Royals

Chapter 61

"Will you be joining us?" Owen questioned, nudging me with his elbow.

"I'm sorry, what?" I questioned, my cheeks tinting roseate at getting caught, yet again, spacing out.

"You should've headed home sooner last night." Chloe laughed. "You're awfully tired."

"I'm alright," I shrugged, buttoning up the topmost buttons of my school jumper. "Where are you all heading off to?"

"We're going to meet at the caff by the Tube, and then were going to ride to the cinema," Zoe reminded me. "Would you like to come?"

"What's The Caff?" I questioned, a little confused.

"It's the café," Sam reminded me.

"Oh right," I mumbled, yawning. After my conversation with Joey last night, I was up for another two hours, tossing and turning in my bed all night. I had gotten around two hours of sleep and could barely sit through my four classes today. "I think I might skip this round. I'm probably gonna head straight home to take a nap."

"I think that's probably a good idea, Miss America," Declan said with a wink.

"I'll see you later," I dismissed, waving at my friends as I headed towards my house.

When I arrived home after a ten minute bike ride, I set my backpack down on the table and frowned when I saw a note from my mother.

"I am so sorry. –Mom"

Sorry about what? I shrugged my shoulders and made my way to my bedroom. When I arrived at the door, I frowned when it was halfway open.

I never left my door open.

I walked through the door and let out a gasp when I saw Joey sitting at my desk. At the sound of my voice, he swiveled to face me with a hesitant face.

"Em, I can--"

"Shush," I hushed, holding up a hand in his direction. Considering I barely got any sleep, I was positive that this was just a product of my imagination. Joey didn't know where I lived, so this couldn't be real. "I need sleep."

"But--"

"Shut up, please," I groaned, annoyed that my mind made up such an annoyingly persistent imitation of Joey. "The real Joey kept me up last night, and I need my beauty rest."

"Alright," the fake Joey sighed, crawling into bed beside me. I stiffened, but then realized that my mind was only playing tricks on me. Joey was not here with me. I finally exhaled a deep breath and allowed myself to pretend that things were back to normal.

As I fell asleep, imagining that Joey was really beside me, I heard the fake Joey murmur, "Good night, Em."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When I woke up a few hours later, I was alone, as predicted. I swear, only my mind would go as far as creating a fake Joey to cuddle with me when I was beginning to miss him. With a sigh, I made my way into the kitchen and screamed as hard as I could when I saw Joey standing at the cooker (stove).

"What?" Joey shrieked, jumping from his slumped position and burning his hand against the flames of the cooker in the process.

"God, are you okay?" I gasped, watching as his hand rapidly turned into what appeared to be a rose-colored marshmallow.

I snapped out of my daze and jogged into the hall closet, grabbing the First Aid kit. I dug through the cheap plastic box until I found the burn cream and a plaster, (a Band-Aid). I hurried back towards where Joey was standing and smothered his blistering hand with the beige cream. After I felt that his hand was thoroughly covered, I secured his wound with the plaster.