A Duet of the Soul

Chapter 30: An Honest Conversation

*Justin's POV*

I shot straight up in the bed before falling right back onto the pillow, suddenly dizzy.

"Don't do that," Maria chastised.

"What did you just say?" I rubbed my eyes and blinked again, making sure she was real.

She sighed and continued wiping my face with the cool, damp cloth. "I said don't do that. You'll make yourself sick with those quick movements."

"Maria, what did you say before that?" The alcohol was still very present, but what I thought I heard from her sobered me up to a certain degree.

Her movements stopped as if her whole body was frozen in place. She seemed to be debating, on what I couldn't be sure. "You asked me what I was doing, so I told you I was taking care of you."

"But you used a specific phrase, didn't you?" I started to question whether I really heard that or not.

Maria glanced out the window on the other side of the bed. "You know, you make doing nice things for you really difficult."

"I'm sorry." I glanced down at my hands, not sure what to do with them. I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I also didn't want to upset her more. I shouldn't have pushed her to talk to me. There was no way I had really heard what I thought I did. The alcohol must just be messing with my brain still.

"I told you I was taking care of my future husband," she sighed.

Struggling to sit up straight, Maria had to help prop me up against the headboard. Once I was in a sitting position, I hesitantly reached out to her, and to my surprise, she scooted closer on the edge of the bed to me. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to my chest. I cleared my throat to remove the lump that had settled there. "Why are you doing this, Maria?"

"What do you mean? Wiping your face?"

"No," I shook my head. "Why are you saying things like that?"

"I told you earlier I was starting to fall for you," she shrugged. "I don't know what else you expect other than me trying to accept what our future holds."

Her hair brushed against my face as I buried myself into her neck. A soft rumble of thunder could be heard in the near distance. I pulled back and glance out at the dark window. "How long did I sleep for?"

"Not very long, about an hour."

An hour? I had been passed out for an hour, and she was still here? How was that even possible? Just a couple of hours ago she had bolted for the front door. When she was given the easiest opportunity to escape, she didn't? Was she just enjoying getting a chance to hurt me and make me feel like shit? She only wanted to escape when it would make me panic?

But hadn't she left me? I remember waking up and finding myself alone in the bed. I had called her name, but the silence of the empty house was the only answer I received. She had left, that I was certain of. I cried myself back to sleep after realizing I'd lost her, simply because I couldn't handle my own emotions and let myself get wasted in the middle of the day.

"What are you thinking about?" she smiled at me.

"I expected you to run away," I told her truthfully. "When I woke up just now, I instantly knew it couldn't be you taking care of me. I had woken up after you left and the room was empty. I knew you were gone forever."

"What?" she asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"You were gone for good. I called out for you and you were gone, Maria. I knew you were never, ever coming back," I whispered. I was afraid that if I said it too loud that she would evaporate before my eyes, as if this was all just a drunken dream.