Cursed

Chapter Thirty-Two

When I woke up, I forgot where I was. I looked around, not recognizing the black comforter or the wood floors. Then I remembered I was at Erik's house. The sun splayed through the curtains, so it was sometime in the morning. At first, I panicked, remembering I had school today. Then, I remembered what Erik told me last night. My Gran wanted me to skip today.

Honestly, I didn't mind. 

I didn't really want to see anyone.

I looked next to me, expecting to see Erik, but the bed was empty.

Where did he go?

I rubbed my eyes and got up to go find him.

Tentatively, I pulled open his door and wandered down the hallway. I found him in the living, sleeping on the couch. What was he doing here? I wet my lips, then walked over to him and lightly shook him. 

He woke up panicked, looking around. When he saw me he looked confused, then smiled.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked him. There were a series of emotions that crossed his face.

"Oh, I uh wanted to give you space." He finally admitted. I was confused, but what was new? I had been giving Erik a lot of mixed signals, so I shouldn't be surprised that he took what I said the wrong way. When I had said I wanted to be alone, I didn't mean him.

"I hadn't meant it that way. I meant that I didn't want to text anyone. That was different." I mumbled. 

I guess it didn't really matter now.

He stood up.

"I didn't mean to upset you, I just thought it would be better for everyone." He grabbed his phone that was next to the couch. "Ouch, I'm gonna be late. I have to take a shower, then I can take you home." He didn't wait for me to respond, he just headed to the bathroom.

I stood there, in his living room utterly stumped. I chalked it up to Erik and I just not be in sync. It was okay -- it didn't mean anything. There were always days like this when you were friends with someone. Some days, you were perfectly in sync and everything was perfect. Then, there were days when things felt off but weren't.

This was normal.

This was okay.

I was okay. 

I tried to convince myself on my way back to Erik's room. I grabbed my dress and bra from his dresser and tucked it under my arm. It was time to go through my texts from yesterday. I hadn't been looking forward to this.

Most of them were from Addie, wondering where I was and asking how the meeting with Daniel went. Then, when I had responded she had spammed me. I felt bad for not responding to them, but most of the text she sent I had been drowning. 

The last text she sent was in response to me texting her last night, to let her know I was okay. 

"Whew! Good, I'm glad! Are you going to school tomorrow?" I text her back that I wasn't. 

Then, I looked at my other messages. I had two from Ivelyn. One asked where I was and the other asked what Daniel had said. Typical.

Mir had text me once, asking me if I was okay. It was sweet. I text her back and let her know I wasn't coming to school.

Suddenly, the door opened. I looked up and saw Erik a towel around his body. I had seen him shirtless before and a slight glimpse when he fell on me, but this was different. This time he was so close I could see the drops of water on his skin. I gulped.

"Oh, shit, I didn't know you were in here." He looked genuinely surprised. My jaw dropped as my eyes zeroed in on his six-pack. Was it still considered a six pack when there were more than six? I didn't know, but I liked it.