Learning to Love

Chapter Five

Her touch was gentle and careful like she could break me if she touched me in the wrong way. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Why was she hugging me? Why was the car stopped? Did we get into a wreck?

What happened?

She pulled back and gave me a smile. She brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek. Her eyes held such an intensity of emotions. Her thumb wiped off a few tears that I just noticed were on my cheek.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

"I'm sorry about the question. Are you alright?" I nodded my head and gulped. She made sure I was in the car okay before leaning over my lap to put my seatbelt back on. Once she shut my door, she started walking over to the other side of the car. I suddenly realized that she had calmed me down. Her touch alone made me calm down. It had snapped me out of my living nightmare. I didn't flinch or start breathing hard when she hugged me or when she put my seatbelt on.

What was that all about?

Once we were on the road again, I tried to piece together what just happened. Was I screaming? Was I freaking out? Had she pulled over just to calm me down? Did I say anything?

I've gotten pretty used to all of my nightmares when I'm asleep but this was the first time I've had a nightmare while I was awake. Maybe I need to see a therapist?

No, you can't tell anyone about your problems. They would just send you to a foster home, or even worse. To your real "home".

I slipped my shoes off and left them on the floor before bringing my knees up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs, resting my head on my knees while looking out my window.  

What's wrong with me? Even when I was just trying to live a normal teenage life, I still managed to fail at it. Maybe I'm just broken.

My mind was racing with my thoughts before it landed on Blake. The movie we watched earlier was really good, but it was really sad. I remember crying as quietly as I could and then looked around to see if anybody else was crying.

Claire and Peter were obviously bawling their eyes out while Hunter was just comforting Claire. Victoria wasn't really paying attention to the movie and I could tell her mind was on something different. But Blake? She was doing the same thing I was. She was silently crying. But she didn't seem like she was crying because of the movie, she looked like she had other reasons. And after she excused herself to the bathroom, I knew I was right.

I turned my head towards Blake and watched as she drove. Her soft and silky brown hair was up in a messy bun, her blue eyes seemed to be filled with confusion and fear. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and her eyebrows were creased together. That's when I noticed the scar that was through her left eyebrow. I wonder what it was from.

What could she be thinking about? Was it Victoria? Was it her friends?

"P-penny for your thoughts? I m-mean, if you're o-okay with that." I whispered to her. She sighed before parking in the Dominos parking lot. She parked the car and turned towards me. She looked so worried. She kept opening and closing her mouth, hesitating her next words. Her eyes looked around before she looked right at me, glancing between each of my eyes.

"Do you remember what happened? I mean, on the way here?" I felt my body tense up and I picked up my head. "I only ask because, well, you seemed to be just as confused about what happened as I am."

Did I?

I slowly shook my head before murmuring a small 'no'.

"Sophia... It's almost like you were having a nightmare. I know that it's my fault because I asked the question, and I don't want to be nosy, but has that ever happened before?" I shook my head and heard her sigh. "I was scared for you. I was just driving when I asked the question and then all of a sudden you started screaming. Your eyes were closed and you just kept screaming 'no' and 'stop'. Is there maybe... I don't know. Do you want to talk about something?" Her voice was laced with worry and concern.