The Billionaire And The Waitress (gxg)

62 - a beginning

        IT could have been hours, or the entire day, that had passed by the time Adrien opened her eyes.

        The tsunami had lasted for what felt like an eternity. The sounds of crashing debris and rushing water had pounded against the walls, against the sealed door of the sauna. Adrien and Muse had held each other. There had been no more words after their shared confession. It had been too loud, too overwhelming. The sound of Muse's heartbeat had been muted, despite the fact that Adrien's ear was pressed against her neck. The world may as well have been ending.
 
      But Adrien was glad, knowing if they died, that those had been her last words.
 
      Eventually, they had backed up against one of the walls, and Adrien had gently urged Muse to the ground. They'd somehow managed to fall asleep. Limbs intertwined, hands laced together. One being, one entity, one soul. The morbid thought occurred to Adrien that, if they really did die here, their bodies would be found like this. Preserved forever in this inseparable tangle.

      Till death do us part, indeed.

      When Adrien woke up, she wondered if she was in purgatory. The sauna lights flickered like the erratic pulse of a dying heartbeat. The walls gleamed grey, dewy and slick with condensation. Each breath she took was painful, the too-hot air clouding in her lungs, stifling her chest. She blinked, and the pieces started to assemble in her mind. Her arm was around Muse, Muse's head was lolling against her chest, and her damp curls pressed beneath Adrien's chin.

      She blinked again, and remembered everything: the evacuation, the helicopter, the sauna, the tsunami.

      Grey had wanted them dead. Slowly, slowly, a grin curved her lips. Triumph filled her chest, warmer than the sauna air. Despite the fact that they had ended up trapped, alone on the resort, with no way to contact any emergency services and no idea what the damage outside looked like, they weren't dead and that was what mattered.

      "Fuck you, motherfucker," Adrien whispered.

      Muse let out a small, sleepy moan. Her head rustled on Adrien's chest. "Are you talking to me?"
  
      Adrien squeezed Muse's shoulder lightly. "No, love."
 
      "It's quiet outside," Muse mumbled, cocking her head. "I don't hear anything . . . Is it over?" Tentative fear prickled in her voice, as if she couldn't believe the tsunami had passed, and they were still alive. "Do you think it's really . . ."

      "I think it is," Adrien said. "Are you ready to check?"

      Slowly, as if Muse were reluctant to untangle herself from Adrien, she lifted her head and shifted away from Adrien, letting her stand. Once Adrien had risen to her feet, she held out both her hands and pulled Muse up next to her.

      "Do you think it's dangerous out there?" Muse asked.

      Every one of Adrien's nerves were on edge, every instinct in her body telling her to hide. "I don't know why would it be. I remember tsunamis only last a couple minutes to a couple hours. We've been asleep much longer than that. The water would have likely receded a bit by now, so . . ."

      "What if it hasn't receded? The water?"

      Adrien hoped to God she sounded confident when she said, "It definitely has."

      Waiting in the sauna room for much longer wasn't a viable option. It was too hot in here, and the air circulation was probably as fucked as the electricity powering the lights above them. Meaning, if they didn't get out of here soon, they'd either pass out from a heat stroke, or die of suffocation. There wouldn't even be time to worry about their lack of water and food.

      "Okay, let's open the door," Muse agreed.

      Adrien braced herself to unseal the door. It appeared near of them seemed willing to continue the conversation she'd started earlier. Maybe it had been a last-words kind of thing. Maybe Muse hadn't meant it. I never stopped loving you.

      But, as long as they were both alive, there would be time later to talk about it.