In Another Life

130

 We both hung up, and I lay back down in the bed, thankful that I still had enough room even with Denise at my feet. I stared at the ceiling thinking of Sam, Colby, and Jake playing with that damn spirit board, possibly putting themselves into danger again. There was no way that I was going to be able to sleep now, until I knew that they were okay. I texted him really quickly, asking him to let me know when it was over and that they were okay. He replied back, saying that he would, and that they would be fine. I lay there for what felt like forever, checking my phone constantly, waiting to hear from him. After a couple of hours, my phone buzzed, alerting me to a text message. "A lot of crazy shit happened, but we're fine. Get some sleep beautiful girl. I'll see you in the morning." I smiled at my phone, texted him back a "thank you" then rolled over, and closed my eyes. "OW," I yelled, as I woke up to someone smacking me hard in the face. My eyes popped open, letting me see that Denise had made her way back to the top of the bed, beside me. The arm that was connected to the hand that had smacked me, was now resting across my waist, as my friend mumbled and shifted in her sleep. I sighed, and blinked away the blurriness from my eyes. I reached over and grabbed my phone to see what time it was. Still kind of early. The guys hadn't given us a set time that they were going to get up and get started, so all I could do was wait on a call or text. I picked Denise's arm up and dropped it gently next to her so that I could get out of the bed. I noticed Corey stretched out across the foot of the bed, his legs dangling off, as well as one arm. I laughed quietly to myself, wondering why he didn't just go to him room. There was no way that he moved that much and stayed asleep during it. I grabbed a change of clothes, and my towel to take a shower. The hot water felt good on my skin but didn't last nearly as long as I would've liked. The water pressure wasn't that great either, but I still felt a lot better afterwards. I got dressed in my usual attire. Black, ripped skinny jeans, a black cami, and a red and black flannel overshirt. After blow drying my hair, I walked back into the room to find both Denise and Corey sitting up in the bed. Denise glanced up when I came out, then she hurried out of the bed, and raced by me to get to the bathroom. She moved so fast, I was actually stunned. "T!" She yelled from behind the closed doors. "Yeah?" "Can you bring me some clothes...and maybe a towel? And my hair treatment. Please." I laughed. "Yeah Neece, I got you." I knew what she was doing and why she had run to the bathroom. She didn't want Corey to see her with bed head, and smeared makeup. As I gathered her things up, I reminisced on the time when that used to bother me way more than it does now. The first time that Colby had seen me in the morning. The  night that we had stayed up talking. Just talking and getting to know each other. It would always be one of my most treasured memories. I got the feeling that he didn't really open up to a lot of people, and probably found that most people couldn't relate to what he was feeling. I could though. I could understand that he felt lonely sometimes, even when his friends were right next to him. There was a whole world of things that we had talked about that night, some deep, some silly, but it was a night that I would never forget. I heard Denise turn the shower on, snapping me out of my head. I rushed back to the door, her clothes in my hands. Right as I opened it, I tried to catch her and let her know before- "OH HOLY FUCK, THAT'S COLD!" she screamed. Oops. Guess I was too late. "Yeah, the hot water doesn't last long here. Probably because the place is so old, or something. I was going to tell you that it ran out on me," I replied, setting her things down on the back of the toilet. "It's f-fine. I n-need a good cold shower a-anyway," she stuttered out. I swear I could hear her teeth chattering. "Okay, well...sorry. Your things are on the toilet," I said, checking my reflection in the mirror before leaving her to finish up. I caught Corey's eyes when I walked out, and saw that little smirk on his face. I knew that smirk. Someone else that I knew quite well always seemed to use it when he knew that he had affected me...in that way. Corey winked at me and I just smiled and shook my head. "She's really cute, ya know?" he said, watching the bathroom door. "Yeah, I know. Denise is one of a kind...but Corey?" I had to say it. Denise was my heart, and I had to protect her if I could. He glanced at me, standing by the dresser and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" I cleared my throat and prepared myself. "Denise is my very best friend. You are her crush, and she's been in love with you for the past few years." "Really?" He asked, a smile forming on his face. I held my hand up to stop him. "Yes, really. And I can't have her hurt." "I wouldn't," he started but again, I cut him off. "I know that you wouldn't, on purpose, but it could happen. I don't know how you still feel about Devyn but there was a LOT of love there." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Devyn and I are over. We've been over for a while. We're just friends now." I nodded. "I know that. I'm just trying to protect my friend. She lives here, and you live in LA. There's not much that can happen here. So if you're just trying to have fun, you should let her know. Let her choose whether or not she wants to be a part of that. And just be easy with her heart, okay?