You Can Run To Me

Sixteen

Natalie was practically asleep when there was a hushing sound that she recognized as the door opening and shutting, the bottom brushing against the thick carpet pile. Sylvia! She bolted upright, and tried to shout her name as quietly as possible. Relief was like morphine in her veins.

"What!?!" hissed Sylvia, drawing back sharply from the deafening sound of her own whisper. She looked awful, her dress pulled down over one shoulder as if she had tried to put it on in a hurry. Make-up was smeared across her face, her lipstick smudged almost completely off

"You didn't come back last night. It's ten 'o' clock in the morning and you're only just getting back. And your dress is all wrong. I was worried about you. And just look at you!"

"Charming. I was under the impression I looked like a goddess brought back to life and, y'know, given clothes to wear. Besides, your hardly dazzling yourself. And so far as I know you disappeared off too."

"I did?"

"Um... yeah. Dan and I watched you get carried off by-"

"Wait, so I didn't dream that?"

"Guess not."

"So he actually came into... And we actually..."

"What!?!" said Lianne, finally awake enough to pay attention.

"The guy – you know the one I mean, Sylvia – he came with me into the room and we danced and - - and we kissed and..." She trailed off at the incredulous looks of the others.

"I don't think so! I'm pretty sure I would have noticed."

"You would?" asked Nat, confused.

"Yeah. I was in here last night crying because my stupid boyfriend dumped me. On New Year's. The bas-"

"I think you must have been dreaming, then, Nat," said Sylvia cheerfully.

"Oh, I guess," mumbled Natalie. Clearly at some point she had gone from reality into a dream, but she had no idea where. It had all seemed so surreal, and yet so vivid that she could remember all of it, down to the last strand of hair, the smallest crease of his mouth as he smiled, the scent of him. Leather and... and... - she struggled to remember, scrabbling at the memory – aftershave and that obscure smell... of air. She supposed it must have been after she'd felt herself go to sleep, but... Why didn't that seem any less real than the bit before? She felt sure she was going crazy, slowly but surely.

The last day of their working vacation came around all too fast. One moment, it seemed, she was walking along the shore admiring old Liberty, the next she was in a dreary legal office porting coffees, and now this. They had been told to go and pack their bags. They were due at the airport in a few hours. It was insane. Natalie almost wished she had done as the teachers had asked and kept a diary, because everything was slipping a little in her mind already. She'd never really had time, though. Or so she'd told herself. There were plenty of things she hadn't wanted to write down. Enough that there wouldn't be much on the page, even if she had believed the teachers' promise that they wouldn't read them.

Things she hadn't wanted to write down included Sylvia and her new Canadian boyfriend. Yuk! Naturally, Nat was happy for them, but they were all for the PDAs, kissing passionately every time they got a chance which, fortunately for Nat, wasn't very often, because they didn't get much free time. The worst part for Natalie was imaging how upset Sylvia would be when their long-distance Skype relationship inevitably failed, like they always did. She hoped for their sakes that they were the exception, but no matter how charismatic and classic-gentlemanly Daniel was, she didn't see it working long-term. 'With Dan' had, of course, been where Sylvia had been on New Year's Eve. Where remained somewhat of a mystery, but apparently they hadn't done much but talked, and then kissed a bit. Apparently.