Treat You Better

Chapter Fifty-eight: Premonition.

"Wait, so I just got myself worked up for nothing?" Annie asked, "I thought we were in this together, I was so stressed out on how I was going to tell him."

"Hey, it was your idea." I sipped from my straw with a shrug.

"So what happened when you told him you wanted to break up?" Susan asked, turning in her seat to face Annie.

Annie tried to keep a straight face, but then she suddenly burst into another girlish giggle and I sat up straighter.

"Annie, what happened?!" Susan asked again, grinning.

"Keep your voice down, I told him and he totally freaked out okay?" She started.

"And...?" I urged.

"And, he kept asking me for a reason which of course I couldn't provide because I obviously didn't think this through."

"Obviously," Susan said.

"I'd never seen him that panicked before and... he looked so sad and all, but I came up with some dumb reason on the spot like... how were in different leagues or something? Then we argued a bit, one thing led to another and we ended up um... you know?"

"Oh!" Susan looked taken aback.

"What, like making out?" I asked, looking between them. Annie hid her smile with her hand and shook her head.

"OH!" I exclaimed, and then laughed, and then the three of us squealed so loud, people paused their conversations to look at us.

"I have a TON of questions." I said, going around the table to sit next to her and Susan.

"I just want to know everything!" Susan giggled maniacally.

"Ladies, ladies, please." Annie made the 'calm down' motion, "I got you, I'll tell you everything that you need to know."

I wanted to listen, I really did...

But it got worse. I kept seeing her, her wicked smile, hands outstretched, she was coming for me. But I knew it was just my mind playing games, so I did all I could to convince myself I was fine.

Sometimes, it seemed people on the street were watching me, but I ignored the prickly feeling on the back of my neck. I carried on with the rest of my week, I was normal. I tried to drown out my thoughts in the bathtub, I was... normal.

Under the water, where the silence was louder than anything else, my head was empty, I had no anxiety and the whole world didn't seem like it was pressing on me from all sides. I was alone though. So after a while in the water, I would think about Angelo. I knew he was angry, but it wasn't with me, and I just knew he was scheming, busying himself in Tio Damien's office with whatever he was up to. Whatever he had done to Hale was only just the beginning.

I'd barely seen him for a few days now since Mom told him to leave and we barely talked, except for the little text messages we sent to remind each other we were alive. I knew he'd answer me if I called, but I wanted his presence more. So much so that my brain started to play tricks on me, and I'd see him waiting for me above the water, but he was never there when I came out, of course.

Today, my thoughts were traveling in a different direction. What would happen if I just stayed under the water and never came back up? I let out a breath and it floated away from me as bubbles. I'd never see Franca again if I drowned... but I'd get my cast wet and that would make Mom and Dad upset.

A while later, I wasn't sure if it was a second or a minute later, Angelo's face appeared above the water again, hazy, and rippled like always. I raised myself out of the water, closer to his silver eyes and fair lashes, his golden hair spilling onto his forehead, a dream.