "Sorry. I'm just excited." She said. "It's fine. We're one step closer to breaking your curse." I smiled.
     Hailey grinned at me, giving me a small peck on the lips, before walking in the same direction she'd just been headed. I hadn't expected the small kiss, and I blushed a little as I began walking by her side.

     "Soon, I'll be back to normal. I almost can't believe it." She said softly, slipping her free hand into mine. "Yeah..."

Yay, we're almost done! I still have a few more ideas for this, and am planning on around 24 chapters. But because of the productivity I'm planning, I should get it done in a few weeks. Maybe by July. Then I have to submit my story notes and stuff to Wattpad for some added perks and then we'll be done!

I can't believe it's taken me 6 months just to get to this point...wow. But I'm happy, I like how this has turned out. - June 2020

Edited. - 09.22.2020

Thanks for reading! Later!

~Nevira