If You Miss It

35. statue of us

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

STATUE OF US

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"Wake up, wake up! D, wake the fuck up!"

Groaning, Dmitri blinked his eyes open, the bouncing of the bed and Eden screaming into his ear enough to draw out another groan from his mouth as he mumbled, "E. The fuck is the matter?"

Whether Eden smiled or not, Dmitri couldn't tell, his vision a blur of sleep-induced fog. But when she yelled out a loud, "It's your birthday! Get up!", Dmitri knew that she had been smiling the whole time.

The same couldn't be said for him though.

He had burnt himself out over the past three days by thinking and overthinking this day, by focusing all his energy on work, on searching for a new job, though that wasn't something that he planned on telling anyone, on going to therapy.

And now, he was tired.

"Fuck," he muttered, throwing his right arm over his eyes, almost falling back asleep until Eden shook his shoulder, hard enough to jolt him awake. Jesus fucking Christ.

For one moment, the bed stopped shaking, and even though Eden was practically straddling him, she wasn't bothering him.

That is, until she said, "I know that today's hard for you. It always is. And if you don't want to do anythin' today, that's fine, but just let me wish you a proper happy birthday. Okay?"

That didn't sound too unreasonable, so Dmitri just nodded. "Let me brush my teeth first, we can have breakfast together. Is that cool?"

Celebrating— or at least semi-celebrating— his birthday was the least he could do, especially after all his shit that he forced Eden to put up with.

Not forced. She does it because she cares.

Eden smiled the brightest smile Dmitri had seen her smile in a long time. "Mhm! Go, go, brush your teeth!"

It was nice— seeing Eden this excited. She always was excited about something or the other, but he hadn't seen her this excited in a long time.

So, he went, he brushed his teeth, he washed his face, and he even changed his t-shirt out for a fresh one.

Maybe the day wouldn't be as bad as he expected it to be if he changed his clothes and did everything that he was supposed to do. Maybe he could trick his brain into thinking that things would be okay, maybe he could be in control of himself for once.

Once he was done, he got out of the bathroom, running smack dab into Eden, seated on the floor with her phone pressed to her ear in one hand and her other hand on the floor, watching Juno run in circles, over and over until she tired herself out.

She had finally gotten her splint off yesterday at the vet, and Dmitri could finally look at her without being reminded of that day, without the ache in his chest and the thorns in his throat.

But that also meant that she was going absolutely wild, running around wherever the fuck she wanted to run, because she hadn't been able to for over a month.

"Yeah, he's awake," Eden said into the phone, a small smile playing on her lips as she spoke, the smile that Dmitri only saw come out when she was speaking to Trinh. "I'll ask him!"

"Ask me what?" he questioned, his wet hair dripping water onto his t-shirt but he couldn't particularly be bothered. As long as he didn't get sick, which he was sure he wouldn't, since he had an immune system made of fucking steel, a bonus when he hung out with Tariq.