The silence that followed was uneasy, and I shifted a few times trying to shake the feeling I was getting form it. Xavier was staring at the floor, not so much as moving a muscle. It was like he was frozen in place, paralyzed by my words. What was going on?
Finally, I said something. I had to break the silence, before I went completely crazy. "Um, is something wrong?" I asked.
Of course something was wrong. I was having weird, impossible dreams that seemed more than real to me, seen things that apparently weren't there, heard things from those things that weren't there, imagined that mirror and the words on it. That was definitely a profile of someone admitted into the loony bin. And I fit it perfectly. The only thing I was missing was talking to things that weren't there and trying to kill someone.
Xavier seemed to snap out of his daze, turning his eyes on me again. They were no longer the ones they had been just a few minutes before, and I was glad. If those eyes had looked at me, I'm not sure what I would have done. "Uh, no, it's nothing. Just thinking," he replied.
I knew it was a lie. His voice and eyes told me. Over the years I had learned to read people, kind of like a bunch of open books with the important things highlighted. And the dangerous ones written in bold red. And, for some reason, I was seeing Xavier as both highlighted, and bolded red.
That was when I felt dizzy and lightheaded. Everything started spinning, blurring into one thing. I felt like I was in the middle of a tornado, watching everything swirl by me. Xavier's voice echoed around me, but I couldn't answer. My body was no longer under my control.
Then, everything went black.
When my eyes flicked open, I was staring up at the white ceiling, which was soon blocked by Xavier's worried face. Blinking a few times, I felt the headache hit. I couldn't help but think that getting hit by a bus would feel better than this as I let out a small groan. "You ok?" asked Xavier.
"If you call your head feeling like it's going to bust ok, then I'm great," I replied, trying to sit up.
The only thing that accomplished was Xavier having to catch me to keep me form hitting my head on the floor when fell back again. Letting out a small sigh, I closed my eyes. The darkness of my eyelids helped ease the headache a bit, but not nearly as much as I had wished. "Um, what happened?"
That was a good question, one I had no answer to. It seemed that that was happening more and more lately. So many things were happening, and there was no answer for any of them. "I don't know. I just got lightheaded and dizzy all of a sudden," I replied.
Xavier nodded. I don't know how I knew he did, seeing as my eyes were close, but I did. It was a feeling I was getting, almost like when someone walks into a room. You can feel a difference and know they're there.
My head then stopped thumping. It wasn't gradual, or slow, but all at once. Pain one second, nothing the next. Opening my eyes, I sat up and looked at Xavier. "I seriously think I'm losing it," I stated.
"I think," Xavier started, but stopped when we heard a car outside.
Instantly, we looked at each other, that oh-crap look on ours faces. Quickly, I got to my feet and headed out the door, down the stairs and towards the door. About ten feet from it, it opened and in stepped Mom and Dad.
Their eyes darted from me, to Xavier and back again. Then, their faces changed to frowns as they shut the door. I knew what was coming, and I wasn't looking forward to it.
"I'm Xavier," he said, reaching his hand out. "I know what this probably looks like and everything, but that's not what it is. Riley told me she thought she heard something in the house, so I came over to make sure she was ok. She didn't want to disturb you over nothing," he explained.
I stared at him, unable to believe it. Here he was, acting like it was nothing. Like it was a every day event to him. Which made me wonder: How many times had he gotten caught at a girl's house when her parents came home?
My parents looked at each other, the frowns falling from their faces and turning to slight looks of worry. Then, they turned their attention back to us. "I really wish you had called us," was all Mom said, and I let out a breath I hadn't even known I was holding. "It's nice to meet you, Xavier. Will you be staying the night?"
"No, I should probably get going. Plus, I'd have to run back over to the house in the morning anyways to get ready for the party tomorrow. It was nice to meet both of you," he replied with a smile.
Mom smiled back at him and nodded. My eyes followed him as he walked past both my parents and out the door, which shut behind him. And then, I had to turn my attention back to them. There was no way I was going to get out of this so easily. They'd want answers to so many questions, and I almost wished Xavier hadn't told them. I wasn't sure which was worse right now.
Hoping to get by until at least tomorrow night, I quickly turned and started towards the stairs. "Well I'mma head to bed. Night," I said, making it to the third step before their voices stopped me.
I frowned, but turned it into a normal look at I turned around. "Why didn't you call us and tell us what was going on? We would have came straight home," said Mom.
"That's actually why I didn't. I knew you only got one night a week to do what you wanted and I didn't wanna disturb you if it was just my imagination. It was nothing, really."
Mom didn't say anything, just gave me a small nod and looked over at Dad, who did the same. Taking the chance I had been given, I made my way back up to my room and shut the door behind me, sitting down on the edge of my bed and letting myself fall backwards. Today had definitely been far from boring, and I actually missed the boring days for once. At least they didn't make me feel like I was losing my mind or something.
Crawling the rest of the way in bed, I curled up under the covers and closed my eyes, not even bothering with turning the lights off. A few seconds later I was out, falling into a deep, restful sleep. Exactly what I needed.
